PANAJI
Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo on Saturday hit out at Town and Country Planning Minister Vishwajit Rane accusing him of making wild allegations without verifying facts with the sole purpose of gaining media attention.
Lobo took to micro-blogging site Twitter to say that claims made by Rane pertaining to a specific complaint the TCP Minister received on his private e-mail address, alleging change of zone of Survey no. 463/2, Pobra Wado, Calangute, were trumped up and false.
Instead of targeting Opposition MLAs to gain media attention, Rane would do well to concentrate on the well-being of people, and stop injustice and harassment being meted out to poor Goan anganwadi workers, he said.
Referring to a specific complaint related to the Cobra Wado land in Calangute from one Sonjha Vinayak Salgaonkar, Lobo said: "With regards to a complaint received from Sonjha Vinayak Salgaonkar on TCP Minister's #PRIVATE email address with regards to change of zone of Sy No. 463/2, Porba Wado, Calangute, I wish to clarify that it was Dy Collector's order to revert land back to its original position."
Lobo also said that the NGPDA had issued a show-cause notice to the owner, late Vinayak Salgaonkar, for illegal filling as this survey no. is a paddy field.
"The Minister must clarify such issues before making wild allegations to gain media attention," Lobo added in his tweet.
Lobo, known to have real estate interests, has been a target of a series of decisions taken by Rane, ostensibly to "clean up" alleged past irregularities in his TCP department.
Soon after taking over, Rane suspended the notified Outline Development Plans (ODPs) of three planning areas, two of which are in the jurisdiction of Lobo's Calangute constituency -- Calangute-Candolim and Arpora-Nagoa-Parra.
Earlier this week, he also launched a campaign asking people who have suffered illegalities to lodge their complaints via email and provided the public with his private email ID, which drew criticism from the Opposition Congress.
