Team Herald
MARGAO: More support for the amended Section 16B of the Town and Country Planning Act came from different quarters today including a priest and former minister Aleixo Sequeira who advised all Goans to check the zoning of their land as his land zoning was changed from settlement to orchard even when he was a minister.
Aleixo Sequeira while stating that he is the owner of three plots of adjacent land in Colva where he has now set up his resort said that one plot admeasuring 1,575 square mts surveyed under No 23/15 was changed from settlement zone to orchard land.
“I regret to admit that this change was made even when I was a minister and I did not even know about it and came to know about it only recently following which I applied for correction and said he has to spend money for no fault of his to correct the zoning of the land.
“The zoning is done by officials sitting in their air conditioned offices without visiting the site and that is why such things happened and only after I applied for correction officials of the TCP, Agriculture and Forest Department came and inspected the land,” he said.
Besides, he said another piece of land belonging to him in Raia has been changed to orchard land from earlier settlement zone and further a plot of land belonging to his brother in Raia has also been similarly changed from settlement to orchard.
“But my brother has got a sanad and that should not be a problem,” he said while disclosing that he has not sought rectification of the zoning of his land in Nuvem and reiterated that the officials should stop “painting the maps by sitting in their offices instead of visiting the site:.
Meanwhile, Cortalim Parish Priest Fr Diogo Fernandes thanked Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardessai for bringing about the amendment to the Town and County Planning Act that will enable him to correct the zoning of his ancestral property.
He said that his family owns 18,700 sq mts of land in San Jose de Areal next to the Industrial Estate of which a small portion was shown as industrial zone and the rest was marked as settlement zone all these years.
However, all of a sudden the settlement zone was changed to orchard land thus upsetting the family plans of setting up a higher secondary school there to be managed by the Aninha Educational Trust established in the name of their mother.
“Section 16B gave us an opportunity to make the correction and we have paid Rs 30,000 as processing fees to make the correction,” he said adding that in 60 days the correction will be made and his family can pursue their dream of having an educational institute there as they have already applied to the Education Department for permission.
