On 12/5/21, Goanet Reader <goanetrea...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Devika Sequeira
> devikaseque...@gmail.com
> -----------------------------
> DO CHECK THE PHOTOS
> ON THIS PAGE http://t.ly/XJNK
>
> PHOTO The controversial Old Goa bungalow facing the river
> with the century St Cajetan's Chapel in the background.
> Photo: Devika Sequeira
>
> Citizens, politicians and even the Archbishop raised their
> voices against the bungalow. With elections due soon, the
> government had to act.
>
> Faced with legal challenges and mounting public hostility,
> BJP spokesperson Shaina N.C.'s husband Manish Navratn Munot,
> co-owner of a huge bungalow that has come up within the
> protected area (under the Ancient Monuments and
> Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958) at Old Goa, has
> quietly pulled out of the project, selling the property to a
> Mumbai-based limited liability partnership (LLP).
>
> Though there were protests even earlier, the construction of
> the swanky 700 square metre riverside bungalow built on an
> 11,900 square metre property that fronts the 17th century St
> Cajetan’s Chapel continued apace.
>
> Speaking from abroad where he is on a business
> trip, Suraj Lotlikar, the former Goa Forward Party
> (GFP) treasurer, told The Wire he has sold his
> share in the project to M/s Corvus Urban
> Infrastructure LLP. Mumbai builder Munot, who was
> the co-owner of the property along with Lotlikar's
> wife Suvarna Suraj Lotlikar, confirmed he too sold
> his share to the infrastructure LLP "long back".
>
> Government documents show both Lotlikar and Munot applied to
> register the re-sale on August 24 of this year.
>
> The construction of the bungalow within the no-go heritage
> zone was challenged legally on two occasions, and the case is
> now before the Supreme Court.
>
> "When the matter went to court a second time, I got
> fed up and decided to sell my share," said
> Lotlikar, who sees himself as "only a small man
> caught up in an intense media trial" for his
> involvement in the project with Munot. The latter
> had previously suggested that the project was
> receiving undue attention because of his wife's
> high-profile designation as a [national]
> spokesperson for the BJP.
>
> On December 3, Goa's town and country planning (TCP) minister
> Chandrakant Kavlekar asked the Old Goa panchayat to take
> legal action and move to demolish the "illegal structure" in
> the protected area. In its order, the TCP said technical
> clearances to the construction were being revoked on grounds
> that permissions had been "obtained fraudulently and by
> misrepresentation of fact(s)".
>
> The final trigger for the government action was the
> huge public rally in Old Goa on November 21 that
> saw politicians from across party affiliations line
> up to pledge support to the Save Old Goa Action
> Committee, given that state elections are just two
> months away.
>
> Protesters at the public meet on November 21. Photo: Devika
> Sequeira
>
> "This is nothing but pure politics," the former state
> advocate general Carlos Alvares Ferreira said of the
> government's knee-jerk reaction, pointing out that a
> unilateral termination would not stand the scrutiny of law.
>
> "Even assuming that the construction is at an advanced stage,
> if discovered that permissions were obtained through fraud,
> they can be revoked, the consequence of which could result in
> demolition." But the government needs to tread with caution
> and follow proper procedures, he warned.
>
> Another lawyer who did not wish to be named said he foresaw a
> long-drawn legal battle. "There will now be an appeal
> against all the orders."
>
> Coming out publicly for the first time, Goa's
> Archbishop Filipe Neri Ferrao also weighed in on
> the case, telling the government it needed to act
> against the "obnoxious activities" within the Old
> Goa heritage zone. The protected area "is not only
> holy, but a world-renowned heritage", recognised as
> such by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)
> and also UNESCO. "Any undue, offensive
> interventions even by legitimate stakeholders in
> and around the monuments could attract
> derecognition of this world heritage status which
> would be a severe loss to Goa," he said.
>
> A cluster of seven churches in Old Goa figure in the list of
> UNESCO world heritage sites. "These seven monuments exerted
> great influence in the 16th to 18th centuries on the
> development of architecture, sculpture, and painting by
> spreading forms of Manueline, Mannerist, and Baroque art and
> architecture throughout the countries of Asia where Catholic
> missions were established," the UN site says.
>
> Munot and Lotlikar acquired the controversial 11,900 sq metre
> property in May 2015, with Munot buying 9,500 sq metres and
> Lotlikar's wife 2,400 sq metres. But the bungalow straddles
> an area owned by both, according to Lotlikar.
>
> Though the original owners of the land, Jose Maria
> de Gouveia Pinto, his wife Marie Christine Gouveia
> Pinto, and his sister Maria Lizette de Abreu
> Gouveia Pinto sold the land in 2015, all
> applications for the controversial construction
> right up to 2019 were made in their names.
>
> "Due to the fact that the property under reference was
> already sold by you at the time of applying for Technical
> Clearance, it is quite clear that you could not have obtained
> the permission in your name and which implies that you have
> obtained the said permission fraudulently and by
> misrepresentation offact thus attracting the action as
> stipulated under condition No.2 of the Technical Clearance
> Order," the TCP notice to the Gouveia Pintos said.
>
> According to the documents submitted in the apex court, the
> ASI had pointed out that all that existed on the property was
> a 54 sq metre hut for storing coconuts. Under protected area
> laws, the owners could at most apply for repairs to that
> structure. What’s replacing it currently is a sprawling 700
> sq metre bungalow.
>
> Unmoved by the government action, the Save Old Goa Action
> Committee said its satyagraha would continue till the
> “physical demolition of the illegal structure”. It also
> wants the state to notify the demarcation of protected,
> prohibited and regulated areas on the regional plan.
>
> For the rich and glitzy from Mumbai and Delhi, Old Goa is
> just another great setting for their next sprawling bungalow.
> For Goans, it is a site anchored by centuries of history,
> architecture and the sacred. It is unlikely this fight will
> be given up easily.
>