MARGAO
Cuncolim Municipal Council Chairperson Laximan Naik and the ruling group of councillors on Tuesday demanded immediate revocation of the licence issued by the Town and Country Planning department and also the provisional NOC issued by the Cuncolim Municipal Council Chief Officer to save the hillock at Cancanamoddi-Panzorconne.
Asserting that the ruling group of councillors are with the people of Cuncolim and value the sentiments of the general public to put an end to the proposed irreparable natural destruction, CMC Chairperson and the ruling councillors said there’s a consensus amongst the group to request the Vigilance department for evaluating corruption angle and Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) for departmental enquiry of the concerned officers.
Addressing the media in the presence of the ruling councillors, Chairperson Naik refuted reports in the social media that the elected councillors are responsible for the hill cutting taking place at Cancanamoddi. “MLA Clafacio Dias has said that he was aware of the land development at the site and had even called the police. Let me tell the people what he had done to save the hillock from destruction. The MLA should have brought Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and should have put a word to the CM to visit the site if he was really concerned about the hill cutting,” Naik said, adding ‘the MLA should have used the government machinery to stop the hill cutting and destruction’.
Saying that the elected councillors are not responsible behind the permission given to the work, the Chairperson said the officers take the decision based on the clearance given by the TCP. “We understand that the people are very much upset as the beauty of the village is gone with the site becoming a red desert,” he added.
Ruling councillor Udesh Desai reminded it’s the civic officials who are issuing the NOCs and not the councillors. “The BJP MLA had been accusing the CMC for the hill cutting, but why the ruling BJP government and the TCP did not act and stop the work taking into account the sentiments of the people,” he wondered.
Pointing out that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was in Cuncolim last week, while the Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar passes by the road almost every day, the Chairperson demanded to know whether they have all closed their eyes to the destruction carried out at the hillock.
He said the ruling councillors are all united and will request for a Vigilance probe into the issue and also make representation to the DMA’s office, insisting on a joint inspection of the site by the TCP and the Cuncolim Municipal Council.
