Panaji: Work on construction of a villa that allegedly has no permissions, at survey no. 149/1-A in Moira, continues despite the block development officer (BDO), Bardez-II, ordering an immediate halt to the construction. The BDO had ordered a site inspection, but pending the BDO’s final order on a complaint that house-repair permission was misused for fresh construction, authorities have turned a blind eye towards the irregularities.The owner has nearly finished construction despite no ownership document or construction permissions being in place.“The panchayat is knowingly allowing land to be usurped and developed. A stop work order stands. The director has ordered an inspection. The inspection has happened. Now, the panchayat neither enforces the order nor acknowledges it while my RTI applications on these very permissions have gone unanswered,” said author Siddharth Shanghvi. “No arm of government will act on what another arm has decided,” said Shanghvi, calling it open defiance at the village level.The stop-work notice, issued under Section 66(6) of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, had directed the reported owner of the structure, Antonio Calado, to stop the work immediately and produce, within three days of receiving the notice, documents including proof of ownership, Moira panchayat’s construction permission and approved plans, a conversion sanad, clearances from town and country planning department or North Goa planning and development authority, and the cadastral survey plan with Form I and XIV.
