Team Herald
PANJIM: The Save Old Goa Action Committee (SOGAC) has slammed the Chief Minister for claiming that he had never been sent any complaint and that no such complaint was given to him either, from those opposing the controversial construction project that has come up in Old Goa near a protected monument.
Herald had reported that on September 29, SOGAC and supporters, consisting of concerned citizens, had submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) in the Secretariat, after the CM, who they had tried to meet, did not meet them despite being in the building. The protestors had sought an appointment to meet him not just on that day but on various other days too.
The CM had in September claimed ignorance over the matter, a stance he stuck to until Saturday morning. Due to that, SOGAC’s memorandum was sent to his office to educate him on all the frauds that were committed by the BJP government in detail.
They were also shocked as to how the CM passed remarks about the project and tried to not take responsibility even though the construction work continued despite so many protests.
SOGAC had approached the Supreme Court and they expressed surprise that the CM could still state that he was not aware about the same and that he is only taking action after they had to come to the streets in large numbers.
“We are deeply upset hearing such statements from the CM of our State. It evidently means that his office is completely incompetent as they are not conveying the letters and representations of the people of Goa to him,” said Freddy Dias of SOGAC who had been in touch with the CMO for months now to seek a meeting with the CM.
“This memorandum in particular should have got his attention as it was titled ‘Fraudulent Permissions/Licenses granted by the State Departments for an Illegal Construction at Old Goa’ and signed by around 30 citizens,” he added.
SOGAC also gave a timeline of what happened before they handed over the memorandum to the CMO so that the public gets a perspective on how the CM kept trying to dodge them.
They had called the CMO on September 8 but were informed that the CM was busy because of Ganesh and thus they were told to come after that.
On September 15, they met the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in person at the Secretariat and were told that they will be given an appointment within two days. SOGAC was also requested to send an email.
They sent that email to the CM on September 16 but got no reply.
They sent a follow up email to the CM on September 20 and September 25 but got the same response.
Thereafter they tried calling the OSD and CMO but their calls were not answered and thus they submitted the memorandum on September 29. They had got a stamp from the CMO’s office confirming that the CMO received their memorandum.
