08 Aug 2021  |   06:29am IST

Can a ‘repair’ of a house which did not exist, be the accepted permission for a massive real estate project that destroys Old Goa’s heritage?

The battle for the protection of Heritage structures in Goa has reached a flashpoint with the Save Old Goa Action Committee getting unprecedented support from people across all faiths and walks of life who want the main source of discontent, a massive construction project going on in full flow by a private politically connected project proponent. Team Herald went beyond the legal positions taken by both parties and the order to zero in on a basic reality. The NOC for the project was for a house repair and that too based on a claim that a house existed in that survey. However, the ASI traced that house to village Parcem in Pernem and in its report said that the claim of the project proponent was fake.This did not prevent a series of permissions and clearances to fast track this project by a willing and helpful government

It is a do or die battle that the young and old, from all walks of life are willing to fight for what clearly seems as a total assault on the heritage of Old Goa and a UNESCO protected site, for a real estate project. The Archeological survey of India has fought a long and hard battle against the politically linked builder in a project which involves close associates of two political parties.

The very fact that the relevant permissions from the TCP including its conservation board were given for the project in survey number 4/1 of village Ella on Old Goa to one Suvarna S. Lotlekar, for house repairs, for a house which was located in Parcem is Pernem is shocking.

The Save Old Goa Action Committee, which has been litigating against the project, acknowledges that there have been court orders which have allowed the project construction to take place because of government permissions received. It is the manner in which permissions have been given, which is the bone of contention and future agitation.

Which is why it is important to go to the roots of how this project was sanctioned in the first place. For “repairs of a house”. And the NOC of this was obtained on the basis of photographs shown to be in survey number 4/1, where the project site is. The all-important “permission for repairs to existing residential house was given on February 3,2020 by the Competent Authority and signed by Director Monuments of the ASI  for taking up repairs of the house in  the protected area of two centrally protected monuments.

To verify this an inspection was carried out by the said authority to check the veracity of the information when the ASI received information that no such old house existed in Survey 4/1 in Old Goa in the centrally protected area but the photo was actually of a house in Parcem in Pernem miles away from the site.

The inspection report is in possession of Herald and it reveals some shocking details. The inspection report stated that when the team reached the site where they were told the actual house interne, shown in the photograph submitted by Suvarna Lotlekar claiming to be a House in survey 4/1 in the heritage area of Old Goa Here is an excerpts from the report

“The House was inspected from all angles for details. On comparing the house with the photograph submitted by the applicant, all the details of architecture like the number and the type of the arches on ground floor, small entry gate, pilar capitals and foundations, the wooden railing of the veranda and the lay of the roof tiles matched”.

“There are only two people in the House, a lady and a man, both senior citizens. In approaching their house and making an inquiry, the lady asked us to talk to the man. The name given by the man was Dulba Laxman Naik Desai and the house is their ancestral property.”

“On informing him that Smt Suvarna S Lotlekar submitted the photograph of his house for seeking a NOC for repairs in Old Goa and asking if he knew Smt Suvarna S Lotlekar, he informed that he did not know anyone with that name…”

In the covering note of the inspection report Ramakrishna the Superintending Archeologist wrote his conclusion and stated “During the inspection, it is found that the photograph submitted by the applicant is FALSE and the claim of existence of the House in survey number 4/1 if Village Ella before 1992 is FAKE.

The NOC issued on the basis of this false photograph for repairs still stands. However even if one takes this NOC based clearly on false evidence is relied upon the conditions imposed to make this NOC valid have not been fulfilled. Some of the conditions for the “repair” (in reality, it is full-fledged construction) were

-The exterior colour should match with the monument

- There should be no change in the façade design

- There should not be any variation in length, breadth, and height of the structure after repairs in comparison to existing dimensions

- The permissions do not cover reconstruction

With regard to the last-mentioned clause “permissions” do not cover reconstruction, the project proponents are relying on one line in one of the High Orders on the litigation around the structure that  the terms repair and reconstruction are “disputed”:

But the ground reality clearly is that the NOC has been got for repairs. Father Noel Da Costa of the Save Goa Action Committee confirms that the ground reality is that a full-fledged construction (forget reconstruction) is going on at the property.