Hubballi: Goa evicting Kannadigas from Baina beach

Hubballi: Kannadigas living near Goa's Baina beach for the last four decades, are being evicted from the area by the local administration, which has ordered demolition of their 50 huts and houses on September 26 as the land in question belongs  to a church, which has sold it to a construction company.

 Although the purchasing company had assured the church it would make alternative arrangements  for the Kannadigas when buying the land from it, it has failed to provide them the promised shelter, leaving them homeless, say local activists. 

Most of the Kannadigas here are from Gadag and Bagalkot, who had migrated to Goa to escape the recurring drought in North Karnataka. 

They have in the past managed to bring a stay several times on the eviction orders and received temporary relief after the deputy commissioner stopped any move to evict them before he had heard their case fully. 

But the municipal authorities have now ordered demolition of their homes as they have failed to produce documents to prove their ownership of the land they are occupying.

But the Kannadigas are demanding that they should be regularised as they have been living on the property for over 40 years even without documents. In the alternative they have suggested the government make other arrangements for them before demolishing their houses. 

There was widespread anger against the move by the Goa government to demolish 157 huts and houses of Kannadigas in the Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) zone along Baina beach two years ago. The Goa government had then claimed that  the CRZ norms prohibited construction of  permanent structures within 500 meter radius of beaches owing to the threat from  high tides.