Edited. 430 words.
Times News Network
Panaji: The decision of a local housing society to fence off a municipal garden that belongs to the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) on the Miramar-Dona Paula road has given rise to apprehensions that the housing society was trying to restrict residents from the locality from utilizing the garden.
A private housing society, New Shalom housing society, has allegedly erected a fence around the beach-facing municipal garden. The fence, which was allegedly erected in July 2017, has the housing society’s name mentioned all across. CCP has yet to initiate action in the matter.
Goa Foundation has already written to CCP questioning how “enclosure of a public park by a private housing society” could be permitted.
“We are requesting CCP to take immediate action in the matter and to direct the New Shalom housing society to delete the name Shalom from the green fence put up,” Goa Foundation’s director, Claude Alvares, said in a letter to CCP.
Residents from the area say that a private security guard hired by New Shalom housing society prevents people from entering the public garden.
In his response to an RTI query in January 2018, CCP deputy commissioner Shashank Mani Tripathi said, “as per the records available with this office there are no records as to any permission granted by this office to an individual or any residents association in recent past since August 2017” to erect a barrier or maintain the public garden.
Tripathi further said that no permissions were given for beautification or modification or for erecting barriers or metal fencing around the public garden along the Miramar coastal belt.
Deputy collector and sub divisional officer Pundalik Khorjuvekar had also called for an inquiry into the matter and has sought necessary action in the matter.
“I sent a team to assess the situation of the garden,” commissioner Ajit Roy said. “There is still a state of confusion regarding the ownership of the garden. That land belongs to the Town and Country Planning department and there is some communication where they asked for a garden to be developed in the open space.”
Resident Gourav Jaswal called for swift action if any illegality had been committed. “Shalom was brazen enough to post a private security guard who prevented people from entering the garden during carnival on February 10,” he said. “As a citizen, what would you assume of a garden whose gate is always closed and whose boundary fence has stickers saying ‘Shalom’? Would you even assume that it is a public garden and think of entering? If this defiance of the law by Shalom continues, the garden will de facto become private.”
