In a major victory for grassroots resistance, the Goa government on Wednes day, bowing to sustained opposition from Chimbel villagers, announced that it has decided to shift the pro posed Unity Mall and Pra shasan Stambh projects from Chimbel to an alternative site, citing public sentiments. In a statement, the Tour ism Department claimed, “Al though the project site is in a settlement zone adjoining the National Highway, upon con sidering the sentiments and emotions of some of the villagers, it has been decid ed to shift the location of both the government pro jects to a different site,” the statement read. The decision comes after the villagers on Wednes day rebuffed an invitation to meet with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, signal ling a total breakdown in dialogue. They asserted that years of discussion failed to pro duce their sole demand— the scrapping of the con troversial Unity Mall. The protesters had announced that they were shifting focus to internal strategy ahead of their ‘Maha-Andolan’ in Panjim, on January 30. Ear lier, the villagers and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant thrice, during which the latter had directed the au thorities to conduct a com prehensive mapping of the Toyyar lake wetland and its zone of influence.
Accordingly, a detailed survey was carried out from Jan uary 23 to 28, in the presence of village representatives, their expert members, advocate, hydrologist and architect, along with officials from CSIR–National Institute of Ocean ography (NIO), the State Wetland Authority, the Directorate of Settlement and Land Records (DSLR) and the Tourism Department. The department said extensive ground-truthing was un dertaken to demarcate the catchment area, drainage lines, surface and sub-surface water flows, vegetation cover, ag ricultural land and natural springs, based on suggestions made by villagers. The survey team traversed the entire catchment boundary, mapping water sources, drainage channels, inlet points, high and low water lines, and the earthen bund of the lake. High-definition drones were also used to study land contours. Upon completion, the draft survey report along with de tailed maps was shared with villagers and their advocate. The survey concluded that the proposed sites for the Unity Mall and Prashasan Stambh lie outside the zone of influ ence of the Toyyar wetland, as well as the catchment area mapped by experts engaged by the villagers. Reacting to the development, Govind Shirodkar, chair man of the Chimbel Biodiversity Management Committee and Wetland Toyyar Lake, said, “We welcome the decision taken by the government. I thank the chief minister and the BJP for this. But I disagree with the chief minister’s state ment that the project site does not fall under the zone of influence. This will leaves for space destruction of the envi ronment in the future.” Ajay Kholkar, a local, who has been a prominent face of the protest, said, “We have not received any communica tion in this regard. We are getting to know from the media. Once we get it formally from the government, we will de cide our future course of action.” AAP Goa President Valmiki Naik said, “Aam Aadmi Party congratulates the villagers of Chimbel. They have shown that in democracy, power lies with the people. They have shown how Goans can and must defeat the forces that want to destroy Goa’s land, environment and culture.” “This was never about the Unity Mall or Prashasan Stambh projects. CM Pramod Sawant and Minister Rohan Khaunte have tried to develop this same property under the pretext of other projects also such as IT Park, and I don’t expect they will stop, they will bring a different project at the same location, as they are already confidently claiming that it does not affect the Toyyar lake wetland area. They have announced the shifting of the projects today only to avoid embarrassment because the new BJP President Nitin Nabin and also PM Modi are expected to be in Goa on the same day that the mega rally against these projects was to be held in Panjim,” Naik said. Former bureaucrat Elvis Gomes said, “The government bowed down to the power of the people. It proves that peo ple’s power is the only hope in the present situation where in the government inflicts anti people’s decisions against the will of the people.” Francis Coelho, a political analyst, said, “The Goa BJP gov ernment had no choice but to bend to the will of the people. This only goes to show that the people of Chimbel and all of Goa have had enough. Enough is enough is resounding throughout Goa and this is a vindication for the people who bleed to save Goa. This is just one battle in the war to save Goa its culture and its identity.” Earlier in the day, Kholkar, a local resident and promi nent face of the agitation, told reporters that the villagers received a call from the Deputy Collector on Wednesday morning requesting them to meet the Chief Minister. How ever, the request was declined. “I clearly told him that we cannot meet the Chief Minis ter today. When we met him on January 14, our stand was clear that the Unity Mall should be scrapped. On January 15 also, our stand was the same. But the Chief Minister made a U-turn and again called us on January 21,” Kholkar said. He added that the villagers demanded that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Unity Mall project and copies of the site survey minutes be made available to them before any further discussions. “No further decision will be taken until the villagers meet again. It is not possible to meet the Chief Minister today,” Kholkar said and reiterated that the villagers’ demand is the scrapping of both the Unity Mall and the Prashasan Stambh projects. The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) had informed rep resentatives of the agitation that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had convened a meeting on January 28, 2026, at 6 pm at Mahalaxmi, Altinho, to discuss the proposed Ekta (Unity) Mall project. According to the CMO, the meeting was scheduled as per an earlier understanding that, following the completion of the site survey, a review meeting would be held with rep resentatives of the Chimbel agitation and state government officials concerned, chaired by the Chief Minister. The Unity Mall project, proposed at the Kadamba Plateau near Chimbel, has faced sustained opposition from local residents who fear environmental damage, loss of land, and inadequate consultation. Villagers have held several pro tests and meetings with government authorities over the past few weeks, consistently demanding that the project be scrapped altogether rather than modified. Despite repeated assurances of dialogue, the agitators claim their core demand had not been addressed, prompt ing them to intensify their protest through the planned Ma ha-Andolan. Meanwhile, the final inspection of the Chimbel Plateau regarding the eco-sensitive zone and wetland was finally completed on January 28. The minutes will be circulated to all concerned including government departments, stake holders and institutions including NIO. The suggestions of the stakeholders will be correlated and submitted to the government. Melissa Simoes, advocate assisting the villagers, said, “Inspection has been completed and draft minutes have been circulated. Now we will check the minutes and corre late them with whatever we have observed during the last four-five days. And after finalising we will submit it to the government. We will submit our report to the government once correlation is done. We may finish in 24 hours.” Later, speaking to O Heraldo, Melissa said, “The survey and physical inspection have been completed today. Now we have to see the survey report in totality and see that everything which was on the ground has come in the min utes of the report. We want to make sure that everything which was identified or observed is in the minutes. The news claiming that Unity Mall does not fall into the zone of influence is absolutely fake. It will be very clear once the minutes are out. The inspection was carried out because the wetland authority did not take into consideration a lot of things when notification was issued. For example under ground water channels, the outflow, the existing streams, all the animals, plants, insects, species, were not taken into consideration. We saw severe discrepancies between the report produced by the NIO and the final notification generated by the wetland authority. There were two con flicting NIO reports on wetland area and zone of influence. The GTDC report is completed but now it is for the NIO, Wetland Authority, DSLR and the villagers to confirm their observations too.” Meanwhile, Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral said, “There should be limits to opposition. If the Chimbel projects fall within a buffer or zone of influence, then it is the govern ment’s call. If it does not then there is no reason to stop a government project on government land. Even the garbage treatment plant in my constituency is being closely mon itored to ensure it does not inconvenience people. Unity Mall is not a commercial shopping mall but an artisanal centre where artists from Goa and other states will partic ipate. If you ask me, I do not mind taking the Unity Mall to Curchorem. People will welcome the same.” Pramod Badami, Special Purpose Vehicle Engineer of Goa Tourism Development Corporation Limited (GTDC) said, “The survey has been completed. Now the report will be submitted to the government. We will submit it to the Collector who in turn will send it to the chief minister.” “Everything has been done in the presence of the villag ers. They are part and parcel of the survey,” he said. However, St Cruz MLA Rodolfo Fernandes alleged that the villagers are being provoked and misguided. South Goa MP Viriato Fernandes said that he will raise the issue in the parliament. “Locals are protesting against Unity Mall. They do not want it. Because it will damage bio-diversity. This will also damage livelihood of the villagers. At the same place gov ernment wanted to bring IT park and when it was opposed, the government scrapped it. The reason due to which the IT park was scrapped are still relevant,” he told reporters.
