Team Herald
CALANGUTE: Officials from the Bardez Block Development Office (BDO) on Monday conducted a site inspection of alleged illegal constructions in saltpans at Arpora following a complaint by two Mapusa residents.
Pradeep Ghadi and Sunil Divkar in their complaint alleged that a popular nightclub had illegally constructed apartments in the eco-sensitive salt pans bearing survey nos 158/0 and 159/0 at Sankwadi, Arpora without any permissions.
Talking to reporters, one of the complainant Divkar, a director of a tourism-related company which claims to be the owners of the property, alleged that while they had entered into an agreement with Surinder Khosla to construct 24 apartments but the latter allegedly put up more buildings in the salt pans thereby violating environmental laws.
The dispute led to Divkar and his partner filing a complaint with the Arpora-Nagoa panchayat which conducted a site inspection in February and observed that
illegal construction activities were carried out without any permissions.
The Arpora-Nagoa panchayat then issued a demolition order in April, following which the matter reached the Directorate of Panchayats which directed the Bardez BDO to conduct a site inspection on Monday.
The officials have observed that there are gross violations. “They have carried out construction in the open area meant for community activities and swimming pool. There is an illegal construction in the salt pans which is functioning as a famous nightclub. These are all violations and the law will take its course,” they said.