PANAJI: The town and country planning (TCP) department has converted 49,849 sqm of land in the state to settlement zones, continuing to ‘correct’ the Regional Plan 2021 based on individual requests. The department notified the ‘modification’ of the land parcels citing reports from professionals.
An applicant filed for 46,839 sqm of land at Reis Magos to be corrected and cleared for construction. In the Regional Plan 2021, the land parcel was earmarked as natural cover with the ‘no-development’ slope. But the applicant wanted the zoning of the plot to be changed to settlement.
The application was scrutinised along with the report from a registered professional. Based on these inputs, the TCP department approved the conversion of 10,098 sqm of the plot.
“Alteration and modification are necessary to be carried out for the purpose of rectifying inadvertent, inconsistent, and incoherent errors in zoning that have occurred in the Regional Plan 2021,” said chief town planner Rajesh Naik.
The department agreed to a similar request to convert 18,963 sqm of a 31,150 sqm plot at Candolim, which was designated as natural cover with the ‘no-development slope’ in the Regional Plan 2021.
A 305 sqm plot at Sircaim which was shown as a paddy field in the regional plan has now been notified as a settlement zone using the provisions of sub-section (2) of Section 17 of the Town and Country Planning Act. The legislation permits the TCP department to ‘correct’ or undertake ‘modifications’ of ‘inconsistent and incoherent errors’.
At the St Estevam island, the TCP department has agreed to classify 19,600 sqm of a 19,900 sqm plot as a settlement zone. The plot was earlier categorised as an orchard.
The TCP department has also notified the conversion of 583 sqm of institutional land at Maulinguem, which now permits the plot owner to use the land for residential purposes.
At Bordem, a 300 sqm plot has been converted from an orchard to a settlement zone.
