Team Herald
PANJIM: Alleging that Sancoale Panchayat was indulging in the illegalities, the villagers on Saturday reiterated their demand that the licence given for Bhutani project be revoked immediately.
Speaking to reporters at Azad Maidan in the city, Sancoale panch Tulsidas Naik said, “Bhutani has come to the village to destroy our hills. The carrying capacity of the village is already over and now 650 flats and 70 bungalows are to be constructed on the hilly slope.”
“We had asked the panchayat to carry out site inspection of the project as its proponents had not submitted proper documents but the ruling body went ahead and issued a licence and now on October 18, 2024, it said it will seek legal opinion,” he claimed.
He pointed out that in response to a show cause notice, Bhutani had sent its reply on October 9, but the Village Secretary failed to make o mention of it in the agenda of the meeting which was held on the same day.
He demanded that vigilance inquiry be initiated against the ruling panch members as they had issued license to the project within a short period of time.
“We demand that the licence granted for the project be revoked immediately else the entire villagers of Sancoale will come to Panjim and protest,” he said.
Nidhi Nilesh Naik, another panch of Village Panchayat Sancoale, said, “We do not want this project as there is neither proper electricity nor water supply in the villge. There is the issue of garbage as well and we have to keep our village clean. If mega projects of this magnitude continue to come in the village, then certainly it will be destroyed soon. Therefore, we demand that the Bhutani project be scrapped immediately.”
RTI activist Narayan Naik alleged that the panchayat has issued the license in spite of the project proponents accepting that they do not have proper documents.
Claiming that there is no signature of the Sarpanch on the minutes of the panchayat meeting held on August 24, Naik alleged that Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho does not have control over panchayat bodies and that is the reason that they are indulging in illegalities.
He questioned how a license was given for the project when the developers did not have No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for any departments?
The villagers gathered at Azad Maidan after Sancoale village panchayat decided to seek legal opinion on the Bhutani Infra’s reply to the show cause notice, much to the chagrin of the opposition panchas and villagers.