NT Reporter
Panaji
A day after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the proposed Unity Mall and the 17-storey administrative tower Prashasan Stambh, set to come up at Chimbel, have all required permissions, chairman of the Chimbel Biodiversity Committee Govind Shirodkar said the projects are planned on land officially classified as wetland by the government and that no consultation was held with the panchayat nor the committee.
Out of 4.4 lakh sqm allocated, over 3.5 lakh sqm is wetland, Shirodkar said.
“The government has not taken anyone into confidence, not even me as the chairman, nor the panchayat,” Shirodkar said at a press conference in Panaji on Monday. “There is a fence put up at the site, but there is no board displaying the name of the construction company or its licence, which is illegal.”
Terming the move “dictatorial,” he said, “Why not take people into confidence before even proposing the plan? We have every right to speak about this issue, even if the land is officially owned by the government.”
Urging the Chief Minister “not to be stubborn”, he said, “Please don’t go ahead with this only because Rohan Khaunte says so. Think about the villagers and the impact this
will have.”
Shirodkar said that the land has high water content and requested the Chief
Minister to personally inspect the site.
He alleged that the government is trying to marginalise the Scheduled Caste (SC) community in the area.
“If the Unity Mall comes up, we will be sandwiched between sewage from the migrants on one side and from the Unity Mall on the other. Are we expected to live with all this filth?”
Shirodkar said that they are not fighting for personal gain, but for their village.
“I call upon everyone in and around Chimbel village to support this cause. This is pure destruction of a water body. Today we are fighting for water; tomorrow, we will cry for it.”
He also pointed out that there was no specific plan or guarantee of 1,000 jobs for Chimbel locals.
