ROQUE DIAS | NT

Margao

The government is at it again: with the 2022 assembly polls in mind, the government has decided to regularise illegal houses ostensibly to boost revenue of village panchayats.

This is the second attempt of the government to go for regularisation of unauthorised houses in the state.

The Goa regularisation of unauthorised construction bill was passed in the state legislative assembly by the BJP government eight months before the 2017
assembly polls. Later the bill became a law – Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act 2016 – for regularising the unauthorised houses.

However, five years down the line, only few applications of the 8500 received have been taken to their logical conclusion, so far.

Also some other applications have reached the final stage.

Now, eight months before the 2022 assembly elections, the government is trying to bring in changes to the Goa Panchayati Raj Act during the

monsoon session of the state legislative assembly to regularise the illegal houses by providing house numbers to the owners.

The ostensible aim of the move is to increase revenue of the village panchayats.

It is pertinent to note here that many experts and social activists had raised their voice in 2016 against the law to regularise the unauthorised houses. They had pointed to flaws and lacunae, arguing that the decision would push down government revenue.

The government received 8500 applications from the owners of unauthorised houses in the state till 2018.

The applicants paid Rs 10,000 each as regularisation fees. However, the process hit a roadblock: offices of the inspector of survey and land records, the town and country planning department and the forest department did not provide the required reports to the deputy collector as regards these applications.

Nevertheless the applicants have been eagerly waiting for regularisation of their houses.

Expressing concerns over the government move, activist Avinash Tavares said, “The idea of Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho to bring in amendments to the Goa Panchayati Raj Act to regularise the illegal houses is absolutely wrong. If this is done, then people will not go for sale deeds. They will get around mutation process, land conversions, technical sanction and fees for construction licence and occupation certificate.”

People will buy land, construct houses and apply for a house number, he maintained, adding that the government is trying to fool the people once again.

“The government must first clear the applications received under the Goa Regularisation of Unauthorised Construction Act 2016,’’ Tavares insisted.

Reliable sources said the office of the deputy collector, Salcete, received 600 applications in 2017. Many had been filed on plain paper; they were rejected at the time of scrutiny.

Consequently the government extended the deadline by 30 days, which encouraged more people to apply for house regularisation. And the number of total applications rose to over 800.

The applications poured in from across the state, and most of them came from Salcete.