TEAM HERALD
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PANJIM: While demanding regularization of illegal structures constructed on communidade land, Congress MLA Mauvin Godinho on Thursday urged state government not to allow any more illegal structures on the communidade land all over Goa thereafter.
Godinho said that construction of illegal structures on communidade land should be considered as criminal offence. He said that government should come out with a legislation at the earliest so as to protect communidade land, which are been illegally grabbed.
“When you are opting for Special Status for Goa, look at Communidade as the face of preserving Goa. If we can’t do this now, then State will become ‘House of Illegal structures’,” he commented.
The Dabolim MLA was speaking while participating in a discussion on demand for grants for Revenue, Settlement and Land records and Collectorate.
Recalling BJP-led government assurance on the floor of the House to regularize houses in Comunidade land, constructed after 2001, last year, Godinho remarked ‘after assurance, no steps have been initiated’.
Godinho said that the structures constructed on these lands are a decade old and as such now they cannot be demolished. He said that even Supreme Court in one of its verdict related to Punjab State has talked about regularization of structures, which cannot be demolished, and are in excess of health, school and other essential facilities. He said that the custodians have failed to protect the communidade land.
As per the records, the state has 225 comunidade bodies, which were in existence since times immemorial and the land belongs to the respective communities to be shared commonly. In all, the number of illegal constructions on comunidade land is 2,515, including 2,127 in North Goa and 418 in South Goa.
Earlier, while moving a cut motion to the demands, Leader of Opposition Pratapsing Rane stressed on the need to amend The Goa Land (Prohibition on construction) Act, 1995 in-order to make it more effective. “Government has completely failed to act against the growing illegal encroachments on government and comunidade land,” he said.
Rane said that government need to first enact a law to protect comunidade land before going for a demand for grant of Special Status to Goa.
The Leader of Opposition demanded re-survey of land in order to know the exact quantum of encroachments on government land, including forest and comunidade.
