Goemkarponn desk
MARGAO:
There has been an issue of illegal filling of low-lying fields in Rachol allegedly by the tenants of the fields, who are residents of Rachol.
The owner of the property, Jose Coelho has requested the authorities to take action.
The flying squad of the TCP has conducted an inspection and has confirmed that the filling is indeed illegal.
A complaint was filed by the landowner, Jose Coelho, to the Sarpanch and Secretary of the Rachol Village Panchayat to take action and ensure that the tenants remove the mud they have dumped into the fields, which amounts to over 30 trucks of mud.
The complainant Jose Coelho in his letter to South Goa Collector says he is one of the co-owners of the property known as SANTO ANTONIO MOROD situated at Rachol, taluka of Salcete, district of South Goa, state of Goa, bearing survey no.66/2 of village Rachol, having a total area of 7,150 square metres as per the Form 1 & XIV. The said property presently stands in the name of his father Teodorio Coclho.
“In the said property, there was a tenant named the late JOAQUIM DIAS who was cultivating the paddy field, however, after 1986, they completely stopped cultivation and to date, the field is in the same position now what is called barren land,” he states.
He says it was brought to our notice by a neighbour namely Christopher Albuquerque that someone had started landfilling in the said property and has already piled up 30 trucks.
“We immediately visited the site and there we saw that heaps of mud had already been filled up in the low-lying area which is more than 1 metre deep from the level of the road,” he said in teh complaint.
He says the property in question is totally agricultural land and hence no filling can be done.
“The landfilling is being done in total violation of Section 17A of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, 1974, which clearly demonstrates that no filling can be done of low-lying land; thereby completely contravening the provisions of Section 17A of The Goa Town and Country Planning Act, 1974,” he says.
A complaint was then filed with the Flying Squad and they came and inspected the site.
Besides, he urged, they may be also directed to remove all the mud deposited and fill in the low-lying area of survey no. 66/2, and to restore the land to its original status.
Coelho also questioned the role of panchayat members in such matter.
“What is the role of the Panch of the area if not to take action when the illegal filling of fields happens in his area? They often turn a blind eye to illegal filling and structures in the village blatantly done by locals,” he said.
