The Comunidade Committee of Goa has strongly opposed the BJP government’s recent decision in the Assembly to pass a bill regulating houses built illegally on comunidade lands by outsiders.
This move, they allege, is aimed at protecting the BJP’s vote bank ahead of elections. Migrants who came to Goa in the name of development and employment have constructed houses wherever they please, confident that the government, acting as their political guardian, will legalise their claims.
Several cases of illegal structures are pending in court, yet the government is interfering instead of letting justice take its course. The committee accuses the government of encouraging outsiders, effectively selling Goa and emboldening them to act with impunity until politicians arrive during elections seeking votes.
They urge the Governor of Goa to reject the bill, preventing outsiders from being recognised as “Goenkars.” Goa belongs to Goans, they stress. Outsiders already have homes in their native states, yet they seize free land, build illegally, and enjoy state services funded by Goan taxpayers ” proof, they say, that the current government has failed its own citizens.
