TIRACOL: The 77-crore bridge to supposedly link Tiracol to the mainland has been stayed by the Supreme Court on July 12. The Supreme Court saw merit in the argument of petitioner Goa Foundation that bridge was not a public facility, since Tiracol had only 50 families, and it was difficult to conceive of a government spending Rs 77 crore to connect them to the mainland.
But for the families in Tiracol, they need another kind of bridge. A bridge of hope, above their troubled waters as they continue to battle tides of injustice.
The battle began in the year 2008 when the landlord Kashinath Khalap sold out 13.5 lakh sqm of land to Leading Hotels for a 200 villas and golf course project. The properties were sold on the ground that there were no tenants. The landlords bypassed the tenants and allegedly sold the land. Almost all families have filed cases in the different courts right from the High Court to the district and Sub Divisional Magistrate’s Court.
“The land which was sold not only included the forest and agriculture land but also the residential area where the 41 houses are located. With this plan, their definite plan was to finish us off,” Rosario Rodrigues, the Secretary of St Anthony Tenants and Mundkar Association (SATMA) said.
The company has managed to mutate around 9 lakh sqmt of land after settling the land with some tenants while around 3 lakh sqm of land is still with the tenants.
St Anthony Tenants and Mundkar Association (SATMA) was formed in 2010 to oppose the sale of land by the government for the project golf course & 200 villas without the knowledge of Tenants & Mundkars of Tiracol. Since 2010, the tenants & mundkars from Tiracol have knocked on the door of every court to protect their rights. “We are thankful to Goa Foundation for helping us to fight this legal battle”, President of SATMA Agnelo Godinho said.
Leading Hotels has put up cases before the Mamlatdar stating that the name of the tenant names in the tenant column is erroneous. “This is false. Our ancestors were living here and cultivating the land. However, since they were not getting proper yields, they cultivated cashew plantation on which we are surviving,” Rodrigues added.
The impact of this issue was such that people have lost their lives with the stress and tension. To make the access road, the company allegedly deleted the name of one of the tenants and constructed the access road. However, a few days later, he died of a heart attack.
“Our only intention is to protect the land and the environment. We see how the government and people have sold out land in Goa and today people have no way to go but we don’t want it to happen here. We will continue to fight our battle until we get the land back,” Rodrigues said.
Bridge should be as per RP: Locals
July 12: Supreme Court stayed the construction of Rs 77 (78.9 cr in reality) crore Tiracol Bridge built purportedly for Leading Hotel’s Golf Course and villa project
Villagers said that the Keri-Tiracol Bridge which was taken up by the government to connect the two separated villages had only the intention of supporting the same golf project. The government has wasted Rs 78.9 crore of the taxpayers’ money on this bridge
“We are not against the bridge but our only demand is it should be as per the regional plan. The bridge is going to destroy huge forest cover”, said Rosario Rodrigues, Secretary of SATMA
Petitioner Goa Foundation stated that Querim Beach had been declared as CRZ I because of its outstanding natural beauty and sand dunes. CRZ I beaches are No Development Zones. Goa Foundation stated that the bridge was not a public facility, since Tiracol had only 50 families, and it was difficult to conceive of a government spending Rs 77 crore to connect them to the mainland
Tiracol – How the land was lost
Landlord Kashinath Khalap sold out 13.5 lakh sq mts of land to Leading Hotels for 200 villas and golf course project.
The properties were sold as the landlords allegedly bypassed the tenants.
Almost all families who have filed cases in the different courts right from the High Court to district court to SDM
9 lakh sqm was mutated after settling the land with some tenants while around 3 lakh sqm of land is still with the tenants.
No migrant lives in this village, but not a single Goan from 40 families has a government job
Not a single migrant lives in this village staying in this locality. All they have are 40 Goan families whose identity is at stake for the last 15 years for which they are battling unitedly
But no one in the village has a government job. “Our generations have survived and made their life on this agriculture activity. Now we have our children who we have educated even upto engineering with agriculture as our source of income. We want to protect land for our future generation, a local Agnelo Godinho who is also the president of St Anthony Tenants and Mundkar Association ( SATMA) said.
