One troll sent me a message saying if you had opposed IIT Goa for property rights to locals, why are you opposing this Bill? This Bill would give Shel Melauli villagers their rights. Similarly, he said people in Mayem are fighting for their property rights; this Bill is for them.
My reply to that troll is, the Bill says it will legalise only 250 sq meters of land while the cultivation area of Melauli and Guleli villagers is in thousands of sq meters. So the Government will legalise only 250 sq meters out of thousands of sq meters of their land, which they have been cultivating for ages. This means the Bill is of no benefit to them. Can the villagers cultivate cashew plantations on a 250 sq meter plot? How insane?
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
Ever since the Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill has been passed in the Assembly, the Government and the Bharatiya Janata Party workers are working overtime to justify the Bill, saying it is for the poor Goans, who the landlords have harassed for decades.
The trolls are working overtime in social media, saying the Bill is only for poor Goans, who have been staying in dwellings for years without any property rights.
The rhetoric is similar on all social media platforms.
One such troll sent me a message saying if you had opposed IIT Goa for property rights to locals, why are you opposing this Bill? This Bill would give Shel Melauli villagers their rights.
Similarly, he said people in Mayem are fighting for their property rights; this Bill is for them.
My reply to that troll is, the Bill says it will legalise only 250 sq meters of land while the cultivation area of Melauli and Guleli villagers is in thousands of sq meters. So the Government will legalise only 250 sq meters out of thousands of sq meters of their land, which they have been cultivating for ages. This means the Bill is of no benefit to them. Can the villagers cultivate cashew plantations on a 250 sq meter plot? How insane?
Goa will wholeheartedly welcome the Bill if it is to legalise the land of the Shel Melauli villagers. If it is so, why have 30 years domicile criterion? Say it is for Goans by birth. This small change would change the entire face of the Bill.
If the Government wants to help the Shel Melauli villagers, please withdraw all the cases against them. Poor youngsters who are topping in academics will find it tough to get jobs if cases are not withdrawn.
So, stop fooling the people in the name of Shel Melauli locals and their land rights.
The question also arises, why this change of heart for the Shel Melauli villagers now? Just because it is election time? Why did the Government not think of them when they were agitating without food for months? Why was Police machinery used against the villagers?
Secondly, the Mayem evacuee property is already being dealt with under current laws, so why new rules for that. The only thing is the Government needs to expedite handing over sanads to Mayem locals.
If the Bill were for poor Goans, it would have never met any opposition, but here the idea is something else. As you call it “kahin pe nigahein kahi pe nishana”.
Make the eligibility born by birth in Goa and not 30 years of residence and secondly assure that slum dwellings would not be regularised.
The Bill in its present form is not acceptable.
The Government now understands that the Bill, which passed in the Assembly amidst the drama by the Opposition leaders, would not be legally tenable if citizens decide to challenge it.
Hence, the Government has decided to use its party workers to defend the Bill on social media.
Agreed, landlords have harassed many Goans for giving NOCs for repairs, road access, etc., but that does not mean the Government has to bring out a Bill that will legalise all illegal dwellings. Goans would never allow that.