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Demand was for Rs 1 Cr: 50 lakh “bribe” paid to VP officials to stall demolition of illegal structure on Calangute beach
CALANGUTE, GOA: Even as the Calangute Village Panchayat (in North Goa) secretary Bheldas Karapurkar speaking to The Navhind Times on Wednesday evening, admitted that he was unaware of the background and details of the controversial and illegal structure on Calangute beach, which was ironically granted a restaurant NOC, in spite of a prior standing demolition order issued a year earlier by the same VP, social activist and convenor of the Goa Against Corruption (GAC) Minakshi Shinde upped the ante against Panchayat officials alleging that Rs 50 lakh was paid as ‘bribe’ to various officials of the Panchayat, including former and present Sarpanchas, VP secretaries and others to put on hold and postpone the demolition of the illegal structure.
She alleged that initially middlemen and Village Panchayat officials had collectively demanded Rs One crore to regularize the illegal structure and accord it an NOC (or license) to carry on a Bar and Restaurant business on the beach, which was later negotiated down to Rs 50 lakh.
“I have all the details of who was paid how much and by what method and when. Do the past and present Calangute VP officials want me to reveal dates, figures and names of the beneficiaries of the bribes? I am ready to do so and will even drag them to the High Court if the illegal structure is not demolished. It is a crying shame that in spite of a valid and executable demolition order, the VP has kept the demolition on hold for 14 months, after having received huge amounts as bribes. To top it all, they even issued the illegal structure a restaurant NOC, which the secretary now claims (after IndyaTv.in exposed it) was issued in error. The Calangute VP has issued such similar illegal permissions to various businesses and the individual members have enriched themselves by taking exorbitant amounts in bribes,” Shinde alleged.
ALSO READ: Calangute Panchayat grants hotel license to CRZ structure it had ordered to be demolished?
She claimed that in the last 2-3 years, the total amount paid to the Calangute Panchayat officials by way of bribes would be in the range of Rs 3 to 4 crore and she was going to move the High Court to put an end to this corruption and expose the corrupt officials. Almost each and every member has enriched himself or herself by several lakh, Shinde alleged.
As reported earlier, the Calangute Panchayat via an outward entry dated 6th May 2022, had issued a restaurant license (or NOC for running restaurant business) to the very same structure it had ordered to be demolished for blatant CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zone) violations, 14 months earlier in March 2020.
When the panchayat secretary Bheldas Karapurkar was questioned over the issue, he told The Navhind Times he was new in the Calangute panchayat office and was not aware of the issues concerning the restaurant. “Neither the panchayat staff nor the panch members informed me about the issues,” he claimed.
However, in the next meeting the restaurant licence will be revoked, Karapurkar was quoted by The Navhind Times as saying.
ALSO READ: Calangute Sarpanch Paid Rs 25 Lakh ‘Bribe’, VP Members Rs 50 Lakh, Alleges Activist
However other panch members alleged that Karapurkar did not ask anyone or no meeting was held to discuss this structure. Such decisions are discussed and a joint decision is taken. Neither did Karapurkar nor did the Sarpanch bring up the matter for discussion, a member told IndyaTv.in.
On the other hand the Calangute VP Sarpanch said he was not aware of any such NOC or restaurant license issued to the concerned illegal structure. “I have not signed any NOC. If the secretary issued such a NOC, it must be in error or oversight. Such an NOC was not authorised by the VP,” the Sarpanch told another VP member, while passing the buck on to the secretary. (Read More Here)
A ward/panch member who did not want to be named, alleged that the entire fraud was orchestrated by former Sarpanch Francis Rodrigues of Madda vaddo and the present Panchayat secretary and Sarpanch, who are beneficiaries of bribes and are merely passing the buck. At least two former sarpanchas have got huge amounts as bribes from the promoters of the illegal structure as the matter has been going on since 2018, when the original owners first applied for permission to repair the dilapidated structure. The NOC is signed by the Panchayat secretary, which is surprising because such NOCs are only signed by the Sarpanch, the ward member revealed.
Panch/ward member Francis Rodrigues told The Navhind Times that the CRZ authority had given permission for repair and renovation of the structure in 2018 and on that basis, the restaurant licence was issued by passing a resolution.
While Rodrigues says a resolution was passed, the Panchayat secretary Bheldas Karapurkar has gone on record to say that he was not given any information about the controversial property and hence signed the NOC as a default case. “Neither the panchayat staff nor the panch members informed me about the issues,” Karapurkar told The Navhind Times.
At the same time, other panch members claim no resolution was passed and no meeting held to discuss the matter.
So who is lying? GAC’s Shinde alleges the entire Calangute Village Panchayat has been bribed and is lying about the facts of the case, only to protect the illegal structure from demolition, with the blessing and tacit approval of the local MLA.