GBA - SOS TEAM SUBMITS MEMO TO TOWN & COUNTRY PLANNING DEPARTMENT

A joint delegation of Save Our Slopes (SOS) and Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) visited the Town and Country Planning Department and submitted a memorandum protesting against the approval to the project at Alto-Dabolim.A press release issued here states the Chief Town Planner was not present in the office despite the fact that a public announcement was made that the concerned people would be meeting the officials . It became amply clear that there was something fishy about the DLF project and so the officials decided to avoid the people and stayed away from office.The press release further states that the memorandum was inwarded in the office, which demanded withdrawal of the hill cutting permission given by the TCP despite the fact that Regional Plan had clearly marked the hills as No Development Zone. The Conservator of Forest had not given NOC for development on the forested hills, which is mandatory for development, yet the TCP gave permission for hill cutting, further states the release.The delegation comprising of SOS convenor Mr Audoot Naik, GBA convenor Sabina Martins, Dr Claude Alvares from Goa Foundation, Fr Maverick, Miguel Braganza, Pravin Sabnis, Swati Kerkar among others met Deputy Planner Mr Vinod Kumar who said that he dealt with RP 2021 and was not the concerned officer with respect to hill cutting. The release further states that the team was then directed to Deputy Planner M K Srikanth who stated that the higher officers had given permission. On confronting the officer stating that the files relating to slopes gradient went from the junior officers to senior officers with a noting, Srikanth stated that the slopes were within the gradient. Dr Claude Alvares pointed out that the documents of the TCP itself had stated that the slopes were 30 per cent and no construction could be permitted to which the officer had no answer. The delegation told the officer to convey to his seniors that the team would once again visit the office to seek answers and get the permissions revoked.The press release states that the TCP Department also defaulted as it did not peruse the project files in the stipulated time and allowed DLF to avail of automatic permissions under the deemed clause, which says that if the authorities do not give permission within the stipulated time the party gets automatic permission . The SOS and GBA have questioned the government as to how a project worth Rs 136 crore was allowed automatic permissions without scrutiny of files while the common person has to run from pillar to post and harassed with queries before any permission is granted.The SOS with the support of GBA has decided that it will consistently visit the TCP office till the permissions are withdrawn.