All Goans demand Special Status from the Centre so that we can protect our lands from those who have come to be known as the Delhiwalas, land sharks and unscrupulous builders. The present BJP Govt. of Manohar Parrikar promised that they would get Special Status once the BJP comes to power in Delhi. We can all see that this was just a ploy to win both Lok Sabha seats from Goa. The half hearted appeal by the State Govt. to the Centre for Special Status brought as a response a big ‘No’.
We are all dismayed and very disappointed with the way this matter which is so very important to every Goan across the board, irrespective of religion or caste. We were fooled royally. Once the election was over the matter was put into cold storage and forgotten by the Government which has no explanation for this faux pas.
Land is now a precious commodity and almost equal to gold. Prices have risen astronomically and even a small plot is completely out of reach to the Aam Aadmi. Instead of controlling the outsiders from buying off our state with the bags and pots of money that they have, they are encouraged to come and splurge their money first on the officials concerned with giving permission for the deal and then on the poor sellers who have never ever heard-of or seen such huge amounts of money in their lives before. Their eyeballs literally pop out and they agree to the deal. They sell their land for these seemingly huge attractive sums without realizing that the money melts and disappears, where as their lands could still be tilled and would earn them money and then will be passed onto the next generation.
Should not our Government set an example of conserving land for future use. Many of our Goan Catholic families who have migrated to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK and other European countries are also to blame for selling off their houses and lands so that they could carry a potlo of the proceeds to the new land of their choice. Besides the Government, both past and present are also responsible for the misuse of this precious commodity after acquiring it at throw away prices. Often this very land is given to builders at much higher prices so as to make a whopping profit for certain people in authority. We all know of the land at Dabolim which was so badly needed for parking was given back to the original owner without sufficient reason. Subsequently the Govt. tried to get land from the Navy for this very purpose and failed. Here is a case of throwing away what was in hand and then trying to deprive others of their holdings to make up for the earlier reckless and uncalled for action.
A news item in a local daily the other day had it that 65,509 sq mts land acquired by the authorities for the Water Sports Institute was being transferred to the Tourism Dept. to construct the infrastructure for the IFFI for which Goa has been declared as the permanent venue. This may be legally OK, but why was this surplus land acquired in the first place? This is done with the tax payers money and in a very lackadaisical and careless manner. That too when every square meter is so valuable and so hard to get. Land must be handled with greater care and caution. The future generations will not forgive us for lapses on this account.
