Team Herald
VASCO: the Chicalim Panchayat on Sunday unanimously rejected government’s decision to notify the village as urban area.
At an extraordinary special gram sabha, the panchayat discussed the inclusion of the village in the list of 56 villages as urban areas as notified by the Revenue Department in its order dated January 30, 2020.
Sarpanch Seby Perreira advised the villagers to introspect and decide on the future course of action as the notification has changed the status from village to urban and promised to do everything in his capacity to protect the villagers’ interest and ensure no harm is done to the village in the name of development.
Capt Viriato Fernandes of Goencho Avaaz questioned the motive behind the sudden move of the Revenue Department and expressed apprehension that the same may have been done at the behest of the real estate lobby for facilitating construction in coastal villages.
He accused the government of hastily trying to change the status of the village to urban area without consulting the panchayat and the people, with the sole aim of increasing revenue collection from the locals and at the same time reduced the road tax to facilitate rich car buyers.
Fernandes questioned whether the Panchayat Minister, who is the local MLA, was kept in the loop while including 56 villages in the list.
He said the move smacked of ulterior motive more so as the villagers had just prepared and submitted the CZMP wherein the real estate lobby had restrictions as per CRZIII status of the village.
He questioned as to why the Taleigao village represented by the Revenue Minister herself was not included in the list as Urban areas despite having a huge population.
