Meetings were held with the people and with the government, and there was a massive public gathering on a Sunday in November, after which the Chief Minister feigned ignorance of the issue. A few days later the Dy Chief Minister revoked the technical clearance for the project that had been issued by the Town and Country Planning Department citing the illegalities involved in seeking the permission. On the same day, the local governing body – Old Goa panchayat – decided to cancel the permissions issued for the project.
The two simultaneous decisions came purely because a group of persons are currently on a chain hunger strike at Old Goa, seated opposite the Basilica of Bom Jesus where currently thousands of people are gathering daily for the novena in preparation for the feast of St Francis Xavier and thousands more tourists from across the country are strolling around the area and the protest is getting noticed beyond Goa. The chain hunger strikers received a boost when one other person – Advocate Amit Palyekar – decided to join them by going on an indefinite hunger strike. He was already on the third day of the hunger strike and showed no sign of withdrawing it until the demand of demolishing the structure was met. The government is yet to respond to this.
In effect, the government acted not because there were illegalities in the construction, but because the illegalities were pointed out to them and then highlighted and further the government inaction criticised mainly through media and the chain hunger strike. The government would never have acted otherwise, and based on past experience, the protestors are not withdrawing their hunger strike yet, despite the revocation of the technical clearance to the project. The argument is that the revocation order has come when the construction is almost complete and hence not entirely effective. What the people are demanding is demolition of the structure and will be satisfied with nothing less than that. Can the government oblige or does it believe that the revocation order is enough?
The revocation order had better not be a sop to keep the people happy, end the issue and hope that it dies down. The revocation order cites certain illegalities and these have to be probed further. Weren’t these discrepancies that have now been detailed, been noticed before? Did it take months of knocking on the doors of the authorities and the latter’s denials to discover the clear inconsistencies in the permission applications? This revocation order glaringly indicates that there was no proper scrutiny of the application at the time it was processed. Was it incompetence or was it some other reason that allowed the permissions to be granted at that time? The government has to come clear on this.
If the revocation order for the technical clearance has been issued merely because there is an election coming up and that this issue is bringing bad publicity to the government, then there will be no further steps taken. The construction could remain there, on the site. The strikers therefore may have to stay on at Old Goa till the next steps are taken. But what about Palyekar who is on an indefinite hunger strike? Is anybody concerned about him and his health? The State has to be more responsive to the situation, rather than enter into a denial mode or offer placatory gestures that mean little. The government has pointed out to certain illegalities, now it has to act on these.
