More than 65 per cent of Goa’s orchards and natural cover are slated for conversion into settlement zones under the contentious Section 39A of the Town and Country Planning Act.
Town and Country Planning Minister Vishwajeet Rane revealed this information to the Goa Assembly in response to a question by St. Andre MLA Viresh Borkar during the most recent session in January.
Analysis of the applications received under Section 39A reveals that, beyond orchards and natural cover, land conversion is also being sought for paddy fields, cultivable land, agricultural land, and private forests.
Notably, some applications seek to convert land designated for institutional purposes, playgrounds, as well as commercial and industrial zones into settlement areas.
zones 39A (Click this for better visibility)
Some applications also include open spaces and roads of the land notified as settlement zones.
Some applications also target water bodies, no-development slopes, and sand dunes for conversion.
If all applications are approved under Section 39A, Goa stands to lose more than 68.65 lakh square metres of green land, including orchards, natural cover, paddy fields, and other cultivable areas.
Earlier, goanews.com analysed and identified the talukas most likely to be affected by Section 39A, which is expected to significantly alter Goa’s green landscape. (Click to read that news)
ORCHARD
As per the Regional Plan 2021, orchards in Goa mean “lands with a gentle slope/plateau areas, pasture land, waste lands, horticultural crop areas, land with shrubs, barren lands, etc.”
Of the 1216 applications received from all 12 talukas of Goa under Section 39A, a total of 494 (over 40%) are from the Orchard zone alone. The total area of these orchards is over 35 lakh square metres. It comprises more than half (51%) of the zones specified in the Assembly reply.
Some of these areas are partly orchard zones and partly No Development Slope, natural cover, cultivable land, paddy fields, agricultural land, land within the irrigation command area, protected and reserved forests, water bodies, etc.
A large number of applications are designated as ‘partly orchard and partly No Development Slope’, which could be cashew plantations found on hill slopes across the state.
NATURAL COVER
The Regional Plan categorises Natural Cover as “vegetated areas, probable private forest areas which need to be surveyed and may consist of cashew plantations, general tree cover, social forestry, some areas of kullagar or other green cover.”
Under 39A, the TCP department has received a total of 303 applications, covering over 10 lakh square metres of Natural Cover. Over 15 per cent of the total number of applications received seek to convert this natural cover into the settlement zone.
Even in these applications, a large part of the land is shown as ‘partly No Development Slope’, which could be part of the hillocks with cashew plantations, besides cultivable land and agricultural land.
PADDY FIELDS
Paddy fields, as per the Regional Plan, are strictly for rice production, including Khazan land. “However, this may also include “Bharad” lands, which are cultivated during the monsoon only but recorded as “Rice” in the survey records. This also includes fields which may have been kept fallow and not cultivated, as well as khazan lands which are basically low-lying fields/waterborne lands.”
Though the RPG21 is crystal clear that no development of any kind could be carried out in the paddy fields, under section 39A, 196 applications have been received, covering the land area of around 4.82 lakh square metres.
Even these applications include partly paddy fields and partly orchards, cultivable land, agricultural land in the irrigation command area and even partly settlement zones.
CULTIVABLE LAND
The Regional Plan defines cultivable land as excluding paddy fields and khazan, which are brought under cultivation through irrigation, and land used for pasture, dry agricultural crops, orchards, or barren lands.
Almost 84 applications have been received to convert around 3.80 lakh square metres of land under Section 39A.
Ironically, most of this land is already being brought under irrigation and classified under CADA. Some applications even seek to convert playgrounds adjacent to the natural cover into the settlement zone.
AGRICULTURE
The TCP Act defines agriculture as “(i) horticulture, farming, growing of crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers, grass, fodder and trees; (ii) any kind of cultivation of soil; (iii) breeding and keeping of livestock including cattle, horses, donkeys, mules, pigs, fish, poultry and bees; (iv) the use of land which is ancillary to the farming of land or any other agricultural purposes; but does not include the use of any land attached to a building for the purposes of garden.”
There are only 30 applications under this category, but they cover over 1.32 lakh square metres of agricultural land, sought to be converted to settlement under Section 39A. Many of these applications include land partly within an irrigation command area and even partly used for sports.
The table also shows applications and areas of forest, No Development Slope, sand dunes and water bodies. Through 13 applications, this land, measuring 1,71,260 square metres, is being sought to be converted into a settlement zone.
Similarly, the area marked for institutional purposes in the RPG21, of around 7.33 lakh square metres, includes playgrounds and even crematoriums.
COMMERCIAL & INDUSTRIAL
The table clearly indicates that converting land into the settlement zone is a more profitable business than running commercial or industrial activity. The two applications under commercial activity and 15 under industrial seek land conversion of around 2.48 lakh square metres.
However, nearly 80 per cent of it is industrial.
The majority of the industrial zone is owned by Zuari Industries Limited, with eight of the total 15 applications under Section 39A. The area is almost 92 per cent, meaning 6.75 lakh square metres, out of the total 7.33 lakh square metres sought for conversion to settlement.
This land was given to Zuari Industries by the Goa government purely for industrial and allied purposes, not for housing business.
