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Village in Goa is still fighting 'colonial rule'

Sandesh Prabhudesai in Panjim

Forty years after liberation from the Portuguese, Mayem villagers alleged recently that they were now being governed by another colonial government.

"Forty years have passed since liberation, but we are still governed by them. The only option is to wage another struggle for freedom from colonial rule, imposed by our democratic government," 30-year-old Rajesh Kalangutkar, born after Goan liberation, in 1961, told journalists at Mayem, a village just across the River Mandovi, and just 20 km from Panjim, the capital city.

The village, with a population of over 30,000, has been declared evacuee property -- owned by a Portuguese who has settled down in Portugal after liberation.

"They did not come here with land in 1510. It is our land that they confiscated. Why should it belong to them," asked Kashinath Mayekar, president of Mayem Nagarik Kriti Samiti, formed by the villagers.

They fought for it during the Portuguese regime, which led to Mayem becoming a major hub of the liberation movement. They kept fighting after liberation, when Goa became a part of India, as a union territory. They are still fighting, in a full-fledged state, for return of their ancestral land.

In 1816, the colonial rulers confiscated the village from the Mayem communidade -- a self-governed village commune system still prevalent in Goa. It was handed over to Diogo da Costa Ataide Teive, with a decree to look after it for three generations.

The Count de Mayem, as he was then called, consolidated his position and took over the land, owned by the temple of local deity Shri Maya Kelbai. The third generation died in 1929, but the land was never returned to the Portuguese government.

When a villager, Atmaram Mayekar, put up a united front in 1945 against the then living 'heir' Eurico Noronha da Silva and even managed a court order for handing over the property back to the temple, the struggle was linked to Ram Manohar Lohia's liberation movement and was suppressed with the arrest of its leaders and ousting of several farmers from their land.

Though this provoked several youngsters from Mayem to join the liberation movement, the end of Portuguese rule in 1961 did not bring 'freedom' to Mayem.

The then democratic government of Goa, Daman and Diu preferred to declare the village as evacuee property after Noronha da Silva -- a Portuguese citizen -- left for Portugal in 1964, to settle down in his homeland.

Since then, the property is looked after by a custodian of the evacuee property, formed under the Goa, Daman and Diu Evacuee Properties Act, 1965.

"After the Portuguese suppressed us for around one and a half century, we are now suppressed by the custodian in a similar manner," alleged Mayekar.

"It is not evacuee property. I am the legal heir who owns the village," claimed Antonia Pereira, nephew of Ricardina da Silva, widow of Eurico Noronha da Silva. He claimed that the custodian owed him Rs one billion, accumulated towards annual income since 1965.

"We don't save more than Rs 2 million per year over Mayem as around Rs 7 million is our annual expenditure on it," claimed custodian Melwyn Vaz.

His office has, however, released Rs 6 million to Pereira and his aunt Ricardina, at the behest of politicians, thrice, under the pretext of repairs of the family chapel and house.

This is why, felt the villagers, greedy politicians do not intend to resolve the issue. Being considered a milking cow, the politicians are releasing money in instalments, they alleged.

Though Vaz admitted that the house was in his custody, he has allowed Pereira to stay there, which the samiti objected to. "He has been staying there illegally with full protection from ministers," alleged Amrut Kansar, the samiti's lawyer and a former parliamentarian.

In fact, successive governments have helped Pereira monetarily, instead of getting the villagers' ancestral property released.

When the villagers recently demolished a compound wall around Pereira's house, as it was blocking their pathway, he was provided with police protection, while leaders of the samiti report to the police station every day.

The government has appointed a commission headed by Dr Eurico Santan da Silva, a retired high court judge, to probe illegalities by three former custodians by allowing encroachments on the land, which means new houses built by villagers as a result of a division in the family.

"Forget building new houses, they do not even allow us to repair our old houses," complained Rohidas Kerkar, a villager. But as the act does not allow changes to the land, custodian Vaz said he cannot tolerate construction of RCC structures by demolishing old earthen houses under the garb of repairs.

Only Mayem still has 'kachha' roads or no roads at several localities. "All our developmental proposals -- even digging a well for drinking water -- are rejected by the custodian,'' complained Anant Shet, a former deputy sarpanch.

Mayekar pointed out that at lakhs of square metres of evacuee property are leased out to big private mining houses like the Chowgules and Dempos for extracting iron ore, dumping rejects and setting up a 'beneficiation' plant at the rate of only Rs 1000 annually.

"It means that the state has powers, but the politicians do not want to exercise them for our benefit," stated Mayekar. Except for government projects like schools and acquiring land for the Konkan Railways, the village is deprived of development.

Chief Minister Francisco Sardinha, running a coalition government with the Bharatiya Janata Party, has deprived them of becoming owners of houses they live in and fields they till, for which legislation has been passed over a decade back, ending the zamindari system.

As the tenancy act was not applicable to those in the evacuee property, BJP leader Manohar Parrikar had managed to get amendments passed unanimously to the Tenancy Act, as well as the Evacuee Properties Act. But they were not sent to the governor for assent.

"I will challenge both amendment bills in court," said Pereira, though he did not want to comment on a basic issue of whether he was the legal heir of the property. The samiti alleged that he was being protected by Sardinha and minister Mauvin Godinho, a family friend.

"Our fight is not against Pereira, but the custodian and government," stated 50-year-old Kansar, who has been with the villagers from the time he was a parliamentarian in 1977. He demanded a clear-cut policy on the evacuee property as well as rural housing.

"If necessary, we are prepared to fight another freedom struggle. Even if it means taking the law into our hands," warned 22-year-old Nakul Insulkar, a college student.

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