Team Herald
SANGUEM: Sanjay Naik from Selaulim, whose plantation was razed by the Irrigation Department Officials on Friday, has urged the department officials to take similar action against other encroachers on government lands.
It may be recalled that Sanjay Naik had undertaken plantation of various fruit and non-fruit bearing trees in the irrigation department owned property near the main gate to the Selaulim dam.
However, in a sudden move on Friday, the department officials razed down the plantation and also levelled the cultivated land by dumping mud on the encroached portion.
Incidentally, as Naik retaliated the department’s move; he was arrested for obstructing government servants while discharging their duties and was subsequently released on bail.
Naik claimed that his is selectively targeted by the department while many others have escaped the attention of department officials.
Naik alleged that several others have encroached and acquired vast portion of government land. “However, the department has not initiated any action against these encroachers,” Naik alleged.
It is pertinent to note here that several families who were working at the Selaulim Dam during the construction stage have made the irrigation department owned land near the Selaulim Dam as their abode.
The claims of some of these people still continue to remain disputed, source say.
