Team Herald
PANJIM: North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA) Chairman and Calangute MLA Michael Lobo has assured Calangute residents that the area required for the crematorium’s expansion will be taken into possession by the planning authority.
Following encroachment by a starred hotel near Kobrawado crematorium, locals had gathered near the site and asked the local MLA to intervene. The starred hotel had raised huts near the crematorium for tourists.
Lobo said that complaints made by the locals to the panchayat were futile and the situation was tense as locals had gathered to demolish the huts put up by the hotel. Following his intervention the hotel owner agreed to clear the area and started doing so.
Babreshwar Temple Committee member Yashwant Kandolkar said the hotel has illegally constructed the huts in a no development zone and that the Calangute panchayat has failed to take action despite a series of complaints.
Another member Nikanth Teli said there should be 30-meter setback as per the government notification.
