MARGAO: With the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department revoking the clearance of a controversial hotel project in Curtorim, the villagers have termed the move as a vindication of their two-year fight against the project.
The TCP has revoked the clearance given to the 85-room hotel project of M/s Ira Exotica Pvt Ltd, which was proposed at Vetnem, based on the fact that the road serving the plot did not have the required eight-metre width.
The TCP revocation order also quoted the Public Works Department (PWD) stand that the development of the eight-meter road is not feasible at this stage or in the future.
Accordingly, Town Planner R M Borkar has stated in the order that “as the road serving the plot does not have the required width of eight meters, and since the road-widening proposed by the PWD is not practical in the future, the conditional technical clearance dated June 26, 2014 issued by this office cannot be sustained in the given circumstances”.
He further stated that the government had decided to review the technical clearance order granted to the hotel project as the land acquisition process has not yet proceeded further and on finding that the road widening would not be feasible in the near future.
It maybe recalled that the TCP had received memorandums from Curtorkancho Ekvott and locals listing out objections to the granting of technical clearance to the hotel project
Based on this, in the two-page order, the TCP stated it they had requested the PWD assistant engineer to submit the latest status report on the proposed land acquisition for taking up the road widening. The PWD, vide letter dated November 3, 2014, informed that the administrative approval and expenditure sanctioned from the government was not yet accorded for the land acquisition, and therefore, further proceedings on this count could not be initiated.
With this order, the onus now shifts to the Curtorim panchayat, which is mandated to revoke the construction license granted for the project.
, given that it was granted based on the technical clearance granted by the TCP.
This decision will also boost the morale of villagers agitating against other projects, particularly in Carmona. This also makes the deputy director of panchayats’ order suspending the recent show cause notice issued by the panchayat against the hotel project irrelevant. However, activist Abhijit Prabhudesai criticised the panchayat for not sending the show cause notice based on the objections to the size of the road.
Local Rupesh Shinkre stated, “This proves what the villagers have been saying all along; the clearances and construction license should never have been given in the first place.” He went on to accuse the authorities including the PWD, the TCP and the panch of the area of indulging in manipulation to clear the project.
