TUESDAY, MAY 07, 2024
HERALD NEWS BUREAU
PANJIM, APRIL 5
The secretary of the Paliem-Ucassaim-Punola panchayat has stated that the open air venue ‘Cameroon Kingdom’ did not have the permission to conduct activities at Paliem.
The owner of the open-air venue has, however, claimed that he has obtained the panchayat’s NOC regarding activities at his premises.
In an application under Right to Information Act on February 25, Ceilino D’Souza of Paliem-Ucassaim had sought details from the panchayat regarding the open air venue at Paliem.
To a query on whether the panchayat had issued an NOC to run the open-air hall, the panchayat secretary, in a reply on March 24, stated that “no NOC has been issued to run the open-air hall.”
Claiming that the venue was a paddy field, D’Souza sought to know if a conversion sanad had been obtained from the deputy collector. “No conversion sanad has been issued by the Deputy Collector in the paddy field. However, the fact may be confirmed from the deputy collector at Mapusa,” was the panchayat secretary’s reply.
To another query on whether the permission was given by the panchayat and other authorities, the secretary said: “No licence has been issued to construct sheds, rooms and toilets in the paddy field. No permission has been obtained from the TCP, PWD and Health departments.”
D’Souza had also sought to know if the panchayat had conducted any site inspection of the venue, to which the panchayat secretary replied that no such site inspection had been carried out at the open-air hall.
It may be recalled that a group of residents from Paliem-Ucassaim had filed a complaint with the Paliem-Ucassaim-Punola panchayat, stating that the open-air hall has been organizing various functions and guests have been parking their vehicles along the road, causing traffic problems.
Sarpanch Deepali Kudnekar had earlier stated that the open-air hall is legal and that it had obtained “all permissions from the panchayat and other government departments.”
“The hall is in existence for the last eight years and they are paying professional tax to the panchayat regularly. Besides, they have applied to put up a ‘sound closure’ at Camroon Kingdom recently,” the sarpanch had earlier told Herald. Incidentally, this request was granted by the panchayat on April 3.
Cameroon Kingdom owner Satish Madgaonkar had also claimed that he has set up the open air hall in the Settlement Zone and not in the paddy field, as is being alleged by some residents, after getting permission from the panchayat and other authorities.
“I have got the occupancy certificate from the panchayat for the pump house 7/10/2002. There is no construction other than the pump house. The panchayat had unanimously approved to levy professional tax in 2002. None of the people who are our neighbours have objected to the open-air hall. Moreover, some of the people who had initially complained against us have withdrawn their complaint,” Madgaonkar told Herald.
Madgaonkar also showed copies of the panchayat approval, whereby the panchayat has stated: “This (NOC) has been approved vide resolution 8 (4) passed in the meeting on March 30. This NOC is issued as per the request of the applicant (Cameroon Kingdom) to produce before the concerned authorities to obtain required licence.”
