The North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA) filed a complaint before the Mapusa Police seeking registration of an FIR against Calangute MLA Michael Lobo and his wife, Siolim MLA Delilah Lobo, for alleged illegal land-filling in Parra. The complaint has cited a violation under Section 17A and 17B of the TCP Act, 1974, for landfilling and tree cutting. The TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane has in a series of tweets on Monday highlighted the action against the former minister in the BJP government and his wife and gave it a political spin by dragging the Congress party’s vision into the equation. Lobo was, however, quick to absolve the BJP of being behind the move but charged that a minister was trying to target and defame him and his family.
The tone of the TCP Minister indicates that he is going after illegalities with a cruel vengeance raising questions over this selective crackdown. While those behind illegalities must be brought to book, the law cannot be used selectively to settle personal or political scores. The land-filling in question where Lobo is being implicated is a case of 2020 when he was Minister for Waste Management under the Pramod Sawant government and was in no way connected to Congress. The political angle that is given to the case is misplaced because it only reflects a failure of the then government to check illegalities
The TCP Minister has set a 60-day timeframe to review ODPs citing irregularities in plans, but he has failed to address a major flaw here. The very fact that the same planners who have approved these proposals are going to be part of this review raises serious questions over the objectives of this exercise. If the intentions are genuine, then those who have cleared these plans also must be sacked and a fresh start has to be on a clean slate. The TCP department must clear the skeletons from its cupboard first before targetting others.
The unreasonable hurry with which the TCP Minister is proceeding by hand-picking individuals and land illegalities smacks of a deceitful agenda that stands in contrast to the narrative that is being presented of cleaning up illegal land conversions and restoring the sanctity of the land. If there’s some method to this madness, and if the TCP minister swears by transparency, he must list out all land deals and conversions executed by his predecessors and hold them accountable first. At no point in time can Chandrakant Babu Kavlekar be given a clean chit.
In a fast-paced action on Monday, social media went abuzz with alerts about an FIR being filed against the Lobo couple, only to realise later that the police were yet to take cognizance of the complaint. The obvious question is, why is the police dragging its feet if there is substantial evidence of illegality? Are there political games being played in the background?
Illegalities of land certainly need to be dealt with an iron hand, but it cannot be selective and discriminatory and at the whims and fancies of those in the high chair. The TCP Department is considered a ‘key’ portfolio because it deals with land, a very sensitive subject that involves loads of money. Crackdown with a double-dealing agenda must stop.
