The High Court has been told that land in Marna-Siolim, where six cottages and a restaurant now stand, was once a natu ral lagoon connected to the river and part of a sprawl ing mangrove wetland. In an affidavit, for mer National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) scientist Dr Antonio Mas carenhas said the plots bearing survey numbers 318/2, 319/2 and 320/2 were originally a saline water body surrounded by marshes and mangroves. He noted that the Regional Plan 2021 had marked the area as a “fish farm”. The affidavit was filed on the Court’s direction while hearing a miscellaneous civil application by Mari lyn Agasta Sabrina Judith Soares e Fernandes Gov eia. Since Dr Mascarenhas had signed a site inspec tion report dated March 5, 2016, the Court asked him to explain the basis of his findings. Citing satellite images, Dr Mascarenhas said a 2003 Google Earth image, though currently unavail able, had shown the plots as a lagoon connected to the river.
A 2010 image confirmed the presence of a water body stretching across the land but also re vealed signs of human in terference. He pointed out that a large portion meas uring around 28-30 me tres by 85-88 metres had been reclaimed with alien material, evident from red mud dumped over marshy black soil. He further said the la goon, once about 128-130 metres in length and 85 88 metres in width, under went drastic alterations, particularly in its south ern part. Concretised pathways and structures were clearly visible in the 2015 satellite image. The ISLR report of 2025 too highlighted backfilling on all four sides of the lagoon.
Dr Mascarenhas em phasised that plots 318/2 and 319/2 had constitut ed a lagoon within a larg er tidal mangrove wet land, much of which has now been reclaimed and built upon. Last July, the High Court ordered the Goa Coastal Zone Management Au thority (GCZMA) to de molish the cottages and restaurant and restore the lagoon. However, some occupants subsequently filed intervention appli cations, stalling action at the site.