A large number of residents turned up at the special gram sabha meeting on Saturday to oppose the plans of the Santa Cruz panchayat to set up Material Recovery Facility in their locality. Captured by : Manuel Vaz
OLD GOA
The Santa Cruz panchayat was forced to bow down to the demands of the Alto-Santa Cruz residents and give up its plan to set up Material Recovery Facility (MRF) in the vicinity of the residential locality.
The decision was taken at a special gram sabha meeting on Saturday as a large number of Alto-Santa Cruz residents voiced their opposition to the MRF in their locality.
Speaking at the meeting, the residents pointed out that they were kept in the dark by the panchayat authorities on setting up of MRF and opined that they should have been taken into confidence first before taking a decision on MRF.
“In and around the area, there are restaurants, BSNL quarters, chapel and well planned residential societies. And it was surprising for the panchayat to choose this area to set up the MRF,” a resident informed.
Another resident informed that they were never consulted by the panchayat authorities on setting up of MRF in the locality.
“It should have been the duty of the panchayat to take the people into confidence before planning to set up MRF here,” the resident further pointed out.
After much debate and discussion, the panchayat authorities were forced to give up its plan to set up MRF in Alto-Santa Cruz.
The residents further asked panchayat authorities to place their grievances before the High Court and also extended their help in finding an alternate site for the MRF.
Later, speaking to the media Adv Noronha said, “We have asked the panchayat to place our grievances before the High Court. The court has to know that there is objection. The deadline of the court is on the presumption that nobody has objection. We have asked to file our objections and then let the court decide.”
“The court stands for human lives and human rights. We will persuade the court to at least grant more time to find a new place,” Adv Noronha added.
St Cruz VP in spot of bother
on court’s MRF directives
OLD GOA: The Santa Cruz panchayat finds itself in a piquant situation as its plan to set up MRF has come a cropper due to opposition from the people.
And the latest opposition has come from the Alto-Santa Cruz residents who took the panchayat authorities to task for planning MRF in a residential locality, without consulting them.
The latest development comes against the backdrop of the High Court issuing directions to 13 panchayats, including Santa Cruz, to stop issuing construction licences until the MRF is built within eight weeks.
When questioned about the same, Sarpanch Namdev Naik expressed helplessness in the matter.
“First we faced opposition in Bondir, then at Harea-Sankvar, later at Philomena Colony and now at Alto-Santa Cruz,” Naik stated and added that it would be impossible to set up MRF within the time limit set by the HC.
Throwing more light in the matter, Naik said, “One of our panchas took the initiative for setting up a MRF in the locality. But a mistake was made as he did not intimate the residents of that locality.”
“When we started cleaning the area that time the residents stated opposing and because of that we have taken a decision to stop the project,” he added.
