The sustained pressure against the Bumiputra Adikarni bill by the civil society and other organizations pushed the government to a corner and forced it to do a rethink on it.
Lawyers and legal luminaries have opined that it will not stand the test of legal scrutiny. It is clear that it was an act to appease the migrant vote bank with false hopes. It’s illegality per se and amounts to robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Geographically, Goa is very small and land resources are limited. Conferring ownership rights by allocating house numbers to illegal structures is blatant indiscretion.
Already electricity and water connections are released to these dwelling units built on comunidade and private land by way of encroachment. Now to confer ownership rights to these structures irrespective of other factors and legal contracts is totally absurd.
Landlords will now be in a Catch-22 situation and will think 100 times before renting or giving their land for accommodation.
Years ago William de Curtorim, Francis de Tuem and other singers had premonition of this exact situation and warned Goans in their songs.
No one except politicians see merit in this legislation. With elections fast approaching, it’s time that Goans understand the hidden agenda of the government.
