Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 321

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Today's Topics:

   1. What do they know that we don?t? (GERARD DESOUZA)


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Message: 1
Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2026 02:30:31 +0000
From: GERARD DESOUZA <gerardsgazette-0C6mNlnCMQpWk0Htik3J/[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Goanet] What do they know that we don?t?
Message-ID: <20260628023031.3.00f6c23c7df64603-bwe2PNxgn5YM1iHqa8znS9BPR1lH4CV8@public.gmane.org>
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View this post on the web at https://gerardsgazette.substack.com/p/what-do-they-know-that-we-dont

As I sit to write this, the government just announced that it is withdrawing its previous orders via which village panchayats across the state were directed to offer comments on a Revenue Department proposal to notify around 56 villages as urban areas in the state.
The fact is, I?m as confused as you are (assuming that you are) when it comes to what exactly these urban areas are, why the government wants (at least officially) to notify villages as urban areas and what prompted them to ?revisit? the issue now after a gap of more than five years.
Welcome to yet another edition of Gerard?s Gazette, a weekly newsletter in which I attempt to break down the events of the week gone by and offer a bit of context, as well as a dose of news you may have missed and news behind the news.
Thanks for reading GERARD?s Gazette! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
If this is your first time here, thank you for signing up, and I hope you stick around! And, as always, if you like what you are reading, make sure you pass it around.
What do they know that we don?t?
As you may be aware, the present effort is merely an effort to revive a notification first issued in January 2020, wherein the government said that it was notifying 56 villages as urban areas. That move was scrapped the following month (February 2020) following public protests, but as it turns out, the same move is back just as it appeared the first time ?  on the eve of an election and without any explanation.
The definition of an ?urban area? under the Land Revenue Code 1968 isn?t  helpful either. Under the LRC, an urban area is an ?area for the time being included within the limit of any municipal corporation or municipality constituted under any law for the time being in force or of any village or group of villages, which may be notified by the Government as urban area, regard being had to the density of population and of buildings in the area; and the expression ?non-urban area? shall be construed, accordingly.?
The question then is, what made the government decide it wants to revisit the issue. Officially, no explanation has been provided. Neither has any reasoning been offered. Being the eternal cynic that I am, one can only assume that if the government is up to something, there must be some ulterior motive involved.
Expectedly, villages across Goa, starting with Moira, Bardez, which I believe was the first village to raise its voice, have passed resolutions opposing it.
A few explanations have come forward. Some suggest that this is a means to change Goa?s CRZ zoning from CRZ III to CRZ II. CRZ II as you know is applicable to urban areas where a higher density of built up area is allowed closer to the shore. Another explanation suggests that making Goa?s villages urban areas will artificially inflate the price of the land and allow those who have recently bought land to sell it at an even higher price (land rates have somewhat stagnated and those who bought at the peak are now struggling to offload at the same valuation, is what I hear).
If there are some credible explanations that you have come across, let?s all hear about it!
Panjim?s football legacy
Late last week news broke that the Goa State Urban Development Agency was planning to privatise the newly constructed Football Stadium at Campal [ https://substack.com/redirect/bc044114-c0f5-4f0e-a19e-7c99632d886f?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ].
This was the stadium that was built to replace the Dayanand Bandodkar Ground, once the heartbeat of football in the state capital, but today used as a parking lot and a venue for exhibitions and events.
As pointed out by newly elected CCP councillor Jack Sukhija, (who also demanded its immediate opening) the ground that was ready about three years ago, has been under lock and key since then [ https://substack.com/redirect/93c14fed-1cdd-4e2b-9fa5-d62379031023?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ].
Officially, the excuse from the CCP was that since the GSUDA is yet to hand over the ground to them, there is little they can do about it.
But I now realise that none of this should have come as a surprise. You see, the Goa State Urban Development Agency (GSUDA) comes under the Department of Urban Development, which as you probably know, is headed by Minister Vishwajit Rane, who has a history of trying to privatise stuff, albeit with limited success.
The list is long, but I?ll try to recount just a few. The first and most famous example was the new North Goa District Hospital also called Asilo Hospital, which despite being ready, saw its inauguration deliberately delayed as the government, with Rane as then then Health Minister under Digambar Kamat?s Congress government scouting around, without success for a private partner to run the hospital. A more recent example is that of the South Goa District Hospital, where the government was (and still is, I think) trying to set up a private medical college [ https://substack.com/redirect/e7d1a075-fb19-4b81-881f-545081a03b99?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. He even tried to privatise (a portion of) the Goa Medical College and Hospital at Bambolim, with an Is
 raeli Defence Company allegedly contracted to take over and run it.  [ https://substack.com/redirect/488ee88b-188d-4305-a81a-a711ab1729c2?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVf
 gXm9c ]These aren?t even my allegations. It?s the very BJP that Rane now staunchly defends who had taken him to task over it.
Meanwhile, given that the state capital of a state where football is declared an official sport doesn?t even haven a ground for aspiring professionals to play, let?s all support Cabo Verde vs Argentina, now shall we?
Hope, if any, is to be drawn from the fact that none of the previous attempts at privatization succeeded largely due to opposition from the people and political parties. So, people of Panjim, you know what to do!
Oman Air ceases Goa operations
As you will have heard, Oman Air, one of the finer airlines to offer direct international connectivity to Goa has indefinitely ceased its Muscat-Goa flight.
Oman Air, as you know, was one of the first among international operators (after Air India which shifted its Goa-London, Gatwick direct flight from Dabolim to Mopa, a flight that has also has ceased indefinitely) to announce a shift from Dabolim to Mopa, a move that didn?t go down well with many. [ https://substack.com/redirect/9822d023-cc3b-4258-ba4a-95d2b0800f54?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]
The Goa Muscat flight, besides being a boon for Goans living in Muscat and Oman in general was more of a gateway to destinations in Europe and beyond. Now the reasons for the cessations have not been spelt out, however, one can safely assume it has a lot to do with the flight?s viability (or lack thereof). And while the aviation sector in general is going through a tough time -- the number of flights to and from Goa have reduced by at least 30% if not more, since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, I do suspect that the shift to Mopa has only accelerated this flight?s demise.
When the Mopa airport was inaugurated, we were sold grand plans that the new airport would unlock economic potential (whatever that means) and that the existing airport was bursting at its seams, something that if Goa and its tourism industry had to grow further only the new airport would help unlock that potential.
It?s been four years now and as on date, if one adds the combined number of flights received by both Dabolim and Mopa, it?s less than what Dabolim alone was handling at its peak. Sure, this is considered ?off-season? and come December the picture might be different, but one really needs to ask the question: Was it really worth razing the hills, paving the grassland and upsetting the gods to only now be told that the new airport isn?t really viable [ https://substack.com/redirect/c1a7331b-7958-4d93-9b0b-b3814f5b7ea2?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]?
Me, myself and saree
There was a weird statement made by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant this week (when isn?t there?). But, he apparently claimed that until he came around, the signature saree associated with Goa?s indigenous Kunbi women was all but forgotten.
Now I?m not sure where he got the idea from, but it?s quite simply untrue. It was Goa?s ace fashion designer, Wendell Rodricks, who now is sadly no more, who first drew inspiration from the iconic weave to spark a revival of the saree at the Wills India Fashion Week back in 2010 [ https://substack.com/redirect/23ec7d60-db30-4fcc-9744-efc9f5602154?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]. I know this because, back then I was a sub editor in the now defunct Gomantak Times and remember receiving a press release to this effect. All it took was a simple Google search to refresh the memory, as they say.
There are other articles that go on to credit him for saving the weave from near extinction [ https://substack.com/redirect/6e88c711-0f11-4f8f-9f97-60df20bd09d2?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ] and while I?m not sure we can go as far as to say that without acknowledging the actual community who kept it alive across generations, it was Wendell?s spark that helped several others see the light and make the saree what it is today. [ https://substack.com/redirect/80c073b2-9749-41df-9af9-aef468ad4627?j=eyJ1IjoiMTdkMzMzIn0.fgOj6myyAgvFoWmj-LgXwMrpDLUf7f7HnFNWVfgXm9c ]
That said, if Pramod Sawant wants any credit, it should only be for ensuring that the Goa government and its various departments remain the biggest buyer of Kunbi handloom by far.
The saree?s revival predates Pramod Sawant by at least a decade, and no amount of grandstanding is going to change that.
That?s all I have for you this week. Make sure you comment or write in, should you have something, anything to say.
I would also invite you to contribute via sending in your views, especially on a subject you know something about, and I will be happy to include it as part of the newsletter.
You are also welcome to write in with leads and tip-offs or anything that you think might be interesting enough to include here.
As always, please share and help spread the word.
Until next week, then. Tchau!
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End of Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 321
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