Goa coastal body to depute expert to verify former chief secy’s property at Aldona

Panaji: The Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA), at its meeting held earlier this month, decided to depute one of its expert members to verify on ground if there are any violations of CRZ provisions with regard to a structure constructed at Aldona by former chief secretary Puneet Kumar Goel.

Trajano D’Mello had filed a complaint before the GCZMA alleging that the construction by Goel is an illegal structure in the no development zone of CRZ at Aldona. The complaint filed by D’Mello in Dec last year came up for hearing only this month before the authority.

Goel had been caught in a land conversion controversy last year after he bought a property in Aldona. The transaction, purported to be to the tune of Rs 2.6 crore for 1,875sqm, was done on May 18, 2024, as per records.

The property was converted into a settlement and was notified in the official gazette on March 14, 2024. The document circulated showed that the land conversion file was signed by Goel himself before he purchased the land.

There had been public outrage after the purchase by Goel had gone viral on social media. The opposition had alleged that govt officials are also involved in a systematic land-grabbing scheme.

However, later last year, Goel, in an affidavit filed before the high court of Bombay at Goa in a case related to the matter, denied allegations of corruption “at the highest level” regarding the zone change of the Aldona property that he had purchased.

TCP also gave Goel a clean chit and denied that it led to any destruction of paddy fields. The land was converted from a paddy field to a settlement zone two months before Goel purchased the property, TCP told the HC.