GCZMA officials along with members of Calangute Constituency Forum during the inspection of the concrete construction.
MAPUSA
The Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) has finally issued a show-cause notice cum stop-work order against the alleged illegal concrete construction that is coming up in the No Development Zone (NDZ) bang on the Calangute beach.
Simultaneously, the GCZMA officials along with the members of the Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF), who are the complainants in the case, jointly conducted the inspection of the site on Thursday.
The coastal authority identified around 36 concrete columns on the site during the inspection.
“It’s a big project. There are many more concrete columns which have been buried in the sand as the proprietor was aware of the inspection,” said Premanand Diukar, President of CCF
“These concrete columns have been constructed in violation of the CRZ rules. We want the GCZMA to carry out another inspection and locate all other columns which have been covered up with sand,” he added.
The CCF chief said that the owner of the land was issuing threats to the locals that he will not allow access to the chapel to the villagers, if he was not allowed to build the project.
“The chapel is more than 500 year old. We along with the locals will see that the chapel and its surrounding area are protected and the locals are allowed access to it,” Diukar said.
Meanwhile, in its show cause notice, the GCZMA said it was found that the proprietor has conducted serious violation of CRZ notification 2011.
It said the illegal concrete construction was carried out within the NDZ.
“It is found that you have not obtained any prior approval of the GCZMA for the purpose of the alleged construction as required under the CRZ notification,” said Dashrath Redkar, Member Secretary of GCZMA.
“The GCZMA directs you to stop work at site immediately and show cause as to why a direction to demolish the structures and to restore the land to its original condition and to revoke the permission for erection of temporary wooden cottages granted in 2019 should not be issued to you,” he further said.
The proprietor has also been asked to produce any licences/approvals issued by any other authorities and to remain present for personal hearing on April 1 in the GCZMA office.
In the meanwhile as reported earlier the Calangute panchayat will also be conducting a site inspection of the controversial construction on Friday (March 26).
