from daijiworld's special correspondent

Panaji, Jan 19: The Nationalist Congress Party, alliance partner in Congress-led state government, has welcomed the decision to denotify the Regional Plan 2011 with certain reservations.

”Though the cabinet has decided to withdraw the Regional Plan 2011, it has come a trifle late due to the avoidable public harassment,” NCP Goa unit General Secretary Surendra Furtado has said in a statement here.
 
”The mood of the public was known during the Panjim rally in December and it ought to have been scrapped at that time,” he said.

 “But the government was testing the waters by trying to ride roughshod over the people’s wishes”, Furtado said, adding that the people’s sustained campaign has yielded dividends.

 "This is a lesson for all governments that people’s wishes are supreme and the people cannot be taken for granted", he said.

Furtado said that it is imperative that the government brings the issue to the logical end by not only maintaining a round-the-clock  vigil on construction violations along the  coast, but whatever constructions have been carried out by builders specially along slopes and  costal areas in violation of rules are demolished.

The NCP leader urged the government not to wait for NGOs and other groups to stir a hornet’s nest before deciding to hit the axe on illegalities.