PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday announced that nearly 5,000 houses across Goa are slated to be regularised under his government’s flagship 'Mhaje Ghar' scheme and 3,000 orders have already been prepared for issuance.
Sawant said a special programme will be held at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, on Thursday, where around 1,000 beneficiaries will receive their regularisation orders.
The government will also set up counters at the venue to help residents complete pending formalities.
The scheme, aimed at granting legal ownership rights of the land on which long-standing unauthorised dwellings were built, covers those built before 1972, structures under the 20-point programme, Goa Housing Board plots, constructions regularised under the Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act (RUCA), and homes located on government and comunidade land.
Sawant said a similar programme will soon be announced for North Goa as well even as he urged eligible residents who have not yet applied to do so at the earliest.
He also appealed to comunidades to issue No Objection Certificates (NoCs) to applicants under the scheme.
“The Mhaje Ghar initiative is progressing well. Nearly 3,000 orders are ready. This will give long-awaited legitimacy to thousands of families living in houses that existed for decades without formal recognition,” Sawant said at a post-cabinet press briefing on Wednesday.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has positioned the scheme as a major reform, offering security of tenure to residents who have lived in uncertainty for years.
By providing ownership rights, the State hopes to resolve long-pending disputes over land and housing.
The scheme and the related legislative amendments, however, were not received positively by several counidades, the age-old bodies holding large tracts of community land across the State. Some of these entities have also filed petitions challenging the legislative amendments which are pending before the Bombay High Court.
