Reuben S, Chicalim
In the recently concluded Legislative Assembly, many noteworthy questions were raised by the opposition. However, most of these were not pursued to their logical conclusion, either being deferred or studiously ignored by the government. One such was with regard to the OPD(Outline Development Plan) being enforced on several villages (Chicalim, Bogmalo, Sancoale, Issorcim, Chicolna) of Mormugao taluka and Taleigao village near Panaji.
If these ODPs are finalised then there will be to villages to plan for the draft RP-2021. This is a mockery of the whole participatory planning process envisioned by the task force. While the villages in Mormugao have received these soon-to-be-obsolete copies of the draft RP-2021, Taleigao village is still to be a part of this process. Many constructions have started in these zones without complete permissions, as the builders are assured in the knowledge that these will be eventually approved after paying some paltry fines and substantial bribes.
If the government notifies these ODPs, it might as well declare these villages as municipalities and dissolve the Panchayats. After all the ODPs have merely served to concretetise the village by adding meaningless settlement structures. The Cortalim MLA argues in favor of legalising these ODPs by stating that RP-2021 has declared around 80% of Goa as no-development ecologically sensitive zones. But does this justify declaring 80% of the area in these plans as settlement areas?
The queer judgement of the government equating development to creating housing projects begs to be questioned. These vote-bank policies have driven the local village infrastructure to the brink of collapse and local villagers to the brink of depression.
The Rape of Chicalim 