l MBNKS calls to hasten conferment of land rights… threatens to appeal to Centre to shut Portuguese Consulate in Goa
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Wednesday said that the Legislature has the final word on any decision taken in the State, even as he explained that the Mayem land taken over by the government was by cancellation of titles.
Only if the land belongs to evacuees then it comes under the bill, he said referring to the Mayem Evacuee Bill. Parrikar said he had signed the bill a couple of days back and assumed that it had been sent to the Governor for his assent by now.
“With all due respect, to a friendly country, I am very clear that the power lies with me. We have abolished the titles. No foreign governments can say which titles have to be given and which have to be retained,” he replied when asked for a reaction on the Mayem evacuee issue vis-à-vis the Portuguese government’s reaction.
He however said that he had not received any correspondence on the issue from anybody and if he did, he would ask them to read the Constitution.
Meanwhile, the Mayem Bhu-vimochan Nagrik Kriti Samiti (MBNKS) has appealed to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to intervene and hasten the conferment of land rights on those living on Mayem evacuees’ land, in the light of Portuguese government objecting to the bill passed by the Goa Assembly this March.
MBNKS along with the freedom fighters on Wednesday strongly criticised the Portuguese government’s decision to question the Indian government about the Goa (Abolition of Proprietorships, Titles and Grants of Lands) Bill, 2014 passed by Goa Assembly. They have threatened to appeal to the Union Government to shut down the Portuguese Consulate in Goa.
Addressing media persons on Wednesday, MBNKS president Kashinath Mayekar questioned why the Portuguese government is still keen about Goa even after 52 years of Goa’s Liberation. “We have nothing to do with the treaty signed between the Central government and Portugal. Goa has been totally freed from Portuguese rule and has become an important part of India. Under such circumstances, it is pertinent to note that the Portuguese are still claiming right over Mayem village,” he said.
Mayekar said that the Portuguese government should show documents to prove that the land was either gifted or purchased by them. He said the bill is with the Goa Governor and called on him to give assent to the bill and confer land rights on them. “We have full faith in the Government,” he asserted.
Once the Bill becomes an Act, it will abolish the proprietorship rights held by some, by virtue of titles (Visconde, Conde and Marquez) granted to them by the erstwhile Portuguese colonial regime.
Portugal recently sought to know from Indian envoy Jitendra Nath Misra in Lisbon about the Goa government’s decision to solve the issue. The Portuguese government feels that India should abide by the provisions of the treaty signed on March 14, 1975, which provides for solving property disputes concerning both the countries through mutual consent.
With all due respect, to a friendly country, I am very clear that the power lies with me. We have abolished the titles. No foreign governments can say which titles have to be given and which have to be retained, Parrikar said
