MARGAO
When Chief Minister Pramod Sawant unveiled plans to rehabilitate the slum dwellers at Moti Dongor-Margao in his budget speech on March 29, many must have wondered how the government would go about the process when a writ petition filed by the migrant inhabitants against the order of demolition of the 200-odd structures is pending in the High Court.
It’s now evident that the government had been toying with the idea of rehabilitation of the Moti Dongor inhabitants much before the Chief Minister's budget speech.
A glance at the High Court proceedings in the writ petition filed by the petitioner Maulasab H Balabatti and 209 others from Moti Dongor gives a clear insight that the government had discussed and deliberated on the rehabilitation over a month before the Chief Minster's budget speech.
When the writ petition came up for hearing in the High Court on February 22, 2023, the additional government advocate upon instructions submitted that the rehabilitation of the petitioners (Moti Dongor) is pending with the government for consideration. The additional government advocate further submitted that if the matter is posted for hearing after some time, some decision would be taken on the proposal.
The matter is now expected to come up for a final hearing in the High Court, but with the government unveiling a road map for the rehabilitation of the Moti Dongor inhabitants, as announced in the Chief Minister’s budget speech, it is evident that it may just be a formality before the government submits its decision on rehabilitation in the court.
Aquem comunidade attorney Celestin Norohna, however, has insisted that the comunidade is the owner of the land admeasuring 24,000 square metres encroached by the migrants, and the South Goa Administrator of comunidades had ordered the demolition of the illegal structures in 2013.
Celestin contended that it is not a simple issue as it is made to appear after the Chief Minister has unveiled plans for rehabilitation on grounds it is a notified slum.
While demanding to know when did the government notify Moti Dongor as a slum, Celestin observed: “Before we reply to this question, the government needs to answer whether the Slum Areas (Improvement & Clearance) Act, 1956 has been extended to Goa.”
Celestin questioned: “If this Act has not been extended to Goa, where’s the question of Moti Dongor having been notified as a slum.”
The question over Moti Dongor being notified as a slum was deliberated by then South Goa Administrator of comunidades, Sangeeta Naik in her demolition order passed in 2013.
The Administrator was categorical in her order stating that the Slum Areas (Improvement & Clearance) Act, 1956 has not been extended to Goa and has no application within its territorial limits. She even went to the extent of saying that “Extension of Act to Goa was essential before any authority could issue a notification there under.”
Rehabilitation process set in motion: MLA
MARGAO
When Margao MLA Digambar Kamat descended at Moti Dongor to commemorate the birth anniversary of the Founder of the Indian Constitution Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar last week, he sounded categorical in saying that there’s no looking back over the rehabilitation of the Moti Dongor inhabitants.
He went on to tell the media that the inhabitants also have a right to decent living, insisting that the government would now go ahead with the rehabilitation process.
When asked when exactly would the rehabilitation see the light of day, the Margao MLA shot back saying, “Rehabilitation is a process, and the government has set in motion the process by making a budgetary provision of Rs 5 crore in the 2023-24 financial budget."
The Moti Dongor migrant locality had been Kamat’s stronghold over the years in his political journey spanning three decades.
