If land is the talking point of Goa’s discourse, there’s no way one can leave land-grab out of it. The State has been in the grip of land-grab cases for over two years with hundreds of cases reported of individuals forging documents and grabbing land that does not legally belong to them. As of July, the Special Investigative Team which was formed to probe such cases received 658 complaints with the year 2022 accounting for 435 complaints.
Now consider the recent case of residents in Vontean in Fatorpa village down South Goa. Villagers allege that attempts have been made to dispossess them of their ancestral land measuring over 22 lakh sqmts. By the numbers, this could be the biggest land case the State has heard of. Villagers, while suspecting collusion of officials with the fraudsters, stated that “unscrupulous elements armed with a power of attorney have included around 30-35 survey numbers in an inventory to sell the property”. Villagers maintained that their properties have been included in the inventory by some people seizing the advantage during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The villagers mentioned that when a copy of the inventory was obtained it was to their surprise that "many survey numbers of properties owned by locals have been included in the document”. While calling for a thorough probe into the case, the locals appealed to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to order a SIT probe.
Land-grab cases continue to surface with the common man struggling to secure ancestral properties. Fraudsters have been on the prowl despite government tightening systems and vigilance. With the much-promised new law to thwart land grabs not materialising yet, the government’s stand on such issues is being watched very closely. The State government has been accused of not doing enough to plug land-grab cases with the Opposition parties pointing to the fact that there has been a gross failure to reverse usurped land to the original owners.
Last week, Goa was stunned to witness another ‘bouncer’ attack on a senior citizen and his son at Chivar, Anjuna over ownership of an inherited property. The attackers allegedly claimed ownership of a property which the victims claimed to be theirs. Let's not forget, the scars of the Assagao bouncer attack haven't healed yet.
The probe by the Special Investigation Team could be one step in legally taking on the issue, but since the results have not been encouraging, there seems to be disillusionment. Moreover, the SIT probes are lengthy and may take months, from case studies to registration of FIRs. If we may recall, the one-man inquiry commission which was constituted on August 30, 2022, under the Commission of Inquiries Act, 1952, submitted its report with recommendations on November 1, 2023. There were 44 FIRs registered involving 93 land parcels and properties measuring 1.5 lakh sqmts across Goa. A total of 23 people, including government servants, were arrested in the matter but managed to get bail.
With land fraud on the rise, the State needs better deterrents with quick response teams stepping in. Citizens cannot be silent spectators as fraudsters keep plundering their land. 22 lakh sqmts is a substantial area of land that cannot be classified as a systemic error, and prima facie there is a case made out of a fraud. The State government needs to show greater urgency and zero tolerance towards such land issues.
