TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: The figures sound mind-boggling. 1000-odd applications for conversion sanads are lined up before the lone Salcete Deputy Collector. That’s not all. On an average, the office of the Deputy Collector Surendra Naik receives 100 applications a month for land conversions of which 80 are disposed.
And with the government implementing the norm ‘no conversion sanads, no constructions’ by deciding to strictly implement provisions of the Land Revenue Code pertaining to land use, the office of the Deputy Collector is expected to be flooded with land conversion files. Sources in the know informed that the deputy Collector’s office normally takes three months to clear a land conversion file and six months or more in cases of disputes.
“The Deputy Collector is assisted by a lone LDC in disposing of the applications. The office should be given an additional 2-3 clerks to expedite the cases and save the parties from hardships,” remarked an official in the know.
An official in the District Collectorate told Herald that with the government deciding to strictly implement the provisions of Section 32 of the Land Revenue Code, a whole lot of conversion files are expected to be submitted before the Deputy Collector or the Collector as the case may be. “The government should beef up the manpower at the Deputy Collector or Collector’s office. Any inordinate delay in clearing conversion files would put people intending to build houses to great hardships. Already there are complaints of delays in disposing of the conversion files,” maintained an official.
Deputy Collector Surendra Naik said that around 1000-odd applications are pending in his office awaiting disposal. “I receive around 100 applications every month for conversion and my office disposes of on an average 80 files during the same period. An additional hand to complete the procedure would certainly help in expediting the process,” he added.
In a circular, Chief Town Planner S T Puttaraju had last week directed the Planning and Development Authorities and the taluka-level offices of the Town and Country Planning Department not to grant technical clearances for development permissions and technical clearances for any construction or development without a valid conversion sanad. The circular had an immediate effect on the 20-odd files seeking development permissions from the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA).
