MARGAO
Will this Niz Goemkar family finally get justice from a government that swears by Goem, Goemkar and Goemkarponn?
The Margao-based Aninha Fernandes had been running from pillar to post since 2011, knocking the doors of successive governments headed by Digambar Kamat, Manohar Parrikar and Laxmikant Parsekar over the last six years, seeking compensation in lieu of the land admeasuring 16,000 square metres, acquired by the government to build kabrastan at Sonsodo for the Muslim community.
Though the land was acquired by the Digambar Kamat government in haste in 2011, apparently to placate the Muslim community ahead of the 2012 Assembly election, the Fernandes family had been left high and dry by successive governments till date.
What’s significant to note is that incumbent Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai are both aware of the plight of the Fernandes family. In fact, Sardesai in particular, had taken up the issue in the Legislative Assembly when Parrikar was the Chief Minister, with former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat conceding on the floor of the House that his government had agreed to compensate the family with alternate land in lieu of the acquired land.
Says Marcelino Fernandes, one of the heir of the Aninha family: “I had taken up the issue with Vijai Sardesai when he was a MLA during the previous term. In fact, it was Sardesai who had raised the issue in the House to mete out justice for this Goemkar family. Even then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had observed that the government will have to honour the work if his predecessor had promised the family of an alternate land.”
Marcelino has so far not called on the TCP Minister, but is planning to meet him one of these days with a plea to help the beleaguered family with an alternate land. “Sardesai is aware of the issue. I am confident that he would convince the Chief Minister and do justice to the family at the earliest,” Marcelino said, while disclosing plans to call on the TCP Minister with the family’s long pending issue.
It was in the year 2011 that the Digambar Kamat government had rushed to acquire 30,000 square metres of land to house the proposed kabrastan at Sonsodo, of which around 16,000 square metres belonged to the Aninha family. When the beleaguered family had refused to accept compensation, Kamat had promised to give alternate government land for the family in lieu of the land lost for the kabrastan project. While Kamat does not deny having made the promise of alternate land to the family, neither his government nor the successive BJP-led governments honoured the promise made to this Niz Goemkar family.
