Team Herald
PANJIM: Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Vishwajit Rane has said that the TCP department will not give any more permission for hill cutting.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Minister Rane said, “Development of hilly areas will not be allowed," adding that the government was "contemplating of tweaking the law to increase the hill cutting gradient threshold to more than 25 per cent."
He further stated, "In the last two and half years, 900 to 950 cases were filed by TCP Department against land related illegalities. But no permissions were given for hill cuttings and at least for last six months we have not given permission for hill cutting. For genuine cases we may appoint an additional scrutiny committee.”
Stating that no one had stopped the TCP Department from taking corrective actions, Rane said that his department will not process a single application related to Curtorim hill cutting where the set gradient norms were not followed.
Earlier, Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco submitted a memorandum to the TCP Minister regarding change of zones done illegally.
“We will put it before the TCP Board and scrap the conversions if the need be,” Rane told the Curtorim MLA.