MARGAO: The locals on Sunday organised a meeting near the Azossim club to oppose a hotel project, which is under construction in the village.
The villagers invited the two panchas of the wards which were affected by the project. They were questioned by the villagers as to how the panchas agreed to grant permission. The panchas claimed that they are not aware of what is being constructed in the property.
Earlier last week, 200 people signed and submitted complaints against the construction but there was no response from the department. The Deputy Collector informed that he already drafted the notice. However, the same has not yet been issued.
During the meeting, the villagers resolved to inspect the site and called the policemen from Agassaim police station. The villagers marched to the site but the security guards did not allow anyone, including the police to enter the property. After a discussion with the owner’s representative, the villagers were allowed to enter. “We were shocked to see what was happening inside. Based on our documents we expected just 8 cottages covering 2000 sq mts under construction but we saw were 32 cottages under construction using concrete covering the entire 30000 sq mts,” claimed Rama, a local, who informed that the Deputy collector will be inspecting the site in a few days.
Rama also informed that the owner of the property challenged the panchayat resolution against the project and the panchayat’s inspection notice in the Additional Panchayat Director’s Court but the Panchayat has not attended any of the hearings.
“The hearing is on February 6 but the panchayat has not appointed a lawyer. If they don’t attend, the case will be dismissed. This is why the villagers are suspicious of the panchayat body”, he said.
“There are many frauds in this project. The Regional Plan shows the land as khazan. The sanad is used for residential purpose but TCP has issued a clearance for this commercial project. The project is not being constructed according to the approved plan”, Rama added.
