VASCO: Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) through the office of the Mormugao Deputy Collector issued final notices to 157 illegal hutments on Baina beach on Wednesday. “Although GCZMA had issued 159 notices, only 157 could be served as the remaining two had already been demolished by the State in the demolition drive on June 20, 2015,” Mormugao deputy collector Sabaji Shetye said.
GCZMA has given 15 days to the parties to remove the structures failing which the deputy collector would carry out the demolition.
As per the notice, the parties have been informed that the authorities had issued show cause notices to 158 hutments however only 58 persons filed replies. All the replies received by GCZMA, along with the application for regularisation of structures, have irrelevant documents that do not collaborate with the structures and no evidence is there to show that the structures existed before February 1991, nor was there any permission/consent/NOC from the competent authorities available to show that structures were allowed to be erected by present or earlier owners.
Battling at different courts to seek relief, the residents of these hutments received a shock after receiving GCZMA final notice. Those still residing without water and electricity for the past five months questioned the timing of the notices.
They said, “This is festive season and Ganesh Chaturthi is fast approaching. We were gearing up for the festival which we celebrate together but the way the authorities are trying to put us under pressure shows that the government believes in harassing us all the time and surely working under some political influence,” said Baina resident Rajesh T.
