Panaji, March 3 (IANS) The Goa government's controversial decision to divert a plot of land, meant for the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT), for building a private residential colony is the cause of an ugly spat between the two, a Rajya Sabha member says.

Shantaram Naik, who represents Goa in the upper house of parliament, said that union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan had assured him that a core committee comprising of officials from the MPT and the Goa government would be constituted to sort out the issue.

"A plot of land (23,553 sq meters) was acquired by the state government on behalf of MPT in 2001 for relocating/rehabilitating project affected people (PAP) of the MPT project, but the government transferred the land to the Goa State Rehabilitation Board, which has plans to develop it as a private residential colony," Naik told IANS.

Over the last two years, MPT's former chairperson Pravin Agarwal and the Goa government, including ministers and top bureaucrats, have been engaged in a running feud with each other, with Agarwal even complaining against Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC).

Agarwal had said in his complaint to the CVC that over the years, "private parties and state government officials have connived to take away/transfer various lands belonging to MPT within 50 yards of the high tide line".

"In the process, MPT has lost land having present market value exceeding thousands of crores of rupees. The efforts of MPT to retrieve such lands have been continuously thwarted by the state government. So much so that land areas have been given away by the state government to various hotels without any consent/approval from the board of MPT," Agarwal pointed out.

He had previously said that the state government was looking to give land at throwaway prices to the six promoters of five star hotels. Agarwal, who belonged to the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), had said that he had collected the information on Goa government's "designs" during his tenure as MPT chairman, which ended last August.

Vasan, in his assurance to Naik on Wednesday, said that the core committee will look into all the issues which are bringing the MPT and the state government on a collision course.

"Vasan has assured me that the core committee shall deliberate upon all issues and make its recommendations to the government of Goa for taking an appropriate decision," Naik said.

The core committee will be headed by the state chief secretary, with the principal secretary (revenue) as its member-secretary. The MPT chairman, secretary (ports), secretary (urban development), secretary (fisheries), secretary (law) and secretary (environment) will be its members.