TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Come Monday and Comunidade officials will once again descend atop migrant-inhabited Moti Dongor to serve notices on the 252 inhabitants to show cause why their structures should not be razed down for encroachment on Comunidade land.
Unlike last time, when demolition orders were served to the inhabitants, this time around, the Administrator of Comunidades has chalked an elaborate plan of action spanning over a month.
The month-long process of serving notices, seeking replies and giving personal hearings to each of the households is expected to consume a whole lot of time, in view of the government’s undertaking before the High Court. Says South Goa Administrator of Comunidades, Sangeeta Naik, “My office has issued 252 notices and the same would be served on each of the households atop the hillock. The process of serving the notices is expected to be complete within 15 days,” she said.
Naik said that all the 252 households will be given 15 days time to file their replies to the show cause notices.
“Thereafter, they will be called for personal hearing. They can either appear personally or through their lawyers. My office will complete this exercise in three phases, with the last date fixed on June 6, before taking any decision on the fate of the structures,” she said.
Replying to a question, Naik said the onus of proving that they are not encroachers on the Comunidade land would rest on the 252 inhabitants.
“They will have to produce supporting documents to prove they were authorized to occupy the land in question,” she said, adding that her office would also hear representatives of both – the Margao and Aquem Comunidade on the issue.
Sources in the Administrator of Communidades office said the time consuming process would take more than two months and the process of demolition may be further delayed due to the intervening monsoons.
