NESHWIN ALMEIDA
neshwin@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: The stalling of the march of the Rahejas was a mission for the people of Carmona for close to seven years. The significance of the sudden, unexpected but pleasant surprise in the form of the TCP department’s order to stall the project till the High Court disposes of the case challenging it, is slowly dawning on them.
This will go down as one of the signposts of the triumph of people power.
Hailing their decision Panch member Allwyn George, who has spearheaded the fight against the Raheja’s since 2007, stated that he’s happy that the delegation’s meeting with the TCP Minister spurned a positive response in such a short period of time while the Carmona villagers hope for respite from the High Court which would hopefully bring down the curtains on this controversial project.
“The order to commence and resume work itself was a dicey issue with so many illegalities and the TCP shouldn’t have issued the order allowing work to progress by the Raheja group. It’s a huge sigh of relief that the TCP Department took a bold step to issue a stop work order,” George said.
Social activists have all raised some crucial points of opposition in the past. Well-known social activist from Benaulim, who unsuccessfully contested polls to take on the builder lobby, Judith Almeida, had questioned how the Electricity Department could give a NOC for the Raheja project when the village infrastructure could not accommodate it. She has now stated that the villagers would suffer as the units in Raheja would drain the village’s power resources and like others she welcomes the stop order.
Locals Anthony D’Silva and Socorro Miranda had said the panchayat’s reasons for giving the construction licence were dubious and went on to explain how the panchayat was trying to misguide the public.
Miranda had claimed that the building company owned by the Rahejas would build 550 apartments and then try to buy land in the neighbouring areas, while D’Silva claimed the survey plan was faulty. The latter accused the panchayat and TCP of turning a blind eye to the anomalies in the Raheja file.
He added that one of the pre-conditions under law was the demarcation of a garbage management system in the village. He questioned how the panchayat could give permission for the project in the system’s absence. George believes the current panchayat is bent on keeping the project in abeyance till the court order.
“The TCP and Panchayat should always speak in one voice and we are glad it’s happened. I am for saving land in the villages. Goa is facing a land crunch and we can’t deplete our villages with such massive construction. I welcome the TCP decision and will join the fight till this project is scraped,” stated Fr Eremito Rebello.
Venzy Viegas from Carmona, another local fighting the Raheja lobby stated that these temporary orders are but a small relief but and the complete scrapping of the project and the Raheja’s leaving Carmona will complete the picture.
