PANAJI
In a move that raised the political temperature in the State, the Town and Country Planning Minister Vishwajit Rane on Monday got a complaint filed seeking an FIR against Opposition Leader Michael Lobo and his Siolim MLA-wife Delilah for alleged illegal land-filling in Parra.
The complaint was filed by North Goa Planning and Development Authority (NGPDA) before the Mapusa Police Inspector seeking registration of an FIR against the Lobo couple in the case.
An engineer of the NGPDA, Vikram V Tengse has filed the complaint which is based on a reported site inspection conducted following a complaint by an adjacent land owner.
A top official at the Mapusa police station however said that the case is still not registered.
Rane, meanwhile, took to Twitter early Monday morning to publicly announce the filing of the FIR against the Lobos.
"In violation of the Section 17A & 17B of the TCP Act, 1974, an FIR has been filed against Shri Michael Lobo and his wife Delilah Lobo for landfilling and tree cutting at Parra. The Congress Party's vision for destruction of the State of Goa will never be a reality," Rane said in the tweet.
Meanwhile, following up on the site inspection conducted by the Forest department on Sunday at a Arpora hill where rampant hill cutting was discovered, the NGPDA filed another complaint against International Aircon Pvt Ltd for violation of Section 17-B of the TCP Act.
The matter relates to the development of the Park Regis hotel project in Arpora where there was massive hill cutting without the permission of the Chief Town Planner.
The NGPDA had issued development permission to the company in October last year but the latter allegedly violated the condition which stipulated that prior permission of the Chief Town Planner under Section 17-A of Town & Country Planning Act be taken before work of any cutting of sloping land is taken up.
Hours after a rebuttal by Lobo later on Monday afternoon, Rane again took to Twitter asking that the Opposition Leader should not take the case as a vendetta but an attempt to clean up all the illegalities done in Calangute and Candolim.
Rane said all matters will be looked into by experts.
