21 Jun 2021  |   05:47am IST

Sanguem locals suffer in absence of Land & Survey Records office in town

Made to travel all the way to Quepem Land and Survey Department office to get their work done, which is located at a distance of over 12 kilometres, while those residing in hinterland areas of Bhati, Villian, Kalay, Rivona and Netravali have to cover additional distance of another 12 to 20 kilometres

Alfred Fernandes

SANGUEM: Two years have elapsed since the time the government had assured of opening of an independent office of Inspector of Survey and Land Records for Sanguem Taluka but the assurance continues to remain only on paper ultimately making the people suffer to a great extent.

In the absence of office of the Inspector of Survey and Land Records at Sanguem, the people from Sanguem Taluka are made to travel all the way to Quepem for getting their work done, which is located at a distance of over 12 kilometres, from Sanguem town.

While those residing in the hinterland areas namely Bhati, Villian, Kalay, Rivona and Netravali have to cover additional distance of another 12 to 20 kilometres to reach the office of Quepem Land and Survey Department, making it a time consuming affair.

In October 2018, when the office of Deputy Collector was opened at Sanguem, then revenue minister Rohan Khaunte in the presence of MLA Nilesh Cabral had assured to open an independent office of Survey and Land Records at Sanguem by December 2018.

However, even after a period of two years having elapsed, Sanguem Taluka continues to remain without independent office of Inspector of Survey and Land Records as of date.

The opening of an independent office of Survey and Land Records at Sanguem remains of significant importance as of now, given the recent amendments in the land laws, wherein hearings in the partition cases, which were earlier held and decided by the Deputy Collector, are now transferred to the Inspector of Survey and Land Records. This ultimately has made the people from Sanguem travel all the way to Quepem for the hearings in the partition cases.

While the partition matters require multiple hearings in many cases, the people are made to make frequent trips to Quepem making them unnecessarily waste a lot of time and money in travelling.

As per the assurance given by Khaunte, the office of Inspector of Survey and Land Records was to be housed in the same building premises which presently houses office of the Deputy Collector. 

Sanguem Municipal Council Councillor Romualdo Fernandes informed that the opening of Land and Survey Records office in town will relieve the people from Sanguem to a great extent. 

With diversification of powers in partition matters to the Land Survey Department, the opening of Land Survey office in Sanguem is of utmost importance as otherwise people will have to travel all the way to Quepem for the hearings in partition matters. Similar, view is also echoed by Uguem Village Panchayat Panch Marcus Pereira.

Pereira opined that the people from Netravali, Bhati and Villian will be all the more affected as they will now have to travel extra miles in getting their work done, which was earlier getting done at the Deputy Collector Office, Sanguem.

Adv Amar Naik from Sanguem while appreciating the government’s move to transfer the partition cases to the Inspector of Survey and Land Records also expressed the need for opening an independent office of Land Survey at Sanguem as otherwise the very purpose of making the justice reach at the doorstep of the people will stand defeated.