By: Savio Rodrigues
8th of the series of investigation
The missing files of Aldeia de Goa throws open serious doubts on the Government authorities. All files pertaining to this project are missing and People Movement for Civic Action (PCMA) and Goa Foundation have even filed a case in the High Court asking for a CBI probe into the ‘Missing Files’ incident which is to come-up for final hearing this week. Till today the files on this controversial projection stay missing.
In their defense in the Court so far, the Town & Country Planning (TCP) submitted that the files were given to M/s SPRY Resources India Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad for scanning for record purposes and TCP department has written a letter to M/s SPRY Resources India Pvt Ltd, asking whether they have scanned the files. Responding to this, the Court in an earlier hearing instructed the Advocate General Subodh Kantak to inform the Court on the next date if the documents were scanned and computerized and to produce the same in the Court.
Instead of taking the officers involved to task, the TCP Chief Town Planner Morad Ahmad by an office memorandum of November 22, 2008 has issued a show cause notice to the Khalasi (sweeper) of the TCP Tiswadi taluka office at Panjim. Show cause notice has been served to Mahadev Morajkar, seeking explanation and reasons for not performing his duties effectively and regarding the loss of the file.
Not impressed with this, the Court stated that though they don’t want to comment on the show cause notice served to the Khalasi, they observed that the Khalasi can’t act without the connivance of a senior officer and it is for the department to take proper action.
In fact if the claim of one of the activists fighting the project is to be believed, then Vinod Goenka of DB Realty mentioned to her that, “We are not a company that breaks any law, we just change the law.” This sums up the entire money and political clout of the group.
