Open problems · Land, forests & displacement
Land conversion and coastal construction
Hills, orchards, fields and coastal land are being rezoned and built on, eating into Goa's villages.
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DiscussionOpen for ideas, evidence and questions.
What we know
Section 39A of the planning law, added in 2024, lets the government rezone hills, orchards and fields as "settlement". Protests against it continued through 2026, and the section is being challenged in the High Court.
About 84,000 sq m was rezoned in Palem-Siridao. Villagers in Arambol forced a rollback, and the state government revoked an 80,000 sq m conversion in Sanquelim in March 2026 after protests.
Open questions
- How many conversion orders have been issued under Section 39A since 2024, and for how much land?
- Who applied for each conversion, and what was the land used for before?
- What say should a village's gram sabha have over rezoning its land?
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