Karnataka   

Goa Government puts on hold mega housing project

PANAJI: It is yet another case of the people’s power finally reigning supreme.

Following sustained public pressure, the Goa Town and Country Planning Department (TCP) has finally returned to the village panchayat of Carmona in south Goa the file of a proposed mega-housing project thus putting on hold a mega-real estate project which villagers perceived as a threat to their identity.

Orlando D’Silva, local pancha of Carmona village, where the project is mooted, confirmed on Friday that they had succeeded in seeking the project file back to the panchayat.

The TCP had to return the file of the project for the second time in two years after receiving written representations from the local panchayat members. The people of Carmona under the banner of Carmona Citizen’s Forum had been opposing the project on the grounds that it would open the door for exodus from outside thus altering the topography of the sleepy tiny coastal village.

Writers like Savia Viegas have been in the forefront in the villager’s struggle against the project, which is seen as a threat to the identity of the villagers. The people of this picturesque coastal village of south Goa have been agitating over the proposed mega-project for long.

The people had questioned the mega project, which they feel would put unprecedented pressure on the already poor water, power and road infrastructure, besides ever-contentious problem of sewerage and garbage disposal.

At a recent gram sabha, the villagers had compelled the village panchayat members to demand scrapping of the project mooted by a Mumbai-based real estate major.

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