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Sorrowing is my Siolim
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Sorrowing is my Siolim

Uncategorized November 7, 2025 , by

By Praveena Sharma

This serene coastal village, running along Chapora river, in North Goa has lately become the hunting ground for land sharks, facilitated by powerful people in the shadows. It’s leaving behind a trail of civic destruction for villagers

The once idyllic and scenic Siolim – a riverside village in North Goa – has been under the onslaught of indiscriminate development by builders and investors, who have swooped down on it. This has led to massive residential and commercial structures coming up in the village, which has stripped it of its character and pulled down the quality of life.
The village’s narrow and shaded roads, with a sprinkling of houses alongside, are now choked with fuming and grunting vehicles that have destroyed its peace and crumbled its infrastructure and amenities.
Even as water in the houses of Siolim’s natives turn to trickle, new residents – owners of plush villas – splash into their personal swimming to relish a cooling dip in the sultry summer as the ocean breeze sweeps through their premise.
Piles of garbage around the village corners are slowly mounting even as the number of sewage tanks and water tankers plying through the village streets are rising. The frequency of power outages has also shot up.
The village has caught the attention of every major commercial and residential real estate player looking for the next big market for investment. Even as they are able push their projects through aggressive lobbying in the corridors of power, locals are struggling to get approvals for basic amenities such as parks, water, electricity, schools, hospitals, proper garbage disposal system, sewage, and others.
Author Michelle Mendonca Bambawale, who moved to her ancestral home in Siolim in the midst of the Covid pandemic in 2020, is horrified by dismal state of the village that holds her cherished childhood memories.
Witnessing the rapid destruction of Siliom, Bambawale decided to join the movement to save it from further destruction.
It all reached a flashpoint in March last year, when the Calangute MLA Micheal Lobo – along with officials from different departments and the police – tried to acquire land to build a 25-metre-wide major district road (MDR) through Siolim.
Unnerved by his threat, and the presence of officials and police, the villagers did not forcefully object to the road project initially. It was only when they watched heritage trees being ruthlessly axed by authorities that they pushed back with all their might.
Aaron Fernandes, a wildlife conservationist who runs Chameleon Wildlife and lives in Siolim, said Lobo was trying to “pull wool over people’s eyes” by saying the road widening was for their benefit.
“He (Lobo) had his reasons to extend the road. It was for the proposed projects across the bridge. He wants to link the entire coastal belt and open all his places, maybe development of casinos. There was talk of it at that time. All these activities require broad roads. Having narrow roads through the village do not support such activities,” he said.
Eventually, the Bombay High Court at Goa stayed the tree felling. All this sparked a citizens’ movement and Bambawale, who had shifted to Goa escape the rough and tumble of city life, was sucked into it.
She joined the Village Development Committee (VDC) of the Gram Panchayat to work on proposals to improve the development of Siolim and bring some order into the whole excise.
“I have been going to all the Gram Sabha meetings. Garbage and water are two issues very important but it’s not been easy. They (Panchayat) have accepted all our plans. They say yes to everything but things just don’t move,” she said helplessly.
Bambawale informed, in February, a proposal for water self-sufficiency plan (see box) was drawn up with the help of Act For Goa, an organisation to safeguard interests of Goa, for approval and budget sanction by the Panchayat. The VDC has yet to get clearance for it.
Meanwhile, the water situation in Siolim is only worsening. Many premises in Siolim do not have Public Works Department (PWD) water and get tanker water even as new multi-dwelling projects with water-guzzling swimming pools are being approved every other day.
“Where is the tanker water is coming from? They don’t tell you. Somewhere, there is a borewell, and it’s, basically, depleting the ground water table,” argued the author of Becoming Goan.
In the recent years, Siolim has seen an influx of migrants from other states. This has put pressure on its natural resources and infrastructure.
According to Sarpanch Amit Morajkar, the number of voters in Siolim today stands at 9,000 while its total population, including children and migrant, would be close to 15,000. He said migrants constitute around 60% of the Siolim’s total population.
He acknowledged rising population of the village was putting pressure on its available land and resources. He revealed tanker water was not being sourced from Siolim but from wells in neighbouring villages.
Fernandes, who has a drone video footage of tanker water being transported from Duler well in Mapsa, said even if the water was not coming from Siolim, it would still lower the ground water table in the area.
He said the video footage draws a grim picture of the water crisis in Goa with “24 hours of non-stop traffic of water tankers on the stretch of a road that’s just 50mX3m”.
Morajkar, who took over as the Sarpanch of Siolim only five months back, is optimistic about getting PWD water for his village.
“Our first priority is roads, and then water. There is plan to build a water plant of seven million litre per day (MLD), which will take care of our need. We will get at least eight hours of water supply per day. Now, we are getting water supply for just three to four hours per day,” he said.
Responding to the status of VDC’s water self-sufficiency project plan, he said it has been forwarded to the Block Development Office (BDO) and Directorate of Panchayat (DoP) for approval.
Morajkar expressed helplessness in regulating the kind of projects coming up in the village. He said the Panchayat cannot control what people build on their land. He acknowledged Siolim needed more basic amenities like hospitals, parks, playgrounds and other such facilities.
Interestingly, the village has no dearth of funds. In the recent years, its revenues swelled. Morajkar said trade licenses have become a major source of revenue for them. This was because of a new rule by the DoP, which has fixed the trade license fee at one month rent.
“We have enough funds. There is no problem there,” he said.
As for the enforcement of CRZ regulations and illegal constructions, the Sarpanch said the Panchayat tries its best to act on every complaint filed with them.
Bambawale lamented about the intrigue shrouding the functioning of local authorities, which made it challenging for her to get any work done.
“Recently, we had information that four to five constructions were going on within a very small radius in an area with just 6-metre road. Even the Panchayat had objected to it. There was a Panchayat objection filed but the construction goes on because of important people, who are able to get it done. So, that is the problem,” she said with a sigh of resignation.
And so, the destruction of Siolim continues. But people like Bambawale, Fernandes, Morajkar and so many others are not giving up on their beloved Siolim.

Siolim Slap
The residents of Siolim have rallied against illegal and unregulated development happening around the village by taking legal and administrative actions. They have been successful in stopping the developmental catastrophe to some extent.
• Tree-felling for widening of a major district road (MDR) was halted after the Bombay High Court at Goa intervened and stayed further cutting of trees. It was being carried out without adequate approvals.
• A fine of Rs39.50 crore was imposed by Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) on a property for damage to mangrove, mud-flats, sand-dunes, and river bank. Reportedly, the entire fine has not yet been recovered.
• More than 10 structures, which were on government land in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), were demolished near the Uddo beach.
• When the GCZMA found that out of 16 structures in the CRZ, only four had proof of existence before 1991 (only structures built before 1991 are permitted in CRZ), it ordered their demolition.
• An illegal construction (on survey119/1) was sealed and fined Rs5 lakh by the GCZMA.
• A stop-work order was issued to a developer for illegal road construction and tree-felling on Siolim-Sodiem stretch.
• An illegal hoarding along a widened road in Siolim-Marna was removed following a high court order.
• An illegal resort in CRZ area in Siolim was ordered to be demolished by the high court. When the order was not carried out even after two years, the court pulled up the government and directed the revenue secretary to act against errant officials.

How A Gram Sabha Proposal Is Approved for Funding
STEP 1 – The Village Development Committee (VDC) identifies works to be undertaken by the Panchayat and drafts a Village Panchayat Development Plan (VPDP) to be submitted to local authorities for funding.
STEP 2 – The VPDP is placed before the Gram Sabha (village assembly), which debates on it and formally approves it through a resolution. This must be done for accessing government funds.
STEP3 – This VPDP proposal then goes to the Block Development Officer (BDO) for processing and due diligence.
STEP 4 – Proposals for works over Rs 1 lakh require technical and administrative approval from concerned technical wings and district administration. It is also uploaded on the eGramSwaraj website for planning and monitoring.
STEP 5 – Once a proposal gets the administrative and technical sanctions, funds for the work or village development activity gets released in installments and work on the proposal can begin.
STEP 6 – Once the development plan is put into action, it has must be monitored by the Gram Sabha, which under takes social audits to ensure transparency and proper utilisation of funds.

Trade Licenses Issued by Gram Panchayat
• A trade license is a legal permission issued by a Gram Panchayat to a business to operate within its jurisdiction.
• It is becoming a major source of revenue for the Panchayat, which collects a fee on every trade license issued. It is issued by the Sarpanch or the Village Panchayat secretary after it is approved by the Gram Panchayat.
• The amount of trade license fee ranges from Rs500 to Rs2500, based on the type and location of business.
• Earlier, it used to be valid for one year but under the new system of Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP), the Panchayat can issue licenses valid for 1, 3, 5, or 10 years.

Sources of Panchayat Revenue
A panchayat’s income constitutes government grants and Own Source Revenue (OSR) – income generated by itself. OSR includes taxes on property and land, fees for services, rents, and charges for markets and fairs.
Government grants
• Grants-in-aid: Funds provided by State and Central governments to Panchayats.
• Central government funds: Money provided for specific schemes and programs.
• Financial assistance: Loans and other forms of financial help from government bodies like the Zila Parishad.

Own Source Revenue
• Taxes: Taxes on houses, buildings, and land. Professional taxes and taxes on professional fees. Taxes on markets and fairs.
• Fees and charges: Fees for services such as the registration of documents. Charges for the
use of common resources like ponds, grazing land, and forests.
Fees for advertisements and billboards.
• Donations and contributions: Voluntary contributions from the local community and other sources.
• Income-generating programs: Programs designed by the Panchayat to generate revenue.

Siolim’s Udkan Swayampurna (Water Self-sufficiency) Plan

In February, Siolim’s Village Development Committee (VDC) had drafted a project plan for water self-sufficiency – Udkan Swayampurna. – to tackle the water issue at the Panchayat level.
The proposal was drafted with the help of Act for Goa – an organisation for protection of environment and human rights in the State. Its purpose was to show the way to other villages in the State for data-driven planning approach.
The project was also being proposed to access government funding for such activities and involve local youths in local governance.

Objectives
• To attain Swayampurna (self-sufficient) in water and make it available for drinking, agriculture and institutional (schools, Anganwadis etc) through participation and engagement of all stakeholders.
• Ban borewell permissions in Siolim Marna

Data Collection
• Gather data on quality, quantity, and availability of water.
• Use technology to map out the area. Assimilation of on-ground data with the help of students, citizens, and self-help group volunteers from wards.
• Training and support to volunteers for data collection.
• Creation of Google form/app to simplify the collection and use of the data.
Once the data was to be collected and analyzed, the Panchayat would have worked to organise its resources to ensure water self-sufficiency for Siolim-Marna.
This project was meant to be the pilot data-driven planning approach to be adopted in other villages in Goa. The VDC is still pursuing funding approval for it from the Panchayat.

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