GAURESH SATTARKAR
PANJIM: A day after
O Heraldo exposed the ‘unauthorised’ hill cutting at Sirvoi in Quepem, Quepem Deputy Collector and Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) Manohar Karekar directed the Deputy Town Planner of the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department to investigate if development permissions or approvals were issued by the department for the work.
In his letter, Karekar also directed a probe into whether the ‘activities’ fall within any planned development zones and violate any provisions of the Regional Plan or Outline Development Plan. The letter seeks a report ‘at the earliest’ to enable necessary action and urges the deputy town planner to take appropriate action under the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, 1974, if any unauthorised development was identified. The hill cutting is taking place in survey numbers 62/3-A and 122/1-C.
Additionally, the Deputy Collector and SDO issued a show cause notice to property owner Santosh Phal Dessai, questioning why action should not be taken against him for conducting hill cutting in the No Development Zone (NDZ).
Karekar’s letter began by referencing the O Heraldo report titled ‘Illegal Hill Cutting Sparks Outrage in Sirvoi’, which brought the issue to his attention.
O Heraldo had revealed that, despite previous orders, including a show cause notice and stop work order issued by the Deputy Collector South-I, unauthorised hill cutting activities have continued. An inspection by the flying squad further confirmed that the actions violated Section 17(A) of the TCP
Act 1974.
In related developments, Xeldem Panchayat ward member Dipti Naik, along with activists Jarvis Fernandes and Prashant Gauns Dessai, wrote to the South Goa Collector and other authorities, demanding immediate action against Santosh Phal Dessai, who is alleged to be a key person developing the land. They emphasised that previous complaints led to the Xeldem Village Panchayat issuing a stop work order on April 10, 2024, and a subsequent show cause notice from the Deputy Collector South-I on December 20, 2024.