Development planning law proposed for Goa Navhind Times Published on: August 5, 2010 - 00:11
MARGAO: The Council for Social Justice and Peace, after a sustained study of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments and several state instruments of the Union has proposed a Development Planning Law for Goa in sync with the Constitution of India, announced its executive secretary, Fr Maverick Fernandes on Wednesday. The council has been in the forefront of social reform in the state. Stating that this study has been conducted over so many years, and is pertaining to local governance and access and use of land with differentially capped intensities, the CSJP stressed the mapped information and proposals were to be freely available to the public so that land use and other changes occur in a transparent manner and argued that this would help the government appointed committee in this "long over-due exercise," adding "We also hope that these recommendations get wide publicity for debate leading to a fine tuning of the CSJP recommendations so as to hasten the report of the government committee towards an acceptable Development Planning Act in place." These recommendations are in two parts: the national and the state context for the act and key aspects that need to be in place as part of the act. Some of the critical aspects addressed in these recommendations are: the creation of a Goa Development Planning Board composed entirely of elected representatives and which Board is required to ensure that the spatial use and intensity of land is in sync with socio-economic investment development through the State Planning Board that coordinates sectoral developments and interests; the functions and powers of the Board and the facilitating role of the chief planner and his/ her department is accordingly spelt out, the definition and broad contents of the Development Plans (20 year perspective, 5-year programmes and annual budgets) and comprising of inter-linked District Development Plans, Settlement Plans for municipalities and village panchayats and of Electoral Ward Plans are accordingly spelt out; an additional function to District Planning Committees (DPCs) to process District Development Plans under this act is recommended for greater coordination. An ideal composition o f DPCs comprising of elected representatives is also proposed. The CSJP also recommends that for plan making, districts are to be declared Planning Areas and Settlements are to be declared as Local Planning Areas and more importantly each district and their settlements would be their own Planning and Development Authority and plan formulation would be in outline form at start and final form after the suggestions/ objections process. It also wants plans for electoral wards to be part of settlement plans and all levels of plans- district settlement (municipal and village panchayat) and electoral wards would be interrelated in such a manner that Settlement Plans cannot function in isolation of the districts, likewise electoral wards are to be basic components of settlements. * * * Was life in the *kudds* glamourised? Who said, "It appears that the Goanese (sic) are a roving people, prepared to go to any part of the world for well-paid employment"? How did Goans find their first toehold in the Gulf? Find your answers in Selma Carvalho's *Into the Goan Diaspora Wilderness*. Buy from Broadways Book Centre, Panjim [Ph +91-9822488564] Price (in Goa only) Rs 295. http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/ * * *
