| The Mahaica-Mahaicony Abary/Agricultural Development Authority(MMA/ADA) has stated that it is not trying to take away lands from Cotton Tree,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, West Berbice residents. The body has chosen to respond to the December 6 KN article ‘“Cotton Tree Residents battling MMA over titled lands’, and has refuted comments made by Mr. Mansoor Khan of Cotton Tree Village, one of the residents furious with the agricultural body.Khan, who has over 20 acres of land which he claimed is under threat of being taken away from him, took it upon himself to initiate a legal battle in the Court of Appeal and is adamant to fight the organization and government for what he is convinced rightfully belongs to him, several acres of prime land.He stated that his grandparents along with grandparents of many other residents purchased the Village of Cotton Tree in 1882. There were 1753 acres of land. The residents have been farming on the lands to date. He accused the MMA/ADA of advertising the lands to cancel the titles of all the lands, which he stated are in the names of 103 present-day residents of Cotton Tree Village.But MMA/ADA has denied all the accusations.“There is absolutely no truth whatsoever that the MMA or Government is moving to ‘take-away’ the State lands at Cotton Tree from the residents there. That will never happen.Instead, there is an ongoing process which started in 2005 upon their request, to ‘divide-up’ the lands and award them their individual titles. The original title (now cancelled) – License of Occupancy A105 -covering 1753 acres was issued in 1905 to the then Proprietors of Cotton Tree. Not unexpectedly, after 100 years, things have changed; the village population has grown and everyone wants to have a piece of the State Land. There was therefore the need to treat with their request for regularization,NFL Jerseys Outlet,” the MMA/ADA stated.The body added that to date, it has held a number of meetings with the residents in that village about the ongoing process.“During our interactions, we found some situations that concerned us gravely. For instance, we received representation of ownership for over 168 plots in the rice area and another 85 plots in the reef area. However, only 27 persons controlled and cultivated all the lands, with one farmer alone cultivating over 500 acres; another renting out over 230 acres. Many of the purported owners had migrated but continued to exercise control over the State lands from overseas, having their agents renting them out to other farmers in the area.A large number of plots had changed occupation by informal sale. Some of these transactions are done overseas. We even heard of situations where the son would sell while the father is overseas,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, who upon return would deem the sale illegal, and demand back the land without giving back the buyer any money. Any resistance from the buyer is threatened with court action. Many other similar situations were brought to our attention which we believe were sufficient enough to justify our decision to have the situation regularized.”The MMA/ADA added that “during all of this, too, the drainage and irrigation charges were not being paid. As a result,China Jerseys Cheap, we initiated the process to recover these charges. This process is the same as for all the other areas within the MMA and, as has been well publicized for some years now, the continued refusal to pay drainage and irrigation charges, leads to re-possession and re-allocation of State Lands.Like in 2008, we have been publishing notices for some months now. Many persons have responded and yet some have not. We take this opportunity to again warn those defaulters”.The body also accused Mr. Khan of owing the MMA/ADA large sums of monies.“Currently his account stands at four hundred and twenty-eight thousand, five hundred and eighteen dollars ($428,518.00) as at June 30th 2012, and we have already received expressions of interest from other persons of Cotton Tree to be allocated the State Lands that he controls. Mr. Khan is a known character who has had previous difficulties with the MMA in relation to land and payment issues. We recall here a troublesome instance concerning some lands at Hyde Park, Mahaicony, and recently we received similar complaints about some residential lands at Cotton Tree. In all these instances, Mr. Khan purports that he has superior legal knowledge than everyone else which he will use to avoid paying and mislead other residents. We think not”, the statement added.When contacted, Mr. Khan was convinced that he has “rights under the Constitution of Guyana,Cheap Jerseys From China, the Right of Inheritance that the body cannot meddle in the affairs of those lands. Why I took them to court is that I know my constitutional rights of inheritance and those rights have been trampled on by MMA!”Speaking about monies he supposedly owes to the body, he noted, “They have the right to summons me if I owe,Jerseys NFL Wholesale, but I will not pay for anything when they have taken away— my title— and have the audacity to send me a letter that they took away my title and expect me to pay—I am no fool!” |
