OLD GOA
The Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) upped the ante against the massive destruction of khazan land at Morombi-O-Pequeno, Merces.
On Tuesday, a delegation of RGP led by MLA Viresh Borkar and party supremo Manoj Parab, met the Chief Town Planner (CTP) James Mathew and urged for stringent action in the matter.
Apart from the TCP, the RGP also submitted memorandum to Forest department, Tiswadi Mamlatdar and Merces Talathi.
The copies of the memorandum are marked to 24 authorities including the Governor, Chief Minister, Agriculture Minister, TCP and Forest Minister, Environment Minister, WRD Minister, among others, and the submission of the same will be done tomorrow.
Meanwhile, at the meeting with the CTP, Borkar and Parab both explained how a new road has been constructed, which has been used for massive filling of the low lying area by destroying mangroves.
“RGP demands that action be taken against the perpetrator and the land be restored to its original status,” Parab demanded while pointing out the lack of support from the flying squad in tackling such issues.
“There is only one flying squad for entire North Goa which is not sufficient to handle the umpteen cases of land filling, hill cutting, etc particularly during Saturdays and Sundays,” Parab stated
In fact, MLA Borkar said that the majority of such cases happen during the festive season of Christmas and New Year, and due to the lack of flying squads the perpetrators are having a field day.
“There is a need to have one flying squad for each taluka if such activities are going to be stopeed,” Borkar said.
Later, speaking to reporters Borkar said that he will raise the issue in the upcoming Assembly and demand that the field officers employed in the TCP should be made to keep a watch on such activities.
“For the moment, it does not appear that the field officers are working on the field,” Borkar said.
Further, Borkar said that there is a need to amend the TCP Act so that the department gets the powers to act against the perpetrators who undertake land filling, hill cutting, etc.
“But, the TCP officials have informed us that they have received over 40 complaints in Merces area itself and most of the cases are fought in the courts,” Borkar pointed out and opined that it is due to such red-tapism that the people are not coming forward to report violations.
Meanwhile, officials of the North Goa Collector pasted a stop work notice on the structure built in the area.
Officials of the TCP, Agriculture Department and the Forest Department also conducted inspection of the site.
