PANJIM: The third inspection of the linear concrete wall constructed by a hotel on Vainguinim beach was held on Monday with the local residents, who are the complainants in the matter, hopeful of a positive outcome.
However, the day-long inspection that began at 11.30 am and culminated at 4.45 pm was marred by chaos right at the beginning.
Surprisingly, Additional Collector-1 North Goa, Gopal Parsekar, forcibly removed media persons from covering the inspection on a public beach Secondly, even though the complainants had sought permission to bring in experts and videographers for the inspection, this too was not allowed by Parsekar.
The inspection continued with just the persons who had received the notice of the site inspection in the presence of large amount of police personnel.However, here too there was another issue regarding the scope of the inspection.
One of the complainants, the Vainginuim Valley Residents Association (VVRA) informed Parsekar, referred to the findings of the previous inspection carried out by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) and the show-cause notice that had been issued to the hotel thereafter. VVRA then reiterated their objections to 5-point agenda of the third inspection as they felt it would ‘subverse the ends of justice’ as their complaint was about the construction of the wall on public property, which should have been the basis of the inspection.
While the collector asked VVRA to take up this grievance with GCZMA who were not present at the inspection, Parsekar instructed the Directorate of Settlement & Land Records (DLSR) representatives to carry out the survey on the original 5-point agenda.
At the inspection, the representatives of the Water Resources Department (WRD), was queried several times by Parsekar about the material used to construct the wall, if the same was eco-friendly and about the dimensions of the wall that is claimed to be constructed according to the plan submitted to the WRD. While there were no answers forthcoming from the WRD representative, when asked if he was aware about the depth of the wall, after much delay, he said it was 25 cm. However, when the same was measured in the presence of Parsekar, the depth was calculated to be over 80 cms. Parsekar then instructed the WRD representative to mention the same in writing to him. Thereafter, when it came to the checking the survey plan, Parsekar and the DSLR representatives followed only the Survey Plan of 1973, which is an authenticated notified plan.
Expressing satisfaction in how DLSR representatives carried out the survey, VVRA said they are hopeful that they will get a fair and straight forward inspection report.
“We expect that the Additional Collector will report his findings regarding the irregularities with the concrete wall, the plan that he was made aware of showing PVC pipes embedded in the sand, the extension of the gadga wall and irregularities regarding some other structures as well,” the VVRA members added.