Lost Properties of Goa Tourism
Around 10 lakh square meters of tourism land belonging to the government is either lying vacant, encroached upon or is lost. This shocking figure has been overlooked by the Government, the opposition and even the international consultant KPMG that was hired to prepare the tourism master plan and Project reports for leasing out GDTC assets.
Background of Government’s tourism properties.
Back in 1961-62, the Government constructed its first resort in Bardez on a land admeasuring just 1850 sqmts. Two years later, they acquired 22,850 sqmts in Bardez for car park, dormitory and cottages. They also acquired 10,194 sqmts to construct tourist cottages in Colva. The final acquisition of that decade was of 21,290 sqmts in Mapusa for a Rock Garden.
In the 70’s, the Government went on an acquisition spree where they took over land in Colva,Vagator, Calangute Divar and Donapaula, around 15000 sq mts land in Chicalim for a park and constructed Tourist Hotels in Vasco, Margao, Mapusa, Mayem, Britona, Panjim, and Farmagudi. In the 80s, the major acquisition was of the land near Aguada fort admeasuring 3,13,630 sqmts for a golf course, helipad, recreational and sports facilities. The tourism department also took over major springs. All the tourist hotels and some other properties were transferred to Goa Tourism Development Corporation from 1983 onwards.
Types of Properties and their priorities
Most of the properties were acquired by Goa Tourism department. The second category of properties is those which were handed over to the Tourism Department from other Government departments. The third category of properties are those that were handed to GTDC by Goa tourism and the fourth category of property are those received by GTDC from other properties.
GTDC is in the process of leasing out its “hot” properties along the coast. But the interior properties such as Mayem and Farmagudi residency are having a tough time finding takers.
The Queen of Beaches is also the Queen of Encroachments
In Colva, Goa Tourism had constructed a tourist shopping complex in the 70s which consisted of 5 hexagonal structures. Each of the structures has 6 shops. Another complex next to the Sulab toilet was also constructed with 5 shops. All the shops were leased out for a maximum of 33 years. According to the records, the annual lease collected ranges from Rs 11000 to Rs 80000.
Today, the hexagonal shops are hardly recognisable. Most of the shop operators have encroached on the open space owned by Goa Tourism. A famous restaurant has encroached upon 200 sq mts land by building a shed with sitting area in front of the shop. Interestingly, the shop is not in the name of the owner.
Several others have encroached on Tourism Department land. These hotels earn thousands of rupees profit every day but pay a tiny fraction of it to the government.
Interestingly, the purpose of the lease for all these shops was restricted to the sale of snacks, refreshments, pastries. They were not allowed to cook at the shops and are even selling alcohol. The term of the lease ended a few years ago, however, none of the shop operators have handed back the shops. They claim that the tourism department has stopped accepting the rent. The restaurants have been severly polluting the Colva creek by discharging their sewage and wastewater into it.
But why isn’t the government removing the encroachments? Local activist Judith Almeida, the GCZMA has a report where the committee decided that the encroachments have to be demolished. The GCZMA is yet to act on the report. But besides GCZMA, even the Deputy Collector, the Panchayat and the Goa Tourism department have powers to remove the illegal encroachments.
According to Judith, a property which is in front of a Hotel owned by a former MLA is used as parking by the surrounding hotels. “The a property was meant for a park but it is now used as a private parking space”, said Almeida. Interestingly the property she is referring is surveyed under number 23/14 (part) and 24/9(part). This land along with the surrounding plots having a total area of 16,201 sq mtd was acquired for a recreational park, according to Goa tourism records.
Other properties of the Tourism department are encroached by firms such as Cocomar Hotel and individuals. None of the pilot projects in Colva has taken off and the land has been either lying vacant or encroached upon.
The Colva Panchayat has permitted Mobile carts, ice cream vendors, bhelburi gadas etc on Tourism Department property without sharing any revenue with the department.
1.14 lakh sqmts property lost in Farmagudi
The Government had acquired land 1,24,500 sqmts in Farmagudi first in 1971. In 1978 an additional 1,14,808 sqmts of land was acquired. However, GDTC in its reports only acknowledges the existence of the lot admeasuring 1,25,500 which they claim includes the land on which Farmagudi residency is constructed.
However, the facts are quite different. The Farmagudi residency (Sy No 218, 219 etc) land is a part of the second lot. This means that the every LAQ including the KPMG report which states that the area of Farmagudi residency is 1,25,500 sq mts is wrong and misleading.
Herald visited both the Department of Tourism and GDTC to inquire about the missing properties but both departments seem to be unaware of its existence even though the information is given in LAQ replies to the MLAs. GTDC officials said that they have been handed over 1,25,500 land including the Farmagudi residency but in the LAQ reply, it was stated that both, the lot admeasuring 1,25,500 as well as 1,14,808 is transferred by Tourism Department to GTDC.
The shocking part about this lot of properties is that they are scattered all over Bandora and Farmagudi, Ponda, and that none of the survey numbers show the name of Goa Toursim as occupants.
Tourism Policy needed to solve these issues
Roshan Mathais, a resident of Candolim wanted to know if the land given to GTDC for parking by the Panchayat can be taken back. He, like many other Goenkars have experienced how the tourism department and GTDC have mismanaged their properties. The State is losing lakhs of rupees of revenues from encroachments and idle assets. Instead, GDTC has wasted money on failed projects like seaplanes, women taxi services and hop-on-hop off buses.
The tourism department is losing lakhs every year fighting cases to remove encroachments on their land, even though the structures can be demolished by other departments for violating the CRZ law, Land revenue code or the Panchayat Raj Act.
The Tourism Department has to pull up its socks and has to free its properties from encroachments. Unfortunately, both the Tourism department and GTDC are focused more on constructing infrastructure which is the job of the local body and PWD, going foreign trips, and listening to consultants rather than working with the local bodies and getting its own properties in order.
