PONDA: Tension erupted at Mangueshi on Sunday as residents of the locality and surrounding areas yet again stopped an ‘illegal construction’ being carried out by the developer of a mega project and moved out the bouncers appointed by the developer at the construction site.
According to villagers the matter is subjudice and hearing is fixed on October 3, but the developer had started an illegal cutting of a hill, saying that he got an injunction order. When villagers got to know about the matter they inquired about the injunction order and found that no such order was granted by the court.
The villagers from Mangueshi and surrounding villages marched to the construction site along with Veling-Priol-Cuncoliem sarpanch Damodar Naik and forced the developer to stop work on Sunday morning. Around 50 villagers had gathered at the site to stop the illegal activity.
After three hours the developer appointed bouncers at the entrance of the construction site and restarted the construction work. When the villagers got to know about this they marched again to the construction site were tensions rose between the bouncers and villagers.
It was after police intervention that the matter was resolved. The bouncers were asked to leave the spot and the work was stopped again.
According to Veling-Priol sarpanch Damodar Naik, the developer is violating all laws and carrying out illegal activities when the matter is subjudice. For the past few days the developer had started development work on plots under survey number 37 and 38, which was stopped by villagers some months back, Naik said.
“No NOC has been given by the village panchayat for construction work and hence we will stop all illegalities by the developer. A report on the illegal activities was sent by the village panchayat to all authorities, including the chief minister but no action was taken,” said Naik.
It may be recalled that taking a legal step under Section 66 of the Panchayat Act gives full power for the panchayat body to demolish any illegalities. The villagers thus broke the fence and cleared the hot mixed roads in the 2.74 lakh sqm area of the Mangueshi mega project in May.
After the gram sabha resolution the villagers went to all the government offices on Tuesday. After getting only evasive response from the authorities, they finally took the step of demolishing the “illegal construction” themselves.