PANAJI/MAPUSA
A day after Congress State president Amit Patkar slammed Town and Country Planning Minister Vishwajit Rane for a witchhunt against Opposition Leader Michael Lobo on land issues over decisions taken in the reign of the previous BJP government, the minister on Monday got full backing of his party.
BJP State president, Sadanand Tanavade, said action should be taken against Lobo if he has done something illegal, even if it was during his stint as minister in the previous BJP government.
"It was not noticed at that time. But now that it has been noticed, there is no problem in taking action against it," Tanavade said referring to the notices alleging illegalities over two hotels owned by Lobo.
He also said that if Lobo is not doing anything illegal, he just has to prove it and come clean.
Continuing, Tanavde said if anyone has done any illegalities then he should face the consequences and should be punished,
“If (Vishwajeet) Rane feels that Michael Lobo has done irregularities when he was a minister then action should be taken against him. If the ex-minister has indulged in any illegalities in the past then he should be taken to task,” he said, backing the TCP minister’s recent actions against Lobo.
For almost a month the TCP Minister, Vishwajeet Rane has been taking on the Leader of Opposition claiming that Michael Lobo has misused his position as a public servant and indulged in several irregularities.
He claimed that several tenanted lands and non-development slopes were converted into settlement zones by the opposition leader when he was a minister in the BJP-led government.
Last month, an FIR has also been lodged against the Lobo couple for illegal land filling at Parra.
According to Tanvade, there was nothing personal vis-Ã -vis the recent actions initiated by the TCP Minister against Lobo.
“If his business is illegal then where is the question of becoming personal? He has to prove that it is not illegal. If he is clean and has done nothing wrong then it will come out during the investigation. Let Michael prove he is innocent,” he said.
The State BJP Chief was speaking to journalists after attending a party function at the Sateri Temple hall in Khorlim, Mapusa.
Mapusa MLA Joshua D’Souza, Mapusa Municipal Council Chairperson Shubhangi Vaigankar and other leaders were also present for the function.
Earlier in the day, BJP State spokesperson, Yatish Naik, also said the suspension of the Outline Development Plans (ODPs) were suspended after complaints were received alleging conversion of no-Development Zones (NDZs), agriculture and khazan lands.
Rubbishing Congress claims of victimisation, Naik said, illegalities and irregularities should not have any place in ODPs if the identity of Goa is to be preserved.
He said, the government has appointed a committee of experts to look into the specific complaints and violations and will act once the reports are submitted by the committee.
Rane, days after he took charge as TCP minister, abruptly ordered the suspension of the ODPs of three planning areas, including two planning areas that encompass Lobo's Calangute constituency -- Calangute-Candolim and Arpora-Nagoa-Parra -- besides the planning area of Vasco-da-Gama.
Rane also appointed a review committee headed by Chief Town Planner Rajesh Naik to go into the ODPs and identify the illegalities.
The action, seemingly targeted at Lobo, Rane argued was taken because the ODPs had large scale irregularities like eco-sensitive zones and no-development zones being marked as settlement and commercial zones.
A week ago, Rane had announced that the review committee has completed its task and readied a 240-page report.
Besides the CTP, the review committee comprised of Senior Town Planners of both the districts, member-secretaries of the North Goa and South Goa PDAs, besides representatives of stakeholder professional bodies including CREDAI, Indian Institute of Architects (IIA), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Institution of Engineers (India), and Institute of Town Planners.
Lobo on the other hand attributed "ulterior motives" for the decisions and questioned how officials who had themselves approved and signed the ODPs are now going to report wrongdoings in it.
He said, if the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant does not step in and rein in his minister, the matter will be challenged in court.
