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GOENKARACHE AWAAZ 2006!
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GOENKARACHE AWAAZ 2006!

GOA MOVEMENT, Jan 10- Jan 16, 2025 January 9, 2026 , by

The present initiative is to stop the loot and plunder that comes 20 years after the 2006 Goa Bachao Abhiyan agitation which led to scrapping of RP 2011.

TWO decades after the Regional Plan 2011, formulated by the then Town & Country Planning Minister Babush Monserrate, was scraped in 2006, former chief justice of the Allahabad high court Ferdino Rebello, has come forward to launch Goa Bachao Abhiyan Phase 2. The Regional Plan 2011 was created by the then TCP Minister Atanasia “Babush” Monserrate to auction Goa to the real estate lobby. It marked the beginning of arbitrary and ad hoc changes in the regional plan.
The RP 2011 proposed sweeping land use changes of agricultural land and orchards to settlement ones, as it is happening again in Anjuna and Candolim and Arpora. The Regional Plan 2011 permitted and opened up khazan lands for construction. RP 2011 allowed the exploitation of hills and plateaus for commercial development, just as there is a proposal now to build the Unity Mall in Chimbel and the 16th storeyed administrative block to be called Prashasan Stambh. The RP 2011 condoned and encouraged large scale violations of the coastal regulations zone.
Simultaneously, the building construction regulation rules were modified to permit vertical growth up to 8 storeys, as against the 2011 model of a maximum height of 10 metres. The first regional plan formulated by then Chief Town Planner of India Edgar Ribeiro. Edgar Ribeiro recommended that buildings in largely rural Goa should not extend beyond 10 meters, which the average height of the coconut tree.
There was a revolt against the 2011 Regional Plan. A group of architects led by architect Dean d’Cruz dramatized that land use patterns had been altered without the consent of even the panchayats. In fact, it was falsely claimed that the panchayats had approved the changes when they had never even been discussed. Architect Dean D’Cruz, whose role was crucial in the Goa Bachao Abhiyan, educated people at the grassroots level over the conspiracy to corporatize Goa.
The GBA, which was launched in 2005 at a small meeting at the Don Bosco oratory, presented facts and figures of how the traditional village economies in Goa would be destroyed and sacrificed to real estate speculations if RP 21 was implemented. It would deeply affect traditional village activities like farming and fishing. The GBA went from village to village dramatizing how the RP 21 would destroy the unique and distinct identity of Goa


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GBA MOVEMENT
 THE GBA movement was distinct from subsequent activist movements because it was a non political, decentralized and village driven. Every village panchayat in Goa passed resolutions opposing RP 2011. For the first time top down planning was opposed in the state of Goa. The Goa Bachao Andolan of 2006 remains one of the most significant people’s movement in Goa’s post-Liberation history. It was not a routine protest but a statewide uprising of villages against a planning document that threatened Goa’s land ecology and social fabric.
Indeed, the agitation was part of the campaign in the 2006 elections which led to the defeat of the BJP and the return of the Congress. The new Congress government headed by Digambar Kamat was compelled to scrap the RP 2011. Moreover, the first time a new initiative in a regional plan which would reflect the people’s aspirations was drawn up and launched. Digambar Kamat formed a new planning committee under the chairmanship of the late Goan architect Charles Correia to formulate a new regional plan, one which would be people friendly and preserve the ecology of Goa.
Dr Edgar Rebeiro was the chairperson and Dr Oscar Rebello the vice-chairperson of the GBA who functioned as the secretary of the new committee to formulate the RP 2021. The team of architects and activists of the GBA went from village to village taking inputs at grassroots level and this data became the basis of the RP 2021. The new RP 2021 was accepted by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat just before the 2011 elections.
Two decades later the GBA’s work still matters because the same conflicts have re-emerged with ferocious intensity. The last decade and particularly the recent term of the BJP government has seen massive changes in the land use patterns in Goa again. RP 2021 has been abandoned and modified beyond imagination for the benefit of the national real estate lobby.
This time around the present TCP minister Vishwajit Rane has amended the TCP act to arrogate to himself total and complete discretion to make changes in the regional plan for the benefit of builders. The building regulations rules have been modified to permit vertical urban growth without any ceiling. This would impose unbearable pressure on the limited infrastructure in Goa.
There have been localized protests against the attempt to destroy the fragile economy of Goa. There have been protests against huge real estate projects in the Corlim village in the Mormugoa taluka by Delhi-based based builder Butani. There have been protests against massive hill cutting in Reis Magos for a luxury villa driven project which would entail destruction of the hills. There have been protests against a mega development project in Bicholim by the Lodhas.

UNITED PROTESTS
IN the wake of strong united protests above party lines the BJP government has been forced to retreat. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant intervened and he has promised that the plan to fill up the Carambolim lake and hand it over to the real estate barons would be scrapped. The TCP minister had to revert the conversion of a hill of over 2 lakh square meters in Arambol. But the real estate lobby is relentless. And since the political barons have aligned with the real estate lobby, the pressure on Goan villages is continuous. TCP minister Vishvajit Rane pretends to retreat in the face of a major protest but opens up a new front.
Unlike in the past when there was some uncertainty if not secrecy over changes in favor of the builders, it is now blatant. All the massive changes of change of zone from orchards and even forests to luxury and super luxury residential complexes is staring Goans in their face. Goa is waking up to the fact that Asagao has been converted into a mini-Gurgaon and indeed, the whole of the green cover of the state may disappear rapidly.
It is in the context of these alarming developments that former chief justice of Allahabad high court back in Goa, Justice Rebello has stepped in to lead a pan Goan movement to halt further loot and plunder of the Goan countryside. To protect the agricultural lands and salt pans which still exist, and the lakes and the hills of Goa. It is a tough battle because the enemy is not the real estate lobby but the State government which is actively conniving and colluding with builders.
Tragically, it is the aamdar and khasdar whom Goans have elected to power in good faith, who’re responsible for the destruction of the fragile ecology of the state. As the second and most crucial attempt to stop the politicians from handing over Goa fully to the real estate lobby begins, it is going to be a tough task. Goans should understand that saving Goa is a community project. Every Goan has to be involved in the new Goa Bachao Abhiyan. Safeguards have to be built so that no government in the future can sell Goa and sacrifice the interests of Goans. There is a call to restore the glitter of Bhangarachem Goem, Golden Goa. The unfortunate part is that the politicians have sold and scraped away much of the gold coating already. Only brass is left perhaps. But the people have to be rallied to save what is left of the old Goa. The damage should be contained and future damage and he ongoing conspiracies should be exposed and stopped. That is the mandate of the Justice Ferdino Rebello, the former chief justice of the Allahabad high court, who seems to have taken on the mantle of the new redeemer to lead the reclamation project.
HOPEFULLY, the now happily retired Justice Ferdino Rebello will succeed in leading Goa to creating a monument like that of Christ, the Redeemer – the magnificent statue of which towers over the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro. Can we create a new statue of liberty which will safeguard the rights of the Goan people and prevent any further destructive development?

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