VASCO
The Mormugao Planning and Development Authority (MPDA) on Friday partially demolished 11 houses in the Airport Funnel Zone at Dabolim on basis of height restrictions in the area.
Upset over the partial demolitions, residents said the area had over 1,000 residents and insisted that authorities must not subject the people to such harassment.
"Authorities were silent all these days and they have now arrived after our houses have been constructed. We have all valid permissions and the while PM Narendra Modi has announced the building of houses, no one is here to support people whose houses are facing the axe. We have decided that we will not vote for any political party in the future because they are of no use to us at the times of our needs," said an unhappy resident.
"This is a private land and we have a sale deed for the plot and we also have mutation for the land we purchased. We have all valid permissions and these houses have been here for 15 years. Why have these authorities been silent all this while? Authorities must demolish the houses of those people who sold us their land.”
The resident said they had pledged their gold and even taken loans to build their houses.
“Secondly, the lamp posts in the area are at a greater height than our houses, so will they not affect the movement of flights?”
“We feel we are being targetted and there is something fishy here because we have such a huge mountain here and why are they looking at our houses which are much lower than the lamp posts and the mountains in this area?”
“Authorities must compensate us and pay us for the price of the land and the house at present rates and we will leave the area and move out," said the resident.
When contacted, MPDA Member Secretary Sanjay Anurlekar said the demolitions were being carried out as per high court directions.
"The high court has given us directions to carry out demolition of these houses on the basis of a contempt of court. The court has directed us to clear the illegalities carried out by the people based on the information and data submitted by the Navy.”
“As of now, we have got directions for 11 houses and there could be more houses as well, but we are not aware of that decision and we will have to process accordingly," said Anurlekar.
