In a representation addressed to the CM, the protesters alleged that Rane changed rules for sale of land to private builder Lodha and is involved in its project in Bicholim, creating a conflict of interest.
The Goa government had brought an amendment to the Town and Country Planning Act, 1974, in the year 2023, introducing Section 17(2), which allows property owners to apply for corrections of inadvertent errors in the regional plan of 2021.
Since then, a number of protests have taken place against misuse of land rules to convert protected land for sale to hoteliers and builders. The protesters allege that land use of 25 lakh square km has been changed, and Delhi-based Butani Infrastructure given private forest land by altering the land use.
According to Goa Foundation director Claude Alvares, who was part of Thursday’s protest, between 2023 and 2025, up to 25 lakh square km of pristine land was converted.
The activists argue that Rane has no ground to remain in office and should resign immediately for “selling Goan land to private builders and land sharks”. “In just 18 months, the Goa government has converted farmland, forest orchards into settlement zones,” one activist told the media.
The Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court earlier this month read down section 17(2) of the Act after NGOs filed a public interest litigation against it.
“Almost all the conversions are from paddy fields, natural cover, no development zone and orchards to settlement zones. Such plot-by-plot conversion, creating a zone within a zone, virtually has the effect of mutilating the RP (regional plan) prepared after such an elaborate exercise,” the bench was reported as observing. It added that according to the state, there have been 353 approvals under Section 17 (2), which affects 26.5 lakh sqm as on 2 January this year.
Since the court verdict, opposition parties, like Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, have piled on the pressure, demanding Rane’s resignation.
Speaking to ThePrint, BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and former Goa unit chief Sadanand Tanavade said: “A few people have been protesting on this issue, and it’s part of democracy. As far as the court decision regarding the town planning Act is concerned, the state government is yet to decide whether to challenge it in a higher court.”
A BJP leader, however, said, “Goa is losing its tourism, and the root of corruption lies in Goa’s land. Due to the rapid change of the coastal state’s contours, allowing every builder in the state to construct and allowing pristine land and forests to be transferred into concrete jungles, every department is making money.”
He told ThePrint, “Outsiders have been allowed to run the tourism business, and they are turning Goa into another Mumbai or Delhi. People come to Goa to enjoy the sea, jungle and Goan culture. If you convert it into Mumbai or Delhi, people will start moving to Vietnam and Thailand, which offer much cheaper rates and better infrastructure. The Goa town planning Act was intended to allow big builders to capture Goan land and earn money. These are the root causes of corruption in Goa.”
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BJP leaders, ministers trade graft charges
In early March, former minister and senior BJP leader Pandurang Madkaikar had stunned the party after a meeting with Santhosh.
“All ministers are minting money in Goa. I had to pay between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 20 lakh to one minister for a small task. This is not corruption but loot. I don’t want to name anyone, but at the right time, I will disclose the name of the minister. I was also a minister, so I know how things work in the government. Despite taking money, he kept my file pending, and whenever I tried to contact him, he refused to meet me,” he told the media.
Since then, three or four ministers have challenged Madkaikar to disclose the name of the minister involved and asked him to look into his own history before making such allegations.
Goa industry minister Mauvin Godinho slammed Madkaikar for making corruption allegations against his own party members. “He should declare the name of the minister. He should not forget his own tenure. If he is not naming the minister, then he should not make such statements,” he told the media.
Social welfare minister Subhash Phal Desai said: “I don’t take money for any work, and he should name the minister.”
Rane termed the charges as baseless and said that if Madkaikar has proof, he should make it public and file a complaint against the minister.
Speaking to ThePrint, former Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar said: “He (Madkaikar) is making these allegations out of frustration. He was one of the most corrupt persons during his tenure (as Goa minister), and everyone knows how he was caught with a girl in Mumbai. He was not given anything (post), which is why he is making such charges. His wife contested in the last election but lost.”
Despite the BJP’s defiance, corruption charges have become a regular embarrassment for the party in Goa. In January, former MLA Farrel Furtado claimed, speaking in front of CM Sawant, that one of her students had paid Rs 25 lakh to get a job with the Goa Police.
An alleged cash-for-jobs scam in the state is also being probed by the Enforcement Directorate. Opposition parties have alleged involvement of state ministers in the same.
When Santhosh visited the state to understand the situation and address grievances, several BJP MLAs reportedly complained about the scale of corruption in the government, particularly about ministers. Again, when Arun Singh was sent to felicitate mandal presidents after BJP’s organisational polls, MLAs complained about growing corruption in governance and ministers’ attitudes toward party workers.
Speaking to ThePrint, one BJP MLA who had complained about corruption in the Goa government, said: “Not everyone, but three or four ministers are corrupt. One of them is industry and transport minister Mauvin Godinho, who asks for a cut in every project. Maybe Pandurang was complaining about him. Not only that, he misbehaves with BJP workers and doesn’t listen to them. He even disrespects the CM.”
“Another is Govind Gaude, who holds the rural development ministry. Atanasio Monserrate (labour minister) doesn’t need money, but he doesn’t care for BJP workers, and Rohan Khaunte (tourism) is the fourth minister. I have informed the party leaders about these four ministers, and the party needs to make changes to send a message,” he added.
ThePrint reached out to Godinho, Gaude, Monserrate and Khaunte for a comment, but they did not respond.
Infighting
Corruption charges aside, infighting and lack of inner-party discipline have also become issues the Goa BJP is struggling to address.
On 12 March, Goa BJP MLA Michel Lobo caused a stir when he charged the government with handing over schools to NGOs and opposed the government’s policy of promoting Konkani in schools.
He called on the Sawant government to change the medium of instruction from Marathi and Konkani to English at the primary level, saying the “politics of language has killed school education in Goa”. He was speaking on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Goa’s first CM Dayanand Bandodkar, who started the education revolution in the state.
“Everyone wants to enrol their children in schools with English as the medium of instruction. But government schools teach in Konkani and Marathi. The (government) schools are closing one after the other, and the government is handing them over to NGOs. Let the government make changes. All primary schools should now be in English,” he said.
Sawant, however, said that the “government’s policy on English is clear in the state”.
In January, former PWD minister and MLA Nilesh Cabral criticised the CM for stalled projects in his Curchorem constituency.
“As a minister, I started several projects in my constituency, but now these projects are stalled. A year ago, the CM promised to complete all pending work, but nothing has happened since then. Now, with elections approaching, he has to answer the people,” he reportedly said.
In a cabinet meeting, Khaunte accused one of his cabinet colleagues for working to defame Goa, while in January, when the BJP was holding organisational elections in the state, Tanavade reportedly warned environment minister Aleixo Sequeira for not doing his poll work and asked him to introspect about whether he would get a ticket for the 2027 assembly elections.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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