The demands of the said Bhumiputra, therefore, are as follows:
The Govt. must, within 20 days from the date of the receipt of this petition, must denotify the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary in Sattari.
The Govt. must immediately order the opening up of the village roads for Public Transport, not only for the general public but for the Bhumiputra Students on a priority basis.
The Govt. should abolish form I & XIV for the villages of Sattari as they are Fiscal XIV villages and not Revenue villages.
The suo moto, ‘Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill 2021’ of the Govt. fails to address any of the demands of the said Bhumiputra and is, therefore, being rejected by them.
The said ‘Bhumiputra’ object to using the word ‘Bhumiputra’ as it will make it look like it is intended for the said Bhumiputra when they have not asked for any such law.
The said Bhumiputra demand that the Govt. of Goa make available authentic translation of Decree 3602 and all Portuguese laws in force in Goa into Konkani, English and Marathi, for the benefit of all the Courts in Goa and for all the citizens.
Goemkarponn desk
SATTARI: The Sattari Bhumiputra Sanghtna, Caranzol has submitted a petition demanding the withdrawal of the Government Notification issued under the Indian Forest Act 1927 for establishng the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary covering the villages in Sattari, including the villages of Caranzol, Kumtol, Kazredhat, Bondir Waddo and the other neighbouring Villages in Sattari, within 20 days from the date of receipt of this Petition.
The petition submitted to teh Chief Minister, Dr Pramod Sawant, says that the Bhumiputra of the villages mentioned above of Sattari had given the said Notice to the Parrikar Govt, seeking the withdrawal of the fraudulent jurisdictions of the Mhadei Wild Life Sanctuary from the villages in Sattari. “Nearly two and half years have passed, and nothing has been done to resolve the serious problems of terrorism and many human rights violations of Forest Department’s Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary,” they said in the petition.
Further, they said, it may be noted that neither the State nor any Government in Goa, including yours, vested/vests with propritorship or with absolute private ownership right over the age old ancestral land holdings of the said Sattari Bhumiputra.
“Therefore, the Govt. of Goa doesn’t vest with any authority to subject the said villagers to the provisions of the Indian Forest Act 1927, as has been done in Sattari.. For the last sixty years, the said Bhumiputra have been suffering the terrorism of the Forest Department’s Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary because every successive Government has been insensitive to their woes uptill now, thereby denying them the benefits of several Govt. schemes, including the agricultural subsidies for the last 60 years,” they said.
The Bhumiputra Adhkarni Bill 2021 miserably fails to address any major demands highlighted in the said Notice of 5th. March 2019 of the said Bhumiputa.
“The use of the word ‘Bhumiputra’ is bound to mislead people, and the intended presence of a Forest Officer on the Committee of the Bill reflects a deceptive mindset. Besides, the question of the proprietorship rights of the Bhumiputra cannot be settled with hasty legislation towards the fag end of the term of the Office of the Government in power. There is a need for the Govt. to discuss the issues involved with the Bhumiputra representatives, but not for making any new law. The Govt. must, firstly, try to understand what the Bhumiputra are saying,” they said.
They said that while the proprietorship rights of the Goa Bhumiputra existing at the time of the annexation of Goa are still in force, and while the High Court and Supreme Court Judgments have reiterated the land ownership right of the Bhumiputra based on those laws, the Govt. of Goa is duty-bound to implement the said laws.
“There is a need for making available authentic translations of the said Portuguese laws in the Official language/s of Goa. All this goes off the mark with Form I & XIV when it comes to the ancestral land of the Bhumiputra.
The Bhumiputra of the said villages in Sattari, therefore, demanded the withdrawal of said Govt. Notification, by which the said Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary was established, within 20 days from the date of the receipt of this Petition, failing which the said Bhumiputra will approach the appropriate Forum for necessary action.
QUOTE…
“The use of the word ‘Bhumiputra’ is bound to mislead people, and the intended presence of a Forest Officer on the Committee of the Bill reflects a deceptive mindset. Besides, the question of the proprietorship rights of the Bhumiputra cannot be settled with hasty legislation towards the fag end of the term of the Office of the Government in power. There is a need for the Govt. to discuss the issues involved with the Bhumiputra representatives, but not for making any new law. The Govt. must, firstly, try to understand what the Bhumiputra are saying,”
— Sattari Bhumiputra Sanghtna, Caranzol