Joaquim to meet TCP officials to enable Chandor locals verify RP
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, DEC 5
Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao on Sunday promised to fix up an appointment with the Town and Country Planning Department officials to enable the villagers of Cavorim Chandor to check the map of their village before it is notified as part of the Regional Plan 2021.
While asserting that he personally was keen that the Regional Plan 2021 be notified as soon as possible, Alemao, however, pointed out that certain procedures have to be followed.
However, the villagers appealed that they be allowed to study the planning done for their village to ensure that whatever was discussed and decided at the various ward level meetings and the different village level meetings held to prepare the plan for the village is adhered to.
Conceding that the demand was justified and in the interest of the village, Joaquim Alemao offered to fix up an appointment not only with TCP officials but even members of the Task Force if necessary so that the fears and apprehensions of the villagers are allayed.
Reacting to his suggestion that a committee be constituted that will meet the officials, village Sarpanch Derick Braganza Pereira suggested that the very committee constituted to prepare the plan be entrusted this responsibility.
The villagers agreed to this suggestion and thanked the minister who is also the local MLA for taking this initiative, which incidentally is the first of its kind in the entire State.
Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao was bombarded with demands by his constituents when he visited the Village Panchayats of Cavorim-Chandor and Guirdolim to hear public grievances on Sunday and most of the demands pertained to improving paddy cultivation in the two villages.
After giving a patient hearing, Joaquim complimented the people for their suggestions and promised to call for a meeting of the officials of Agriculture Department and Water Resources Department to see how best the water logging of the hundreds of acres of paddy fields at Biczona can be tackled. He also agreed to talk to the Tourism Department to develop the Oilem Tollem in the village as a tourist attraction, and suggested that a Gram Sabha resolution to this effect would be helpful.
BLASTING: As there were conflicting claims over the extraction of black metal with the Communidade claiming that no license has been issued and the perpetrator asserting that he had all the permissions, Joaquim Alemao suggested that a meeting be held with the panchayat members, concerned villagers and the stakeholders being present to thrash out the problem. “I can understand the problem faced by the public as I have been to the place and seen the site myself,” he said while pleading helplessness to intervene in the face of the claim that the extractor had the necessary licenses.
However, the Communidade representative clarified that the agreement had lapsed and was not renewed and therefore the continuation of extraction of black metal was illegal.
However, Joaquim Alemao suggested that a joint meeting he held to thrash out the problem and former South Goa Zilla Panchayat Chairperson Clafacio Dias took up the responsibility of convening the meeting.
