The Government is considering taking over the San Jose estate in Lopinot in response to reports that members of the media and farmers were attacked in the area on Thursday.Minister of Food Production, Land and Marine Affairs Vasant Bharath said yesterday: "What we are looking at doing is resolving the issue and one of the options is to acquire the lands compulsorily by state order and then to subsequently lease those lands out to farmers."We did some investigations that showed that these are not state lands, but actually privately-owned lands," he said.
"It appears that the owner of the land passed away many years ago."There has been no claimant to the lands since then and there have been farmers who have been farming the lands very productively for the last 20 to 25 years."Bharath made the comment while speaking with the media at a quarterly meeting of state boards at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port-of-Spain.The disputed land issue arises out of the controversy over the real owner of several hundred acres of land of the estate in the rural community of La Pastora Village, Lopinot.
According to reports, members of the media and farmers who were touring the area on Thursday were attacked by cutlass-wielding men who threatened them with violence.Bharath said for the Government to compulsorily acquire private property there was a procedure to follow."To compulsorily acquire any property in T&T, you've got to first find the owner," he said.When asked by the media about the level of security that would exist in Lopinot, he said that would be determined by Minister of National Security John Sandy.