PANJIM: The enquiry into the alleged fraudulent insertion of non-existent structures in the BhuNaksha survey plans and the corresponding modification of Form I and XIV records in CRZ villages mostly in North Goa District is nearing completion.
When contacted, North Goa Collector Ankit Yadav, IAS said the probe is in its final stages and a comprehensive report will shortly be submitted to the Directorate of Vigilance.
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The State government appointed the Collector to conduct the enquiry in September 2025 after the issue was raised in the Legislative Assembly amid allegations that new structures were digitally inserted into land survey plans through BhuNaksha software without physical verification on the ground.
The Collector was asked to submit a detailed report with supporting documents to the Directorate of Vigilance within 60 days. However, he sought additional time due to pressing official assignments.
The Opposition members alleged that hundreds of structures were digitally inserted into land survey plans through the BhuNaksha software without any physical verification and CRZ permissions were subsequently obtained based on the alleged manipulation.
According to them, more than 200 structures were shown on the BhuNaksha plan and they alleged that over Rs 600 crore had been collected by the culprits by fraudulently inserting structures in the survey plans.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant stated that although the complainant withdrew his complaint filed before the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of the Directorate of Vigilance, the government will take stern action against those found involved.
Meanwhile, in April this year, two activists Ganpat Sidhaye and Swapnesh Sherlekar filed a criminal complaint alleging grave irregularities in the Directorate of Settlement and Land Records regarding awarding contracts to an architectural firm for converting Vision Map Maker survey data into BhuNaksha shape files. In their complaint to the Panjim Police, they alleged that despite contractual safeguards and quality control requirements, erroneous and manipulated survey plans were uploaded, including fraudulent insertion of structures in CRZ survey numbers at Candolim, Anjuna, Siolim and Penha de Franca. These inserted structures were allegedly used to obtain GCZMA permissions for reconstruction/repair and were later deleted from official records, they stated.
The contract was awarded to the vendor by a work order dated September 24, 2020. The scope of the assignment was defined as the conversion of all land parcels in the PT sheets digitised in VMM (Vision Map Maker) software into shape files.
The complainants contend that the vendor acted in collusion with the Department’s officials, causing forgery, criminal breach of trust, conspiracy, suppression of defects, misuse of public funds and failure to initiate legal action. They demanded the registration of an FIR under the relevant sections of the BNS and a thorough police investigation against all accused persons.
