Mangrove forests in Khazan lands?
Visitação B Monteiro
It is utterly disgusting, if not shocking the way some things are happening in Goa in the post liberation period. The Herald published an article on  March 4, 2012 titled ‘Green Saviours’ which stated that 50 school students  from  five schools have been selected to plant mangroves in Divar, under the direction of former NIO scientist  Dr A G Untawale. The two-year programme is sponsored by the Department Of Science, Technology & Environment, Government of Goa. The question that arises, from this is,  are mangroves meant to be planted in Khazan lands, turning them into mangrove forests? Can this be legally allowed?
Mangroves grow on the river side of bunds, thereby protecting the bunds which surround the Khazan lands. Their natural habitats are the bunds and sluice extensions by the riverside of the bunds called ‘batt’. They are not supposed to occupy Khazan lands. Khazan lands are reclaimed lands through bunding by our ancestors through the Comunidade system. Centuries of hard work left for posterity for the cultivation of paddy in the rainy season and vegetables in the upper reaches and cereals in the lower ridges. Besides fish in the rivulets, this is what defines a Khazan.
The situation was same, till the Agricultural Tenancy Act of 1964 came into force. This Act sounded the death knell for agriculture. Fertile agricultural lands which were handed over to the tillers, for a short period have stayed with them, without any opportunity given to  those, making way for the mangroves on the fertile Khazan lands, meant to produce food grains. Those who seek to eliminate corruption done by previous governments in Goa are free to draw their own conclusions regarding our Goan Agricultural Tenancy Act 1964,  and restore the lands to their original condition  while  holding   the tillers responsible for the land in their custody.
The Khazan lands by their nature are meant for the production of paddy, vegetables, pulses and fish, and are in no way meant to be converted into mangrove forests. Moreover other questions  come to the fore. Do the Khazan lands belong to the government? Is this not a  direct violation of the rights of the gaunkars? Who has authorised the Mangroves Society of India (MSI) to enter the land which does not belong to it.
They should work to revive the same and turn it into profitable agricultural societies, which the Communidades were once upon a time, sustaining the economy of Goa for centuries, which was mainly an agricultural economy.