PANJIM: After losing a few lakh square metres of land for various state government projects, Goa University’s (GU) latest sacrifice could be giving up another piece of land for the outline development plan (ODP) for Taleigao village. The varsity is striving to save its property for expansion projects.
“Since the Taleigao ODP has been kept open for public suggestions and objections, we will submit our say explaining reasons for retaining the property. The university has already handed over a large portion of its land,” an official said seeking anonymity.
The university is already fighting a court battle against four encroachers, including two private companies and two residents of Nauxi village. Going back a little more than three decades, the Directorate of Settlement and Land Records had earmarked 16 lakh odd square metres of land for setting up the university at Taleigao plateau.
Sources said that when the infrastructure was being setup, locals had encroached into the GU property by illegally extending part of their constructions. The matter reached the High Court but this did not stop two commercial projects from intruding into the property forcing GU to once again knock the doors of the court. The four cases are at various stages of hearing.
“We will write to the collector to raze down the structures that have illegally trespassed into our property,” the official added.
If this was not it, the GU had to hand over a few lakh square metres of land for PWD’s road expansion project, which was completed just recently. Thereafter, about five years ago it transferred about 20,000 square metres of land to set up a solid waste management facility near Taleigao. The centre was essentially for garbage collection and disposal activity in areas falling within the jurisdiction of the Taleigao village panchayat.
Another 12,000 square metres were transferred to the Electricity Department for the construction of a substation in January 2013 with the condition that equivalent land will be transferred to the GU. While the department took possession of the land, government failed to allot equivalent land to the varsity.
In an audit report for the year 2012-13, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India indicated a lax attitude on the part of the state government with regards to GU land.
Amidst these issues, GU fears losing thousands of square metres of land for the Taleigao ODP that could bring its upgradation plans to a sudden halt. The breather, however, is that the ODP has now been kept open for public as the North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA) recently decided to rectify the wrongly marked zones in the ODP of Taleigao and Mapusa.
“Our officials are on the job to prepare a detailed report explaining to the government why we need to retain our land. We are in a situation that we can’t afford to lose any further land after handing over quite a few lakh square metres for other developmental work,” a senior official said.
BOX
CM’s response awaited
PANJIM: While it cannot stop government projects on its property, GU built a compound from Kalapur to Taleigao to thwart further illegal encroachments. It then approached the government proposing to construct the compound on the other side of the property as it has exhausted its funds. The university, secretariat sources said, has quoted an amount of Rs 5-6 crore but the chief minister’s office is yet to respond on the letter.
