MAPUSA
The Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) on Tuesday appealed to the planning authority to withdraw permission issued to a hotel project at Khobravaddo, Calangute and to direct the developer to replant the banyan tree which collapsed due to unethical excavation carried out in the property.
The forum said the developer had carried out excavation beyond permissible limits with the help of a JCB, thereby hacking the roots of the tree in order to weaken the grip of the tree to the ground.
“The NGPDA has issued development permission for the proposed hotel project in 2017. The permission is valid for five years and therefore to restart the construction, the proponent has to re-obtain technical permission,” said Premanand Diukar, President of CCF.
The CCF also said the excavation has been carried out without leaving proper setback and flouting all possible rules.
The forum further informed that a local resident and the Calangute panchayat had filed a complaint against the developer for alleged illegalities while carrying out the construction in the area.
Last month, a 200-year-old banyan tree came crashing down near the construction site of the hotel project at Khobravaddo in Calangute.
The banyan tree was on the boundary of the property belonging to the developer.
Locals said that the roots of the tree were systematically cut and the mud around the tree was also excavated with a design to felicitate the fall of the tree.
The Forum had condemned the act of the developer for destroying more than 200-year-old banyan tree and requested the concerned authority to initiate strict action against the developer.
