SANGUEM: Three structures illegally constructed on government land at Cotarli village in Sanguem were demolished by authorities on Monday.
Armed with an order from Sanguem Deputy Collector Ajay Gaude, Sanguem mamlatdar Manoj Korgaonkar along with a team of officials from PWD, police and electricity department demolished the houses.
The constructions had come up at the site a few years ago when news of an IIT proposed at the site had been doing the rounds in Sanguem.
However, the project failed to see the light of the day following stiff opposition from environmentalists and farmers in the locality. The project was later shifted to Guleli in Sattari, where again the project faces public opposition.
Taking advantage of the situation, some people illegally started undertaking constructions on the government land and soon they turned into concrete structures.
In two of the three houses, people even began to stay and obtained power supply using solar panels.
When locals learnt of the illegal structures, activists Santano Rodrigues and Constancio Mascarenhas wrote to the authorities concerned but the structures continued to stand on the site.
The issue was then highlighted in The Goan and the complainant later petitioned the chief secretary seeking immediate action in the matter, as other constructions were likely to come up at the site if no action was taken.
The complaint finally bore fruit when authorities finally demolished all three structures using a JCB machine.
Korgaonkar informed that the houses were new constructions and illegal in nature.
He said the occupants had no documents to claim any right to the property. He further informed that those involved in the illegal constructions had been given ample time to prove their rights to the property.
During the demolition drive, Korgaonkar also directed the talathi concerned to visit the site at least once in 15 days to ascertain that the constructions are not rebuilt and that the property remains free from encroachments.
Santano who has been following the issue since the last two years lauded the authorities for demolishing the illegal houses constructed on government land.
“If authorities had failed to take necessary action, the area would soon have turned into a mini slum and outsiders would have taken advantage of the vacant government land, which is barely 500 metres from the main road.
