Cops write to banks to freeze accounts

23/11/10
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Panaji: Acting on a complaint filed by the North zone administrator of comunidades, Porvorim police have written to certain banks to freeze accounts of 9 persons holding prominent positions in the managing committee of Serula comunidade during the last 15 years.
Police had registered a case against three presidents, three attorneys and three treasurers, who had served in the Serula comunidade in the last 15 years for misappropriation of funds. The administrator, in his complaint to the police, said that he has sealed the comunidade on October 22 and would soon be appointing an auditor to look into the irregularities committed by the comunidade members during the last 15 years. He also asked the police to register a complaint against the managing committee members.
The administrator lodged the complaint after going through a complaint filed by one Umesh Phadte.
In his complaint to the administrator, Padte had alleged that the' Serula comunidade since last 15 years violated rules and regulations, irregularly allotted plots, collected money as development fund and misappropriated money.
The police registered the complaint and have now asked for the auditor's report.

Raid on Communidade an eye-wash

(Letter to Editor sent on 26/10/2010)
The latest raid on the Communidade of Serula appears more of an eye wash and a case of political arm twisting. A similar raid was carried out in the year 1999 by the then Administrator of Communidades North Goa after similar complaints were filed by some of us gaunkars of this communidade. Then, the managing committee was immediately suspended and a show-cause was issued for dissolution of the committee on grounds of unaccounted expenditures running into crores. Nothing happened thereafter. Some of the culprits even managed to get re-elected to office and continued the corruption with total impunity.
With several government officers and politicians being part of the corruption and beneficiaries of communidade lands by furnishing false affidavits understating their incomes and concealing other details, can anyone expect justice to be delivered to the gaunkars of Serula? Only a thorough CBI probe into the affairs over the last 25 years will help unearth the massive corruption and expose all the collaborators in crime. Has this government the courage to do this?

-Soter D'Souza
Socorro

SERULA COMMUNIDADE OFFICE RAIDED, SEALED

Herald 23/10/2010
PORVORIM, OCT 22
Administrator of Communidade N M Gaad on Friday morning raided the office of Communidade of Serula and later sealed the office.
According to highly reliable sources, Gaad raided the office of Serula Communidade to investigate into the complaints received by him regarding allotment of ‘Serventia’ (piece of land adjacent to main plots) by the Serula Communidade.
The raid, which started at 11 am, continued till 3 pm. After the inventory of the documents was taken in the presence of office bearers of Serula Communidade, the office was sealed by the Administrator.
However, Gaad was not available for comments till late Friday evening.
It may be recalled that Bardez has 40 communidades and Serula Communidade has been accused of illegal allotment of plots and misappropriation of funds.
On March 29, 2001, Administrator of Communidade, North Zone, Y M Maralker had passed an order advising the government to dismiss the attorney of Serula Communidade.
On November 7, 2003, former attorney of Serula Communidade Mario Stephen Do Rosario Vaz, on obtaining prior permission from Administrator of Communidade, North Zone, A V Bugde, had filed a complaint with Porvorim Police regarding misappropriation of about Rs 50 lakh.
Vaz had accused some persons of opening a separate bank account in their individual names in a bank in Mapusa without the knowledge of either Gaunkars or the Administrator of Communidade.
Speaking to Herald, Juino De Souza, a joineiro and shareholder of Serula Communidade, said the raid is only eyewash and nothing will come out of it.
“In the past too, such raids were carried out and even the police were investigating and government had appointed special auditors, who had sealed the office and seized the books for scrutiny,” said De Souza.
“However, after some time all was forgotten and the same committee controls the communidade, which continues to plunder and loot,” claimed De Souza.
“There is no accountability and transparency. Large-scale misappropriation of funds is going on in full view of the government. Illegal allotment of plots, kiosks, permissions, NOCs are rampant,” he said.
“A large open space along the highway at Porvorim has been used for parking of cars. This richest communidade does not even have a telephone facility,” added De Souza.
“There is no information available about vacant plots whatsoever and Gaunkars are not taken into confidence at the level of decision-making and all activities of the communidade are conducted in a hush-hush manner, the net result is erosion of revenues,” he said.
“Currently, there is corruption because communidade land can be allotted to government servants and other privileged class at low prices without auction. Government should amend the law to ensure that all plots are sold strictly through auction only so that the best market price comes to the communidade coffers and which will cut-off corruption completely,” opined De Souza.

Plundered ruins

Photo : Soter D'Souza

A side view of a part of the ruined walls of Serula Communidade's 'Chavdi' demolished by mindless locals to prepare a stage for a marathi drama.

Glimpses of a dying Serula Communidade

Photo: Soter D'Souza

The ravaged ruins of the 'Chavdi' a meeting place of the Serula Communidade gaunkars at Maina, Socorro.

Serula Our Land - Plundered and raped

Serula Our Land!

Plundered and raped by greedy politicians, bureaucrats and their agents

Our once powerful Communidade of Serula that governed three and half villages, viz Socorro, Salvador do mundo, Penha de Franca and part of Pomburpa, was the largest institution of traditional governance in Bardez taluka of Goa. Being one of the richest communidade in terms of land holdings and revenue, the assets of Serula Communidade became the target of hungry and greedy politicians, bureaucrats and their agents. The non-goan and goan IAS officers deputed to Goa provided the foundation for the plunder by faciltitating illegal amendments to the Code of Communidades to cause benefit not only to themsleves but the political parties, government servants and charitable institutions by exempting them from land auction. Till such time it was only the 'gaonkar' who could be allotted land without auction. It was in and around 1991,during the tenure of the former Chief minister of Goa Ravi Naik and the local MLA of Aldona Constituency Mr. Ratnakar Chopdekar, that the plunder of Serula Comunidade was intensified. Even before that the government and the local MLAs encouraged land encroachments by migrants and grabbed land by making use of the land acquisition proceedings.

Taking the opportunity of in-fighting between the gaonkars of the communidade the government illegally installed a care-taker committee of persons who were not gaonkars and from then on the powerful and mighty institution was mercilessly plundered of it's land and finances. The patronage of the ruling Congress party to the fraudulently imposed office-bearers helped in the cover up of the wide spread corruption. The new Porvorim stands on the land belonging to Serula Communidade majority of which has been cornered by migrants from various neighbouring states of India.

The Serula Gaonkars Action Front was launched in 1991 and being part of those opposing the illegal imposition of the committee, false criminal chapter cases were registered against us in conjunction with corrupt police officials who also had their eye on the land. Thereafter, the enthusiam among the gaonkars slumped as some gaonkars who connived with the plunderers for their personal benefit. Even then stray efforts to challenge the plunder were initiated by some of us goankars from time to time. It was in the year 2000, after several complaints of corruption, the then BJP government ordered the Communidade Administrator of North Zone to conduct an inspection and it was found that money to the tune of 2 crores was unaccounted. The managing committee was suspended and show-caused. A glimpse for saving the communidade emerged but a section of the half-gaonkars became ambitious and scuttled the initiative by raising demands for prime posts on the committee. From then on the Communidade of Serula has never seen any movement for revival and the institution is almost driven to a point of no return. The shares have been allotted to non-goans to create vote-banks and secure plots while the revenue has been looted by indiscriminate allottment of contracts for development of raods and other infrastructure.

The Portuguese may have been driven away but they have got replaced by neo-colonialists -the goan and non-goan land mafia - and Goa's rich heritage of the Communidade system has been repeatedly under attack for nothing else than its precious land resources.The only remaining land on a beautiful and serene plateau of Socorro and Salvador do mundo villages is being grabbed by the Goa IT Development Corporation for setting up an IT Park in collusion with the local MLA who is the chairman of the corporation.

But we refuse to give up hope. We firmly believe that the souls of our ancestors shall never allow these plunderers and their agents to rest.

Truth shall triumph! Justice shall prevail! The guilty will be punished!