Jail SEZ ‘patrons,’ demand activists

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, DEC 22
Goa Government is at the receiving end in the land allotment scam for allotting land to SEZ promoters with legal experts demanding ‘jail’ to those responsible for encouraging criminal activity.
“Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) officials and all those involved in granting land to SEZ promoters should be jailed. Such criminal activity should not be tolerated,” Supreme Court senior counsel Collin Gonsalves today said.
Gonsalves represented SEZ Virodhi Manch (SVM) in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by them against the State and SEZ promoters at Goa Bench of Bombay High Court.
The High Court in its order last month had observed that the allotment of lands to the companies was made in undue haste and arbitrarily without proper scrutiny of their applications.
Besides, the procedure adopted for the allotment was not fair and transparent and the allotments by the GIDC do not stand the test of reasonableness. GIDC and the seven petitioners are given status quo of four months.
“It is a terrible case of fraud…this is a clear case of corruption, criminal fraud, misappropriation and cheating,” he said adding that the land should be reverted back to the people of Goa.
The activists including Council for Social Justice and Peace convener Fr Mavrick, Pravin Sabnis and others also demanded resignation of all those officials who fraudulently allotted lands to the industrial enclaves.
They reiterated their demand that either CBI inquiry or judicial probe should be constituted in the scam, which involves high profile politicians and bureaucrats into it.
SVM in its memorandum to the GSIDC on Tuesday demanded resignation of the Chairman Chandrakant Kavlekar, Power Minister Aleixo Sequeira, former Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Nitin Kunkolienkar and others for being ‘partner in the crime.’
Their demand also includes departmental inquiry followed by stringent action against the responsible persons. The members have threatened to launch intense agitation in the coming New Year 2011 if the Government does not pay heed to their demands.
The opposition meanwhile has already called for a criminal investigation of two former Congress chief ministers – Pratapsing Rane and Luizinho Faleiro for favouring SEZ promoters.
The State was forced to de-notify the allotment of 32 lakh sq mtrs of land to SEZ promoters following stiff opposition from the Goans. The SEZ promoters then approached the High Court challenging the government’s de-notification, which is set aside in a recent order.