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CHIMBEL VILLAGERS WIN BATTLE TO THROW UNITY MALL OUT!
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CHIMBEL VILLAGERS WIN BATTLE TO THROW UNITY MALL OUT!

Jan 31- Feb 06, 2026, Stray Thoughts January 30, 2026 , by

And a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when the Pramod Sawant Government decided to shift the Unity Mall and Prashan Stamb from Chimbel. in the wake of the Chimbel agitation residents of Santa Cruz too are protesting against the concretisation of the Bondwell lake. For a Saturday following the week whenon the European Council President Antonio Luis Santos da Costa declaring that he is proud of his Goan roots. For a Saturday following the week when the furtive huge land grab at Betul in South Goa. For a Saturday following the week when the certainty of the Goa government granting land to Baba Ramdev, either free or at an extremely concessional price.
 AND a few stray thoughts on when in the wake of the Chimbel agitation residents of Santa Cruz too are protesting against concretisation of the Bondwell lake. The protestors pointed out that permission has been given by the Town & Country Planning Department for several real estate projects very close to the Bondwell lake. This would affect the biodiversity of the Bondwell lake grounds as were within the zone of influence.
Since it was too close for comfort for the Santa Cruz MLA who lives in Bondier at the heart of Santa Cruz, he seems to have rushed to his friend Vishvajit Rane . The TCP Minister promptly declared that no permission would be given for real estate projects adjacent to the lake. In fact, he went a step further and said any permissions given so far will be cancelled. Since no one trusts Vishwajit Rane the Santa Cruz protesters marched into the chief minister’s house.
Unlike in the case of the Unity Mall, MLA Rudolf Fernandes went with them to the chief minister’s official bungalow residence at Altinho in Panjim. The protestors were only satisfied when Dr Pramod Sawant reiterated the assurance given by Vishwajit Rane . The Santa Cruz villagers are not taking any chances and have decided to go on a chain hunger strike till the permissions are actually revoked.
In the meanwhile the work of mapping the wet land zone areas and the zone of influence around the Toyyar lake in Chimbel was reportedly completed on Wednesday, January 28, 2026. Significantly, the survey as carried out by the Water Resources Department in the presence of architects who also carriedout their simultaneous survey. The advocate for the Chimbel protesters Melissa Simoes, who got a stay order from the district court, was also present.
At the meeting convened by the chief minister at his official residence the Chimbel protesters reiterated their demand for immediate scrapping the Unity Mall and Prashasan Stambh projects. The CM however could not give them a firm commitment on scrapping the Unity Mall project, claiming he had to consult the Centre regarding this.
It has now been revealed that Chimbel was not the original site chosen for the Unity Mall. Apparently, the original site was Murad village in the Merces area. It has been revealed by Melissa Simoes that land was acquired and a firm of architects, Fourth Dimension architects from Pune, were chosen through tenders to execute the project. Fourth Generation architects is a Pune-based firm led by Nitin Waghmare, which has specialized in putting up malls and retail spaces all over the country.
Presumably, the project in Merces was abandoned because there was no source of water for the Unity Mall. A mall or a supermarket cannot function without a dedicated source of water. Unity Mall could not have depended on the PWD which is able to supply water for less than two hours to homes in Goa. Indeed, it was the proximity of the site close to Toyyar lake that motivated Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte to shift the mall to Chimbel.
The veteran architect Nitin Waghmare is no longer associated and a Delhi construction company has now been given the contract to build the mall. Even more shockingly Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant now claims that over Rs25 crores have been spent on the project already by the State government. Why the State government should spend a paisa on Centrally-sponsored projects is not known.
The Rs25 crore has apparently been paid to the contractor as mobilization advance for purchase of steel and other material for the steel structure which is the core of the Unity Mall. Promptly, the women activists of Chimbel have invented a song with the refrain “Whom did the Rs25 crore go to?” Shripad Naik, who has to take care of Chimbel since it is part of the north Goa constituency, has declared that the mall will not be forced on the people if they did not want it. Shripad has offered to discuss it with the Centre . This is not the first time the Goa government at the behest of the tourism minister, who is also the IT minister, has tried to grab land in Chimbel. But the proposed IT park was cancelled after locals protested. Chimbalkars are not taking any chances and have called for a mega protest rally at the Azad Maidan on January 30.

LANDMARK TRADE DEAL
AND a few stray thoughts on the European Council President Antonio Luis Santos da Costa declaring that he is proud of his Goan roots. Antonio Costa who flashed his OCI or Overseas Citizens of India card at a press conference revealed that his grandparents were from Madgao in Goa. We understand from Madgaokars that his ancestral home is in Abe d’Faria road in Madgaon town. Costa’s parents migrated to Portugal in search of greener pastures as there were no jobs for qualified Goans prior to Liberation.
Costa was a member of the Portuguese cabinet and was elected as a member of the European parliament. Costa rose to become president of the European Union or European Economic Community. Both Costa and the president of the European Commission for Trade were chief guests at the public day function on January 26 this year in New Delhi.
Both India and Europe have been victims of USA President Donald Trump’s tantrums. Just as Trump has imposed penalty tariffs on India for importing petroleum from Russia, he is angry with Europe for refusing to back his claim over Greenland. The European Economic Community which has been threatened with a 500% tariff on exports to the US and India have decided to blunt the Trump tariff war by entering into a free trade agreement between India and Europe. As a result olive oil which is a favorite of Goan Catholics and was imported into Goa by the Portuguese will cost much less, as the import duty has been sharply reduced.
Again, to counter Trump’s punitive duties on Indian automobiles, Europe and India have agreed on lowering the duty on automobiles drastically. So Europe and India can sell their cars to each India. It is not widely known that though the UK exited from the European Economic Community, Ireland continues to be a part of the EEC. Following the new trade agreement the iconic Irish whiskey will be much cheaper along with the wines from France. It is a win win situation both for EEC and India. It is not known if Antonio Costa will be visiting Goa on this trip.

BETUL LAND GRAB
AND a few stray thoughts on when the furtive huge land grab at Betul in South Goa. A large part of Betul has already been colonized by the Oil & Natural Gas Commission which has a huge Research Centre and of course a VIP Guesthouse in Betul. In fact, the ONGC campus hosted World Energy Week which saw leading powerbrokers from the world over coming together to discuss the impact of Trump’s attempts to corner the petroleum market.
Not only has Trump announced strictures against countries importing from Russia but has also taken over the oil reserves in Venezuela which has the largest exporter of petroleum. This has adversely affected the Gulf countries like UAE and Saudi Arabia, countries which are totally dependent on oil as a revenue. Not surprisingly, a prominent participant in the Energy Week was the industries minister of Saudi Arabia, who is also the chief of their oil company.
Now there are reports that the Betul oceanfront has been handed over to the Adanis to develop into a port. The Adanis are the major player in private ports in the country. Not just the people of Betul but all the residents of south Goa are gearing up to fight the Adani takeover of Betul, led by Venzy Rodrigues, the Benaulim AAP MLA.

BABA RAMDEV GIFTED
AND few stray thoughts on when the certainty of the Goa government granting land to Baba Ramdev, either free or at an extremely concessional price. Our research reveals that Baba Ramdev has been allotted huge tracts of land for his wellness centers and his factories in various parts of the country at token prices. “The Hindu” in an article talking about the rise of Baba Ramdev during the Modi era, has revealed that land was allotted to the 40,000 acre Ram Dev Complex close to Haridwar, by the UP government at a token price of Rs10 per square meter.
The argument was that there was no approach road and therefore the land was given cheap. At a BJP function where the Maharashtra Chief Minister Narendra Fadnavis and Nitin Gadkari, Union transport minister were present, Ramdev requested Gadkari to provide a road to his property. Gadkari extended the highway to the Ramdev Complex.
Baba Ramdev has got free land or at a throwaway price in several parts of the country including Assam and Pune. Ramdev is reported to have struck a deal with old friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the run up to the 2014 parliamentary polls when Modi first become prime minister. Ramdev agreed to endorse Narendra Modi in return for his support to grow the Patanjali products.
Narendra Modi has been a consistent patron of Baba Ramdev. It is widely believed that BJP chief ministers have offered land free or at concessional rate to Baba Ramdev, knowing his proximity to the prime minister. But come to think of it perhaps Baba Ramdev’s fitness centers would be a better alternative to the nightclubs and casinos of Goa.

CARNAVAL IS HERE
AND a last stray thought for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday preceding the week when Goa’s Carnaval or Carnival is all set to be flagged off. This time there will be a preview of the carnival at Porvorim as it is the HQ of Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte.
My mind goes back to the 1980s when the carnival had not become so commercialized or monetized. The carnival king then used to be entrepreneur Francisco Martins and King Momo’s float was sponsored by the Real Group which was led by the late Gajanand Shirodkar. Even the dances were not as commercial as now. The major traditional carnival dances are the ones at Navelim, at Varka, organized by the Churchill Brothers, and of course the Red & Black dance jointly organized by Club Vasco da Gama and Club Nationale on the roads near the clubs. It’s a sign of our times that the not so young man chosen to be King Momo this year, Cedric d’Costa, who used to work for the “Herald” at one time, had to go to Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant to remind him that the carnival in Goa is a secular festival.

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