Ratna Kshatri still remembers the day her husband Padmanabh Kshatri, a daily wage worker by profession married her and brought her to Vasco, aged only 18 years. They strived hard to earn a living and were lucky to find a vacant piece of land on which they constructed their one room dream home near Basaveshwara temple at Baina. They lived a happy life with their four children until her husband died 15 years ago in the house they had both built. She somehow recovered from the trauma and managed to bear the entire burden of providing for the family and looking after her three growing sons. But it seemed like fate was not done dealing a bad hand to her as she lost her three sons year after year due to illnesses. Today, Ratna somehow manages to survive without her family but she had no idea that the house she built with her husband had been earmarked to be razed on Friday by the state administration.
“I have nowhere to go if my house is demolished. It would be better if the government feeds me poison so that I can die in my house and then they can demolish it,” she told the Herald, welling up with tears.
Like her, even Allabaksh Pathan (61), Hanumanta Madar (83) and many other families residing close to the temple at Baina are shocked and have been living in constant fear from the time they heard about the forthcoming demolition of the structures. They are surprised because the houses built by them on church and ‘bhatkar’ (private landlord) property doesn’t fall in the CRZ and neither was there any information given to them about the proposed demolition on December 18th.
While some of the residents claimed that they have been living in the same area for over four decades now, some claimed that they were initially staying in hutments built close to the Baina shore but after the fire incident reported in 1984-85, many left without any shelter above their heads. “On humanitarian grounds, the then administrative officer, Talwar Singh gave us (30 odd people) oral permission to construct a small room on the vacant land (church property) near the Basaveshwara Temple at Baina and we got a new lease of life and shelter,” said 65 year old Rangappa Gangappa Kadlimatti.
Until 2012, these people had no clue that they would be facing demolition in the years to come. The sword now lies firmly over their heads and they have nowhere else to run to. “Where will we go? We don’t even have enough strength left in our bodies to work and pay for rented rooms. Last time the government demolished structures on the Baina shore citing CRZ violations. Now they want to remove us citing illegalities. Vasco has numerous illegal structures and the government announced that they were in the process of legalizing illegal structures. So are they just getting rid of hutments owned by non-Goans and targeting those living in Baina?” questioned Mahadev Harijan, a senior citizen and affected resident who burst out in tears.
Ironically, 70% of the residents claimed that they possess all the documents to prove that they have been living in the same place for over 3 decades. “We have house tax receipts issue in the 1980s, water and electricity connection receipts and even passports issued decades ago, ration cards and Aadhar cards but still we’re treated like this only because we didn’t listen to people in power and voted against their candidate in the last Municipal Elections. This is the punishment for not voting for the MLA’s candidate,” said a Baina local under the condition of anonymity.
According to the affected, from the time they received a demolition notice in 2012, they have been running pillar to post, from MLAs to councillors seeking relief but all their efforts have turned futile and they’re now facing
demolition.
