Goa’s Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Vishwajit Rane on Thursday said the TCP department granted approval to “correct” land use of over 17 lakh square metres of land under section 17(2) of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, 1974.
Section 17 (2) was introduced through an amendment to the TCP Act and notified in March 2023. The controversial section allows the correction of privately owned plots in Goa’s Regional Plan 2021, based on individual applications from such parties to “correct inadvertent errors” or “rectify inconsistent or incoherent zoning”. The section was read down by the High Court of Bombay at Goa in March. The state government has subsequently challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court.
During Question Hour in the Assembly, Rane said that no cultivable land has been converted under the provisions of the TCP Act. Rane said the TCP department received 950 applications for land use zone changes under section 39A of TCP Act. Section 39A, notified in 2024, empowers the chief town planner to alter the regional plan and/or the outline development plan to carry out zone change of land after 30 days’ public notice.
“Out of those, 200 applications were considered and 35 notified and a total of 2.7 lakh square metres land use was corrected under section 39A of TCP Act,” Rane said.
Congress’s Yuri Alemao, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, said, “A deeply troubling picture of systematic destruction of Goa’s agricultural land, all pushed through in the name of ‘zone correction’ under section 17(2) of the TCP Act, is seen. I want to ask the government whether it will bring a new regional plan.”
Alemao said the provision was brought for Goans who owned little land and whose land was wrongly zoned. “The data, however, shows that land (being corrected) is neither small, nor is it for Goans. Why is the department allowing large scale conversion of paddy fields and orchard land? People are worried about their lands being alienated. The ‘Sharmas and Vermas’ are buying second homes here. There are concerns about the carrying capacity of villages,” Alemao said.
Rane, however, said, “We are not converting any land under section 17(2). It is correction.”
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The Indian Express had reported in September 2024 that two state ministers, politicians from across party lines, and several real estate companies in Goa are alleged beneficiaries of the change in land use under section 17(2) of the TCP Act. According to the Express investigation, the TCP department approved a change in land use for at least 20 lakh square metres of land from March 2023 to August 2024, converting “green zones” into “settlements” — allowing construction activity for both residential and commercial purposes, pushing up the land’s value manifold.
