PANJIM: Coming down heavily on the project which appears to be a real estate scam in the State, political analyst Trajano D’Mello on Monday demanded immediate revocation of all permissions granted to the proposed mega project at Karapur in Bicholim Taluka that will not only destroy the serenity of the village, but also the surrounding areas, and leave the Goans strangers in their own State.
Stating that the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department is out to finish Goa, Trajano pointed out that TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane himself once stated that the Outline Development Plans (ODPs) of five villages in Bardez Taluka were illegal, and now he himself had rectified these ODPs by bringing the Ordinances.
Trajano went on to add that the High Court of Bombay at Goa had twice stayed these Ordinances issued by TCP Department, as it was termed illegal. Even then, the Goa government had appealed against the High Court order in the Supreme Court.
Stating that the builder was rumoured to be a BJP leader, Trajano pointed out that the technical clearance does not mention any relaxation for the reduction of the plot size below 200 square metres, and the area to be developed was approximately five lakh square metres.
He said that the proposed project had provisional approval for over 1,000 plots, but interestingly the plots were supposed to be in the range of 150 to 170 square metres. Further the sub-division blatantly violates legal norms and as per the law, the minimum plot size should be 200 square metres. The exception to this regulation was only permitted under the affordable Housing Policy (Goa Regulation of Land Development and Building Construction), which allows a minimum plot of 100 square metres.
Trajano further said, any development on an area exceeding 20,000 square metres require environmental clearance, and in the present case no environmental clearance appears to have been granted. The project which appears to be a real estate scam in Goa will run into over Rs 600 to 700 crores, he charged.
Stating that within this project about 16 agricultural tenants are located in the centre of the plot with no access provided to them, Trajano slammed the North Goa Collector and TCP Department for closing their eyes to this injustice effectively crushing the rights and livelihoods of the tenants.
