VASCO: The Minister for Panchayats Mauvin Godinho has said that the State government will not allow any illegal constructions to come up in the State and from January next year and the government would start the process of issuing token numbers to the existing houses.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function to distribute wheelchairs, walking sticks, spectacles to senior citizens and disabled at Bogmalo Panchayat under Rashtriy Vayoshri Yojna on Sunday.
“The government is firm on not to allow any new illegal constructions across Goa. However, since governance is a continues process and as decided during last government tenure, we will legalise illegal houses as per a cutoff date. This process is going on and soon it would be declared since when government will start the process to legalise illegal houses built on private land,” Godinho said.
“Secondly, I also want to inform that the former government had stopped issuing token numbers to illegal houses. After having a month-long discussion on the issue, it is now decided that from January next year, the government will start the process of issuing token numbers to the existing houses. By doing, this we will get a record about existing and new houses. This will work on both ways, legalising existing structures and not allowing any more new structures, this policy is very clear,” he said.
Commenting about illegal kiosks, he said, “The panchayats across Goa have started allowing new kiosks and that too along the highways. According to me, it is incorrect and they should now allow any new kiosks in their village jurisdiction. Instead, they should identify and make a designated zone to rehabilitate existing kiosks and having so many kiosks is an eyesore.” Similarly, he said, having these kiosks is a hindrance to traffic and thirdly it falls under the category of unorganized illegal development which no government wants.
“Today, when I was on my visit to the Chicolna-Bogmalo Panchayat, I saw an increase in such illegal kiosks and therefore issued directions to the panchayat to remove such new illegal kiosks immediately and to shift all existing roadside kiosks to a designated zone. In due course, the government will issue similar directions to all the panchayats across Goa,” he said.
