In Goa, developers are grabbing eco-sensitive hilly land – ‘legally’
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Right before the Mapusa river meets the Mandovi river near Panjim, it crosses the wetlands, creeks and low lying paddy fields of Salvador Do Mundo. Surrounding these large stretches of paddy fields are houses and forested hills with steep slopes. Telangana-based real-estate company, KGL Realtors Private Limited bought 20,000 square metres of land on one of these hills.
When the land was bought, the sale deed described it as “barren and waste land”. In Goa, a state-wide regional plan dictates what activities are permitted on a piece of land. The land that KGL bought is zoned as eco-sensitive land where development is regulated. It specifically categorises all of it as Natural Cover and part (4,000 square metres) of it as Natural Cover with “No Development Slopes”.
The Regional Plan 2021, published in 2010, marked nearly 82% of the state as eco-sensitive zones, providing them with protection from rampant construction and development.
Land is a state subject in India and all states have town planning acts which govern spatial planning. But other than seven states, these acts only focus on urban areas. In Goa, the regional plan was created based on the provisions of the Town and Country Planning Act and covers the entire state.
Over the last eight years, the government has...