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THE SAND DUNE KILLERS! By Raaisa Lemos Vaz
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THE SAND DUNE KILLERS! By Raaisa Lemos Vaz

May 02- May 08, 2026, NATURE May 1, 2026 , by

The Goa Coastal Management Authority has flagged large-scale destruction of sand dunes across Goa from Candolim to Cansaulim. The sand dunes have been destroyed to make way for five-star resorts and other tourism activity…

THE coastline of Goa has long been a tale of two realities. To the north stretches the neon-lit, high-octane coastal beach belt of Aguada, Sinquirim, Candolim, Calangute, Bagaga Baga, and Candolim serves as the state’s economic engine — a landscape of beaches, coconut groves and rivers which attract sun-seekers from abroad. To the south there’s the Benaulim-Colva-Cavellossim-Palolem beach belt which has historically stood as the quiet antithesis. However, as we move through 2026, the geographical distance between these two poles is shrinking. A disturbing “Candolim-ization” of the South is taking root, just as the North faces a historic judicial cleanup of decades-old illegalities.
 The Calangute-Baga-Candolim or northern beach belt has reached what environmentalists call an “ecological breaking point.” For years, the term “temporary shack” was used as a legal loophole to bypass Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) norms, but by 2025, these “temporary” structures had morphed into multi-story concrete establishments, nightclubs and luxury villas, many built directly upon emptied out primary sand dunes (which would not be permissible in any other enlightened country)!
The reckoning arrived in early 2026. Following a series of scathing observations, the high court of Bombay at Goa took an aggressive stance against the Directorate of Tourism and the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) for allowing the beach belts to be exploited and ravaged to their present sorry denuded of sand dunes status. The scale of the crisis was laid bare when a massive audit identified over 400 unauthorized structures on public land and within CRZ-regulated areas across this specific northern belt.

400 VIOLATIONS
THESE 400 violations represent more than just administrative blunders; they signify a systemic privatization of the Goan coastline. Of these, the high court has zeroed in on a “priority list” of 70 specific illegal structures built on government-owned land. These 70 cases serve as a landmark legal battleground, exposing a sophisticated level of rot. Investigations revealed that in several stretches of Candolim, boundary markers, which are the physical stakes separating private property from public beach, had been covertly moved. This allowed businesses to “creep” onto the sand, effectively stealing land from the public and the environment.
 These “70 structures” are not merely small-scale vendors. Many of these establishments were found to have survived decades of “Show Cause” notices by exploiting the slow-moving gears of the bureaucracy. By filing appeals in the wrong forums or claiming “grandfathered” status under pre-1991 laws without documentation, these encroachers maintained a status quo of illegality.

FIRST LINE OF DEFENCE
THE impact of these 470+ violations is structural. Sand dunes are not decorative; they are Goa’s first line of defence against a rising Arabian sea. In Candolim, the levelling of dunes for “sea-view” frontage has led to catastrophic beach erosion. Without the dunes to anchor the sand, monsoon surges now claw deeper into the mainland every year. Furthermore, the density of these encroachments has crippled local infrastructure. The 70 structures identified by the court often lack proper sewage treatment, leading to the contamination of groundwater and the surrounding sea.
 The GCZMA has recently been mandated to move beyond mere demolition and into scientific restoration. This involves the removal of concrete debris and the replanting of native beach flora to try and coax the dunes back to life, but we can only hope as a dune system takes decades to form and only hours to destroy.
The financial burden of this restoration has become a new point of legal contention. In a landmark ruling in April 2026, the court suggested that the cost of ecological damage should be recovered directly from the violators. This moves the penalty from a simple fine to a “restorative tax,” intended to deter the “build now, pay later” mentality that has characterized the Candolim belt for years.
The GCZMA finds itself at the center of this storm. Previously criticized for issuing notices that never resulted in action, the authority is now operating under a strict high court mandate. In April 2026, they began coordinating the physical demolition of the first batch of the 70 structures, targeting those that used GI pipes and pre-fabricated steel — materials the GCZMA now classifies as permanent violations in No-Development Zones (NDZ).

BATTLE TO REGAIN COASTLINE
TO prevent future “creeping encroachment,” the authority has introduced geo-tagging and a unified environmental portal. By creating a digital, tamper-proof record of every authorized structure, they aim to ensure that a 10-square-meter shack cannot “evolve” into a 100-square-meter nightclub over three seasons. This digital surveillance is a desperate attempt to regain control over a coastline that has been effectively unmapped for years.
 The tragedy of the 400 illegal encroachments is not limited to the sand. The inland infrastructure of the Calangute-Baga-Candolim belt is buckling under the weight of unauthorized growth. Traffic congestion has reached a point where emergency vehicles cannot navigate the narrow coastal arteries during peak season. Water scarcity, once an occasional summer nuisance, has become a year-round crisis as illegal bore wells from unauthorized resorts deplete whatever is left of the local underground aquifers.
Locals in villages who once welcomed the “tourism boom” now find themselves marginalized in their own homes. The noise pollution from nightclubs — many of which are part of the list of unauthorized structures — has led to a surge in health complaints and local petitions. The court’s crackdown is as much about restoring a sense of civic order as it is about environmental protection.

BENAULIM IS NEXT CANDOLIM
WHILE the north is busy taking stock and undoing its mistakes, Benaulim down south Goa is busy consolidating them. The phrase “Benaulim is the next Candolim” has shifted from a local warning to a visible reality. The transition is fuelled by Section 39A of the Town & Country Planning (TCP) Act, which allows for “spot zoning” conversions of orchard land into settlement zones.
 Benaulim residents have watched the demolition of the 400 structures in the north with a sense of “pre-emptive grief.” They see the same patterns emerging: mega-projects being cleared on fragile wetlands and “soft encroachments” like illegal fencing appearing overnight. The grassroots resistance in Benaulim is essentially a fight to stop the “Candolim blueprint” before it requires the same radical, painful judicial surgery currently being performed on the north. The fear is that by the time the courts intervene in Benaulim, the sand dunes will already be a memory, and the village’s khazan lands, a traditional system of saline-resistant farming, will be buried under asphalt.
Social media has become the new frontline for Benaulim’s defense. Residents are using platforms to document “creeping” violations in real-time, tagging the GCZMA and the high court in photos of mud-filling on salt pans and dune levelling. This digital vigilantism is a direct response to the “400 violations” in the North. Locals have learned that if they wait for the bureaucracy to notice, it will already be too late.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT
AS we look at the ruins of illegal structures in Candolim today, we see a physical manifestation of what happens when greed outpaces regulation. The high court’s intervention is a necessary surgery, but the patient remains in critical condition. The “400 and 70” violations are not just numbers, they are scars on the face of Goa. We can also foresee the face of Benaulim as it stands at the crossroads. It can either embrace a sustainable model that respects CRZ boundaries and protects its natural heritage, or it can follow the siren song of Section 39A into the same concrete trap.
Sand is running out of whatever sand dunes remain on Goa’s beaches, be it up north, and more so now down south where much can actually be still conserved…if south Goa’s beaches are not to end up as north Goa’s beaches which have long since given up their ghosts. Time is indeed, running out to save the charms of a Goa of old which both native Goenkars and tourists love from the bottom of their hearts.

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