MAPUSA
The controversial Zuari land issue returned to the spotlight in the Goa Legislative Assembly on Friday, with Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai alleging a ₹50,000-crore scam and questioning the government’s failure to reclaim Comunidade land given for industrial purposes but allegedly being converted into residential plots.
Raising the matter during the Assembly session, Sardesai questioned whether the State would invoke the newly passed law allowing Comunidades to reclaim land if not used for its original intended purpose.
“The land was granted for industrial use by the first Chief Minister Bhausaheb Bandodkar with the promise of jobs. Now it's being converted into plots for sale. Isn’t this a violation?” he asked.
He also pointed to three pending conversion sanads in the South Goa Collectorate, where applicants have not collected e-challans for payment, and asked whether these too could be halted under the new law.
Responding to the accusations, Revenue Minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate clarified that the new Comunidade legislation is not applicable to the Zuari case as it applies prospectively.
“We have obtained legal opinion from senior advocates. Since the land in question has already been sold, it cannot be taken back,” he said, while also blaming the Comunidade concerned for failing to safeguard its own land.
Sardesai, however, criticised the government’s stance.
“How can you first allow the sale of land and then bring a prospective law? This is Goa’s biggest scam “ ₹50,000 crore “ enough to wipe out the State’s ₹33,956 crore debt,” he alleged.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant strongly refuted the allegation. “My government has no role in any scam,” he said.
The Zuari land deal has long been a contentious issue, with opposition parties claiming large-scale irregularities in the transfer and conversion of Comunidade lands originally meant for industrial development.
