It looks like the real estate developers are coming to Goa with the fixed agenda in the mind and everyone has only that one agenda of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). The leading Hotels Pvt. Ltd. were propagating the similar agenda of CSR after the matter went into the courts due to the stiff opposition from the locals but Rahejas seems to be keeping themselves one step ahead of by taking the stand well in advance. Please read the full report here…
According to the news published by the local daily the Raheja Universal Pvt. Ltd. has obtained all the necessary permissions from the concern government authorities to build “88 Residential Row Houses” which is according to them is a “Low Density Development” based on this the associate vice-president of Raheja group, Kamal Khemani appealed to the Panchayat of Caramona to issue the necessary licenses to them to carry out the parallel developmental work in the village under the corporate social responsibility.
According the sources the idea of CSR came out of the stiff opposition from the villagers to the mega project instilled by the Rahejas in their village on the grounds of narrow approached roads, lack of infrastructure and, above all, that it would change the village topography. “Since I am the owner of the land, I should have the right to develop it. I wanted to grow with the village and hence appeal to the Panchayat to grant the construction license since all the other authorities like the Town & Country Planning, Goa State Pollution Control Board and Health Department have given us the licences,’’ Khemani told the media.
To the question of media as what would be the future course of action he will have in case of denial of license from the village Panchyat to safeguard the interest of locals, Khemani said that he would knock on the doors of the director of Panchayat to get the licenses. “But then there would not be any CSR activity in the village.” Which is in the tune of 3.5 crore which they have planned to spend for the village in case their journey remains smooth.
When the media tried to find out from Khemani as why locals are opposing to the project he said he don’t know anything about it adding that there may a section of people opposing it and that he read about it only in the newspaper.
Khemani tried to pass on the message that the project will be self sufficient and its existence would not take toll on the village infrastructure. “We will be having a sewage treatment plant, low-flow CP fixtures with own transformer and solar street lighting at the site,’’ he added. When he was told that the issue will be discussed at the gram sabha on Sunday he said “If I am called for the gram sabha I will definitely participate”.
Here one thing is common in both cases, Leading Hotels as well as Rahejas and that is the land was sold to them by locals. This makes one thing clear that locals are as much responsible as the outsiders. After selling land to them creating the hurdle may not be the correct situation, is it? Who is responsible for the whole issue? Why local Goans sell their land to the outsiders when they do not want any development to take place in their villages? Is the holding investors projects ransom is good? Here the message given by Rahejas is clear and loud that which tell that “If villagers accept the project they will implement CSR but if they manage to get the job done in spite of opposition from the villager, they will forfeited the CSR. Now it’s your turn to tell something about this issue. Do write your comments and suggestions on our website.
Source: Various Sources
Edited by: Goa Prism News Desk
