Home / Cover Story / Feb 28-Mar 06, 2026 / BORKAR ENDS FAST, ST ANDRE CONVERSIONS SUSPENDED!
BORKAR ENDS FAST, ST ANDRE CONVERSIONS SUSPENDED!
No Comments on BORKAR ENDS FAST, ST ANDRE CONVERSIONS SUSPENDED!

BORKAR ENDS FAST, ST ANDRE CONVERSIONS SUSPENDED!

Cover Story, Feb 28-Mar 06, 2026 February 27, 2026 , by

The chief minister Pramod Sawant claims that the protesters who occupied the TCP office stole ten files. Pramod Sawant has also threatened to take action against those who marched to Vishwajit Rane’s residence and threatened his life and property. RGP leaders have denied the charges.

THE England-returned revolutionary St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar seems to have won his personal battle. The secretary to the Department of Town & Country Planning has reportedly revoked the permission granted to the 11 mega projects spread over 84,000 square meters in the St Andre constituency. The principle fire extinguisher, Pramod Sawant, seems to have succeeded in dousing yet another localized fire.
However, it remains to be seen whether the Revolutionary Goans will retain the title conferred on them by veteran activist Dr Oscar Rebello. In a fiery speech at the Azad Maidan where Borkar and his colleagues are on a hunger fast to death, Dr Oscar Rebello declared that the Revolutionary Goans were Team A of Goa’s salvation. Indeed, it was Dr Oscar Rebello, who not only conferred legitimacy on the RG, but he even took Viresh Borkar to the Campal Clinic and had him treated before returning him to the Azad Maidan venue to continue his fast on Tuesday morning.
Vishwajeet Rane, however remains defiant and is still insisting that on a single call by him 5,000 young people from Satteri will come to defend him at his hilltop palace adjacent to the Raj Bhavan at Dona Paula in Panjim. Never mind that when he was under unofficial “house arrest” for almost 48 hours there and not a single Satteri resident, not even the multitasking workers from the GMC, came to his rescue.
Incidentally, Vishwajeet Rane has four residential homes in capital city Panjim where he can play hide and seek with any and all protestors. The original acquisition of real estate in Panjim by the Rane parivar were two large flats in the Kamat Building opposite the Demphe College. These flats were acquired way back in the early 90s when Pratapsingh Rane was toppled from the chief ministership by Churchill Alemao. Subsequently, when Vishwajit Rane was the chairman of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation in the Manohar Parrikar government, he acquired one of the row houses in the Kamat complex at Caranzalen.
On becoming a minister for the first time he acquired a bungalow next to the Ocean Park complex of Joe Mathias opposite the NIO colony. There were several allegations of his encroaching on public space and adding additional storeys and harassing the NIO scientist who had her modest villa next door to his bungalow. The huge palace next to the Raj Bhavan where he now lives most of the time was originally property belonging to the smuggler Sukhnarayan Bakiya. The smuggler’s property was confiscated by the Customs department. Vishwajit managed to use his position to get the Customs to release the property to him and here is where he built his colossal palace on the hillock overlooking Aivoa village, adjacent to the Raj Bhavan which is now Lok Bhavan. His newest palatial residence even has a private road leading up to it. It was this private road that was blocked by a double line of armed policemen on Monday, February 23 when the gutsy protesting villagers of St Andre marched down from Miramar beach circle down the Dona Paula road, and then onto the beach to climb the Aivao hillock routes to arrive at the TCP minister’s palace in the sky.

SCRAP 39A
 THE agitating protestors had suddenly decided to march to the residence of Vishwajit Rane to press their demand for the scrapping of the 39A in the Town & Country Planning Act (see Justice Ferdino Rebello’s letter to the government published here else elsewhere). Taken by surprise the police had first tried to stop the walkers at Miramar beach circle itself where they put up barriers, and then again at the junction of Aivio village ahead of which at the Dona Paula circle crossroads where three roads branch out.
By that time the deputy inspector general of police, the SP and the district collector of north Goa had all rushed in to protect the TCP minister. Radharao Gracias is probably right in claiming that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had extended silent support to the RG protestors. Despite the heavy police barricades, five of them reportedly along the route, a large number of them managed to gather outside the Ocean Park bungalow where apparently Vishwajit Rane had taken refuge. The “Goan Observer” team was present here when the Aldona MLA Carlos Alvares and the leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao addressed the protestors in front of the bungalow.
The police acted very polite and gentle and did not resort to any lathi charge or firing as they might have if they had the full backing of the home minister and chief minister, Pramod Sawant. At the suggestion of Swapnesh Sherlekar, who has historically been part of the Goa Foundation, a section of the protestors decided to return to keep the fasting Viresh Borkar and company at the Azad maidan. But a large section of the marchers continued to keep Vishwajit Rane under “house arrest” virtually and they returned to the Azad maidan only later in the wee hours of the morning.

MIDNIGHT CRISIS
 THERE was a minor crisis a little after midnight when Viresh Borkar’s health took an alarming turn. Dr Oscar promptly came to the Azad maidan and checked him out, since his blood pressure was dangerously low he was transferred to the Campal Clinic, which has historically been Dr Oscar’s fiefdom. Later on Tuesday morning Viresh Borkar was judged out of danger and he returned to the Azad maidan to continue his fast. Around noon later the RG leader was apparently informed that the secretary to the TCP department had signed an order revoking the conversions granted in the St Andre constituency.
As of the time of writing this, Tuesday evening, the protest at Azad maidan had not been called of pending the T & C Minister Vishwajit Rane signing the order revoking the permissions for conversion of the 84,000 square meters in the St Andre constituency. It is still not clear if, as with the Chimbel agitation, Viresh Borkar and his Revolutionary Goans party will call off the protest without their principle demand, that Section 39A of the TCP Act be revoked.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is probably getting tired of putting out the fires created by the TCP minister Vishwajit Rane all over the Goa. The arrogant, defiant TCP minister who aspires to become the chief minister, replacing Pramod Sawant, has been obstinate about repealing Section 39A. Vishwajit Rane in fact heaped abuses on former chief justice of the Allahabad high court, Ferdino Rebello, when he wrote a letter to the chief minister demanding the scrapping of Section 39A, which the learned justice insists categorically is illegal. The amendment gives unlimited discretionary power to the TCP minister to grant conversions for mega housing project in Goa, though it was initially perceived and intended to help Goans wanting to build small homes within 500 sq mts of their own property.

Protesters one message… Amka Naka 39A Amka Naka!

VIJAY SARDESAI’S ROLE
REVOLTIONARY Goans’ Manoj Parab revealed that it was Goa Forward chief Vijai Sardesai who opened the window to the developers from Delhi and Mumbai by introducing 16B in the T&C Planning Act way back in 2017. Under 16B the TCP, meaning the TCP minister, could permit zoning changes to correct any inadvertent errors in drawing up the Regional Plan 2021. This was used to promote mega projects till 16B provision was scrapped by the then chief minister Manohar Parrikar. It may be recalled that Vijai Sardesai double-crossed the Congress and joined the Manohar Parrikar government in 2013 when it fell short of a simple majority. Vijai jumped the fence even when some of his supporters let by Cleofato Coutinho were negotiating with the Congress on making Digambar Kamat the chief minister, instead of Luizinho Faleiro. Vijai’s support was conditional on Digambar becoming chief minister. Manohar Parrikar however got Vijay Sardessai on his side by making him deputy chief minister with the TCP portfolio.
Significantly, at the Azad maidan, Vijai Sardesai refused to join the march to the residence of Vishwajit Rane on Monday evening; to quote Vijai, “I am not cattle to be driven wherever the mob wants to.” He insisted that protestors should not march to the residences of ministers. When Vijai Sadesai built his own palace on a paddy field, when he first became an MLA, there were similar protests from the locals of Fatorda. The chief minister echoed Vijai Sardesai and said while everyone has a right to protest, they must do it at public places like the Azad maidan and must not put his colleagues under so called people’s “house arrest.”
It may be recalled that Pramod Sawant would not permit the Chimbulkars to hold a celebration rally at the Azad maidan, to ensure that visiting BJP President Nabin did not see any signs of dissent against the BJP chief minister by people of the BJP constituencies, like Santa Cruz. Rudolf Fernandes was amongst the Congress MLAs who jumped over to the BJP to give it a stable government.

RGP leader Manoj Parab in a fix with his fellow protesters about how to overcome the police barriers put up.


Pramod Sawant has been working overtime putting off the agitation fires lit by his TCP minister Vishwajit Rane even in the BJP constituencies. It all began over three months ago in Arambol, where the local MLA Jit Arolkar of the MGP which supports the BJP, objected to massive hill cutting which would have destroyed over three lakh sq mts of green cover in Arambol. The CM was quick to order Vishwajit Rane to revoke the permission given for hill cutting even before the January 16 meeting of Justice Ferdino Rebello.
At the first Enough is Enough meeting at the Institute Menezes Braganza hall in Panjim, Justice Ferdino Rebello pointed out that all hill cutting was illegal as it was not authorized either by the assembly or the cabinet of Pramod Sawant. Subsequently, Pramod Sawant abjectly surrendered to the Chimbulkars and agreed to shift the Unity Mall and the Prashasan Stambh out of Chimbel. Coming closely in the wake of the Chimbel protests, were the residents of Santa Cruz, where Rudolf Fernandes is MLA, protesting against permissions given for mega projects in the catchment areas of the Bollwell lake.The projects had to be cancelled. This was also done at the insistence of the chief minister by the TCP minister.

MASS CONVERSIONS
THERE are a growing number of revolts against Vishwajit Rane’s unabashed looting and plundering and mass conversion of land, hills, lakes and beach front and even forest land for big builders. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has compelled Vishwajit Rane to scrap the Aarti Ghat project at Narora on Diwar Island, a project promoted by Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte. The objective was to replicate the Benaras ghat aarti rites by the banks of the river Ganga, in Goa, to promote spiritual tourism.
Again, on the insistence of the local MLA and former PWD minister Nilesh Cabral, the State government has decided to cancel the proposal for a coal jetty at Assolda in the Curchorem constituency of Nilesh Cagral. Nilesh Cabral led a delegation to the Goa State Environment Protection Board strongly objecting to the coal handling jetty being developed for the benefit of the Adanis, who import huge quantities of coal through the Mormugoa port from Christchurch in Australia . Cabral pointed out that the project report is flawed and lacks panchayat backing and fails to address local concerns.
Clearly, TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane is not too popular with even niz BJP MLAs like Nilesh Cabral and the Chumburjua MLA and Minister for Culture Phaldessai. Protests have been breaking out all over Goa including in the Mormugoa taluka over claims by the south Goa MP that the Defense Ministry wanted to take over the Dabolim Airport . So far Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has not yet contradicted the claim of Mauvin Goudinho, who contested on the BJP ticket, that GMR, the franchisees of Mopa Airport, were applying pressure to shut down Dabolim.

ARSONIST VISHWAJIT RANE
CHIEF Minister Pramod Sawant has reportedly sought permission from Delhi to sack the arsonist Vishwajit Rane, who keeps starting fires everywhere. This would be in Pramod Sawant’s interests as Vishwajit Rane has been repeatedly challenging him for the top job in the State. But Pramod Sawant does not have to worry as the newly appointed president of the BJP, Nabin, is his mentor and friend. However, one does not know if the High Command of Narendra Modi, and Amit Shah in particular, will agree to sack Vishwajit Rane. However, what is certain is that he may be stripped off the TCP portfolio and Pramod Sawant will take the wind out of the sails of the Enough is Enough movement by agreeing to scrap 39A of the TCP Act. Curiously, former chief justice, Ferdino Rebello, remained silent throughout the protest by the Revolutionary Goans. It would appear that Dr Oscar Rebello has taken over the anchor role initiated by Justice Rebello.

No related posts.

Search

Back to Top