Team Herald
PANJIM: The opposition MLAs, including former Housing Board Minister Atanasio Monserrate, have urged the anti-corruption branch to probe the Goa Housing Board for alleged irregularities in land acquisition in Neura-O-Pequeno.
Addressing the media, MLAs Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, Vijai Sardesai and Monserrate alleged that a huge chunks of land were illegally allotted to a private firm by the government in 2013.
“It is a big scam and we want ACB to probe it. Just like how ACB has booked then Housing Board Minister Nilkanth Halarnkar and Managing Director Elvis Gomes, we want an FIR to be filed in this case also,” they demanded.
NGO GenNext has already filed a complaint in this regard before ACB but it has not been registered, Sardesai said. The question in this regard was slated for answer during Question Hour on Monday.
Monserrate said that GHB at its meeting on August 11, 2006 resolved to acquire land surveyed under Sy No 23/1 & 24/1 measuring 2,06,900 sq mts at Neura-O-Pequeno. “It was just a recommendation. In 2007-12, a new government came to power, however, the issue remained untouched,” he said.
However, the BJP government in November, 2012 issued Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act and then the State Level Land Acquisition (SLAO) officer submitted its report under section 5A. “The government, considering the objection in the report, sent the matter back with the instruction to give an opportunity to the objector to prove their objection. This is illegal,” the MLA alleged.
Monserrate said that accordingly, the SLAO had complied with the direction and re-submitted a 5A report recommending issuing a notification under section 6 vide letter dated December 24, 2013.
“The last date of the issue of notification was December 27, 2013 but the notification under section 6 was not issued and thus the proceeding lapsed,” he said.
