Dear residents of Goa [Gaunkars, Moradores, Bhaille, NRGs, PIO, OCIs and long-stay tourists] PLEASE GATHER BELOW THE TOWN PLANNING OFFICE AT PATTO PLAZA, PANJIM, ON MONDAY 12TH NOVEMBER, 2007, AT 11.00 A.M. We have a date with Mr. Morad Ahmad the CTP of TCP. We have the RTI right to inspection of Government files. Let the elements combine under T.E.A.M. Together Everyone Achhieves More. If there is a traffic jam there is nothing to worry: we are, afterall, Goyche Pao! By nightfall, let Digamber know that the people of Goa have seen the naked truth of what his Government is doing ... naturally not without his blessings!! Digambar, Aisa Kam Mat Kar!! Mog asundi. Miguel PS For details, read the message and oHERALDo report copied below.
Miguel Braganza <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Dear GBA members, On 26 December, 2006 we were on the site to see "Work in Progress" at the Aldeia de Goa, Bambolim. Now they tell us that the hill was cut before 1997! Next the Goa Government will tell us we are not alive ...because our death certificate predates our birth and that the original birth certicates are no longer traceable! While we are busy with paper and Powerpoint presentations to the Task Force the GREL seems to have been presenting the Government promisory notes signed by the Governor of the Reserve Bank. They have had a HAPPY Diwali, it seems, while even the Vicente Xavier Verodiano award presentation to GBA was plunged into darkness. Digu-baba was the former Power Minister of Monu-bab, after all. He knows the tricks of the trade. PLEASE GATHER BELOW THE TOWN PLANNING OFFICE AT PATTO PLAZA PANJIM ON MONDAY 12TH NOVEMBER, 2007, AT 11.00 A.M. We have a date with Mr. Morad Ahmad the CTP of TCP. Mog asundi. Miguel GBA office <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Dear All, This is shocking news! The Government has regularised the illegal hill cutting at Aldeia de Goa at Bambolim. Read the two attachments. Government has agreed to withdraw the stop work order issued to Goan Real Estates Pvt. Ltd based on GBA's complaint in December 2006 and has also agreed to withdraw the complaint lodged by the Town and Country Planning department with the Agacaim Police Station. I have learnt that Aldeia de Goa had requested the Government to regularise the hill cutting with the excuse that the hill was cut prior to 1997 when Section 17A was inserted into the TCP Act - (Prohibition on cutting of hilly land). Government should have waited till investigations were completed and not withdrawn the FIR filed by the TCP with the Police. There's no excuse whatsoever for Government to regularise this blatant illegality. It may be noted that change of land use was given based on RP 2001 - however subject to gradient. The slope here is more than 25%. which is clearly visible as per the profile of the hill. Besides all present on the site on the day that the work was stopped could see that the hill was freshly cut and also sought to be camouflaged with jute sacking and paint. So whether it was 1997 or 2006 (when the hill was actually cut and GBA had their first agitation at the site), the condition for change of land use applies. GBA should not take this lying down or it will be a precedent and all other hill cuttings and illegalities will be regularised by the Government with no legal reason whatsoever. You may be aware that the Aldeia de Goa files have suddenly gone missing from the TCP office as well as the Panchayat office, and yet Government does not seem to be taking any notice of this, but is quick to regularise something as illegal as the hill cutting. We have decided that a large group of us visit the Chief Town Planner Mr. Morad Ahmed on Monday 12th at 11.00 a.m. to inspect the file and demand from him answers on what basis the regularisation has been carried out by the Government. After that we may move on to the Chief Minister's office. PLEASE GATHER BELOW THE TOWN PLANNING OFFICE AT PATTO PLAZA PANJIM ON MONDAY 12TH AT 11.00 A.M. Patricia. Shock as govt approves Bambolim hill cutting BY HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, NOV 10 In what appears to be a volte-face, the State government has regularised the cutting of hill slopes at Bambolim by withdrawing 'stop work' orders and the police complaint against M/s Goan Real Estate and Constructions Ltd (GREL). In an order issued earlier this month, the Town and Country Planning Department has intimated all departments concerned of the government's decision to withdraw the 'stop work' orders at survey numbers 95/1 and 96/1 in Bambolim village. The TCP order also states that the government has decided to withdraw the complaint lodged by the Agassaim police under section 17-A of the Town and Country Planning Act, 1974. This move virtually gives a green signal to the controversial GREL's Aldeia de Goa construction project against which the Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) and environmentalists had fought tooth and nail for causing destruction of the environment, particularly the hill slopes of Bambolim. The officials from TCP have disclosed that the GREL had submitted an application and affidavit pointing out that works undertaken at Bambolim were prior to 1997. But section 17-A was inserted in TCP Act through an amendment, after 1997, hence not applicable to it. The officials further state that the government was apprised of the application and arguments therein following which directions were issued by the government to withdraw the police complaint and 'stop work' orders. Meanwhile, a shell-shocked Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) over the latest developments is chalking out a future course of action. Unwilling to disclose plans at this juncture, Secretary of GBA Patricia Pinto said, "The best solution is to take the matter to the aam aadmi's court." Pinto rubbished submissions made by the applicant and expressed dismay over the government's decision to regularise the hill cutting at Bambolim. She said: "The change in land use accorded to the real estate company comes under the purview of the Regional Plan 2001." She further explained that RP 2001 very clearly specifies protection of hill slopes. "Therefore no permissions can be granted nor regularization be accorded," she emphasized. GBA fails to understand how the government and the State's TCP ministry have been allegedly hoodwinked into lifting the restraints, she wondered. Ridiculing the government for withdrawing the police complaint, Ms Pinto said that since an FIR had been lodged that the police should have been allowed to complete their investigations. "The investigations would have brought to light as to when the hill cutting work was carried out," she said alleging that the GBA was certain that the works were carried out recently. EMDS Visit Your Group Yahoo! Finance It's Now Personal Guides, news, advice & more. Win free airfare from Yahoo! Fly home for the Holidays on us. Fitness Challenge on Yahoo! Groups Get in shape w/the Special K Challenge. . --------------------------------- DELETE button is history. Unlimited mail storage is just a click away. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]