‘Hills, water bodies, paddy fields sacrificed’: Why changing Goa’s land use law raises red flags

In all these cases, it is the state’s Town and Country Planning (TCP) department that approved a change in land use over the past 18 months, converting “green zones” into “settlements” — allowing construction activity for both residential and commercial purposes, pushing up the land’s value manifold.

There has also been controversy around the amendment of the TCP Act by introducing Section 17 (2) that eases the process of “correction” of “green zones” marked in the Regional Plan 2021 into “settlements,” opening the gates to construction.

What’s the process for “correction” under 17(2)?

A written form along with a fee (Rs 500 to Rs 50,000, depending on the area) and documents (survey plan, ownership document, site plan, report of a professional, etc) are submitted by an applicant to the Chief Town Planner (CTP) planning for “rectification.”

The CTP scrutinises the proposal and submits a report with analysis, including a report from a registered professional. The CTP may consult agencies such as PWD, District Collector, agriculture or forest department, depending on the property. The TCP department also conducts a site inspection.

The proposal and the CTP scrutiny report are sent to a nine-member expert committee, headed by the CTP for scrutiny, verification and recommendation.

The expert committee gives its recommendations. The proposal is then submitted for a decision to the Secretary, TCP department and TCP minister. After the government’s approval, a fee is levied for correction. Finally, the modification is notified in the Official Gazette and land zoning is changed to reflect the new zone.

Why do people want to change land use from ‘green zone’ to ‘settlement’?

Once land is classified as a “settlement”, both residential and commercial construction activity can be carried out, enabling the owner to build a house, residential complex, villas or hotels. Paddy land cannot be used for construction activity; it has to be used only for farming or agricultural purposes. On orchard land, only a farmhouse of a specified area can be built, and on the remaining patch, no construction can take place.

As a result, when a plot is rezoned to a settlement, its value appreciates. In Anjuna, for instance, a 1,900 sq m plot earmarked as an orchard under the Regional Plan 2021 was purchased for Rs 74 lakh in December 2022. Once it was converted to settlement, in June 2023, the plot was sold for Rs 6.8 crore to a builder.

What are the concerns being flagged?

Urban planners and activists argue that in the garb of “rectifying errors,” an unprecedented expanse has been cleared for construction. This means destruction of hill slopes, fields and natural cover in favour of real estate lobbies and a speculative housing market for “second homes” for the urban elite.

Says activist Claude Alvares: “How demarcation of a hill slope – which is based on Survey of India topography sheets – can be considered an ‘error’ is simply beyond imagination.”

“It has led to unbalanced development by destruction of hill slopes, fields and natural cover to favour real estate lobbies,” says Alvares, director, The Goa Foundation, an environmental non-profit working since 1986. “Through changes to the land use map, the protection accorded in the regional plan to eco-sensitive zones (orchards, forests, no-development slopes, natural cover) is being undone.”

“Zoning has become a racket,” says Solano da Silva, faculty at BITS Pilani, Goa campus, and author of The Great Goa Land Grab. “The government is sacrificing the state’s life support systems, its natural cover, agrarian spaces, paddy fields, orchards. All this is being compromised for a fee.”

Architect and urban planner Tahir Noronha says the rationale of the government is “discrepancies” in the 2021 plan obviate the need for public feedback. “People are building illegal constructions and roads and applying for ‘corrections’ claiming that a road existed before the 2011 plan and the planners simply missed it. Hills, water bodies, paddy fields have been sacrificed.”

Because the process involves the TCP Department for approvals, scrutiny and final clearances, the fact that the TCP minister, a member of the expert committee, and other politicians, including the Environment Minister, are those who applied for correction, raises issues of conflict of interest and propriety.