Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: Political analyst Trajano D’Mello harshly criticized the project, calling it “a real estate scam in the State.” He demanded the immediate revocation of all permissions granted to the proposed mega project at Karapur in Bicholim Taluka, which he claimed would destroy the village’s tranquility as well as the surrounding areas and leave the Goans strangers in their own State.
Declaring that the Department of Town and Country Planning (TCP) is working to complete Goa, Trajano drew attention to the fact that TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane had previously declared that the Outline Development Plans (ODPs) of five villages in Bardez Taluka were unlawful, and that he had since corrected these ODPs by introducing the Ordinances.
Trajano continued by saying that these TCP Department ordinances had twice been stayed by the Bombay High Court in Goa because they were deemed to be unlawful. The Goa government had already filed an appeal with the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s ruling.
Trajano stated that there were BJP leadership rumors surrounding the builder. He also noted that the technical clearance did not allow for a plot size reduction to less than 200 square meters, and the area that needed to be developed was roughly five lakh square meters.
He stated that over 1,000 plots had received provisional approval for the proposed project; however, it’s interesting to note that the plot sizes were intended to be between 150 and 170 square meters. Furthermore, the subdivision flagrantly disregards the law, which stipulates that a minimum plot size of 200 square meters.
The affordable housing policy (Goa Regulation of Land Development and Building Construction), which mandates a minimum plot size of 100 square meters, is the only legislation that allowed for this exception to the rule.
Trajano went on to say that environmental clearance is needed for any development on land larger than 20,000 square meters, and it doesn’t seem like any has been given in this instance. He claimed that the project, which seems to be a Goan real estate scam, will cost between Rs 600 and Rs 700 crores.
Trajano said that the TCP Department and the North Goa Collector had turned a blind eye to this injustice, which effectively crushed the rights and livelihoods of the sixteen agricultural tenants positioned in the center of the plot with no access granted to them.
