Team Herald
VASCO: The Chicolna comunidade on Sunday rejected a proposal to allot one lakh square metres of land to develop a garden in the village.
The special general body of the Comunidade discussed the proposal and opposed it stating that no comunidade land can be given on such a large scale. As many as
24 members out of 26 present for the meeting strongly opposed the proposal and rejected it.
Comunidade Attorney Mahendra Salkar said that the proposal was placed by the managing committee before the general body members, who rejected it after much discussion. He said that the managing committee had no idea what type of garden they wanted to be developed on a vast land and asserted that the comunidade will not allot land to anybody till its members get land first for their use.
“We will not give land to anyone even if asked by the government without following due procedure,” Salkar said.
The Attorney demanded that the government should demolish all the encroachments sprouted on the comunidade land before submitting proposals to the comunidade.
Salkar said, “This is the land of our forefathers and we have to safeguard it and use it for good purpose. Each shareholder should be entitled to a plot of comunidade land for their use.”
Alleging that the government was supporting encroachments on the Comunidade land, Salkar said that the shareholders were struggling to get 500 square metres of land for them.
Salkar said that the comunidade members are in favour of regularising unauthorised structures provided they pay for the land and used that the Administrator of comunidades, South, was delaying sending the proposal to the government. He hoped that Revenue Minister Babush Monserrate would look into the matter and do the needful.
Alitte Heredia, a shareholder said that the general body members were unaware of the details of the proposed garden on a vast comunidade land that too when shareholders were not getting plots for their use for last many years. He alleged that comunidade plots are just being given away and demanded that members ought to know the details of the proposal.
Heredia said, “This is community land and government is not a part of it. We being shareholders are not getting lands and plots for our use and therefore we have rejected the proposal.”
Heredia suspected in the name of the garden, structures could come up on the comunidade land and justified member’s decision to reject the proposal.
