log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline FRIDAY AUGUST 15, 2025 GOA Facebook.com/thegoan The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 15 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME XI, NO. 59 Instagram.com/thegoanonline RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 6 3 12 Comunidades gear up to resist Bill legalising illegal structures Joint inspection flags poor sanitation as 13 diarrhoea cases detected at Cutbona GOA Govt notifies discontinuing policy on telecom to adopt centre's RoW INFO Heart palpitations: Harmless or a health alarm? SPORTS PSG clinches Super Cup after late drama and penalty perfection 15 GOVERNOR TO BE PETITIONED TO WITHHOLD ASSENT THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Representatives of over a dozen comunidades on Thursday sent their representatives to Panaji to voice Opposition to the recently passed legislation to amend the Code of Comunidades and provide ownership of land to encroachers who have illegally built dwellings. AAP's Benaulim MLA, Venzy Viegas who heads the Carambolim Comunidade and also attended the meeting said they have decided to hold a 'Monsoon Fellowship' of all Comunidades on August 24. They will also meet the Governor Pushapati Raju to request him to withhold his 'consent' to the legislation, he said. Viegas said, they have requested comunidades across Goa to hold managing committee meetings and pass resolutions against the bill over the next week and bring copies of these resolutions to be submitted at the monsoon fellowship on August 24. The monsoon fellowship of comunidades will be held at the Xavier Institute for Histor- Upper Ghat settlers livid over bill to regularise comunidade land houses BELAGAVI: The Comunidades Amendment Bill 2025 which was passed by the Goa government to regularise unauthorised structures on comunidade lands in Goa has sparked widespread dissent among Goan settlers residing in the Upper Ghats region. Outraged by what they allege as the misuse of the legislative majority, several Gaonkars (traditional landholders) settled outside Goa have ical Research, Porvorim where comunidade representatives from all over Goa are expected to come, he said. A representatives of comunidades who met on Thursday at the initiative of Viegas have styled themselves as 'Save Goa, Save Goa's Comunidades'. Already one comunidade -- Carambolim -- which Viegas heads as president, has passed a resolution at a general body meeting rejecting the legislation. condemned the decision and are preparing to join forces with their counterparts in Goa to oppose the move. These settlers, originally hailing from Comunidades in North Goa such as Tivim, Aldona, Chorao, Ucassaim, and others, have long made their homes in towns across Belagavi, Khanapur, Ajara, Chandgad, and Gadhinglaj talukas.  >> See pg 5 Viegas has called on all comunidade committees to adopt resolutions against the amendment, stating that once these are collected, the association will meet the Governor and submit a memorandum to him. Viegas also said that the next course of action will be collectively decided by comunidade representatives at the August 24 fellowship. He said the bill by which the government seeks to grant ownership of the land on which the illegal dwelling structures stand to the occupants is illegal as the land does not belong to the government but the comunidades. "Entirely bypassing the comunidade bodies in this process and taking decisions of ownership of their land is illegal and outside the powers and jurisdiction of the government," Viegas said. He added that comunidades are willing to accommodate the more modern needs of the State and the people liv- ing here but it has to be done in a legal way and not how the government is contemplating to do it via this "illegal" bill. Meanwhile, Luis D'Souza, a component who represented the Goltim Comunidade of Divar island at the meeting said opposing the bill is crucial as it will further weaken the age old comunidade bodies and system which ancestors had preserved. "It is the very essence of Goa. It has helped Goans for dozens of generations to ensure that both natural and human resources co-exist. We can't let this be destroyed," D'Souza said and appealed to all components of comunidades to join the fight and attend the 'monsoon fellowship' on August 24. Soccoro Menezes, the attorney of Jua Comunidade said a team of lawyers are studying the legislation and advising them on a possible legal challenge to it. The Goa legislative assembly passed the government-sponsored The Goa Legislative Diploma No. 2070 dated 15-4-1961 (Amendment) Bill, 2025, on August 7. STRIDE OF PRIDE: Students take part in a Tiranga rally from Azad Maidan to Miramar on the eve of Independence Day on Thursday.  Narayan Pissurlenkar Prez grants assent to ST quota in Goa Assembly THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI President of India Droupadi Murmu has granted assent to the Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of Goa Bill, 2025, paving way for political reservation to STs in Goa Assembly. The Bill was passed by both the Houses of the Parliament. With the President's assent the Bill has now become a law, as per which total of four seats would be reserved for the community, which currently has no political reservation. The Bill enables reservation of seats by article 332 of the Constitution for effective democratic participation of members of Scheduled Tribes and to provide for the readjustment of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Goa. The Bill empowers the Election Commission to redraw constituency boundaries and reserve four seats for STs in the 40-member Goa Assembly. The Bill aims to grant the Census Commissioner the authority to declare the number of STs in Goa and the Election Commission will consider these new ST population statistics to modify the constituencies of the Legislative Assembly.