The Sunday’s meeting at Nerul was anything but democratic as few people dominated the entire meeting to the extent of not allowing the panchayat secretary to read out the minutes of the previous gram sabha and conduct the proceedings as per the set agenda.
The only issue discussed at the meeting was the allotment of comunidade land to Goa Salesian Society for establishing an educational institution.
Herald understands that the land allotted to SSG was as per the code of comunidade on permanent lease. Herald also understands that comunidade lands cannot be sold but can only be leased out to persons in need of housing and for public purposes like education and so on.
Raising the issue of allotment at the gram sabha, Devanand Naik, a villager, claimed that “Out of 371 shareholders of the Nerul comunidade, only 33 were present at the meeting that adopted a resolution to grant 93,000 sq mts of land to SSG at the rate of Rs 85 per sq mts. However, as per the government notification, the rate of the said land is Rs 1,400 per sq mts,” which he said caused a loss of Rs 12 crore to the comunidade.
Herald also understands that the sum paid by the SSG was only ‘foro’ or ground rent and not sale price. Further, the transaction between the Nerul comunidade and SSG was not a sale, but only a lease.
Devanand Naik further alleged that the Nerul comunidade had also sold the road that leads to the Hindu crematorium to the SSG. As such, he said, the villagers will have to find an alternate road to the crematorium.
He feared that SSG might in future request the Nerul Comunidade to shift the crematorium elsewhere. “Therefore, it is necessary that the Nerul Comunidade should be compelled to cancel the allotment of land to SSG forthwith,” said Naik.
Dashrath Kalangutker, a panch, said that the Town and Country Planning department issued technical clearance to the SSG project without conducting a site inspection apparently under political pressure.
He claimed that the road to the crematorium and religious structure was not shown in the project plan. He opined that the government should conduct an enquiry against the TCP officers who granted the technical clearance for the project.
He said that the panchayat had refused to grant construction licence to SSG. However, the panchayat has now been directed by the deputy director of panchayat to grant license for the project.
Three resolutions were adopted at the gram sabha, which appeared more of the will of a few than the will of the majority. The first resolution was that the panchayat should cancel the licence to SSG if it had already been issued; and if had not been issued, then no licence should be issued.
The second was that the panchayat should write to Nerul Comunidade to cancel the allotment of land to SSG. Finally, the police should arrest those who demolished a Ghumti.
