the goan I network
MARGAO
Even as the village witnessed an uproar over the hill cutting and development activity over the last two days, the Dramapur-Sirlim Panchayat on Saturday issued a stop work order notice on a party to immediately stop the ongoing development activity and other hill cutting work.
Village Sarpanch Sanjana Chari, in her notice has further directed the party to submit the approvals from the competent authorities, if any, besides the ownership documents within three days from the receipt of the notice.
The stop work order comes following a joint meeting of the Village Development Committee, Village Bio-diversity Committee and the panchayat held on Saturday following
an inspection of the hillock a day ago.
In the stop work notice, the sarpanch pointed out that inspection of the land in question revealed that the construction of an illegal road, besides cutting of the hill
and the trees leading up to the hill top.
“Further, it has been noticed that the party has erected a fabricated shed with GI angle pipes, partly converted with galvanised sheets and partly with wire mesh and has erected electricity junction box and laid electrical cable without the permission of the competent authority,” the notice stated.
Sources said the Dramapur-Sirlim panchayat body is meeting on Monday, wherein decisions will be taken to dispatch letters to various authorities to find out whether permissions, if any, were granted to any party to undertake the hill cutting activity.
Incidentally, at the time of the joint inspection of the land in question by members of the village development committee and panchayat, it was noticed that the party had displayed a banner at the site stating that the activity has the support of the zonal agricultural office.
Former Dramapur sarpanch Bernard Rebello wondered how the sloppy hillock could be developed by the owners when the panchayat had in the past earmarked the zone as no development zone.
Another former sarpanch Domnick Noronha said the hillock bordering Navelim village cannot be developed by throwing the norms to the winds, demanding strict action, including restoration of the land.
