Team Herald
PANJIM: The Old Goa panchayat has decided to initiate proceedings to revoke the license of the project, reacting to the widespread protest against the construction project that has come up in a protected area. The decision was announced following the statement Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar’s statement to the media that permissions for the project will be revoked.
This decision also comes against the backdrop of an ongoing hunger strike at Old Goa by the locals, who have been demanding that the project be demolished and criticising the role of the BJP government given that the project’s promoter is allegedly BJP national spokesperson Shaina N C’s husband.
Old Goa sarpanch Janita Madkaikar also announced that the panchayat will hold its panchayat meeting on November 30 where it will issue a stop-work order along with a show-cause notice towards withdrawing the construction license.
Responding to queries as to why they have waited for so long, panchayat members said that as per the legal procedure, they had received the approvals that had been granted by all government departments concerned including the TCP. The panch added that TCP is the technical authority and on the approval granted by them and the other departments like Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) and Health Department, the panchayat had gone ahead and given the construction license.
When asked about the recent protest, a panch claimed that they had not received any memorandum from the Save Old Goa Action Committee (SOGAC), which has been coordinating the protests and also questioned why there have been protests only now and not since the year 2016. The panch however said they were aware of the case being taken up in the courts.
The panch said only when they received a complaint from a local demanding demolition of the structure, did they go through all the files all over again.
When they reassessed the files, the panchayat body noticed an anomaly.
“We have now found that the Conservation Committee approval was clearly for repairs and not for reconstruction. Based on this we have decided to revoke the license,” she added.
The Sarpanch also pointed out that they had been waiting for the legal opinion from their lawyer.
The panchayat body also denied all the allegations that were made against them by some of the protestors.
When asked about the fraud that has been alleged by the protestors, the panchayat body shifted blame to the government and said there could have been a forgery in some of the documents as approval was granted for such a big structure to replace a much smaller structure.
A panch said they were also concerned about the heritage of Old Goa and the views of the people. The panch member also pointed out that he too had not seen the big structure in the past, which is supposed to have been there at the site according to the government records. Reportedly permissions were granted by the government to the project on the grounds that a massive structure existed there earlier, something that the protestors have shown evidence to prove that this is false and grossly untrue.
