OLD GOA
If the issue of house numbers for ghost structures wasn’t enough, the complainants have now claimed that permissions for repairs were also issued to some such non-existing structures.
Addressing reporters in Panaji on Wednesday, complainants Mariano Ferrao and John Mascarenhas informed that they have in their possession six such repair permissions that were granted to ghost structures.
“In 2005-06, nine house numbers were bifurcated from a single house number. Later in 2007, permissions for repairs were given to some structures,” Mascarenhas claimed, while showing six such certified copies obtained under the RTI Act.
“There are around four structures present on the property. So, how were six repair permissions granted?” Mascarenhas questioned, adding that the more they dig into the matter, the more skeletons are tumbling from the cupboard.
Activist Ferrao then demanded that the house numbers should be immediately revoked, and the Se Old Goa panchayat should file an FIR with the Old Goa police against the persons responsible for the fraud.
Speaking on the occasion, former bureaucrat Elvis Gomes said that from the repair permissions granted, the issue has attained gigantic proportions about how laws are twisted to suit one’s gain.
“Therefore, it is the need of the hour for the Se Old Goa panchayat to act swiftly in the matter and file an FIR against the VP secretaries of that time who issued the house numbers as well as the repair permissions,” Gomes demanded, stating that the house numbers should also be revoked immediately.
Meanwhile, the Se Old Goa panchayat has issued a notice of inspection of the said property on November 5 from 11 am onwards.
The notice has been issued on the complaint of local Glean Cabral. The other complainants, Mariano Ferrao and John Mascarenhas, have also been made parties.
