Illegal = Legal, STOP IT

This first appeared in "The Goan Everyday"

In my last column, I had appealed to the local authorities to address the problem of illegal constructions and unauthorised structures on the public land by enforcing the existing rules. Lo and Behold, a news report reminded me that the Government was seriously apprised about the problem and were working on the solution. The options were, do nothing or follow the law and remove the illegal structures. The Government seems to have found another route, change the law and make everything legal.

Apparently in his budget speech of 2014, the then Chief Minister Parrikar had promised to legalise all structures which were constructed illegally. Apparently there are 30000 such structures around Goa. The logic apparently was that by making the structure legal it would be possible to collect atleast Rs 100 crores as house tax. Lots of money for a cash strapped Government. This way the Government would be able to make some money on services rendered. After all the illegality was only because the house owners could not complete the complex formalities related to getting construction permissions. Since Mr. Parrikar is elevated to the center, the current Chief Minister is ensuring that the promise is fulfilled.

Rather than first simplify the procedures so that no more illegal structures come up, the government in its wisdom decides to legalise the structures in one stroke. The Dy CM has gone a step further and has asked the panchayats to issue “house nos” because the cabinet has taken a policy decision. Imagine the confusion. “House nos” will be issued without following existing procedures. Once, “house nos” are issued the panchayat can start collecting house tax is the logic behind the hurry. The rider, “house no.” does not make the structure legal, it is only for the purpose of collecting tax. So this means in every panchayat we will have legal houses with house nos and illegal houses nos. More confusion.

The story does not end there. There is another complication, cutoff date. Already there are two cut off dates being bandied around, one 28 Feb 2014 and another 2000. Structures built before the cutoff date will survive. The logic of these cut off dates is not important. It is some date that seems to have popped up in the decisions makers mind. I wonder why they do not just say all illegal structures constructed “as on date” will be regularised, that way even the new illegal structures will get regularised as they come up. After all the government has taken a policy decision and moreover why wait and lose house tax revenue.

The only opposition to this seemingly hare brained scheme seems to be coming from the leader of the opposition, he seems to believe that the only beneficiaries of this scheme will be non goans who are illegally occupying goan land. There is no doubt that this could be close to the truth.

Then why were the Baina structures demolished, surely they could have contributed to the house tax, and dilly dallying on the structures on Chicalim comunidade land. There does not seem to be a single direction that the government wants to take, it is either case to case basis or area to area. Another way of putting it is the government is deciding as per their whims and fancies of elected representatives. Not really the best method for deciding a policy.

The cumbersome procedures that other law abiding citizens follow to build their homes has two parts. One part relates to the ownership of land. The permissions can only be given if the land is owned by the applicant and if the land is designated for settlement. The other part is the construction has to follow a set of rules with respect to setbacks, heights area etc. What this decision will do is ensure no one follows the cumbersome procedures, they will build where they want and how they want and then wait for the simple procedure of regularisation.

Another signal that this scheme will send immediately across the country is that Goa is a soft State and they welcome everyone with the promise of providing free land and “house no”, this is in addition to ration card, electricity water etc. That is why Goa is called Paradise?????

The solution our dear leaders have worked out is flawed and definitely not in the interest of goans or Goa. Since this decision benefits a section of the vote bank, the only beneficiaries will be the political class which must be keeping an eye on the forthcoming elections in 2017 or earlier.

So, all efforts must be made by law abiding citizens to force the government to rethink this goan unfriendly scheme. The citizens must push the law makers to reconsider the cumbersome procedures of home building, they are already thinking on those lines with reference to construction licenses of builders under PM Modi's, ease of business mantra, surely they can do the same for the AMM ADMI and see that Ache Din spreads to law abiding and not law breaking citizens.