The ongoing orgy of illegalities in Goa now extends to shockingly egregious tower blocks on the Miramar-Caranzalem waterfront, including 12 and 15-level eyesores planted right next to the beach. What about rules, regulations, the coastal zone, or even simple common sense? There is no point in asking these questions where everyone already knows the answers, but it is still important to recognise just how bad it has become in India’s smallest state — now notorious for corruption and mis-governance — in the absence of accountability. Anything goes, and even worse, we are told Goans like it that way. This alarming deterioration has been getting worse for years, but now the assault has passed all limits. It’s getting increasingly difficult to even imagine how there can be any return to decency from this point on. We are in an end game. “The people of Panjim have no say in what large badly designed projects are thrust on them,” says Jack Sukhijia, scion of the old city, whose grandfather Jack Sequeira’s name is on the road where all these outstandingly inappropriate giant buildings are being lined up. He says “every world class city which is blessed with a waterfront opens it up so that its beauty can be enjoyed, but here we have closed off our waterfront with ugly casino signage and trashy lights which affects one’s mental health when driving past it.” Sukhijia warns that more outrages are on the way: “there is a ropeway planned between the public swimming pool and indoor stadium at Campal, on land which was reclaimed by our visionary and beloved first chief minister Bhausaheb Bandodkar for sports facilities for the public. It aims at getting an additional few thousand tourists a day into Panjim.
There is also a 450-roomplus luxury hotel coming up at Miramar. Where are the roads, and waste management facilities to deal with this? All along the main road which passes through Miramar to Caranzalem, large multi-storey buildings and hotels without proper civic amenities have already sprouted up. The present constructions are a continuation of the trend which aims at wilful destruction of Panjim for private gain.” For her expert perspective on what is being forced on once-pleasant little Panjim, I reached out to the esteemed architect Poonam Verma Mascarenhas, the co-founder of the excellent Goa Heritage Action Group and author of the invaluable 2017 book The Mapped Heritage of Panaji, and asked her to explain what this disgraceful new carbuncle on the sands tells us about the current scenario. She responded most thoughtfully that “if you look at the location on Google Maps — the crescent ending in the land thrust out where the Marriott stands - it marks a clear inflection point. Every subsequent decision there: the Parrikar memorial, the Institute of Water Sports, a bungalow owned by politicians — has signalled what was to come. The next is already announced: a towering rebuild of the old government-owned hotel at Miramar. This raises a fundamental question about our mindset. Garrett Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” warns how individuals, acting in self-interest, deplete shared resources to everyone’s loss. Goa is living this reality.”
Mascarenhas says “what makes this more troubling is the presence of the National Institute of Oceanography just next door, yet scientific approaches to sustainable planning in their own city remains absent. For three decades, climate change has dominated international dialogue, but Goa — only 105 km north-south and 60 km east-west, with much land at or below sea level — continually ignores the risks. The khazan lands, which were engineered a millennium ago for resilience, rarely figure in planning debates. Where are the climate vulnerability maps showing sea-level rise, intense rainfall, dry-season heat, and cyclones? Why aren’t they the foundation for all Coastal Zone maps that guide safe and ecological land use?” Here, again, of course, there’s no point in asking these eminently reasonable questions, because we all know there will never be any good answers. ho don’t know any better. Mascarenhas says “even basic physics is ignored. Buildings taller than coconut trees face higher wind speeds, faster material decay from salt air, and shorter lifespans. Yet buyers pay more for upper floors — chasing views and vanity — when in truth it is a poor investment.” And all that is before we factor in global warming, about which “our institutions continue to abdicate responsibility. oastal India, yet Goa’s Department of Planning behaves like the proverbial pigeon, closing its eyes to the cat. The obsession with staying in power through vote-buying, instead of safeguarding people and place, only deepens the crisis. By 2050, flatlands like Taleigao and Caranzalem will likely be abandoned, along with these buildings. Climate migration is already recognised as a driver of societal collapse, as in the Harappan civilisation. Those who cite history but fail to learn from it are destined to repeat it.
