Times of India | 1 year ago | 12-01-2022 | 04:05 am
Quepem: Over four lakh square metres of contiguous agricultural and orchard land and a hillock that lie within Quepem municipal limits are in the process of being cleared for real estate with some “illegal” structures having already come up here. Councillors of the Quepem Municipal Council (QMC) have cried foul and demanded an inquiry into “the sale of plots in the no-development zone (NDZ)”. A Delhi-based developer allegedly made about 500 plots on the land parcel between Igramoll and Gaonkarwada and sold them. The land stretch comes under various survey numbers and more than 150 mutation entries have been made in the property survey numbers. Under Section 49(6) of the Goa Daman and Diu Town and Country Planning Act, which came into effect from March 2018, an NOC is needed from the town and country planning department to register sale deeds. However, on being questioned, an official from the TCP department at Quepem said they are not authorised to issue NOCs for such non-settlement land. Details furnished by the Quepem civil registration office to an RTI revealed a different story. NOCs had been issued by then deputy town planner Manguirish N Verenkar. With the Quepem TCP office failing to respond to an RTI even 15 months later, information on other aspects continues to remain obscure. Meanwhile, even as controversy has erupted over the legality of the sale deeds, some have already carried out hill cutting on their respective plots and even constructed houses. Any construction activity requires permissions from the respective civic body and in this case the QMC has not received any applications for constructions. QMC engineer, Nitin Khotarkar told TOI that he had issued showcause notices to three persons on March 12 for undertaking illegal construction in the land, which comes under the no-development zone. Khotarkar added that the developer had constructed the road without council’s permission. “Hill cutting is being carried out openly, but the authorities have failed to take action against the developers. This is a blatant act of violation of environmental laws and massive destruction of our ecology and natural resources,” local activist Hilario Fernandes said. Former chairperson and QMC councillor Filu D’Costa had raised the issue during a recent council and demanded that a five-member committee be constituted to investigate the “illegal sale of plots”. QMC councillors alleged that developers are working hand in glove with the authorities and politicians in changing land use for settlement purposes. They criticised the development in the eco-sensitive area saying that the authorities have ignored the disastrous consequences of the act. Earlier, about 2.95 lakh sqm out of the over 4 lakh sqm of the same parcel of non-settlement land had been proposed for construction of 1,856 flats under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Then member secretary of Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA), Tariq Thomas on May, 17, 2019, had sent a proposal to the QMC requesting it to furnish comments for the project. The QMC in its council meeting held on June 18, 2019, had rejected the project after stiff opposition from locals and a group of councillors. Referring to this, Fernandes questioned the present sale of plots on the land by the Delhi-based developer and the subsequent hill-cutting and development there. “How was the builder allowed to sell plots when QMC rejected it? The land is a hill and a natural water source,” he said.