MARGAO
With BJP leader and ex-Dy CM Manohar Ajgaonkar upping the ante for Enable House Numbers (EHN) to the illegal houses in a tenanted paddy field at Davorlim, the Davorlim panchayat on Tuesday has knocked the government doors to issue guidelines mandating the panchayat bodies to issue EHN sans the mandatory documents.
Davorlim Sarpanch Herculano Niasso also sent a message loud and clear to Ajgaonkar not to misguide the ST vendors doing business in Margao’s Gandhi market, saying the Davorlim issue has got no connection with the Margao Municipal market.
Addressing the media in the presence of panchayat members, Sarpanch Niasso said let Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane send a circular to the panchayats that they can clear EHN to houses without producing the mandatory Form I&XIV, Sale Deed and Survey Plan. “The applications submitted by the 166 applicants for the EHN are not accompanied by any of these documents. Hence, the Davorlim panchayat has not taken any decision on the matter,” he said.
He added: “Let the government tell us that the 18K land can be converted for housing. The TCP norms mandate construction of houses only when the documents are clear, namely Form I&XIV, Sale Deed and Survey Plan. Let the government issue guidelines to the panchayat bodies to issue house numbers to illegal houses built sans mandatory documents.”
Clarifying that the panchayat is not against the 166 applicants or the leaders supporting their cause, Niasso said the panchayat has not kept the applications on hold, but have insisted on the applicants to submit the relevant documents. “Panchayat bodies face the brunt when they are dragged to the Vigilance and Courts for taking decision which are not consistent with the law in force,” he said.
On Ajgaonkar’s decision to rope in the Gandhi market vendors from Davorlim village at his media briefing, Niasso said, “This is not a Gandhi market issue. The vendors have no idea what the issue is all about as they were misguided on the matter. We are not discussing the issue of Gandhi market vegetable market, but a sensitive issue of allotting house numbers for houses which have no documents at all.”
