PORVORIM: The Goa legislative assembly on Friday passed the Goa Bhumiputra Adhikarini Bill, 2021, which will allow the state to give the self-occupied dweller of a small housing unit ownership rights so as to enable him to live with dignity and self-respect and exercise his right to life.Chief minister Pramod Sawant said that the bill for regularisation of houses was passed during the last tenure of the BJP government following which some people became owners of the house they were dwelling in.Sawant said that several cases have been filed against people who do not own the houses they are staying in (ancestral house, alvara land, etc). “The intention of the bill is to benefit Goans,” he said.Sawant said that houses constructed before April 1, 2019, having house number will be given ownership rights. Even encroached government land will be given to the people who have houses on it, he said.He also said that those living in Goa for the last 30 years and having house numbers, electricity or water connections, but have not got ownership of the house, will benefit.‘Bhumiputra’ means a person who is residing in the state of Goa at least for a period of thirty years before the date of making application under Section 5, and in occupation of a dwelling unit and includes his or her spouse, son, daughter-in-law and unmarried daughter.The government will notify the rules soon, he said.