Housing project eats into cultivable land, pond

Panaji: A housing project which had encroached into a cultivable area with a large fresh water pond at Sauntavado, Calangute, has come under the scanner of the town and country planning department over the builder���s action of illegally reclaiming the agricultural land.
The officials of the TCP���s taluka office at Mapusa held an inspection at the site following a complaint by a local resident, Rajkishan D Khosla, alleging that the project at Calangute had reclaimed agricultural land and also violated the floor area ratio and the norm of maximum permissible height.
A complaint was filed recently at Calangute police station under section 17 (a) of TCP Act for illegal filling up of agricultural land for construction purposes. ���The FIR has been lodged last week against the unauthorised filling up of agricultural land,��� Vertika Dagur, town planner told TOI on Tuesday.
Verifying the complainant���s other allegations about violation of height restrictions, the TCP officials stated that approved plans would have to be checked. But a building at the rear, which has been constructed over the reclaimed land was in breach of the approved plan. ���One last building is violating the floor area ratio,��� Dagur said.
���The pond was a natural fresh water body, and a home to several fish, frogs and different species of rare birds, but it has been destroyed in blatant violation of the rules governing protection of natural resources. It will affect the ambience and disturb the ecological balance of the village,��� Khosla said.
While the work continued even after Khosla complained to the Calangute panchayat, he has alleged that the development plan regulations in force for the area have been violated. Sources at Calangute police said the matter is being investigated, but could not provide any further details.
However, Calangute sarpanch, Joseph Sequeira claimed that the complainant had informed the panchayat only about the demolition of his (Khosla���s) compound wall and not regarding the reclamation of cultivable land. ���He complained about the demolition of his compound wall and there was no mention of filling up the land,��� Sequeira told TOI on Wednesday.
Regarding the illegal demolition of the wall, which has been partly reconstructed by the builder, Khosla said that it was a separate complaint on September 27, 2008. ���But I have complained to the panchayat on October 17, 2008 regarding the illegal reclamation of the field and water body,��� he said.