PANJIM: The State government has decided to set up a material recovery facility (MRF), storage facility, bio-gas digester and a cattle pound at the Santa Cruz village panchayat.
The cabinet in its last meeting approved a proposal to transfer 4480 square metres government land situated at Calapor in Santa Cruz Village Panchayat to the Directorate of Panchayat for the proposed MRF storage facility and a cattle pound.
The cabinet transferred the land from one department to another along with the lessees. The value of the land is approximately Rs 6.72 crore. The Directorate of Panchayat will now give the land to the village panchayat for its use.
Former Santa Cruz sarpanch and current panchayat member Mariano Araujo said that the process to transfer the government land had started during his stint as the sarpanch in 2017 and expressed his happiness over the transfer of the government land to the directorate of panchayat.
“I started the process to transfer the government land to the village panchayat to set up the material recovery facility and obtained no objection certificates (NOCs) from the Town and Country Planning Department and the Forest Department and then submitted the proposal to Santa Cruz MLA Tony Fernandes for further decision,” Araujo said.
It may be recalled that the High Court of Bombay at Goa had directed all the village panchayats to identify land in their respective jurisdiction to set up the material recovery facility and then to apply to the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) for approval. The court had also asked the GSPCB to dispose of all applications submitted by the village panchayats as expeditiously as possible.
