Had been directed ‘not to touch the slope’; P’yat conducts site inspection of structure
MAPUSA
The controversial beach club in Anjuna appears to be in further trouble after it has now come to light that the owners were directed not to carry out any construction activity on the slope and restrict the construction within the approved area in the property.
The Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) in its 315th meeting held on July 7, 2022 had issued permission to the beach club owner/director to construct wooden structures (shacks and huts).
But within two weeks, in its 316th meeting held on July 21, 2022 the GCZMA decided to add another condition of not allowing construction on the slope after an expert member of the coastal authority Flaviano Miranda raised objections against the construction.
“The objection in respect of Waters Beach Lounge and Grill Private Ltd was discussed and it was decided that the project proponent shall be asked not to touch the slope and construction shall be restricted to the area approved by the (coastal) authority,” the minutes of the 316th GCZMA meeting said.
However, the proponents of the beach club cocked a snook to the conditions imposed by the coastal authority and went ahead building a structure with steel reinforcement.
A member of Anjuna panchayat Surendra Govekar also alleged in his complaint to GCZMA and various other authorities that there was blatant hill cutting and the structure with multiple floors had come up on the site.
Incidentally, the Anjuna panchayat had also issued permission to the beach club for a temporary wooden restaurant.
On Friday, the Anjuna panchayat conducted a site inspection of the alleged illegal construction and prepared a checklist of various construction activities that have taken place on the site thus far.
“The panchayat secretary had issued a provisional licence for construction of a wooden restaurant to the proponents of the club when there was administrative rule in the panchayats. We have done the inspection and action will be initiated as per the law,” said Laxmidas Chimulkar, Anjuna Sarpanch.
To another query, the sarpanch said the panchayat will take action against all the illegal clubs or restaurants along the Anjuna coast.
“We will take up inspection of all the illegalities one by one,” he said.
According to panchayat member Surendra Govekar who is also the complainant, the permission to the Waters Beach Lounge and Grill Private Ltd was issued during the administrative rule and the panchayat body was totally in the dark about it.
“We came to know about this construction only when we were inspecting another neighbouring restaurant two weeks back. We have issued a stop work order on the construction and conducted the inspection today. We will see that this club is demolished,” Govekar said.
Ward member Dinesh Patil, panchayat secretary, Dharmendra and a representative of the Waters Beach Lounge and Grill Private Ltd were also present for the site inspection.
