Forest dept given 60 days to present needed papers
Dy Speaker Isidore Fernandes, Canacona Mamlatdar Vimod Dalal, GFDC General Manager Nandkumar Parab and others during a meeting at Shristhal panchayat hall on Thursday.
CANACONA
A joint meeting convened by Deputy Speaker and Canacona MLA Isidore Fernandes over allegations by locals regarding the disputed transfer of comunidade land in Shristhal has remained inconclusive and forest authorities have 60 days to present papers sought by the stakeholders.
Some residents of Shristhal have alleged a land scam in the village, claiming that land belonging to the forest department and comunidade were controversially sold as plots to buyers, who have started construction works and have even obtained house numbers from the Shristhal panchayat.
At a joint meeting convened by Fernandes on Thursday, the complainants and stakeholders raised concerns over the status of forest department and comunidade land, while the Shri Mallikarjun Devalaya Committee claimed that the forest department is wrongly auctioning cashew plantations in the land belonging to the Develaya.
Adv. Viraj Nagekar questioned the forest officer, Canacona comunidade committee and the Shristhal sarpanch over the long delay in executing the mutation of forest land acquired by the forest department way back in 1974.
Adv Nagekar asked the panchayat to justify how house numbers were allotted to constructions in the village and also questioned the Canacona comunidade on why the forest department was not party to an ongoing court case pertaining to the land dispute in question.
As differences were raised on all sides, forest officers sought time to produce the mutation file processed. Following their request, Canacona MLA Isidore Fernandes said the meeting would be reconvened after 60 days for three specific issues: Physical demarcation of forest land, identification of forest plots amid claims by Shri Mallikarjun Devalaya that the forest department had been auctioning cashew plots on Devalaya land and file pursued by forest department for mutation of land purchased by them in 1974-75.
The Canacona deputy collector and mamlatdar will also be asked to stop all activities on land in survey numbers under investigation.
Those present at the meeting included Canacona Mamlatdar Vimod Dalal, Goa Forest Development Corporation General Manager Nandkumar Parab, Anant S Mestri and S A Rodrigues (forest officers), Shri Mallikarjun Devalaya Committee President Rajendra Dessai and committee member Satish Desai, Shristhal Sarpanch Datta Gaonkar and Canacona Comunidade President Sharad Naikgaunkar and Comunidade Attorney Pandurang (Dhiraj) Naikgaunkar.
Among those residents who raised concerns included Pavan Tubki, Satish Gosavi, Prashant Desai, Tushar Gaonkar and Pratap Naikgaunkar.
