Panaji, February 25 Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that RGP MLA Viresh Borkar has decided to continue his protest against the alleged misuse of land-use rules, despite requests from him to call off the agitation.
The protest by the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) legislator entered its fifth day on Wednesday. He has been demanding the scrapping of section 39A of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act.
The section is allegedly being misused to convert certain land into "settlement zones," where construction activity is allowed.
The CM met TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane on Tuesday evening to discuss the demand of protesters led by Borkar to scrap the controversial section.
After the meeting, Sawant told reporters that it has been decided to keep in abeyance the permissions granted to projects in the St Andre constituency, represented by Borkar, under section 39A.
The chief minister said that the cancellation of all permissions under the section was not immediately possible, as it had to go through a process.
"There is a process through which the permissions granted under section 39A can be withdrawn. It has to be taken up with the Town and Country Planning Board before a decision is made," Sawant said.
The chief minister said he tried to persuade Borkar over the phone to withdraw the strike, which the MLA had launched at Azad Maidan here.
"I spoke to him several times on the phone, but he has not agreed to withdraw the strike," Sawant told reporters.
Earlier on Tuesday, the chief minister had met Borkar at Azad Maidan with a similar appeal.
Speaking to reporters at his protest venue in the early hours of Wednesday, Borkar said he would not relent until section 39A is completely scrapped.
"We want the entire section to be scrapped," he said, adding that he does not trust the government regarding their assurance to keep it in abeyance.
"In the past, the government had kept the permissions in abeyance, but the work on projects still continued," he claimed.
Borkar said he wants the section scrapped across the entire state, not just for the projects in his constituency.
According to the MLA, section 39A of the TCP Act is being misused to convert village land into "settlement zones."
In Goa, a settlement zone refers to a specific land classification, designating areas where construction for residential or commercial purposes is permitted.
Local residents, predominantly from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) community, allege that their ancestral hill land is being converted into a settlement zone to benefit a "builder-politician nexus," endangering both their cultural heritage and fragile ecosystem.