MAPUSA
Objecting to the notification granting urban status to Calangute, former sarpanch Joseph Sequeira requested the State government to immediately de-notify the plan before the villagers take the issue into their hands and come on the road.
He also asked the village panchayat to explain its stand vis-a-vis the urban status and stressed the need to hold a gram sabha to solicit the views of the villagers.
“Urban means destruction. Urban area means taking concretisation to the next level. We condemn the move to notify Calangute as an urban village. We request the governor, chief minister and all those involved in the plan to immediately de-notify it before the villagers hit the streets,” Sequeira warned.
The former sarpanch of Calangute was addressing a news conference in his office in the beach village on Thursday.
Continuing, Sequeira said the urban status will cost the famous coastal village dearly.
“Changing the face of Calangute from a quaint village into an urban grotesque with huge concrete buildings will have an adverse effect on charter tourism and Calangute will lose the prospect of growth in the tourism industry,” he said.
He further said that the villagers are going to lose their identity and there will be a negative impact on the social, cultural and traditional environment of the village.
Blaming the Ports Minister Michael Lobo, who is also the local MLA, for imposing the urban status on the village, the former sarpanch said the MLA was spreading lies to defend his “mala fide” move.
“Stop fooling the people of Calangute. The statement of the local MLA stating that Calangute will remain a panchayat is a big lie. No one can change the rules and procedures laid down in our Constitution. When the land revenue code clearly stipulates the density of construction and population of an urban area, how can someone say it will remain a panchayat?” Sequeira opined.
He said the urban status will reduce the village into a concrete jungle with tall buildings coming up in every corner of the village.
He disclosed that a structure was coming up in a field, bang opposite the Calangute church which has been approved 80 per cent FAR by the NGPDA.
“A 100 per cent FAR is given to another property on a hill belonging to a big builder near Bom Viage. The locals had objected to the project around 10 years back,” he said.
He further disclosed that the NGPDA has approved six huge concrete buildings in Motan, which have just a 2-metre road access.
“There are several illegal projects going on at the behest and the blessings of the local MLA and the elected panchayat body. The examples I gave are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many such cases everywhere in the village,” he alleged.
He said the notification on urban status came as a surprise to all villagers who have been kept in the dark about the development.
