PANAJI: Construction permissions and change of zoning approvals will continue to be granted based on earlier outline development plans (ODPs) and the Regional Plan 2021, even if the area in question is no longer part of a planning area, said the town and country planning (TCP) department in an order on Thursday.
The provisions of the order issued by the department are similar to the Goa Town and Country Planning (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2024, which sought to amend Section 19 of the original TCP Act and make sure that ODPs remain valid even if the planning area they pertain to is withdrawn as planning areas.
TCP chief town planner Rajesh Naik said that in the absence of any applicable statutory provisions, the same ODP or development plan which was in force in “affected planning areas” on the date of its withdrawal shall continue to apply.
According to the TCP department, this will help “maintain effective regulation and development control” over villages which were once under an ODP but no longer are.
The TCP department had framed the Candolim-Calangute and Arpora-Nagoa-Parra ODPs, but TCP minister Vishwajit Rane had scrapped the ODPs after alleging widespread fraud and manipulation.
“The affected planning areas, to which the provisions of the TCP Act are no longer applicable, shall be regulated and governed by the TCP department and all approvals, permissions, sanctions and NoCs for construction, sub-division of land, development and conversions shall be issued by the respective district offices of the department,” said Naik in the order dated Aug 22.
Section 19 (1) and Section 19 (2) of the TCP Act allow for certain villages or areas to be withdrawn from a planning area. The department claims that there is no specific statutory framework for regulating planning and development in villages which have been removed from the ODPs.
The new norms that have been announced also provide the department with the power to revoke or modify permissions, but no such order can be passed if the construction has already begun or if the change of zone has already been undertaken.
The penalty for unauthorised development and construction has been fixed at a mere Rs 1 lakh. Where any development or change of land use has been undertaken in violation of the TCP’s norms, the party will have to restore the land to its earlier condition. However, there is a horizon period of four years for the TCP to identify the violation and serve a notice.
The TCP department can also issue a notice to demolish the structure.
