Locals left high & dry as Rs 131 cr land deals done AJAY THAKUR
http://www.oheraldo.in/news/Main%20Page%20News/Locals-left-high-dry-as-Rs-131-cr-land-deals-done/46594.html Locals left high & dry as Rs 131 cr land deals done AJAY THAKUR PANJIM: It will perhaps be more than a decade before the first plane flies out of the Mopa airport. But two things have already soared. Land prices which have risen 265 times in 13 years, and the number of hoteliers, businessmen and local politicians, who have nosedived into areas around Mopa to buy property when locals living there for generations are facing eviction. Mopa is not an international airport yet. But it is on its way to becoming Goa’s most expensive real estate hub. Records in possession of Herald show that the average land sale has been worth Rs 131 crore after 2008, when the government invoked the emergency clause to acquire land for the airport. That year, 266 Property Registrations took place in less than 365 days. Check this. In 1993, there were just 18 property sales registered in Pernem Sub Registrar’s Office at a cumulative value of Rs 44.3 lakh. In 1995, when Bhagat Infrastructure first approached Goa Government for setting up an Airport, the number of registrations went up by three times to 55 in that year. And the trend continued. In July 2008 when the Goa Government invoked the urgency clause for land acquisition Sub-Section 17 of Section 4, Land Acquisition Act 1894, there were 24 property sales registered with stamp duty worth Rs 10.5 crore in 25 working days. A property worth Rs 131 crore was being sold per day! The fact that agencies within the government were tipping off real estate sharks become pretty clear when property sales went up to 24 in August and 42 in September with stamp duties registered to the tune of Rs 10.5 crore and Rs 7.25 crore. In 2008, 266 sale deeds with stamp duty to the tune of Rs 117 crore were registered. The actual value of this property was pegged at Rs 1500 crore! The buyers range from institutional bulk buyers from Mumbai, Kolkata and Pune to quite a few Goenkars. However, the patterns of registration (similar amounts for consecutive sale deals), with vague names – smack of benami transactions by influential politicians and bureaucrats. As early as 19th May 2001, former MLA Ramakant Khalap, in his maiden entry into Mopa Steering Committee (reconstituted by then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar) pointed out that “the land should be surveyed for acquisition and frozen from speculative sales”. A warning that successive governments never heeded. -- Please post your comments on my Blog: http://goanidentity.blogspot.com/ Please also see below: 1. Benaulim Village Action Committee: http://www.bvacbenaulim.blogspot.com/ 2. "Rape of Goa" : http://www.parrikar.com/blog/the-rape-of-goa/ 3. MAND - an adivasi-rights resource centre : http://mandgoa.blogspot.com/ 4. EVERY GOAN SHOULD SEE THIS VIDEO: http://infochangeindia.org/Infochange-documentary.html 5. Goa's Identity Movement group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com//#/group.php?gid=193497031686 6. Official Government Site NRI Office (GOA): http://www.globalgoans.org.in/
