This is a question that we have asked and will continue to ask. How much of land does the government really want for projects? Why is the land acquired (in most cases grabbed) by the government, ten times more than what is required. And why does the government need more land for new projects when existing land is available?
From the private project of the Golf course and villa project in Tiracol of Leading Hotels, to the seemingly public project of an electronic city in Tuem, land has been usurped without taking those who belong to that land and even own it (by living on and off that land for years) into confidence.
The Chief Minister needs to justify to the people of Goa, why the Electronic city has to be in his own backyard when the surrounding areas have no infrastructure to support IT professionals. Why can’t an electronic city be carved out of so much of unutilised land in industrial estates including the Tuem Industrial estate not far from the site of the Electronic city? Out of seven lakh square meters of land taken for the Tuem Industrial Estate barely 1.5 lakh square meters has been used.
For the Electronics city, the land was handed over to the Info Tech Corporation of Goa after a very suspicious and clearly illegal zone change in the Regional Plans of 2021 and 2001, in 2015. Yes shocking as it seems, the Town and Country Planning department actually approved a recommendation of a special committee to change zones in an old Regional Plan and the existing one which is in abeyance.
Therefore the government needs to answer some straight questions. Why did it take away the land titles of those who have been living off this land and paying lease rent? It also took away tenanted land of one person without any intimation or without serving any notices. Why does it needs six lakh square meters of land for an Electronic city and if it does, then it must justify this to the people of Goa through a public discourse. The justification must include specific projections annually and targets and the basis on which these targets are being placed since the industrial and investment climate in Goa is not favourable for a host of IT companies to land in Tuem.
And thirdly how did the government change the land use in a manner completely illegal. The land which had been usurped was agricultural and a back door illegal zone change has resulted in the acquisition of this land.
Every time the government goes out of its way to literally capture an area to allow projects with very little benefit to the people of Goa, it uses the Town and Country Planning department, the Environment department and the Forest department to prepare the ground. The Forest department which has become a tree cutting cell of the government easily gives permissions to fell trees, the TCP department allows land conversion while the Environment department takes care of the Environment Impact Assessments. In the case of Tuem even the EIA, it is learnt hasn’t been done.
When the government greedily grabs land of the common man in the false name of development, it stamps its anti-people character ever so strongly. This Goa government is doing this consistently.
