Villagers to Challenge Unity Mall Construction in Court After Stay Order Ignored | Goa News

Panaji: A day after the tourism department declared that construction of Pradhan Mantri Ekta Mall (Unity Mall) started after obtaining all statutory permissions, villagers hoped the court would scrap the project.On Saturday, villagers opposed to the project said they would ask the court to nix the proposed project. The court will hear the petition on Jan 8. They will have a hunger strike on Sunday to show their resistance.Govind Shirodkar, president of Gakuved Federation, told reporters that govt committed a contempt of court by not adhering to the stay order, which he claimed is in force till Jan 8.“Govt and tourism department are acting as if they obtained all approvals without meeting any objections,” said Shirodkar.The construction of the project, he said, was sped up by adding two more earth movers. Shirodkar also alleged that govt falsely marked the project area out of the buffer zone, despite it being a wetland.He asked why govt proceeded with the project even though the villagers are so opposed to it. Ajay Kholkar, a functionary of Revolutionary Goans (RG)said the tourism department may claim that the work on the project started only a few days ago, but all in Chimbel are aware that it started in Sept with barricading of the area.“I am confused as to how govt doesn’t understand a simple court order,” Kholkar said.