Hundreds of protesters staged a protest outside the Goa Town and Country Planning (TCP) Minister Vishwajit Rane’s house demanding the scrapping of a contentious provision of a land-use change law in Dona Paula near Panaji Monday.
Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant appealed to protesters to “discuss the matter at the right forum” and termed the march to a Minister’s house “improper”. After camping outside the Minister’s house for a few hours, the protesters decided to move the agitation back to Azad Maidan.
The protest comes after villagers from Palem-Siridao in North Goa’s St Andre Assembly constituency in North Goa staged a sit-in at the office of Town and Country Planning Department office on Saturday, demanding revocation of land “correction” of several plots approved under the section 39 A of the TCP Act. Protesters alleged that over 84,000 square metres of the land in the village, including hill slopes, orchards and no development zones, was being converted into a “settlement” zone, allowing for construction, by the TCP department by misusing provisions under section 39 A of the TCP Act.
During the protest Saturday, St Andre MLA and Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) leader Viresh Borkar alleged he was evicted and “dragged” out of the office by the police personnel. The protesters demanded that action should be taken against the police officers, who allegedly “manhandled” the legislator.
Borkar, who has been on a hunger strike at Panaji’s Azad Maidan since Saturday, told The Indian Express: “Under this section, rampant land conversions are being allowed…this will destroy entire villages across Goa. We are demanding that this section be scrapped. Till this demand is fulfilled, I will continue my hunger strike”.
The section 39A of the Goa Town and Country Planning (TCP) Act, which was notified in 2024, empowers the chief town planner to alter or modify Regional Plan and Outline Development Plans for changing land zones, essentially allowing for “spot zoning” changes, based on individual applications, subject to public objection in the gazette over a 30 day- period.
The protesters and leaders of Opposition parties had called for a “Karo ya Maro andolan”, Monday evening, demanding that the contentious legislation be scrapped by the government. After gathering at Azad Maidan, protesters marched to Rane’s residence, even as police put up barricades on roads leading to the Minister’s house, citing “law and order” issues.
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Congress’s Yuri Alemao, the Leader of Opposition in Goa, said that since Borkar’s health deteriorated, the protests are returning to Azad Maidan. “We will decide the future course of action after consultations soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant Monday night, said that while protesters had the right to protest, it should be “within limits”.
“They can protest at Azad Maidan, they should give a proper representation. The Collector is there, they can always hand over a representation to the Collector. But to march to a Minister’s house and take law into one’s own hand is improper and it does not behove MLAs to do this. I expect that they will not take law into their own hands and discuss the matter in the right forum,” he said.
It wasn’t right to go to a minister’s house “because he has his personal privacy”, the chief minister said.
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“The Leader of Opposition (LoP) knows the law, and he knows how to protest peacefully, I appeal to him to maintain decorum, but he needs to understand that the Minister, against whom they are protesting, is his colleague. We are concerned about his security, about the security of other members who stay at his house…People have protested at the CM’s official bungalow, they have protested at the assembly, these are fine. There are many fora to discuss this. We can discuss this at that forum, it [matter] is in court as well,” Sawant said.
On allegations of Borkar being “manhandled”, Sawant said that a government office had many things to consider. “The safety of the staff, the safety of the files. The police requested them for 12 hours to vacate the office. The police, the mamlatdar, everyone requested. The organisers of the andolan did not take any permissions, nor had any route planned, yet the police tried to stop them at each juncture, the police have not acted against them. If the andolan takes a different turn, the leaders will be responsible. They can protest at Azad maidan,” he said.
