19/03/2007
Mr S C Jamir,
His Excellency,
Governor of Goa MOST URGENT / TOP PRIORITY
Raj Bhavan
DONA PAULA
Sir,
You are kindly aware that your Government acting at the behest of its local
MLA Mr Digamber Kamat, also Minister for Power, Art and Culture, Mining has
pursued the much desired three Road over Bridges and one sub way to
alleviate the problems of people visiting this cultural and commercial
centre of Margao .
This development is welcome and appreciated by all including the undersigned
and residents of Pedda, Margao.
However this does not give him or your Goverment the legitimacy to ride
roughshod over the rules and regulations in undertaking the developmental
activities.
The following irregularities were brought to your personal attention by the
undersigned during my visit to the Raj Bhavan.
a) The Directorate of Land Settlement provided the PWD Div VI ( Road and
Bridges ) at Fatorda the site and location plan showing the properties and
the areas (which included among others the property of the undersigned PTS
237 Chalta No:52 10m2 ) to be acquired by Government of Goa and the same
was forwarded to the Town and Country Planning Department by Assistant
Engineer Div VI Roads and Bridges PWD for grant of NOC;
b) It was noticed by the undersigned when information of the above project
was obtained under the Right to Information Act, 2005 that none of the
parties were notified of the intent of the Goa Government to acquire the
land;
c) It was also noticed that a property PTS 237 Chalta 291 admeasuring 500m2
was surprisingly NOT shown in the site and location plan for reasons best
known to the Directorate of Land Settlement and Records and also PWD
d) The KRCL Sr Regional Engineer Mr Gopal Raju and the Regional Railway
Manager Ms Verma and also Mr R K Bhagwan KRCL dealing hand were made aware
of the misrepresentation in c) above and it was informed to them in writing
that the road over bridge as aligned by them would render our ancestral
house an uneconomical holding DUE TO NON MENTION OF THE PROPERTY PTS 237
CHALTA 291 500 M2
e) Instead of KRCL stopping the work and seeking an explanation from the PWD
(on whose behalf they were executing the work) , the Railways apparently at
the insistence of the MLA referred above went ahead with the project as the
Sr Regional Engineer also spoke of political pressure to execute the work
immediately and ignore any "protests"
f) the Chief Officer of Margao Municipal Council however at the instance of
the Addln Collector Mr AGDS Pereira directed the KRCL to take cognizance of
our request to shift and re-align the bridge to atleast 10 metres but the
KRCL still went on executing the works without heeding to our request - and
stated that the same was in view of the protests already shifted to 6.2
metres and cannot be shifted any further ' as the same is ALREADY
CONSTRUCTED'.
g) the KRCL, the PWD, the Directorate of Land Settlement , the Town and
Country Planning AND MLA are all jointly and severally responsible for
deliberately leaving out the property PTS 237 Chalta No 291 500 m2 as it
belonged to the family of an ex Margao Municipal Councillor and an ex
Chairperson Ms Doris Texeira. In fact the Railways had issued her an NOC IN
2004 before the bridge was conceptualised for a RESIDENTIAL BUNGALOW and
not the present structure being undertaken that of a PLAZA. Yet the KRCL
blamed the PWD the PWD blamed the Directorate of Land Settlement and despite
these GROSS IRREGULARITIES the PWD used police force to construct the
illegal bridge when they should have redressed the legitimate objections.
h) It is also surprising that Ms Verma stated in her reply that the property
PTS 237 Chalta No 291 which was NOT mentioned in the plan (on the basis of
which KRCL was undertaking the works ) was well within 4.5. metres. It
is surprising how the Railways identified the area when initially they
admitted that they were not aware of any are PTS 237 Chalta 291 500 m2 as
they were executing the project strictly on the basis of the plan.
You as the Head of State were kind enough to give us a patient hearing but
till date my grievance has NOT been redressed.
Sir since 17th March, 2007 evening the KRCL has been executing the works at
full pace to ensure that the civil works are completed before the next
government working day. They have harrassed us by either dilly dallying on
the replies or giving ambiguous replies and in the meanwhile instead of
STOP WORK ORDERS until the illegalities were rectified your government
bodies and the KRCL have misrepresented to you the factual position and
apparently paid scant regards for your intervention.
Sir I am exhausted running from pillar to post and since I will not be able
to pay the legal fees of Rupees fifty thousand initial deposit demanded by a
Senior Counsel to pursue this case in the Court of Law I am sending this
final appeal to you to issue STOP WORK ORDERS immediately and
to direct the
a) Chief Town Planner
b) Principal Engineer PWD
c) Regional Railway Manager and Sr Regional Engineer KRCL
d) Chief officer Margao Muncipal Council thro Director of Municipal
Engineer
to produce all the documentary evidence on the three road over bridges and
the subway at Pedda Margao before the undersigned and our representative so
that our contention is reaffirmed or proved to the contrary immediately.
This is our humble plea as we strongly believe that the road over bridge is
illegal till this date and confirmed by well meaning persons engineers and
architects.
Left with no other option then we may be constrained to prefer a petition to
the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court within the next two days to
consider our plea on humanitarian grounds.
Ms. Inez Viegas, & others
H No: 110 Pedda Margao Goa
Tel No: +91 0832 2731159
