This isn’t a story that the rapidly urbanised Goa willunderstand. That’s why it needs to be told. There are two classes in Mopa. Youcan still get rich if you are a land holder. Not if you are a poor farmer whoseland is getting acquired for the Mopa airport. In an unfair let down of theworst kind, farmers at the site ofMopa’s Greenfield Airport in Pernem continue to be offered a paltry sum of Rs25 “ Rs. 40 per square metre for their precious land. The price being offered,just outside the land acquisition area, in sharp contrast to the prevalentmarket rate, ranges from Rs 800 to Rs 1200. Nor are the Mopa oustees, many ofwhom are actually landless tribals, working on their landlord’s lands forgenerations, as lucky as their urban counterparts of Dabolim.
Hanuman Aroskar, of Nachipani village in Mopa is not BernardCosta of Dabolim, Goa’s most influential “oustee” who invoked the might of thestate government to get his notifed land for the Dabolim airport expansionproject back. “The highest compensation being offered to us out here is Rs. 60per square metre,” informs Hanuman Aroskar of Nanchipani. Aroskar was offeredRs 12,640 for a 300 square metre land. A small village of about 35 houses,Nanachipani lies at the north-western corner of the proposed Airport site. Thevillagers here are farmers who spend their time tilling their crops on theplateau or tending to their kulaghars (plantations) on the slopes of theplateau. The farmers are in no mood to give off their land at any cost. Notjust because the deal that they are getting is unfair but also because it doesnot ensure their future. “We told the Special Land Acquisition Officer, you payus 100 times the yearly produce of our crop and give us either a market matchingrate for our land or similar land elsewhere but the officer said he washelpless”, explains Aroskar.
The fate of the evacuees from Mopa have been the samewhether emergency clauses were invoked to force them out of their villages bythe previous or the current government. The previous government’s acquisitionby force at measly rates was successfully challenged by 81 of the localresidents at High Court of Bombay at Panjim. The court explicitly asked thegovernment to scrap the previous acquisition process, which was being executedby invoking emergency clause and start the process afresh. The re-notificationto their horror contained the same old rates.
On the other hand, the beneficiaries are others. The idea ofan airport at Mopa has catapulted the property prices around to mind-bogglinglevels. Popular Property site 99 acres.com on December 9, 2012 lists a one lakhsquare metre residential land near Mopa Airport at Rs. 2500 per square metre.“It is a typical rob Peter to pay Paul situation in the airport landacquisition area. Forget the fact that people don’t want to sell, theauthorities are not even looking at the land rates at adjoining land which ishigh. Why shouldn’t those losing their land feel cheated”, asks Pernem basedlawyer Santosh Keni. Enquiries reveal that a local sold his uncultivable twolakh fifty thousand square metre land in Varkhand area for a whopping Rs. 12crores. In sharp contrast, Aroskar won’t be getting more than Rs. 30 lakhs forhis farm lands.
At the heart of these unjust rates for Mopa Airport lies anarchaic Revenue Department presumption. The department still calls Pernemtaluka, a hinterland. While the mere announcement of the airport led to theproperty sales in Pernem taluka rising to Rs 35 crores in 1995 from Rs 5 croresin 1993. In 2006, property transactions worth Rs 1500 crores were registered atSub-Registrar’s Office in Pernem. Both Sub-Registrar and Land AcquisitionOffice are a part of Revenue Department so why does one arm not consult theother in the interests of justice and fairplay?
There are two Supreme Court judgments of the past thatexplicitly outline how and why those losing their land should get market ratesfor them. “When the land is being compulsorily taken away from a person, he isentitled to the highest value which similar land in the locality is shown tohave fetched in a bona fide transaction entered into between a willingpurchaser and a willing seller near about the time of the acquisition,” said aSupreme Court Bench of Justices P Sathasivam and J Chelameswar in April thisyear. But Goa Government does not consider the Apex Court judgment suo moto.“People challenging the compensation should refer to this judgment and providemarket rates while seeking enhancement of compensation under Section 18 of LandAcquisition Act 1894”, informs Anthony D’Souza, OSD to Revenue Minister FrancisD’Souza and key authority in the state overlooking land acquisitions. Whathowever D’Souza fails to convince is why people who lose their land have toplead their case before the government they elected for justice.
