A question to all law abiding citizens of Goa, does this not irritate, disgust and make you loathe the dirty breed called politicians? How dare they embark upon such an irresponsible endeavor to appease their respective vote banks! Are we true Goans so “susegad” that we continue to slumber even when the mat is pulled from under us? Or is it that almost the whole of Goa has encroached upon others’ territory with the connivance and blessings of the utterly corrupt politicians and government officials, and hence the whimpers of protest from Goans? Why else would our chief minister say that 90 per cent of structures in Goa are unauthorized?
We are lesser mortals and we do not possess the plotting, devious and scheming brains of the politicians and their lawyers which work overtime to circumvent the process of natural justice. But we have enough brains and a whole lot of Goenkarponn to know that our Goa is being sold for a song to non-Goans. We hear that Goans in Goa have almost been reduced to a minority and it is not long before you find all non-Goans as panchas, sarpanches, Zilla members, MLAs and maybe even MPs. The trend is already evident in Sancoale, Vasco, Chimbel and other migrant dominated areas.
And now the icing on the cake for them…… legalization of the illegal constructions to hasten Goa’s doomsday. And if you thought the illegalities are only limited to the migrants, think again. These stretch right from the powerful, influential and wealthy business class of Goa (where a shameful retrospective ordinance had to be brought in to save an illegal structure, in one case) to the government departments (construction of unauthorized jetties, etc.) to the politicians (I could write a book on different politicians’ illegal structures, but we all know about it so let’s not waste space) to the cronies and chamchas of the politicians who have built illegal structures with their sycophancy and “crawl when asked to bend” attitude. In short, if you swear allegiance to the local politician and become his slave, you can commit all the illegalities you want with the authorities turning a Nelson’s eye.
One of the earliest cases in point is the eyesore shanties of Monte Dongor (now called Moti Dongor) of the migrants known for their notoriety. Right from the 70s politicians have nurtured these illegal constructions, allowed them to flourish and spread over larger areas. Whenever (and this is very rarely) the authorities did try to demolish these illegalities under some pressure, it was the Margao MLAs that stood solidly as a rock of Gibraltar in their path. Why not? After all, come elections and the thinking public will question their MLAs achievement and may sway but these illegal occupiers will be die-hard supporters for life. And this holds true for all other constituencies, notorious among them being Fatorda, Mapusa, Cortalim, Dabolim, St. Cruz, Panjim, which are thronging with migrants.
And now with the assembly elections round the corner we hear that the bill has been sent to the Governor and she has given her assent. So in reality what does this mean? Simply that all unscrupulous elements of society who had encroached, usurped, bullied and constructed structures on land belonging to others, will now have their constructions legalized. What about the rightful owners of the land? To hell with them. They constitute a miniscule fraction of the vote bank it is the encroachers that form the bulk.
What do you mean you (the rightful owner) do not want to give your assent to this encroachment? Who’s asking your opinion? Take the crumbs that may be thrown your way and zip up. And I hear that the Bill has provisions to safeguard the government officers and enforcers of this bill from prosecution. And all along we thought that honesty pays. That the running from pillar to post from one department to another umpteen number of times to build your own structure on your own land had to be endured in silence as this was the right way of going about it. And the fools that we are, we thought that there is the law to ensure that no illegalities are allowed to be committed! We thought that we elect the Panchayat members, the Councillers etc to uphold natural justice to the citizens, to ensure that equality to all is upheld and the Constitution is adhered to. We knew that the previous dispensation was rotten so we kicked them out and brought “the party with a difference” to power with the hope that the system will be cleansed, law enforcing authorities will be tightened and corruption will be reduced. We thought that this party would have the gall to call a spade a spade and take tough decisions on illegal encroachments and constructions. Instead what did we get? A bill to safeguard its own selfish interest at the fag end of their term!
We now know that brazen clout with the powers that be, dadagiri, lifelong allegiance and sycophancy of dubious politicians are the needed requisites to ensure your well being. To hell with the law. The politicians and their ilk know how to bend and circumvent it. In spite of the High Court expressing serious reservations on such a bill violating the right to equality enshrined in the Constitution, and encouraging dishonesty in Maharashtra, our government thinks Goa is different and has bulldozed its way ahead.
Come on Goans, speak out. Is this what we deserve? Can you dream of going to some other state, encroach on someone’s property and get it legalized? Is this why we choose our leaders? Using this bill as a precursor of things to come can we now start having a free for all in all spheres? Are the politicians giving their own land? Isn’t it time that the people of Goa sweep the parties responsible for such horrible governance into oblivion?
Isn’t it time we ask the government seeking to legalize illegal constructions.
(The author is an Engineer with a leading multinational company)
