With the fatal fire at a Goa nightclub putting the spotlight on whether government departments had been lax in issuing approvals and prompting the chief minister to say errant officials would face action, documents accessed by The Indian Express show that at least seven approvals were given by the local panchayat in Arpora and government departments so that Birch by Romeo Lane could operate. The approvals include trade, excise and food safety licences; a pollution body nod; and three no-objection certificates.
An inquiry headed by North Goa district magistrate and collector Ankit Yadav is examining the incident so that accountability can be fixed.
According to documents, M/S Being GS Hospitality Goa Arpora LLP, which operates the restaurant and has Saurabh Luthra, Gaurav Luthra and Ajay Gupta as partners, entered into a licence agreement with the property owner, Surinder Kumar Khosla, on November 28, 2023, to lease a property called ‘Cordonicho Agor’ at Sankwadi Arpora measuring 31,200 square metres.
The Goa government has already suspended three officials from the time – Siddhi Tushar Harlankar, the then Director/Additional Director of Panchayat; Dr Shamila Monteiro, the then Member Secretary of Goa State Pollution Control Board; and Raghuvir D Bagkar, the then Secretary of village Panchayat, Arpora-Nagoa.
An establishment (trade) license dated December 16, 2023, was issued to the company for running “a bar and restaurant-cum-night club” by the village panchayat of Arpora-Nagoa. It expired in March 2024. The panchayat also issued three no-objection certificates (NOCs) to property owner Khosla – for electrical connection, water connection, and to carry out repair work in the house at Sankwadi. The NOCs for electrical and water connections were issued on December 21, 2022, while the NOC to carry out repairs was issued on March 25, 2023.
The sarpanch of Arpora-Nagao village panchayat, Roshan V Redkar, signed off on the establishment license issued to Birch and on the three NOCs issued to the property owner. A statement issued by the CM’s office on Monday said, “The premise continued to run after the expiry of the trade license since March 2024. Under Section 72-A of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act, the local body is empowered to seal such premises. However, they failed to do so.”
Redkar had earlier claimed that the structure was built without procuring a construction licence, and that the owner had got a stay on a demolition notice. Redkar did not respond to requests for a comment.
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Documents further show that the Goa State Pollution Control Board issued a consent to operate to the company on April 22, 2024. It said that the consent to operate and authorisation is valid up to January 31, 2039, for the operation of a restaurant with a seating capacity of 150 persons.
Further, the Department of Excise issued a license to the company for the retail sale of foreign liquor and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL)/Country Liquor for consumption on the premises. The license was valid from April 1, 2025, till March 31, 2026, documents show.
As reported by The Indian Express earlier, the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority had received two complaints about the property, which included the club, but did not act since it was outside its jurisdiction.
Officials told The Indian Express that the list of approvals under scanner is by no means exhaustive, and the deeper investigators look, the higher the chances of departmental oversights coming to light. For instance, the inquiry will examine how the construction was approved in an eco-sensitive zone (salt pan) and whether it came up on agricultural tenanted land, where construction is prohibited.
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As per the technical fire safety incident report, the department said that as per its records, the establishment had not obtained a valid NOC from the Fire Department, indicating non-compliance with mandatory fire safety regulations.
