Goa town planning department clears housing projects without assessing water access
Representative Image PANAJI: In a state battling water scarcity across both urban and rural belts, the town and country planning (TCP) department continues to issue technical clearances for new housing and tourism projects on a daily basis without assessing a fundamental requirement—access to water. Rapid urbanisation, compounded by unchecked groundwater extraction and the burden of a swelling tourist population, has left Goa’s already strained water infrastructure gasping for breath. But despite the growing crisis, government departments continue to function in silos. Clearances for towering housing colonies and luxury resorts are handed out without consultation with the public works department (PWD)…