Team Herald
Responding to allegations of panchayats being involved in legalising illegal construction around the State, Panchayat Minister Dayananad Mandrekar pointed to the Revenue department as having a major role as well.
“When it comes to the regularisation of illegal constructions in many villages, the Revenue department has a major role to play. Most corruption happens in comunidade land. The TCP and the panchayat themselves are also involved,” he told the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.
Several Opposition members had questioned the role of panchayat secretaries being involved in regularising buildings that were illegal. Opposition leader Pratapsingh Rane who had earlier in the day pointed to the lack of a Regional Plan as the cause of illegal construction said that several panchayat members were involved in corruption and regularising illegal buildings.
Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho raised the issue of paying of taxes to the panchayat, to which Mandrekar explained that a confusion in the minds of several people caused for the tax to stop, but that they were looking to restart with houses in villages paying house tax.
The contention among several MLAs including Congress MLA Alexio Reginaldo Lourenco was the giving of house numbers to people without even having constructed a house. “There are cases where panchayats grant house numbers to people before they’ve even built the house. This practice should be stopped. If the area falls in agricultural land, there should be no house numbers given at all,” he said.
Mandrekar on his part said he would look into the matter and conduct an inquiry. Rane on the other hand said there was a need to regulate house numbers and if possible, an officer should be appointed specially for the cause.
