PANJIM: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said that the State Cabinet has accepted Justice (retired) V K Jadhav Commission report on land grabbing reported across the State.
Speaking to reporters at Mantralaya on Wednesday, Sawant said all the suggestions made in the report will be implemented.
“The cabinet has accepted the report and will implement it in future,” he said. The report will also be tabled on the floor of the House during the upcoming Assembly session
Sawant said that the Commission has given the list of “no man’s land”, which can be taken back by the State government. “The documents of ‘no man’s land’ were forged and then the lands were sold. But now it has been suggested that such land can be taken back.”
The report also suggests one-time scanning of documents stored in the Archives department.
“We will try to get the government land as soon as possible. These lands were sold by showing the documents of someone else. The police inquiry is awaited. These cases will be chargesheeted. Till now, nine persons have been arrested in connection with the crime. Of them, three were government servants. All cases will be chargesheeted. ‘No man land’ and government land will come back to the government. Those who think that it is their land, should stake a claim. They will be given their land,” the Chief Minister said.
Meanwhile, speaking at the launch of Global Goans Association in Panjim, the Chief Minister said that due to Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing land grabbing, about 90 per cent land grabbing has stopped and sought coordination between the government and the diaspora to stop it 100 per cent.
Herald Opinion
The proof of the pudding is implementing
The Chief Minister had said that the land grab report of the Jadhav Commission has been accepted. It is believed that Jadhav has concluded that there was an open loot of land of Goenkars, unfortunately done in many case by Goans themselves and in other cases in partnership with unscrupulous outsiders.
The entire episode has also brought to light that Goa has virtually given up. Its identity by Goans selling land for various purposes including tourism related infrastructure. It should learn from Mangalore, another identical coastal area, where locals refused to sell land for tourism projects saying, “We don’t want Mangalore to go the Goa way”. This is painful.
However if the Jadhav report is accepted, then these must happen:
a) In all cases under investigation the grabbers who have encroached must be evicted
b) Construction undertaken in the new properties must be demolished
C) New buildings made on grabbed land must be declared illegal and demolished
d) Government had to rebook at the decision that all “no man’s land” must come back to the government. In all land grab cases there will one original and genuine owner. If that genuine owner not the government it must be held in the name of the original owner till a final title is decided. The govt should not use that land for any activity
