Team Herald
PONDA: An activist group fighting for the rights of agricultural tenants and mundkars, has threatened to disrupt the BJP election campaign meetings statewide for the injustice done by the government to the Bahujan Samaj.
Addressing a press conference in Ponda on Wednesday, Goechya Kul-Mundarancho Awaaz (GKMW) President Ramkrishna Zalmi alleged that the BJP government was out to eliminate the Bahujan Samaj by stripping their tenancy and mundcarial rights.
He said that by amending the Agricultural Tenancy Act in 2014, the government deprived the Bahujan Samaj of their rights; with the vesting of tenancy jurisdiction in civil courts, many tenants have lost their cases as they have no land documents to prove their tenancy rights.
Addressing the press, Adv Satyawan Palkar said that by deciding to grant ownership rights to Aframentos land holders, the government has committed another injustice against the Bahujan Samaj, who were tilling the Aframentos land. He said that the government took the decision to give ownership right to Aramento land holders without conducting a survey. He claimed that the Aramento land was grabbed by the Portuguese rulers from the Bahujan Samaj.
Adv Palkar claimed that Aframentos were given illegally to favoured persons by the Portuguese rulers, in violation of the right of the indigenous communities.
“The Aframentos lands were often cultivated by locals or are ecologically critical lands such as water recharge areas, grazing lands and wooden area. The holders of Aframentos have no traditional rights over these lands. The only interest of Aframentos holders is to sell the land to builders which will destroy Goa,” he said.
The group has vowed to make good its threat if the following three demands are not met by the government before the election: amend the Agricultural Tenancy Act to re-vest the mamlatdars with tenancy jurisdiction; rescind the decision to give legal status to Aframento lands; and return all the common lands as well as Aframento lands to the original Gaonkari system.
