MARGAO: After delaying taking action for four years, the South Goa Administrator of Comunidades has finally acted on the complaint of land grab at Pedamol filed in 2012 and will restart hearings in the 97 cases of illegal construction on Pedamol comunidade land. The Collector has ordered the Comunidade Administrator to hasten the process.
Herald had exposed how land at Pedamol was taken up for constructing houses in a no development, no settlement zone. Speaking to Herald the Administrator of Comunidades Dipesh Priolkar said, “We are restarting the hearings and I will have the first hearing on Thursday with five people at a time. These are cases from 2012 and the hearings have taken place, but I have decided to have fresh hearings as for the last two-and-a-half years nothing has happened.”
“We have 97 cases and in addition to that I also have sent a letter to the Comunidade of Shirvoi to give me a report on the Herald news and ascertain the actual number of houses built illegally on the land,” Priolkar added.
Quepem Deputy Collector Shankar Gaonkar has asked the Administrator of Comunidades to provide his action plan. “I am awaiting the reply of the administrator on his plan of action as my action under Land and Revenue Code will be a duplication of action if the Comunidade has already initiated action,” Gaonkar said. “Until the reply come I will keep my options open to move with the Land and Revenue code,” he added.
South Goa Collector Swapnil Naik said, “I had asked the Administrator about the Pedamol case and he told me that there is already an inquiry on in the matter. I have asked him to process and dispose the cases as soon as possible. I have also asked him to inquire in the role of the Comunidade staff in the case and told him to take action if any of them are found involved in irregularities.”
Meanwhile, Celestine Noronha, Attorney of Margao, Aquem and Verna Comunidade, has alleged that the staff of the Comunidade are involved in the misappropriations. “There should be criminal proceedings on the defaulters of the land grab and the escrivaos from those areas of land grab have to be inquired upon as they have got disproportionate assets,” Noronha said.
“If a person cannot show ownership, the Code of Comunidades empowers the administrator to take action,” Noronha said.
