He took his case to the High Court and won an order in his favour six years ago but no action has been initiated. Florioano is fighting his life’s battle to preserve every piece of Goa’s land from being taken away
He does not wish to win an election or linehis pockets with money. Floriano Fernandes lives by a very simple rule, justicecannot be denied to his village.
His success in ensuring the supply ofrunning water, electricity and the construction of roads in his remote villageof Cabo-de-Rama, 20 years ago gained the trust of his village. They recentlymade him the local in- charge of the Regional Plan committee.
Over a hundred families surroundingCabo-de-Rama are grateful to Fernandes for inspiring them to fight against theallotment of Communidade land to private owners. This scam surfaced in 2006when the private owners fenced the plots and stopped the locals fromtrespassing. Even people who had properties on the other side were deniedaccess. The mud link road was sealed off with iron gates as it was also soldout. But the people agitated under the leadership of Fernandes and managed tobreak open the gates. The mud road was freed.
“I filed a case against the illegalallotment of Communidade land to builders and resorts. I won the case in theHigh Court but the matter is at a standstill. No positive step has been takenso far” Fernandes complains.
Fernandes discloses that he came across anillegal transaction of a land deal from 28 years ago. The original details werewiped out in the government records. “It was Communidade land (three plots of2,05,400 sq metres) sold by its caretakers to these private owners. Communidadeland is reserved for farming and cannot be sold for any other purpose promptingme to oppose it” says Fernandes who left no stone unturned to find out everydetail of this transaction. He dug out the documents from old PortugueseGazette bulletins and used the extract of that as a trump card to convincethose in power.
“The Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar hasinvited people’s complaints and inputs regarding the Regional Plan 2012 tillSeptember 15. I am going to send my complaint again and seek justice,” declaresFernandes.
