PRESS RELEASE *Mis-leading Hotel in Tiracol Village*
Hidden from the eyes of the social and environmental activists in Tiracol, Goa, yet another 20-room resort is being constructed under the brand name ‘Hill Rock’ with no project clearances from Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority, Goa Pollution Control Board, Town & Country Planning Authority and Village Panchayat of Tiracol. Interestingly, a restaurant under the same name ‘Hill Rock’ too has been illegally constructed and operated without permissions from the government authorities. Addressing the illegalities with the concerned local government authorities in Goa and due to the failure on their part to act on their own reports of illegality conducted by the hotel ownerrevealed to the RTI and Complaint applications filed, Savio Rodrigues – a member of the Goa Environment Action Group –has approached the National Green Tribunal in Pune to seek justice. In its first hearing held on December 14th, 2015 in front of Justice V R Kingaonkar, the NGT pulled up the GCZMA for failing to stop the illegal work when the department had on November 2nd, 2015 in a letter Ref No: GCZMA/N/ILLE-CompL/15-16/110/1863 had issued a ‘Show Cause Notice Cum Stop Work Order Under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, Read with Rule 4 of the Environment (Protection), 1986’. The Court has asked the GCZMA to file a ‘Compliance Report’ to explain the reasons for its failure to act against the illegal construction. In its Show Cause and Stop Work Order Notice to Diago Costancio D’Souza, GCZMA had stated “Upon close perusal of the said Complaint dated 26/10/2015 received from Savio Rodrigues the following alleged illegal construction resulting in blatant and serious violations of CRZ Notification 2011 is noticed.” Speaking on the case, Savio Rodrigues, expressed, “I have received replies from all government authorities including the GCZMA and Village Panchayat, which proves beyond reasonable doubt that the ‘Hill Rock Resort’ and ‘Hill Rock Restaurant’ is an illegal structure. The owner has not even applied for permissions/licenses from the concerned authorities and yet the resort is being constructed and restaurant has been operational. I have been constantly following up with the GCZMA on the illegality, but no action to actually stop work or demolish the illegal structure has been initiated. Even the Panchayat has failed to act on the complaint, even though they too have termed the resort and restaurant as illegal.” The ‘Hill Rock Resort’ is a mini-resort coming up in Survey 15/1-A and 15/2 Interestingly, another major project in the Tiracol Village has been under the scrutiny of the activists and government for its alleged illegalities even though project owner Leading Hotels Limited deny all claims. The St Anthony Tenants & Mundkar Association (SATMA) with the assistance of renowned environmental activism organization Goa Foundation has taken the Delhi-based company to court. Savio Rodrigues *Founder & Editor* *Goa Chronicle.com*
