PANJIM: The concerned locals from Old Goa, activists, heritage enthusiasts, accompanied by the Save Old Goa Action Committee submitted a memorandum before the Director of Land Survey and Records (DSLR) over a massive fraud allegedly created by the department, as part of the effort to legalise the construction ongoing at Survey Number 4/1 in Old Goa.
They will now hold a ‘Maha Morcha’ on Sunday, November 21, at Old Goa, where a large number of locals are expected to attend to extend their support to this campaign.
It may be recalled that there have been several protests by the people of Goa against this construction project that has come up near a protected monument at Old Goa -- the Largo of St Cajetan, Viceroy’s Arch and St Cajetan Church.
While addressing the media persons after their meeting with the DSLR, the locals said that they were told that another survey would be conducted after they listed out the crucial errors in the present survey plans.
Activist Aruna Wagh criticised the government for allowing this fraud to take place and urged locals to check their own land records if such manipulations can occur.
Other locals questioned what happened to the assurance that had been given to them by Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar of holding a review meeting with all the stakeholders including the Church on this issue.
Speaking about their meeting with the DSLR, the delegation, producing evidence, pointed out that they discovered that a massive 397 square metres structure was not shown on the land survey map of 1978, but was instead added in 2015, upon the order of the District Collector, with the justification that a resurvey of the plot in question has been carried out, and that this structure was existing in the cadastral map of 1935.
Activist Ana Gracias listed out how these statements are grossly untrue. Firstly, she showed how the cadastral map of 1935 shows a structure measuring 150 sq mts and not 397 sq mts. From this, only 50 sq mts is drawn in a solid line, and the rest in dotted lines, she added. Dotted lines normally means garden or “paim-vaat”. Despite this, the Land Survey Department did a resurvey in 2015 where, one existing structure was found in dilapidated condition to be measuring almost 400 sq mts of existing structure on the plot.
“This is a fraud, because when we put the resurvey plan on top of the cadastral map, and a more recent map, we found the location shown in the resurvey of 2015 is in a different place! What’s more, the surveyed structure is coming over the wall of Largo of St Cajetan, this heritage wall has existed since the Viceroy's house was in the plot and is still standing today,” Gracias added.
Old Goa Resident Glean Cabral also pointed out that in his many years of living in Old Goa, he has never seen this structure of 400 sq mts, which is right on the road to the Divar ferry.
“A 3BHK house is around 100 sq mts on the ground, St Cajetan Church is 600 sq mts, so therefore a 400 sq mts structure cannot be such that it’s hidden away all this time,” Cabral added.
Cabral gave an ultimatum to the DSLR, and said that it is evident that the officers of DSLR had connived with the applicant to carry out an illegal construction of a new structure in the Protected Area at Old Goa.
“By falsely portraying that there existed a structure measuring 397 sq mts on the plot, the DSLR fraud has made the basis for all the other frauds of TCP, CRZ and others,” he added.
The protestors demanded that the DSLR correct the records, show the actual 50 sq mts building, within 15 days of receipt of this memorandum and evidence, failing which, they will be forced to take this up in a court of law.