OLD GOA
St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar stated that the Azossim project is part of the Rs 500 crore scam which was highlighted by the TCP minister in his tweet recently.
Borkar made the statement after he along with Mandur sarpanch Prashant Naik and panchas visited the site to ascertain the facts, on Sunday.
The visit of the MLA comes after AAP leader Ramrao Wagh highlighted the issue on Saturday, wherein he had alleged that there was encroachment by the project proponent in Mandur comunidade land.
Speaking to reporters, Borkar informed that TCP minister Vishwajit Rane had recently highlighted that there was a Rs 500 crore scam involving some TCP officials in which a private forest was converted to favour a housing project.
"This is the only project in Azossim and here a private forest was converted into settlement. However, the TCP minister has failed to take any action on the matter after the tweet. Now, I will raise the issue in the Assembly and seek answers on why no action is taken in the matter," Borkar added.
When questioned by The Goan about how neither he nor RGP-backed Mandur panchayat got wind of the violations, Borkar said that the previous panchayat body had granted all approvals to the project and hence whatever was going inside the property was not monitored.
"Also as the area is not frequented as it is located on a hill, nobody got to know what was going on. Only after it was brought to our notice that I immediately directed sarpanch Naik to initiate action after which a stop work notice was issued," Borkar informed while adding that he has also called the flying squad and conducted an inspection of the project to report the violations.
The flying squad conducted an inspection of the Azossim project in the presence of Mandur sarpanch Prashant Naik and panchas, on Sunday, after they were informed by MLA Viresh Borkar.
After the inspection, sarpanch Naik said that the officials have informed that they would send a show cause notice to the builder and ask him to produce any documents pertaining to the hill cutting.
"The officials have agreed that there is massive excavation at the site and they will issue show cause notice to the builder. On the part of the panchayat, we have already issued an inspection notice which will be held on Tuesday," Naik stated while adding that since the panchayat does not have the expertise in ascertaining the encroachment in Mandur comunidade land, notices will be issued to TCP, comunidade administrator, forest department and other departments concerned for a joint inspection.
When questioned by The Goan whether the survey department would also be notified since the property is huge and would require special instruments, Naik said that he would consult the panchayat secretary in the matter and accordingly take a decision.
