PANJIM: Rajya Sabha MP Luizinho Faleiro has demanded that the government should ensure that thousands of hectares of fallow lands are brought under cultivation and khazan lands are maintained for posterity in the State.
Referring to an unstarred question tabled by him during the winter session of the Parliament regarding conversion of agricultural land for other activities in Goa, Faleiro said that the Centre had no details of paddy fields under cultivation and that as per the reports about 80 per cent of fields are uncultivated.
Faleiro wanted to know whether the Union government had new land use policy to reclaim the shrinking agriculture map of Goa and details of agriculture land and rice fields converted for other activities.
In his reply, Union Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar said that maximum 2248 hectares of land in North Goa followed by 1612 hectares of land in Salcete taluka was converted for other activities.
The Union Minister stated that as per the Seventh Schedule of Constitution of India, land comes under the purview of State government and that power to enact laws relating to “land” vests in the Legislatures of the States. He further said that the Goa government has informed that no proposal of new land use policy is under consideration.
The Minister also informed Faleiro that no survey has been undertaken by the government about agricultural land/paddy fields left uncultivated.
Meanwhile, Faleiro on Wednesday charged that thousands of hectares of land are destroyed because bunds are left unrepaired and due to ingression of saline water. He demanded that the government of the day should ensure that whatever is preserved and protected by our forefathers is maintained for posterity. It’s high time that thousands of hectares of paddy fields are brought under cultivation and khazan lands are maintained, he said.