The controversial Bay View project in Reis Magos is facing stiff resistance from locals, legal action, and a denial of land access by the Comunidade.
Residents of Reis Magos feel that the pressure — on account of a Writ Petition filed before the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court and the Comunidade of Nerul denying the developers occupation or use of the access road on property in Survey No 103/1 — has pushed the developers to approach the Goa Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) for cancellation of the project’s registration.
Roshan Mathias from Candolim filed a Writ Petition praying that permissions granted for construction and development of property bearing Survey Nos 87/1-A-1, 87/1-A-2 and 87/1-A-3 for the project ‘Bay View’ be squashed and all permissions granted be set aside.
Many in the village believe it was the Writ Petition filed by Mathias — argued by advocate Nigel da Costa Frias and his associate Kartik Panchal — and the letter from the Comunidade of Nerul that may have triggered the project proponents to ask Goa RERA for cancellation of registration.
“Please do not call on this number,” stated Rajesh Bhatia, the authorised representative of the Bay View project. When prodded and questioned whether the company sought cancellation of registration with Goa RERA because of the Writ Petition filed at the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court, Bhatia remained non-committal.
“I have wonderful vivid memories of my youth spent at the foothills of Reis Magos hill in the 1960s when we lived there. The hill was full of thousands of wild trees and we would spend hours there hunting for cashews, zamlas, kantas and other wild fruits. It is disheartening to see the hill today totally barren with just some concrete retaining wall and big buildings and not a single tree in sight,” recollects businessman and international sportsperson Anil Madgavkar.
The Writ Petition prays that the Court prohibit any further development in the form of hill cutting, tree felling and construction of edifices on the listed properties.
“Demolish any structures built by the developers in the properties and restore the properties to its original,” is one prayer that has lightened the dour spirits of the locals.
“The greed of big builders and their crony politicians is shameful and disgusting. The court should arrest the big builders and the politicians who permitted the massacre of these beautiful hills and force them to replant the entire hill with forest trees,” adds Madgavkar.
The fight against the project began in 2008 when, on July 8, the Verem Citizens Forum made a representation to the Chief Town Planner opposing the cutting of hills in the properties, as they were situated on a steep slope.
Evidence perused by O Heraldo indicates that despite government officials being aware that the eastern part of the property falls within a No Development Zone (NDZ), the same was ignored.
On June 10, 2009, a citizens’ initiative called ‘UttGoenkara’ brought to the notice of the authorities that the developers were fraudulently encroaching on property that belonged to the Comunidade of Nerul and that permission for the same needed to be revoked.
“We sent them a letter a few days back telling them it is over and a case is now pending against them in the High Court. We are very clear, they cannot use our property for their access,” confirmed Comunidade of Nerul attorney Olencio Simoes.
“You are further called upon to restore the property to its original state and hand over possession of the said property to the Comunidade of Nerul, free from any obstruction, encroachment or construction, within fifteen days of receipt of this notice,” reads the notice to the developer accessed by O Heraldo.
“Being a small state, we have such few hills in Goa and one of the hills I used to see on my way to town and back was the Reis Magos hill. The license has been given in such an arbitrary manner that it is not even a hill now,” laments petitioner Mathias.
The project, argues the petition, is located on a slope designated as a ‘No Development Slope’ under the Goa Land Development and Building Construction Regulation, 2010, which expressly prohibits construction. Despite this, the developers undertook large-scale hill cutting and deforestation on the prohibited slope.
“Through this Writ Petition, I would like to set a precedent that whoever wants to cut a hill tomorrow will need to think a hundred times. Three fourths of this property being developed is in the NDZ, and we are challenging that,” assures Mathias.
Reis Magos Sarpanch Sushmita Pednekar did not call back till the time of going to press.