PANAJI
Days after revoking its own 'technical clearance' of 2016 for the controversial ground-plus-one bungalow within the heritage precincts at Old Goa, the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department on Thursday issued directions to the local panchayat to accordingly "act against" the construction by invoking the provisions of the Goa Panchayati Raj Act.
The December 2 letter addressed to the secretary of the Old Goa panchayat by Deputy Town Planner (Tiswadi) S P Surlakar, states: "Since Technical Clearance Order dtd 18/10/2016 stands revoked vide order dtd 30/11/2021, you are hereby requested to initiate necessary action against the construction referred, as provided under the Village Panchayat Raj Act."
Under the norms, the TCP department provides all technical expertise to village panchayats in approving construction proposals. Construction licences and permissions are issued by panchayats only after technical clearances are expressly issued by the TCP department.
For the record, the Old Goa panchayat earlier this week issued a "stop work" order and a show cause notice to the parties involved in the controversial construction which has been at the epicentre of a raging controversy and agitation spearheaded by the Save Old Goa Action Committee (SOGAC).
Activists and opposition parties allege that the construction is illegal and violates building and heritage rules and regulations.
As per records, the construction is being carried out by Mumbai-based realtor Manish Munot and Suvarna Lotlikar.
The issue assumed political overtones as Munot is the husband of top BJP functionary Shaina NC and Lotlikar is the wife of former treasurer of the Goa Forward Party, whose supremo Vijai Sardessai was the TCP minister in the little over two years he was in the government post the 2017 elections.
Interestingly, all licences and clearances by authorities for the controversial construction were issued in the name of the original owners of the land -- Jose Maria de Goveia de Pinto and Maria Lizette de Abreu e Goveia Pinto -- from whom Munot and Lotlikar acquired the property in 2015.
With the agitation gaining momentum and Opposition parties joining issue, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar, who holds the TCP portfolio, had promised action after scrutinising the licences and permissions granted in the past.
