MARGAO
Goa Forward Party President and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai on Sunday slammed the government for wilfully leaving out a specific definition for ‘land grabbing’, which has hampered the Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice V.K. Jadhav (Retd.), and helped water down its findings. Demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on the issue, Sardesai said this significant failure was mentioned by the commission itself, which implies attempts to scuttle the inquiry itself from the word go.
He also accused the government of shielding and protecting the real culprits that the commission referred to, in Goa’s unprecedented and large-scale land grabbing scam.
In a tweet, Sardesai quoted the commission’s observations how individuals with key roles in the commission of this crime have acted “cleverly behind the curtain”, using others “as mere pawns” while orchestrating illegal land transfers using forged documents.
“This scam is not just about stolen land; it’s about stealing Goa itself from Goans,” Sardesai asserted, reiterating his belief that a nexus of powerful individuals was behind this illegal activity.
He demanded immediate action to identify and prosecute those named or implicated in the Commission’s findings, stating that it is the duty of the government to protect Goans’ rights and heritage. “If the government fails to act now, we will take this fight to every Goan household and expose their complicity in this massive scam,” Sardesai warned.
He added: “As a regionalistic party, Goa Forward will stand firm in its resolve to ensure justice for all affected Goans, and will not give up the fight until transparency and accountability is restored, and checks put in place to prevent further land grabbing”.
