Action taken on High Court orders against establishments lacking GSPCB consent
Labourers engaged by stakeholders to demolish a structure as the Canacona Deputy Collector and other officials inspect a structure at Agonda beach.
Photo Credits: Bernard Fernandes
CANACONA
Acting on High Court directives, authorities on Tuesday sealed eight properties, while nine others were dismantled by tourism stakeholders at Agonda beach.
Three resorts/shacks produced Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) certificates to avoid being sealed.
The High Court of Bombay at Goa, on March 6, had directed the GSPCB to seal 20 establishments, all located on the southern end of Agonda beach, which were found operating without mandatory consent.
The process of sealing the structures began on Tuesday morning, when Canacona Dy Collector Madhu Narvekar, Mamlatdar Manoj Korgaonkar, Canacona BDO Savio Coutinho (nodal officer for sealing), Agonda Panchayat Secretary Amol Naikgaunkar, Electricity JE Chari, along with GSPCB JE Raj Mohan Prabhudesai, went to the site accompanied by a police force led by the Canacona police inspector.
There was a brief confrontation between a stakeholder and the Deputy Collector over the direction to disconnect the power supply to the earmarked properties. The stakeholder argued that the court had only ordered the property to be sealed and not the electricity connection to be disconnected.
The Deputy Collector defended his directives, stating that the power supply would be cut off to avoid any short circuits in the sealed premises.
There was another argument when a property, which had already been non-operational since last year following a Supreme Court order, was identified by the GSPCB as operating, and authorities sealed it and disconnected its power supply.
Two of the property stakeholders produced their pending applications with the GSPCB for the necessary certificates, and the deputy collector informed them that the seals would be removed once the certificate was produced.
Five of the properties, which had already been taken up for dismantling over the last two days, were allowed to complete the dismantling operation by evening, while the deputy collector directed the BDO to seal all the other properties for not possessing GSPCB certificates.
On seeing the arrival of officials to seal their premises, four more resorts were later dismantled, and the Deputy Collector allowed them time until the end of working hours to complete the dismantling process, taking the total number of structures removed by their operators to nine.
A few properties had guests inside their premises, and the guests were allowed to leave before they were sealed.
Considering the large area of the resorts, authorities sought to seal only the entrance and left the huts and restaurants inside untouched. The officials, however, issued clear directions to the operators not to misuse the situation and warned of stern action if the premises were kept open for guests.
The Deputy Collector has been directed to submit a compliance report to the High Court on March 12 regarding the sealing of the structures.
According to sources, another case pertaining to 67 structures illegally set up in the CRZ area is likely to come up on March 12.
