MARGAO
Guess how many illegal structures on comunidade land have been identified by the attorneys as per the March 6 High Court’s directions on illegal constructions.
The exact number of illegal structures, if any, identified by the attorneys and filed before the office of the Administrator of South Goa comunidades, remains unclear, with sources saying hardly 10 comunidade bodies must have submitted reports on the illegal constructions.
What’s, however, crystal clear is that the attorneys have been literally struggling to find surveyors to conduct the surveys in order to identify the illegal constructions in their respective jurisdictions.
Making matters worse for the attorneys is that requests made to provide government surveyors to assist the bodies in identifying the illegal constructions have gone abegging. A couple of attorneys are believed to have engaged private surveyors to help in identifying the illegal constructions as in the case of Margao Comunidade. However, the cost involved in engaging the surveyors seemed to have come to haunt the local comunidade bodies.
A classic case in point is the comunidade bodies of Aquem, Margao, Verna, Davorlim and Dicarpale “ all headed by Attorney Celestin Noronha.
Ask Noronha on the status of the inspections and survey of the illegal constructions in the five Comunidade bodies headed by him as the attorney. Do not be surprised if Noronha comes out with a quick reply that the process of inspections to identify the illegal constructions on the five comunidade land has not moved forward at all in the last two months.
Reason: Noronha has pointed out that attempts made to rope in government surveyors through the South Goa Comunidades Administrator to conduct the inspections and survey to identify the illegal construction has come a cropper. He sounded categorical when he asserted that unless the government makes available the surveyors, it would not be possible for the attorneys to conduct the inspections to find the illegal structures.
Noronha, who also heads the Margao Comunidade as the attorney, pointed out that he has engaged a private surveyor for the inspections of illegal structures in the Comunidade jurisdiction. He, however, hastened to add that engaging private surveyors involves huge cost given the magnitude of the issue. “I do not know how to go about with the inspections and survey the illegal constructions located in the five Comunidade bodies headed by me as Attorney. I will again pursue with the office of Administrator of Comunidades to make available surveyors to conduct the survey”, he added.
