Team Herald
VASCO: Reacting to the accusations of Cansaulim-Arrossim-Cuelim villagers that she neither consulted them nor the panchayat before giving her consent to helijoy rides at Arrossim, Minister Alina Saldanha has said that she was kept in the dark about starting the activity.
Alina said that she was neither consulted nor informed either by the government or by the hotel management before the commencement of helicopter joy rides at Hotel Park Hyatt in Arossim.
“Although the MLA is not the authority to grant permission for such activities, I want to clarify that I was never consulted either by the government or by the hotel management before the commencement of helicopter joy rides,” she said.
“It is also a fact that no sooner I was informed by the tourism minister that the helicopter rides were due to commence on that day (February 11), I immediately expressed my apprehensions to him considering the eco-sensitive nature of the beach. But the minister informed me that the activity was taking place on the hotel’s private land and not on the beach,” she said.
“To satisfy myself of the ground reality, I along with my staff, inspected the area around the hotel and found no trace of any helipad and it was informed by the hotel security guard that the helipad is within the compound of the hotel. Later, I met the sarpanch of Cansaulim Panchayat and the panch member representing the area and inquired whether any permission / NOC were granted by the panchayat for this activity,” Alina said.
The minister also said that so far no individual or a group or villager complained to her against the activity.
