FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
PANJIM: Aldona MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira on Thursday said there is a need to make Aadhaar biometric identification mandatory in matters pertaining to land deals so that frauds can be detected.
"I will be raising the issue of land grabbing in the forthcoming Assembly session. It's not about conducting a post mortem after the crime is conducted, rather it's about the steps being taken to prevent such frauds. Documents must be authenticated using Aadhaar biometric identification. This should be made compulsory in land deals to ascertain who is behind such kinds of frauds. Many times, it is the buyer who is trapped after paying money. Hence, we must get to the root of this, and the mastermind behind cases must be prosecuted," he said.
Adv Ferreira said that Succession Deeds being created today are not being verified for antecedents. "Earlier, under Portuguese laws, for creating a Succession Deed, one had to publish a notification stating that a certain person is claiming to be the heir, and objections had to be filed within 30 days. Nowadays, officials are creating Succession Deeds without verifying the antecedents of a person. This is one of the reasons for the land frauds”, he said. where a false document of heirship is created bypassing this requirement for buying and selling of properties. The real owner is not even aware that his/her land is being sold. Such people involved in land frauds are not traceable despite using Aadhaar cards. Only biometrics can tell if the Aadhaar Cards used are real or fake," he said.
The Aldona MLA also said that a special cell for investigating land grabbing cases needs to be created, and that there should not be any delay in investigating such cases.
"A special cell has to be created, not just Special Investigation Team (SIT), where they can work dedicatedly towards cracking these kinds of cases and prevent such incidents from occurring. Investigations should be time-bound even though sometimes gathering information takes time. But police have statutory powers to get details quickly," he said.
The Congress MLA also sought to know what kind of action is being taken against officers who have not registered cases, even sometimes 18 months after the complaint was filed.
"Are such officers giving protection to people involved in these cases, or are they part of this racket?" he asked.
Adv Ferreira, along with Santa Cruz MLA Rudolfo Fernandes also met Director General of Police (DGP) Jaspal Singh regarding lack of facilities for police personnel at the Goa Legislative Assembly Complex, Porvorim and raised other law and order issues.
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"Police at the Goa Assembly Complex are being neglected. They are working the whole day, sometimes outdoors in the rain, especially women personnel. They can't leave their posts. They don't have any toilet, food and drink water facilities and that is why people approach Goa Human Rights Commission to raise the issue. Many personnel have approached me with such problems. The DGP has assured to address these issues," he said.
