‘Scrap conversion of eco-sensitive land under Section 17(2)’

Panaji: The Pilerne Citizens Forum (PCF), on Monday, demanded that all eco-sensitive land that was converted to settlement under Sec 17(2) of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act be reverted to its original state.“Our request to govt is to keep the status quo, keep the land as it is. Or else we will move our complaint to the Supreme Court,” said Prakash Bandodkar, president of the forum. The forum has alleged that TCP minister Vishwajit Rane approved the conversion by exploiting the sub-clause of Sec 17(2) to give land clearances for areas.“The HC permitted govt to include portions of land which were left out in the RP 2001, to be corrected and included in RP 2021. But there is no provision for forest area, eco-sensitive regions, and NDZ being converted under this act,” Bandodkar said.