PANJIM: The villagers of Azossim panchayat have raised a strong objection to grant of provisional No Objection Certificate (NOC) for site development of a housing project at an area measuring over 1 lakh sq mtrs.
The locals led by activist Ramrao Wagh have alleged large scale corruption and misuse of authority in the grant of permission to the project of around 140 plots in the green forest area of the village located on Kadamba plateau.
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The villagers collectively have submitted a petition demanding joint site inspection suspecting illegal construction of various amenities. A huge gate as well as compound wall has been constructed without obtaining the final NOC and construction licence. They alleged and accused the panchayat of not acting on the complaint for more than 45 days despite reminders sent by the villagers.
The information obtained by Wagh under RTI and actual site visit revealed that a huge forest area has been cleared in Azossim, part of which is included in the private forest by Goa government as per latest orders of NGT.
“The mega project, first of its kind, in the village of Azossim Mandur is on the historical route of Kadamba kingdom, known as Rajbid and is very close to Healthway Hospital at Old Goa. The large part of the site is sloppy and had thick green cover abundant with forest trees and once was a prosperous cashew plantation that was looked after by local villagers. The land was sold to developers who are now promoting a project to sell plots for building houses with luxurious amenities and already marketed on the company website,” Wagh said.
The project is in two phases wherein Phase 1 comprises around 18,000 sq mts having around 38 plots while phase 2 admeasuring around 92,000 sq mts is having over 102 plots for sale. “But surprisingly both the phases are under different names of developers but for all practical purposes they have all common facilities including the common gate,” he said alleging that the project is given a nod without proper evaluation.
The villagers also alleged that the panchayat has not charged any fee for issue of provisional NOC when normally it is charged at Rs 5 per sq mtr and this resulting in loss of revenue as well as committing an illegal act.
