By James Monteiro
One morning you get up to rudely discover that someone has come up with a small structure in a plot in your property. You are livid and approach the encroacher. You realize that the usurper is a ‘chamcha’ of the local sarpanch/councilor, who in turn is a ‘chamcha‘ of the local MLA. If he/she is from the class of noveau riche, a class prevalent in Goa these days, he/she will resort to downright intimidating tactics. The entire family of uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law will congregate hurling choicest abuses at you, and the women threateningly and menacingly advance towards you. And you are a disadvantaged, old fashioned soul – law abiding, God fearing and decent. What do you do? Obviously approach the village Panchayat/Municipality. If the initial shock was not sufficient to give you angina problems, hold your breath. Your sarpanch/councilorgives you a patient ear, sympathizes with you, agrees with everything you say, and assures you that action will be taken. You need to get your head examined if you believe them for soon you realize that either the concerned offender/s is/are their staunch supporter/s, who along with their long extended families voted en masse to get them elected in spite of their proven dubious record, or the palms of the concerned officials have been well and truly greased.The next course of action is not for the faint hearted – approaching the cops. Some say it’s better to deal with dacoits then cops as dacoits don’t come in any garb. If the cops have decided to support the offender (which is invariably done) either because of a phone call from an MLA /minister or because their palms are greased, your goose is cooked. Your goose is cooked too, if the offender is a known antisocial element, goon, thug, dada, jailbird, and has lots of cases filed against him/her, as these are ‘virtues’ in our law enforcers’ eyes. They will turn black into white, intimidate you, harass you and make your life miserable. They will try all the tricks in the book to make you withdraw your complain. You would be lucky if they don’t slap some charges against you and you come out of this unscathed. (This is not rhetoric but actually what I experienced some years back with a PI who was openly biased and intimidating towards methe aggrieved, and shamelessly genuflected at the feet of that area sarpanch, a goon and encroacher. Incidentally the said PI is now a DySP. May God have mercy on the people of the area where he now holds charge)!If you are exceptionally close to your local MLA or some minister (which law abiding, right thinking, decent people never are), you may approach them. If not, forget it, as the forked tongue politicians will drool honey over you and with a phone call ensure that the illegal structure stays put. Why? Vote bank politics my friend, that’s why!! And the last recourse! Approach the courts. Yes do that by all means if you have the time, money and patience to run to advocates and courts every now and then, endure the ‘tarikhpetarikh’ syndrome and overlook the allegation that nowadays advocates work in collusion and connivance with one another. Maybe, then your travails may bear fruit. You may get a favorable verdict in 10 years. Now try getting the court order implemented. That’s another ordeal which we will discuss some other day. In the meantime the small illegal structure in your plot has turned into a full-fledged bungalow, putting your humble abode to shame.
Go to any city or village in Goa and one will see illegal construction and encroachment galore. Our childhood was in a beautiful, serene and picturesque Goa, and it is heart wrenching to live our middle aged life in a cacophonous surrounding with concrete monsters and eyesore shantiesall thriving under the patronage of the lot who are being paid by us to ensure that these things are not allowed to happen. But these utterly disgustful, corrupt, shameless, greedy and obnoxious creatures (they cannot be termed people as that would be insulting people) have failed us for the last 4 decades. Their greed never ceases and their God is money. Will these people ever be happy in life? Would our Goa be such a mess of illegal constructions if our past and present elected representatives had done their jobs instead of illegally pandering to their vote bank? The beneficiaries of this fraud are ever so grateful for the largesse bestowed on them that they swear allegiance to the MLA and his descendants. Hence you have utterly corrupt and turncoat politicians winning elections after elections with this vote-bank, least interested in the decent man’s vote.
And now the last nail in Goans’ coffins. Our brilliant politicians, cutting across party lines, after having allowed Goa to become an eye sore of illegal and unauthorized construction and encroachment (which they actively and unabashedly abetted), have now colluded and connived to regularize all these structures. I want to ask a simple question of this government. Who has given you the permission to make crime legal? Weren’t you chosen by us to support the right and the just and to clamp down heavily on illegal activities? You allowed illegalities left, right and center that changed our ‘mankullen’ Goem into a ‘burshen’ Goem all for your vote bank politics and selfish interests. What kind of breed are you that allow your Mother Goa to get disfigured by rapists and then reward the rapists? Even jellyfish has more spine! If the government can make this crime legal, go ahead legalize loot, theft, rape, murder, and all other crimes and add all the beneficiaries to your vote bank. That way your electoral victory is assured before a single decent Goan has cast his/her vote. And don’t tell me that I am going to extremes. According to decent Goans, trying to legalize unauthorized structures and encroachment is as extreme as one can go.What is the message going out loud and clear from this government – Dishonesty is the best policy. You can commit all kinds of illegalities we will endorse it, provided you are our man. Where is the deterrent for the crooked mind? Precedent after precedent is being set to encourage and pep up the criminals
The Goa Bill for Regularization of Unauthorized Structures and Encroachments introduced in the Assembly says that applications for regularizing illegalities in CRZ, agricultural lands, protected forest areas, no development zone and public land will not be entertained. Is thisa case of good illegality and a bad illegality? I also understand that the government has decided to introduce this bill by enacting two legislations, instead of one. What’s more, the government and its officers will be given immunity from prosecution. All this tells you that the government elected by you (or is right to say that in Goa’s case?) knowfully well that the decent people of Goa will object vociferously, but the illegal beneficiaries’ votes tilt the scale in their favor.
Successive governments have proved that they support illegal construction. That is why we have a blatantly illegal structure of an ex-Margao mayor shielded from demolition by our ex-revenue minister, in spite of demolition orders from authorities. An illegal structure at Ribandar refuses to be brought down in spite of court orders, because it belongs to the top functionary of the ruling party. An ordinance is promulgated with retrospective effect to circumvent an apex court order to demolish part of a starred hotel belonging to a mining bigwig family of Goa. Another starred hotel belonging to yet another mining bigwig of Goa has blatantly violated all norms, against which the courts have already passed demolition orders, but are not being implemented. The noose is now tightening around it. Get set for an encore of the previous ordinance to save this family too. And so a government that is supposed to facilitate the action against illegal constructions is openly going overboard to support the illegalities. This has emboldened the encroachers and more and more illegal structures are mushrooming in any available plot. It could be government plots, communidade plots (people think these are their “paichofaht”), private plots, public plots, encroachment is the name of the game. And if a Mr. D’Souza has a plot of land in Goa and lives abroad, he need not be shockedto find a Mr. Dey’s bungalow in his plot,on his next trip to Goa. Enquiries will reveal that the powers that be have connived and colluded to plot a devious plan to sell your plot and plot your doom. Your chances ofever getting back your plot are bleak. And what are we the decent Goans doing? Helplessly watching and meekly surrendering to these machinations?
Have we lost the ‘plot’?
Yes, if we are silent spectators, No if we rebel! This is a call to all right thinking people to denounce this unethical proposal, being floated only for the politicians’ selfish interest. It is heartening to see that Goa still has some right minded crusaders who have time and again revolted against the machinations of the politicians and upset their applecart. And although I do not know who is Kashinath Shetye, but having read in the newspapers that he has challenged this bill and taken the bull by its horns, I think all decent people should stand behind him in support of this cause.
