Panaji: Breaking his silence over the alleged controversial Housing Project being permitted in his property,
Goa’s Town and Country Planning Minister Vishwajit Rane said that his father, former CM Pratapsingh Rane had converted the land into settlement some three decades back.
A group of locals from Karapur, Sarvan village are recently protesting against the proposed housing project by House of Abhinandan Lodha company. The locals have accused Rane of selling off the huge land to the developer, without addressing the environmental concerns.
Rane told reporters on Sunday that he was being unnecessarily targeted by the protestors, holding him responsible for the development of the property.
“It was 30 years back that the entire rocky land was converted into settlement by my father (Pratapsingh Rane) when he was Leader of Opposition,” the minister said.
The TCP minister said that the land was converted by then CM Manohar Parrikar and all the authorities including local panchayat had given permission for the same.
“I don’t know why suddenly some handful of people are protesting against the project. All the legal permissions required for the project are in place,” he said.
Rane said that the protestors are targeting him without any reason. “If they have any question, they should ask it the company that is developing the property,” he said.
He claimed that the entire stretch was rocky and “it is a myth that there was cashew plantation in that area.”
The minister said that his family has donated vast tracts of land for the developmental projects in the state including Anjunem Irrigation Project (on Goa-Maharashtra border) and Dabos water treatment plant in Sattari taluka, by keeping welfare of the people at heart.
“There is right for the people to speak but they should not cross their limits in making baseless allegations,” he said, indirectly referring to the verbal attack on him by Karapur-Sarvan group.
