TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
PONDA: Officials of Town and Country Planning (TCP) on Wednesday inspected the construction activity undertaken by a temple committee at Ramnathi-Bandora.
It may be recalled that on December 5, 2012, the Bandora Panchayat had issued a stop-work order to the Ramnathi Devasthan, Ramnathi, on grounds that the temple committee had allegedly undertaken construction work of Purush Sankul in the temple precincts without permission from authorities. Later, a complaint was lodged by Damodar (Mahesh) Nayak in connection with the matter.
“I am the mahajan of this Devasthan and in no way am I against the development work. But the temple committee should have obtained the required permission from the concerned departments before starting the work of the Purush Sankul,” Nayak told Herald.
Later, the North Goa Flying Squad stopped the work. However, the stop work order notice was revoked after the temple committee applied for permission with the TCP to cut the hill.
“It is interesting to note that hill cutting was done before and thereafter the temple committee applied for permission,” stated Nayak.
On February 20, Ponda Deputy Collector Johnson Fernandes issued notice asking “to justify within 15 days why the work which is underway should not be kept on hold for failing to procure the conversion sanad, failing which the orders would be passed for stoppage of work.”
TCP officials along with the temple committee and the complainant on Wednesday conducted the joint inspection. However, TCP official (Town Planner Deshpande) did not reveal the findings of the inspection.
Meanwhile, when the inspection process was going on, the temple committee members strongly objected to any news coverage of the issue.
The committee members claimed that they have got all the necessary permissions and the issue has been unnecessarily created by people with vested interest.
When contacted, Attorney of Ramnathi Devasthan G Shambary stated that the construction for the Purush Sankul had been approved by the TCP. “The panchayat has also the construction licence and the health office has also issued the certificate.
The Purush Sankul is a reconstruction of a portion of an old Purush Sankul,” clarified Shambary.
Responding to allegations of hill-cutting activities, he added: “We had applied for permission under Section 17A (hill cutting) before the TCP in December 2012 and we are yet to receive the permission till date. We have also moved the file for the Conversion Sanad in December,” he added.
