PANAJI
Amid the continuing controversy over the proposed House of Abhinandan Lodha (HOABL) township at Karapur-Sarvan, the Goa State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) has decided to obtain approved building plans directly from the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department or the respective Planning and Development Authority (PDA) while processing applications for Environmental Clearance (EC) for construction projects.
The decision assumes significance as villagers opposing the HOABL mega project for more than 100 days, have been alleging that work on the project commenced without obtaining prior EC. Last month, protesters marched to the SEAC office, urging the committee to intervene and pointing out that the over 50-hectare project falls within the ambit of the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, making prior EC mandatory before the commencement of construction. SEAC was supposed to deliberate on the project.
During its recent meeting held on July 14 while considering proposals from the construction sector, SEAC noted the growing number of court cases relating to development permissions issued for projects requiring prior EC and resolved to independently verify approved plans from planning authorities.
"In view of the numerous matters going on before the courts relating to the development permissions issued for projects requiring prior EC, the Committee decided to seek the approved plans from Town & Country Planning Department or from the Planning & Development Authority for processing applications for EC," the committee recorded in its minutes.
The committee felt that obtaining authenticated plans directly from TCP or the concerned PDA would help avoid discrepancies in project documents and strengthen scrutiny during the appraisal process. The move comes against the backdrop of several legal disputes in Goa over construction projects where the sequence of statutory approvals has come under question.
The issue has gained renewed attention in the case of the HOABL project, with villagers maintaining that the project requires prior EC owing to its size and that the ongoing construction activities should be halted until all statutory environmental approvals are in place.
