PANAJI
After Tuesday's climb-down on the controversial Bhumiputra Adhikarni legislation by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, his administration formally sought feedback from the general public on its online portal GoaOnline even as the belligerent Opposition pressed for a House Committee to examine it.
Citizens have been asked to give their observations and suggestions on the controversial bill which seeks to hand over ownership titles of houses and land up to 250 square meters to dwellers with a domicile of 30 years and above.
Suggestions, according to a government communique can be submitted in detail with a 5,000-word limit and files up to a 5 MB size can be uploaded in supporting documents on to its https://goaonline.gov.in portal. Interestingly, the portal mentions bill's normenclature as "Bhumi Adhikarini Bill" and not Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill as was passed by the Goa legislative assembly on Friday last.
Late on Tuesday night, Sawant through a video mesage had announced that "Bhumiputra" will be changed while pointing out that it was the cause of most of the uproar against it.
Sawant had also said, that the bill will be brought before the Goa legislative assembly for discussion again. "I want to clear one thing: the sentiment of the people is attached to 'bhumiputra', and the State government is ready to remove the word from the bill. I give an assurance that bhumiputra will be removed from the bill," Sawant had said in the video message.
Sawant and his government have come under severe criticism over the legislation which was one of the many hurried through the rudimentary legislative procedures without discussion on the last day of the recent monsoon session amid an Opposition boycott.
