Panaji: The ‘Enough is Enough’ movement has intensified its campaign to safeguard Goa’s agricultural land by submitting a draft Agricultural Land Protection Bill to all political parties, urging that it be introduced during the upcoming Budget assembly session.The legislation was drafted by retired chief justice of the Allahabad High Court Justice Ferdino Rebello. Letters enclosing the draft Bill have been submitted to legislature party leaders and presidents of six political parties, along with three independent MLAs.The outreach began on Saturday with submissions at the BJP office addressed to Damu Naik, who was unavailable, and to Congress president Amit Patkar and AAP president Valmiki Naik. The Bill seeks strict curbs on land use and construction outside the 526.3 sq km settlement zone notified under Regional Plan 21, including a complete halt to construction permissions beyond these limits. It also aims to nullify permissions for cutting hills and slopes that allegedly violated 2010 guidelines of the chief town planner, and questions the legality of 2023 guidelines issued by the Town and Country Planning Board.The draft proposes amendments to Section 17(A) to allow hill cutting up to 25% gradient only in public interest, with written justification. It calls for reconsideration of permissions under Sections 17(2) and 39(A) of the TCP Act, citing violations of the Goa Land Use (Regulations) Act, 1991, and provisions of the Code of Comunidades.The Bill seeks to repeal and amendments to certain sections of the TCP Act, the Goa Restriction on Transfer of Agricultural Land Act, 2023, and the Land Revenue Code. It proposes a new Section 22(A) restricting transfer of agricultural land for non-agricultural use.
