Relief to families: houses on govt land to be regularised

NT NETWORK

PANAJI

In order to provide a one-time relief to thousands of families that have been residing for generations in houses built on government land, the state government has decided to amend the Goa Land Revenue Code facilitating regularisation of the dwelling units.

Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte on Monday said that this particular move will provide relief to the common people, who have been residing in various parts of the state.

Section 38 of the Goa Land Revenue Code has a provision to grant the land to the encroacher by charging the value of the land, but not exceeding five times the value of the land.

District Collector has the power to impose charges on the holder of such land and to grant the land to the encroacher on terms and conditions. However, in order to streamline the process further to provide relief to the people, especially to the common man across the state, the government has decided to amend the Act.

The Revenue Minister also said that the process of amending the Code of Communidade is in an advanced stage for regularising houses built on communidade land.

It may be recalled that the government has already begun enforcement of the Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act, 2016 for regularising houses built in private property.

The government had extended deadline for applications under the Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act, 2016 twice and is in the process to extend it further by 30 days. As of now, over 5,000 applications have been received for regularising houses on private land.