the goan I network
PANAJI
The Congress on Sunday demanded that the State government appoint a special investigation team (SIT) under a retired High Court judge to probe the Serula comunidade land grab scam which is revealing itself to be massive and launched a sharp attack on Porvorim MLA, Rohan Khaunte.
Congress spokesperson, Trajan D’Mello, said despite being the Revenue Minister for more than two years, Khaunte did little to curb the very scam he used to boldly raise in the House in the previous term he spent in
the Opposition.
D’Mello said, the mutation of a nearly 8,000 square meter parcel of land which conveyed ownership from the comunidade to the Vazarkar family, a member of which is a Sarpanch,
was fraudulent.
He also alleged that there was a concerted effort to protect the government officials involved.
“The current managing committee of the Serula comunidade filed a complaint in the matter in September last year but did not name the Administrator of comunidades and the mamlatdar involved in granting the mutation. The FIR was registered by the Mapusa police in the last week of December, but the two officials are nowhere implicated,” D’Mello said.
Now, a group of ‘gauncars’ of the comuniade have filed a detailed complaint, chronologically exposing the fraudulent process adopted to grant the mutation, he added.
D’Mello also came down heavily against the Porvorim MLA, Rohan Khaunte, accusing him of being party to the land grab by blackmailing the BJP government he was part of when former chief minister the late Manohar Parrikar was critically ailing.
He said, Khaunte along with the group of six non-BJP MLAs who were part of the Parrikar-led coalition government used to ambush the administration into clearing files and therefore were insisting that the chief minister, despite his ill-health continue to lead the government.
Meanwhile, congratulating Sadanand Shet Tanawade on being appointed the BJP state unit president, D’Mello urged him to use his good offices to convince the current Pramod Sawant government to have the scam investigated by an SIT since he is also a gauncar of Serula comunidade.
