PANJIM: The Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) has condemned the act of suppressing people’s right to know of developments taking place in their village panchayat by blocking permissions for meetings on land conversions convened at Old Goa on Tuesday, March 26.
Concerned by a message that is doing the rounds indicating blatant zone changes of Old Goa’s land to settlement under the controversial section 17 (2) by the Chief Town Planner of Goa, as well as Investment Promotion Board (IPB) areas mushrooming in Old Goa around the heritage monuments, concerned citizens of Old Goa sought to organise an awareness event. Experts from GBA were invited for the awareness meeting.
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Led by Glen Cabral, the villagers obtained permission to hold the meeting at the Old Goa panchayat hall after paying a fee of Rs 5,000 and informing the secretary of the purpose. It is important to note that the same hall was booked for a BJP ‘Vikshit Bharat’ awareness event on March 19.
Despite precedent of awareness meetings and the granting of rights to Cabral, the Old Goa village panchayat on Saturday, issued a letter asking that Cabral clarify the purposes for booking the hall, saying that no public event can be organised without prior permission. If this was the policy, why were fees collected and the permission given GBA questions? The GBA sought to know.
The GBA has alleged that a politician who is also the TCP Board Member attempted to block the meeting. The GBA has condemned the same and demanded that the awareness meeting be allowed, and freedom of speech upheld.
