I would like to express my opinion about the recent article that carries news of an illegal construction case where the Bombay High Court is still issuing notices to the Calangute MLA, despite a demolition notice having been served earlier, which remains stuck on paper. The tenure of the case and non-execution of the clauses described in the demolition notice itself suggest involvement of corruption.We have all the policies, procedures, and enforcement, and to ensure smooth execution, we have GCZMA, NGT, the Panchayat, Municipality, and MLAs, and still we show failures. In my personal experience too, where I have complained about an illegally constructed room, the case is stuck at the demolition notice stage. Despite having all policies, procedures, and documents, I had to use RTIs and escalations to reach the stage of the Panchayat issuing demolition notices. And until execution, I will have to struggle. At the same time, the respondents feel emboldened. If a regular citizen feels so emboldened, imagine the case with people in power. No wonder the MLAs carry egos and many have reached a stage where they make independent decisions without consideration of citizen welfare.
