MARGAO: The government will have to seek an extension to settle the over 9,000 claims for Kumeri cultivators as the Supreme Court deadline of June 21 2021, is fast approaching said President of United Tribal Association Alliance Prakash Velip.
“Getting the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Google mapping delayed settling these claims. The pandemic also hampered work for nearly one year. In all there are 9,778 cases filed by people from different parts of Goa,” said Velip.
While the highest number of cases is from Canacona where 2,555 cultivators have filed claims, the least of 260 claims are in Ponda taluka. Other claims are 2,482 from Sattari, 1,840 from Quepem, 1,757 from Dharbandora and 1,222 from Sanguem.
Velip admitted that in Goa there has been a backlog of six years and fended off answering the question of how and where exactly the government failed in dealing with this issue while pointing out that the Tribal Affairs Minister Govind Gaude has been a member of their association even before he got elected to the legislative assembly.
He said the tribal community has lot of land title issues with Devasthans, comunidades and said the Forest Right Act has not been implemented properly in Goa. “We shall be carrying out an awareness programme on implementation of the Forest Right Act very seriously now,” he said.
He said the new 25-member managing committee of United Tribal Association Alliance (UTAA) will be installed on February 5, at 3:30 pm at Ravindra Bhavan with Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant as the chief guest and Tribal Welfare Minister Govind Gaude as the guest of honour.
The installation ceremony will be followed by a workshop on Tribal Land Rights which will be conducted by Ajay Gawde who is presently working as the chief officer of Quepem Municipal Council.
As the State is celebrating the 60th year of liberation, Velip said 10 tribal activists, one from each of the talukas of Goa, who have completed 60 years of age will also be felicitated on the occasion.
