MAPUSA
The government will re-introduce the Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill in the state legislative assembly, if required, and also change the name as some people have demanded, Power Minister, Nilesh Cabral said on Friday, while stressing that the focus will be to regularise houses before 1982.
Cabral also said that it was wrong to conclude that the bill was brought to regularize houses of the migrants settled in the State.
“The present bill will have major changes. The government will include a clause to allow regularization of the houses of those ‘mull goenkars’ who have settled in Goa before 1982,” Cabral said.
“We have discussed it with the chief minister. His concept was to regularize houses of Goans settled before 1982. Unfortunately, the bill has received negative publicity,” he added.
Cabral said large scale migration happened in Goa only after 1982 and before that those who lived or settled in the State were mostly Goans.
“The bill will be streamlined to regularize houses before 1982, as there was no or minimal migration before 1982. So those staying before 1982 are ‘mull goenkars’ and they should get the right to regularize their houses,” he said.
He said the bill was brought for original Goans but people have doubts that it will favour settlers who have encroached.
“The concept that the Bhumiputra Bill was brought to save the encroachers should be removed from the minds of the people,” he said.
The State government in the recently truncated Assembly session introduced and passed the Goa Bhumiptura Adhikarini Bill along with a dozen other bills without discussion after the Opposition staged a walkout on the paucity of time to debate the bills.
After facing stiff criticism against the Bhumiputra Bill from experts and the civil society, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced to drop the word ‘Bhumiputra’ from the bill and also invited suggestions from the public.
