REVITALISING
AGRICULTURE!
1)
The four Comunidade Commission members said that the thrust of their report was to revitalize agriculture by proposing Comunidades as a potent and efficient institution to fulfill the objective
2)
The panel felt this could be best achieved through Comunidades, being the single largest holder of agricultural land, and give fresh impetus to the initiative of boosting agriculture and farming
3)
This effort would help in restoring these agrarian bodies to their past glory having a unique social order and immense heritage value and historical significance, the commission members said
PANAJI: The State government move to amend the Code of Comunidades to regularise illegal structures on the basis of a 2016 report of a Comunidade Commission has set alarm bells ringing among components of the age old village bodies across the State as well as members of the Commission itself.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the four members of the Commission have said that the proposal to amend the Code should first be brought for discussion before a convention of Comunidades which is in session.
"We feel that before making any amendments to the Code of Comunidades, it would be desirable that the proposals be referred to the statutory Convention under article 652of the Code, to elicit views of the Comunidade bodies thereon," said a press release issued by the four members of the Commission.
Antonio Braganca, Augusto Monteiro and architects Tulio de Souza and Sávio JF Correia are the four members of the Commission who signed the press release which also clarifies that the Commission has mooted stringent steps to remove encroachments under the extant provisions of the Code of Comunidades and the Goa Land (Prohibition and Construction) Act, 1995.
A similar sentiment was expressed by Comunidade bodies who said they will be assembling in Mapusa on Monday to express their concern over the government's move to amend the Code.
Carambolim Comunidade president, Venzy Viegas said representatives dozens of Comunidades from both North and South Goa will meet at Mapusa on Monday to express their opposition to changes in the code without consulting them.
Earlier last week, Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte had said the government would place the report of the Comunidade Commission, set up following a High Court direction, before the upcoming monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly.
Khaunte had also claimed that the Commission has recommended a provision which paves the way for regularisation of illegal structures and the government would amend the Code to incorporate it.In the press release, however, the four members of the Commission said, the provision was only for exceptional cases of illegal constructions and encroachments, where it was impossible for the Comunidade to remove the encroachers due to some bar of law or circumstances.
"There ought to be an option to enable the Comunidade to try and regularize the encroachment after being compensated for the land at current market rates, and should be limited to cases of collective encroachment by way of shanties and illegal colonies," the four Commission members said in the press release.
Regularisation of illegal structures and encroachments in Comunidade lands has been an issue attempted to be resolved by at least two other previous governments over the last two decades.
First in 2000, the Francisco Sardinha government had moved the proposal to regularize the structures. Current Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho, who was then the Revenue Minister, had set the ball rolling and the revenue department had begun receiving applications from the illegal structure dwellers. The move however subsequently fizzled out after legal challenges to the proposal.
Meanwhile, the four Comunidade Commission members said that the thrust of their report was to revitalize agriculture by proposing Comunidades as a potent and efficient institution to fulfill the objective.
"We felt this could be best achieved through Comunidades, being the single largest holder of agricultural land, and give fresh impetus to the initiative of boosting agriculture and farming," their statement said. "This effort would help in restoring these agrarian bodies to their past glory having a unique social order and immense heritage value and historical significance, they added.
