GUILHERME ALMEIDA
The Town and Country Planning (TCP) department has moved for revocation of the technical clearance issued to the controversial Curtorim hotel project. It has issued a notice to Ira Exotica Pvt Ltd to show cause within 15 days why the technical clearance order dated June 26, 2014 given for the project should not be revoked.
TCP officials said the government has decided to review the technical clearance order granted to the hotel project as the land acquisition process has not yet proceeded further and on finding that widening of road would face stiff opposition from the land owners.
The TCP has come out clear saying its conditional technical clearance dated June 26, 2014 issued for the project cannot sustain in the given circumstances. Six months ago, the TCP had accorded technical clearance for the hotel project, that is facing stiff opposition from the villagers, on condition that completion certificate will be issued only after proper development of the internal road leading from Major District Road (MDR) to the property, is accessible by 8 metre wide road.
Coming out categorically in respect of the road width leading to the hotel project site, which has been a bone of contention amongst the villagers, Town Planner R M Borkar said, “As the road serving the plot does not have the actual required width, i.e 8.0 mt for construction of hotel as required under the regulations, and since the widening proposed by the PWD does not seem to be practical in the near future, the conditional technical clearance dated June 26, 2014 issued by the TCP cannot sustain in the given circumstances.”
The TCP, sources said, had gone in for the latest status report on the proposed land acquisition of the road following complaints and representations received from Curtorkarancho Ekvott and other villagers questioning the veracity of the approval granted to the hotel project.
Incidentally, the PWD, which had in the past maintained that the proposal for land acquisition was sent to the government, even going to the extent of saying that the publication of section 4 is awaited, has finally confessed that the administrative approval and expenditure sanction for the land acquisition was not yet accorded, throwing haywire all plans to initiate the proceedings to acquire land to widen the road to the hotel project to eight metres.
Activist Abhijit Prabhudessai said the villagers have come to know that the TCP has issued notice for the revocation of the technical clearance given for the hotel project for want of an eight-metre road. “Since the 15 days time frame to reply to the show cause notice is over, we would now insist on the TCP to revoke the technical clearance immediately,” Prabhudessai asserted.
