For the Selaulim homeless, a 40-year wait is not going to end in 45 days, as the government said

SANGUEM: While the 45 days time set for fulfilling the assurances given by the authorities to the Selaulim evacuees in Sanguem taluka, is coming to end soon, the ray of hope initially given by the authorities is fading. Yet another extension of the deadline is on the cards, with not a single assurance given to the homeless evacuees of the Selaulim dam project getting fulfilled; a far cry from the impression given by the Deputy Minister and the Revenue minister that Selaulim evacuees will finally get justice after 40-long years.

The authorities had assured the Selaulim evacuees of solving all their issues within a period of 45 days, which were pending for the last forty years (see box), and which could not be solved even after 54 sittings of the Selaulim Rehabilitation Committee.

On September 15, the Deputy Collector of Sanguem had expressed confidence that the pending plots and sanads would be allotted by the deadline of October 12 approx. But now, it appears that broadly two more months will be sought with no specific deadline.

However, officials admit that the 45 days time limit seems to have been set in a jiffy without taking into consideration the ground realities. Issues like granting Class I status from existing Class II status may be resolved soon but definitely not within the period of 45 days as assured.

There are presently 71 families who were on the missing list since there weren’t present during the survey operations 40 years ago. They are still awaiting their plots. Survey operations to identify and clear land continue to be carried on with six to eight surveyors from the Survey Department regularly working on the field.

The administration recently set in motion the process to provide Class I status to the affected families by conducting three camps at the rehabilitation colonies of Wadem and Valkini. While around 216 families have already got the Class-I status, the remaining 407 families are still working hard to get Class-I status; and this has affected the families severely as they cannot get loans against plots with Class- II status.

But there is a practical reality that needs to be faced. While it is abundantly clear that there are vast encroachments being made on government land at both the rehabilitated colonies, it won’t be that easy to make the people vacate the encroached plots, which they are in possession of for over the last 30 years.

The demolition process simply fails to go ahead as over the years, it has turned into a voter’s hub. The people residing in these houses are now equipped with electricity and water connections. They have also turned out to be permanent voters from the area and hold other government documents as that of Aadhar Card and Election Cards.

The despondent people of Selaulim are actually numb at these developments. You cannot blame them. For 40 years, deadlines have turned out to be dead- lies.