All 74 houses are illegal constructions
47 of these get second notice while 27 issued first notice
Vasco Mamlatdar has identified space to provide temporary shelter
TEAM HERALD
VASCO: Mormugao Deputy Collector Gaurish Shankhwalkar on Monday issued a second notice to the 47 illegal houses to vacate the area within 24 hours, while the Water Resources Department issued notices to 27 other illegal houses, which are also precariously located near the Sewage Treatment Plant at Baina beach.
Shankhwalkar has stated that if the residents do not vacate their houses within the next two days, they would be forcefully evicted from the site.
“Since the 47 respondents, who were earlier issued an eviction notice had not left the site, we had to issue them with a second notice,” Shankhwalkar said.
When asked why the WRD had issued notices to 27 other structures, Shankhwalkar replied, “The other houses need to be vacated as the WRD needs to construct a retaining wall to prevent the rough sea from further damaging the houses.”
To another query on the rehabilitation of the 74 families issued with eviction notices, the deputy collector informed that the Vasco mamladar had identified some place to temporarily provide shelter to the displaced families.
Asked if authorities had taken into account the fact that children were studying in nearby schools, Shankhwalkar replied, “These families would have to make their own arrangements. The government cannot do much in the matter as all these 74 houses have been illegally constructed on the Baina beach.”
Panel formed to recover outstanding dues
VASCO: Confronted with many issues affecting the council, Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) Chief Officer Megnath Porob, who took charge on Monday, immediately constituted a committee to work out ways to recover the outstanding dues which runs into crores of rupees. The main issue to have preoccupied Porob is the council’s near empty coffers.
When contacted for his comments on the Provident Fund money of retired MMC employees which is being used to pay staff salaries, Porob said, “The core issue is how to recover the outstanding amount which runs in crores of rupees and pay the retired employees their PF and how to tackle the staff salary.”
“I will place before the DMA the problem faced by the retired employees and ask for some funds to tide over the difficulties and pay PF to the retired employees and also take care of the salary of the staff,” said Porob.
“The next important and difficult task is to call a meeting of the oil companies and direct them to pay at-least half of their pending dues.”
Porob added that he has to constitute a departmental selection committee to conduct inter-department promotions and also recruit new staff for the vacant posts.
“There are many issues faced by the MMC, which I hope to solve with the help of the councillors and administrative staff in the days to come,” he said.
