Team Herald
MARGAO: Alert villagers of Davorlim Dicarpale prevailed upon the panchayat to immediately stop the work of constructing illegal houses on the banks of a storm drain called Oll in the local language in plots that are illegally sub divided.
A villager Andrew Rebello had gone in the morning to see his field which is about 100 mts away when he saw construction of two houses going on full swing and in two other adjacent plots digging was undertaken to construct a compound wall.
Andrew immediately contacted other field owners and they rushed to the panchayat where a garbage management committee meeting was under way. The panchayat denied having given any permission for any construction in the area and that is when the villagers demanded that the panchayat members come and inspect the site.
Sarpanch Sahar Shaikh, Deputy Sarpanch Deepak Mangalam who is also the ward member and other panchayat member present along with the panchayat secretary Uday Prabhudessai went for the inspection along with the villagers.
They expressed shock at the amount of work done and also admitted that there was encroachment on the Oll to the extent of about one metre. The two houses under construction had constructed a retaining wall inside the Oll and then laid the foundation and raised their houses up to the plinth level.
Deepak immediately asked them to stop the work and asked Noor Nadaf who had sold the plots to come to the panchayat with all the relevant documents following which he said the panchayat will take necessary action.
The villagers were demanding that the encroachment on the Oll be demolished and while pointing out that last year Bobtemwado which is by the side of the Oll was flooded and the affected people had to be compensated by the government, said the situation will be worse this monsoons if the encroachment on Oll is not removed immediately.
