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Goa govt to let controversial Bhumiputra Bill to lapse, says minister
The Pramod Sawant government feels that the Bhumiputra Adhikarani Bill, passed by the Goa assembly in July, needs a “wider consultations”, said Goa minister Mauvin Godinho .
PANAJI: The Goa government has decided to let the controversial Bhumiputra Adhikarani Bill lapse rather than revive the controversial legislation that was hurriedly passed by the state assembly in July this year.
“We are not tabling the Bhumiputa Bill. It will be allowed to lapse because the government felt it needed a wider consultation which we will do in the next assembly session of the new assembly. We will have a new bill if required,” Goa’s legislative affairs minister Mauvin Godinho said on Tuesday.
The Bhumiputra Bill proposed to consider anyone who has lived in Goa for at least 30 years as a bhumiputra (son of the soil) and allowed them to seek ownership rights to the small housing units in which they live. Chief minister Pramod Sawant, who fiercely defended the legislation on and off social media, had insisted that the legislation was aimed at helping people who live in houses smaller than 250sq metres built on government or community land.
The legislation exposed Sawant to sharp criticism that accused the government of encouraging people who encroached public and community land.
The legislation was sharply criticised by the opposition and activists, prompting the Pramod Sawant government to put it on hold and not send it to the governor for Raj Bhavan’s assent.
Sawant announced in early August that the government will bring an amended version of the controversial law that will incorporate suggestions received from the public.
The Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill, 2021, was tabled and hurriedly passed barely hours after it was introduced in the state assembly on Friday (July 29). According to the proposed law, any person who is a resident of Goa for more than 30 years qualifies as a ‘bhumiputra’ (son of the soil) and can apply for ownership of the house (up to a plinth area of 250 square metres) they have been living in even if the land on which it stands is owned by the government, a private person or commonly owned. Any structure built before April 1, 2019 qualified for ownership under this law. Sawant said applicants would have to produce water and electricity bills in their name as proof.
