TEAM HERALD
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PONDA: The Jan Jagruti Manch of Bandora on Friday petitioned Goa Governor Bharat Vir Wanchoo to protect a large area of Comunidade land at Farmagudi from turning into a concrete jungle.
It may be recalled that members of Jan Jagruti Manch and Gaunem Dahajan Samaj had objected to development in the Comunidade land, alleging that the land was illegally transferred to a private party.
According to information, villagers have been agitating since the last three years with aim to protect the comunidade land, which is over 80,000 sq mtrs and identified as grazing ground.
“We the citizens of Bandora are victimized by gross illegalities and mismanagement of comunidade land by different government functionaries including politicians, police, builder nexus,” stated Jan Jangruti Manch Bandora in a two-page memorandum submitted to the Governor.
“The comunidade land of Bandora Panchayat in Ponda taluka has been encroached illegally and presently, work to set up a mega commercial project is in progress. The land as per RP-2021 is reserved for cattle grazing and farming activity and the land has been utilized for farming activities for centuries,” states the memorandum.
“The village panchayat during a gram sabha had taken unanimously resolved to maintain the land as grazing ground. Recently, the sarpanch had filed a police complaint against the work undertaken in the comunidade land,” added the memorandum. Jan Jagruti Manch Convenor Govind Gaude said:
“Taking serious note of the issue, the Governor has assured us to look into the matter.”
“However, since the last six months, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has not given us an appointment. We only wanted to meet Parrikar to explain the issue of the comunidade land at Farmagudi, but till date there has been no response,” added Gaude.
