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STORM OVER COLVA BEACH LAND
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STORM OVER COLVA BEACH LAND

Feb 14- Feb 20, 2026, Stray Thoughts February 13, 2026 , by

And a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when there was a storm over an alleged dubious deal by a Delhi builder. For a Saturday following the week when on the lessons of the victory of the Chimbel villagers led by Govind Shirodkar, the chairman of the local Biodiversity Committee. For a Saturday following the week when the week when the Canacona branch of the Tirumalai Tirupati Multistate Credit Cooperative Society was shut down by the Goa Registrar of Cooperatives. For a Saturday following the week when Goa Lit Fest which started on Thursday, February 12.
AND a few stray thoughts on when there was a storm over an alleged dubious deal by a Delhi builder. The story goes that a Delhi builder allegedly acquired a prime Colva coastal property in a suspect irregular transfer. There are also allegations that the Colva police inspector Vikram Naik was aligned with the Delhi builder who was planning to build 12 super-luxury villas each with a swimming pool.
 Apparently, a fisherman, Antonio Rodrigues, was assaulted by the agents of the Delhi builder. The parish priest of the Colva church, Father Polly Lobo, intervened. The locals called for a meeting and at a press briefing on the new villa complex with swimming pools plan. They were agitated not only about CRZ violations but also on how the swimming pools were a mockery in the context of the acute water shortage in the village.
Police inspector Vikram Naik reportedly went to the residence of the parish priest Father Polly Lobo attached to the Colva church. Subsequently, the priest suggested it was perhaps an attempt to prevent him from going for the public meeting and the press briefing of the invasion of Colva by Delhi builders. The outraged villagers gathered at the police station demanding the immediate suspension and transfer of the police inspector Vikram Naik. They learned that transfer orders had been issued for him three months ago but he had refused to vacate the Colva police station.
Increasingly, there have been instances of police inspectors refusing to move from highly lucrative coastal police stations even after their transfer. Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant himself has admitted that even constables have resisted transfers and continued at their former place of posting.
In any case, thanks to the intervention of SP Santosh Dessai, the situation was brought under control. The SP ordered the immediate transfer of the PI Vikram Naik to the reserve police. The agitated villagers of Colva are determined to fight till the building licenses of the Delhi builder for the one dozen villas with swimming pools complex is cancelled.

CHIMBEL VICTORY
AND a few stray thoughts on the lessons of the victory of the Chimbel villagers led by Govind Shirodkar, the chairman of the local Biodiversity Committee. The Chimbel villagers are mostly tribal people and they called off the agitation after they received formal letters from the Tourism Department and general administration departments, agreeing to the shifting of the Unity Mall from Chimbel.
The significance of the victory of the Chimbel villagers is that the agitation was a homegrown local agitation without the support of the Enough to Enough movement. Indeed, the agitation which went on for over three months, started long before the January meeting of the Enough to Enough movement. The Chimbelkars never let up the pressure, they continued a chain hunger strike all through three months of the agitation. They kept holding mega rallies targeting the local sarpanch and extending it to the Santa Cruz MLA Rudolph Fernandes.
During the winter session of the legislative assembly they began marching towards it when it was in session. Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte, repeatedly defended the project, claiming it would generate employment. The Chimbelkars forced the chief minister to order a fresh survey of the zone of influence of the Toyyar lake wetlands diversity. They did not leave it to the government but brought in expert veteran architects like Hyacinth Pinto to independently ensure that the survey was carried out properly by the government departments.
The echoes of the Chimbel agitation resounded in Delhi, forcing a quick visit by the newly appointed BJP president to Goa Nitin Nabin. The CM, worried about the Chimbalkar protests spiraling into a State-wide protest, agreed finally to shift the Unity Mall project out of Chimbel. Even though the government held to the bitter end that the Unity Mall would not impact the Toyyar lake. The moral of the Chimbel agitation is that unless the locals at the village level organize themselves and send out a message to their MLA and to the chief minister, there is no challenging the land sharks and their political patrons. Villagers should not wait for external interventions. For indeed, all the villages should unite to preserve their unique identity.

TIRUMALAI TIRUPATI
AND a few stray thoughts following the week when the Canacona branch of the Tirumalai Tirupati Multistate Credit Cooperative Society was shut down by the Goa Registrar of Cooperatives. This was done on the failure of the management of the credit society to submit audited accounts, despite repeated reminders. On an appeal from Gurmeet Singh, the sardar chairman of the Tirumalai Cooperative Credit Society, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant informed that only after due diligence the license would be renewed.
Interestingly, despite its name being Tirumalai Tirupati, the credit society does not have anything to do with Lord Balaji or Tirupati. The credit society is registered in Mumbai and operates in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa. It is of course not the only cooperative society which has faced trouble in Goa over bad debts and failure to observe necessary compliances.
Our homegrown Madgaon Urban Bank and the Mapuse Urban Bank have invited strictures from the Registrar of Cooperatives. Most cooperative banks in Goa have been hijacked by politicians. For instance, the Mapusa Urban Bank has been the fiefdom of former MGP president Ramakant Khalap, who defected to the Congress. In fact, the story doing the rounds was that when Ramakant Khalap was the minister of state for law in the Deve Gowda government, the Mapuse Urban Bank gave a big loan to Devi Gowda’s son without doing any diligent study. Apparently, the address given by the son was the prime minister’s office.

GOA LITERATURE FESTIVAL
AND a few stray thoughts on the Goa Lit Fest which started on Thursday, February 12. Never mind it may be a little overshadowed by the recently held mega Goa Book Festival organized by the National Book Trust, in collaboration with the chairperson of the Marathi daily “Tarun Bharat” and founder of the Lokmanya Foundation, Kiran Thakur.
 Unlike the book festival the Goa lit fest has always been a literary event tending to be Konkani-centered. The lit fest has been a creative partnership between the International Center Goa’s Yatin Kakodkar and the duo of Gyanpeeth award winner Damodar Mauzo and Vivek Menezes. This Goa lit fest is now in its 14th year and over the years it has grown in stature, it has attracted writers from the country over.
Who does not want a piece of the paradise that is Goa? There was initial controversy over the announcement that the highlight of the book fest would be the exclusive release of photographer Assavari Kulkarni’s book on forest recipes. The promotion was called off after it was pointed out that the book had already got a 5-star release during the Goa Forest Festival. The book will be released a second time at the Goa lit fest by celebrated Goan singer Remo Fernandes.
Unlike other festivals the ICG’s lit fest does not wait for a chief guest to inaugurate it. It just starts off with literary events and this year it is going to be a poetry reading by four noted poets on the first inaugural evening on February 13, the first day. The ICG Goa lit fest rocks with a finale cocktail party which is very popular on the lawns.

SAY NO TO VIVA PORTUGAL!
AND a last stray for a Saturday on the eve of the arrival of King Momo for Carnaval or Carnival in Goa. The Minister of Water Resources Sudin Dhavalikar has declared that Goans do not say Viva Portugal but Viva Goa. The controversy arose after a veteran freedom fighter and owner of “Ritz Classic” Rohit Dessai objected to Goans saying Viva Portugal. He insisted that Goans who praise Portugal were not aware of the history of the oppression of Goan freedom fighters by the colonialist Portuguese.
 Never mind that apparently the former Portuguese prime minister and now president of the European Economic Community Antonia Costa was the chief guest at this year’s Republic Day parade in New Delhi and he was apparently greeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a Viva Portugal.

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