What should government do to protect comunidades in Goa?

What should government do to protect comunidades in Goa? TNN | Aug 5, 2012, 04.20AM IST The government should ensure that the comunidade land is preserved as it is. It is land that should be kept exclusively for Goans and it should be allotted for housing for Goans only, if required. However, the government should not acquire land. Also, there should be a stricter control and supervision over the working committees. Anacleto Viegas Lawyer, Margao They should stop interfering with the comunidade and allow the comunidade court to run the comunidade without any interference. According to me, the comunidade system has already been killed. The entire structure had an income from paddy, now there is no income. The only way is to give them protection. Mario Pinto Almeida Advocate, Margao The government should ensure that the power to govern the comunidades is left in the hands of comunidade members. The government should only help in giving them funds to do development work and there should not be any unnecessary interference. Local members of comunidade know how best to use their land to promote agriculture and development. Celesta Saldanha advocate, St Estevam Comunidade is an age-old institution whose primary objective is to promote agriculture. However, after the government decided to apply the Tenancy Act to these cooperative bodies, the focus shifted, whereby, as a consequence, a stake in the landholding became more important than a stake in the agricultural produce. As a result comunidades were depleted, land parcels were fragmented and agriculture started becoming unviable. Besides, acquisition of comunidade land, without making them stakeholders in the projects, and rampant encroachments have taken place. We need a strong government initiative to control the illegalities and strengthening of these bodies if we are serious in boosting agriculture. Tulio De Souza architect, Guirim http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/What-should-government-do-to-protect-comunidades-in-Goa/articleshow/15358297.cms