NT NETWORK
CALANGUTE
The road widening work from St Alex church to St Anthony’s chapel in Calangute has received a setback as a local has filed a writ petition in the High Court against the authorities claiming that they are carrying out the work without acquiring land properly and following other procedures.
The local MLA along with the village panchayat had initiated the work with some land owners parting with their land to facilitate widening of the stretch. It is learnt the locals were told that as per plan there is a 25-metre MDR (major district road) marked. However, the petitioner claims that the land is being used without proper acquisition procedure and also that trees were cut down allegedly without obtaining permission of the forest department.
Hence, the local from Naika waddo moved the High Court and got a stay on the work where his portion of property was to be used for road widening.
Speaking to this daily, the petitioner Allan Pinto said that he is not against any development, but if land is needed then it should be acquired by following proper procedure and paying compensation as per market value of land.
In its order, the High Court of Bombay at Goa has stated that the authority carrying out the work needs to follow the legal procedure of acquiring land from the owner and do other needful formalities.
It also states that the work is being carried out either by the respondent-state or village panchayat without following the procedure laid down by law and that substantial damage has been done to the area where the petitioner resides.
The order further states that the court has ordered to issue notice to the respondents, returnable on April 3. Meanwhile, if the authorities are to proceed in respect of the work, they shall not do so unless they follow the procedure established by law.
When contacted, sarpanch Anthony Menezes, who is also the ward member, said that as per the proposed MDR, it is 25 metres wide. “We were taking only 3 meters of land from the owners, most of whom are parting with it to facilitate road widening,” he said.
