MARGAO, MAY 28
If the district authorities are to be believed, it will take a fortnight or so to fully streamline the newly-constituted flying squads to tackle illegal land filing and hill cutting.
The authorities, however, felt that the exercise would succeed only if the Town and Country Planning Department is pro-active and serious in addressing the issue of hill cutting and land filling head on.
This was communicated by the nodal officer and Additional district Collector, South Prasanna Acharya when a delegation of the village Groups of Goa called on him to demand streamlining of the flying squads.
Acharya said since the flying squads have been put in place at the initiative of the Chief Town Planner, the TCP should be equally serious in taking the exercise to its logical conclusion.
In this respect, Acharya said the authorities have put a system in place, wherein the flying squad would issue immediate stop work order at any hill cutting or land filing site and expected the TCP to lodge a FIR with the police within two days. “We are serious and we expect the TCP to show the same seriousness. We want to make the TCP proactive”, he said.
Incidentally, contrary to the statement by the District Collector, G P Naik that the flying squads stand streamlined after Thursday’s meeting with the Deputy Collector, the Additional District Collector has said it will take 15 days to put the flying squads in place.
Acharya further said that the authorities will ask the Chief Town Planner to provide a copy of the permission granted for hill cutting and land filling to help the flying squads to attend to the complaints. ‘If there is any violation, the flying squads will immediately issue stop work order and refer the matter to the TCP for action. We have made arrangement for a dedicated vehicle”, he said, adding that deputy collectors will work in rotation.
Activist Judith Almeida expressed satisfaction that the authorities have decided to streamline the flying squads, but appealed to the Chief Minister and the Chief Town Planner to please respect the rights of the people of Goa. “Please don’t take the people for granted. Do not ignore public opinion, the people will no longer take things lying down”, he asserted.
