From Ares
Daijiworld Media Network — Panaji (CN)
Panaji, Jun 18: The ambitious plan of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to set up an academy in association with Bharti group in Panzorconim village has come to a standstill following the state’s housing ministry’s claiming the proposed land.
‘The state had taken a cabinet decision to hand over the land to the Goa state urban development authority (GSUDA) for specific performance. But the GSUDA in utter disregard of the cabinet decision, along with the sports and youth affairs ministry, decided to lease the land to AIFF,’ said Francisco Pacheco, housing board minister.
The housing board ministry has clarified that the formalities of handing over the land to GSUDA are still incomplete and they cannot hand it over to the AIFF. Pacheco added that the ministry was no longer interested in allotting the land, measuring 1,26,785 sq mts, to GSUDA.
He said that the housing board ministry is the owner of the land and had agreed to transfer it on certain conditions, which have been violated by the GSUDA. What puts the controversy in the limelight is the fact that Pacheco is an arch rival of urban development minister Joaquim Alemao, who also heads GSUDA. The land also falls in Alemao’s constituency, Cuncolim.
The state-of-the-art Bharti-AIFF academy is now in limbo as Pacheco has decided to move another cabinet resolution scrapping the earlier one. He said that although the GSUDA had paid for the land, the sale agreement is yet to be drawn up by legal experts.
‘The cabinet decision (to lease land to AIFF for 99 years) has been obtained by presenting wrong facts before the council of ministers,’ alleged Pacheco. On the other hand, Alemao is buoyant about the project and has stated that the academy will go a long way in promoting football.
Alemao also said that Bharti had agreed to providing ten per cent reservation in admissions, for bonafide residents of Panzorconim and 20 per cent for Cuncolim residents. Yet another 20 per cent would be reserved for other Goans.