Hutments on comunidade land.
MARGAO
With comunidade bodies refusing to grant consent for the regularisation of structures on comunidade land, implementation of a key and controversial component of the Mhaje Ghar scheme has hit a roadblock.
Given the situation, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday made a renewed appeal to comunidade bodies to grant consent to the occupants, even offering that the government would collect regularisation fees from the occupiers and transfer the proceeds to the respective comunidades.
Officials familiar with the matter told The Goan that authorities had received around 40 applications seeking regularisation of structures built on comunidade land. However, none of the applications could be processed as the concerned comunidade bodies either declined to grant consent or failed to respond to the requests.
Under the rules, applicants whose requests are rejected or remain unattended can approach the Administrators of Comunidades for relief. However, officials said none of the applicants have so far filed appeals before the Administrators, effectively bringing the regularisation process to a standstill.
The Chief Minister, meanwhile, indicated that the government may facilitate the appeal process to ensure eligible cases are considered. He was overheard advising an occupier of comunidade land to first apply to the concerned comunidade body and, if no consent is received within a month, approach the Administrator or further intervention.
The remarks suggest that the government is preparing to rely on the Administrators of Comunidades to consider appeals and grant the necessary approvals, paving the way for regularisation of eligible structures.
Defending the inclusion of comunidade land cases under the Mhaje Ghar scheme, Sawant said regularisation of such structures forms one of the scheme’s objectives and pointed out that many of the houses had been built long before the BJP came to power in the State.
“Most of these structures came up before 2012, when the BJP was not ruling Goa. Why did the previous governments not take action and demolish these structures then?” he asked.
Stating that many families had invested their life savings in building these homes on comunidade land, the Chief Minister questioned whether it would be fair to demolish structures that have existed for decades.
“These people have spent all their money on these houses, and now you want my government to demolish them. Where will these people go after living in Goa for more than 40 years?” he asked.
Making a public appeal to the comunidade bodies, Sawant said the government was not seeking free transfer of land to the occupants.
“I am not asking the comunidades to give away the land free of cost. My government is even prepared to collect the fees from the occupiers and hand over the money to the comunidade bodies,” he said.
