Colva cops directed to keep strict vigil on resort

Colva cops directed to keep strict vigil on resort
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, DEC 14
In an unprecedented action, Deputy Collector, Margao has directed the Colva police on Tuesday evening to book any person under Section 188 of the IPC contravening the stop work order issued to Colva-based resort.
In his order faxed to the Colva Police Station, Deputy Collector Johnson Fernandes made it categorically clear to the men-in-uniform to keep strict vigil on the hotel premises with immediate effect.
The police have been directed to submit a compliance report within 48 hours to the Member Secretary, Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority as well as to the office of the deputy collector.
The Deputy Collector’s order to book any person under the IPC assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of complaints by the Colva Civic and Consumer Forum that the hotel owners have been continuing with the act of repairs and renovations of the hotel premises without the requisite permissions from the CRZ Authority.
In his order to the Colva police, the deputy collector observed “merely because a report has been forwarded to the GCZMA, it doesn’t give a license to carry out works without permissions as required by law”.
Incidentally, the deputy collector’s office had earlier issued to stop work orders to the Colva police, but work at the hotel premises had continued despite the orders and the presence of the men-in-uniform.
In fact, the Colva police had last week claimed to have arrested an electrician working at the hotel site under preventive detention, but local activists had complained to the deputy collector the action had failed to deter the hotel owner from continuing with the work.
What had agitated the locals was the fact that while the authorities had been prompt in acting against CRZ violations by the traditional people, the officials have failed to act against the hotel project with the same speed and zeal.