Inspection of illegal road at Neura uncovers land-filling for farmhouse

Panaji: An inspection to verify allegations of a 20m illegal road in khazan land near Neura panchayat has brought to light a more serious violation, land-filling of nearly 2,000 sq m area for a farmhouse with a swimming pool.The illegal mud-filling appears to have been done over several months in a concealed part of the eco-fragile khazan land not far from the Pilar-Old Goa road. “The mangroves have been cut in tenanted land and a ground-plus-one structure has been built with a swimming pool in front of it,” Dattaprasad Toraskar, Tiswadi mamlatdar, told TOI.The mamlatdar and panchayat members had arrived on Monday for an inspection of the illegal road by a local school.

The land-filling with pipes was to link the KRC road to the institution’s play area. The tenant’s kin had used the reclaimed area for a farm, as banana suckers were found. A part of the larger tenanted area, originally a paddy field, has been reclaimed for it.The landfilled area of the farm lies towards the east, concealed behind the school building from the panchayat edifice in the west that houses several other establishments.

Both panchayat buildings and school along the main road have been built on reclaimed khazan land. But local residents had flagged a proposal for a sports township on Neura’s western border a few years ago.Sarpanch Aditya Sawant provided details to the mamlatdar in presence of other panch members. A flying squad had inspected the illegal road earlier while police were present on Monday.A first information report against the illegalities has been filed at Agasaim police station.