OLD GOA
The Se Old Goa panchayat, which has been mum on the controversial structure all along, has finally decided to issue a stop-work order on November 30 and then work on the revocation of the license issued.
The statement was made at a news conference in the Old Goa panchayat on Friday.
Speaking to reporters, panch Vishwas Kuttikar said the earlier panchayat had issued NOC on the basis of licences from TCP, conservation committee of TCP, CRZ, health, ASI, etc.
“It was the last panchayat body which issued the licence. Though we cannot say that the structure is ‘illegal’ but in my life I have not seen such a big structure existing at the site. Hence, in my opinion, there is a possibility of illegal acts being done by the government departments concerned,” Kuttikar stated.
“When panch Vishal Volvoikar had submitted application for revocation of licence in July this year, we studied the issue and found the conservation committee had put one clause that the licence was for repairs and not reconstruction,” he stated.
“On that basis, we are going to issue the stop-work order on November 30 and then after conducting an inspection, will work towards revocation of the licence issued,” Kuttikar said, but added in the same tone that the structure cannot be termed illegal when various government authorities have issued licences.
“We are also going to compare the current plan with the cadastral plan to prove that such a huge structure never existed at the site,” Kuttikar added. When asked why the panchayat did not point to the fact that such a structure never existed at the place while granting license in 2016, Kuttikar said that the TCP approval says that the structure exists.
“So, the panchayat has to go by the TCP approval. Whatever forgery has been done, it must have been done by the government. The government authorities have shown that such a structure existed. If they have done forgery, then an inquiry has to be conducted,” he demanded and said that the issue will end only after all approvals issued are withdrawn.
