MARGAO
A day after Goencho Avaaz unveiled a list of politicians benefiting from the RP 21, former Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro on Saturday disputed the claim that he is a beneficiary of the controversial plan.
On the other hand, Nuvem MLA Wilfred D’Sa has even offered to quit the membership of the Goa Legislative Assembly in the event Goencho Avaaz proves that he is a beneficiary of the RP 21.
Former Chief Minister and Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro said the Zug island at Cavelossim was always shown as settlement area in the RP since 2001. “This island was always shown as settlement. In the RP 2021, a part of the area has been shown as green. Either they misunderstood or they have tried to misguide. Their claim was highly defamatory,” Faleiro said, even as he hoped that the organization conducts a detailed study before placing its facts before the public.
He cautioned that the movement will get a bad name if any false propaganda is made by the people leading the agitation.
Faleiro pointed out that though there were six houses on the island in the past, only a lone house is left. “Maintenance of the house is not done because of the expenses involved in transporting the material from the mainland to the island,” he said.
Saying that he had in the past fought against the PDA and ODP plan for Navelim and surrounding villages, Faleiro recalled that Navelim was included in the SGPDA, but he had intervened and managed to get the village withdrawn from the PDA.
Meanwhile, Nuvem MLA Wilfred D’Sa told the media on Saturday that he is ready to quit office if it is proved that any of his land was shown as settlement. “The property in question is an ancestral land. When RP 2021 was being formulated in 2009, I was not even MLA. Even if some persons had tried to get their land shown as settlement, members of the VLC, who are now associated with Goencho Avaaz should have ensured that the properties remained as green,” he said.
