TEAM HERALD
OLD GOA: Rejecting outright the notified regional plan 2021 for St Estevam, the locals demanded that the government should respect and abide by the draft Regional Plan that was prepared by the villagers.
At the largely attended gram sabha on Sunday, the villagers brought to the notice of the panchayat that a fraud has been committed by the TCP by not adhering to the draft RP submitted by the villagers and demanded that the notified regional plan 2021 should be revoked to save the village from the claws of land grabbers.
Speaking to Herald, Bismarque Dias said the fraud came to light when the local Church authorities had gone to the TCP to take construction permission for residential purpose. “However, the TCP officials rejected the proposal of the Church authorities by stating that a 10-metre road passes through the area where the permission is sought,” Dias added.
Dias further informed that when the villagers came to know about the incident, they were aghast to learn that none of the suggestions of the draft RP prepared by the villagers were incorporated in the notified RP 21.
“Hence, the villagers today came in large numbers for the gram sabha to voice their opinion and outrightly rejected the notified plan while demanding that the government should bow down to the wishes of the people,” Dias informed and said the villagers have also demanded that the panchayat should also take the same decision at the panchayat meeting and send the resolutions to the authorities concerned for immediate action.
When contacted, Sarpanch Nolasco Menezes said the panchayat is with the people and they will not allow the village to be turned into a concrete jungle, to satisfy the greed of a mighty builder lobby.
“Orchards, agricultural land, tenancy land, eco-sensitive zones have been converted into settlement areas in the notified RP,” Menezes pointed out while stating that it would lead to the destruction of the village on a large-scale.
While blaming a few Congress MLAs for having a hand in the conversion of land, Menezes demanded that the government should immediately revoke the permissions granted for conversion of land into settlement areas.
However, Menezes said the BJP government has sent a notification stating that the notified RP 2021 has been kept on hold. “As and when the government restarts the process of drafting a fresh regional plan, we will see to it that the settlement areas are revoked,” he added.
