GUILHERME ALMEIDA
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s promise to tailor the state’s policies and programmes in a bid to restrict the entry of migrants into the State may or may not have seen light of the day.
Welcome to Sao Jose de Areal village, on the outskirts of the State’s commercial capital, where a survey initiated by the local panchayat has come out with startling revelations, which should hopefully serve as an eye opener to the government as the continuous influx of migrants threatens to alter the delicate demographic balance, besides taking a toll on the fragile infrastructure.
The total number of tenants, mostly migrants, staying in rented houses in Sao Jose de Areal – which plays host to an Industrial Estate, basalt quarries, 40-odd scrap yards et all — turned out a whopping 4482 persons. Compare the figure with the local population, and migrants today constitute more than one third of the village Population.
The survey revealed that around 490 houses have been leased out on rent and the migrants were found putting up in 1888 rooms in the village. Many of these rooms had no sanitation and toilet facilities in place, while pool of stagnant waters was spotted at 168 areas in and around the rented premises. While the surveyed showed no provision for garbage, around 54 open toilets were found dotting the village countryside for want of sanitation facilities.
What has come as a big surprise to the panchayat and local citizens was that the police verification exercise was virtually non-existent in the village. Almost 70-80 per cent of the tenants and migrants were found not verified by the police department, throwing up questions on the tall claims made by the district authorities and police officials on the verification of antecedents of the migrants. What’s interesting to note is that while the survey has unearthed around 1888 rooms leased out on rent, the panchayat has not benefited in any manner, by way of one month’s rent.
Says Sarpanch, Julio Monteiro: “The survey result has indeed thrown up many questions before the villagers of Sao Jose de Areal. This is one reason why the villagers have been fighting against housing projects to arrest the flow of migrants. The population of Sao Jose de Areal was once overwhelmingly dominated by the Scheduled Tribes, but the influx of migrants now threatens the village demography.” He has disclosed plans to convene a meeting of the panchayat body to discuss the survey report.
The panchayat body has been fighting a relentless battle against housing projects proposed in the village during the last two years. And, the villagers are bracing up to wage another battle – against Konkan Railway Corporation’s proposed railway station in the village backyard – fearing further influx of migrants in the village.
Social activist and coordinator, Scheduled Tribes Association, Sao Jose de Areal, Peter Viegas feared that the scheduled tribes would be the worst hit by the migrant influx. “Sao Jose de Areal village was once upon a time overwhelmingly dominated by the Scheduled Tribes. Today, it is facing a threat from the migrants. If the situation continues, the STs will not only loose benefits of government schemes, but will be rendered homeless in the land of their ancestors”.
Viegas has demanded that the panchayat conduct a probe into the election and ration cards owned by the migrants.
