Coming down heavily on the project which appears to be a real estate scam in Goa, TMC Goa Joint Convenor Samil Volvoikar and AITC National Spokesperson Trajano D’Mello in a press conference at the party’s office, have demanded the revocation of all permissions granted to the proposed mega project at Carapur of Bicholim Taluka that will not only destroy the serenity of the village, but also the surrounding areas, and leave the Goans strangers in their own state.
Stating that the TCP Dept is out to finish Goa, Volvoikar said the TCP Minister Vishwajeet Rane himself once stated that the ODPs of five villages were illegal, and now he himself had rectified these ODPs by bringing the ordinances. He went on to add that the High Court has twice brought the stay on these ordinances by TCP, as it was termed illegal. Even then the Goa Government has appealed the High Court order in the Supreme Court and appointed one of the costliest Advocate Mukund Rohatagi to carry its plan for their own benefits.
Stating that the builder is rumored to be a BJP leader, D’Mello said, it is also reliably learnt that the technical clearance does not mention any relaxation for the reduction of the plot size below 200 square metres, and the area to be developed is approximately 5 lakh square metres.
D’Mello went on to add, that the proposed project is reliably learnt to have provisional approval for over 1,000 plots, but interestingly the plots are supposed to be in the range of 150 to 170 square metres. He added, this subdivision blatantly violates legal norms and as per the law, as the minimum plot size should be 200 square metres. The exception to this regulation is only permitted under the affordable Housing Policy (Goa Regulation of Land Development and Building Construction) which allows a minimum plot of 100 square metres.
He further said, any development on an area exceeding 20,000 square metres require environmental clearance, and in the present case no environmental clearance appears to have been granted. The project which appears to be a real estate scam in Goa will run into over 600 to 700 crores.
Stating that within this project about 16 agricultural tenants are located in the centre of this plot with no access provided to them, D’Mello slammed the Collector and TCP Department for closing their eyes to this injustice effectively crushing the rights and livelihoods of the tenants. He said, “such projects with the abuse of power will bring tremendous pressure on water, power and other resources, which the government is failing to provide to its own existing citizens, and this is bound to cause speculative increase in land prices in rural villages making land unaffordable for the Goan families.
Since the proposed mega project which appears to be a real estate scam in the state and deliberately violates legal norms, and moreover goes against the rights and livelihoods of the tenants, Goa TMC has demanded the revocation of all the permissions granted to the project.
