{"id":6188,"date":"2026-04-09T17:08:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/?p=6188"},"modified":"2026-04-09T17:08:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:38:54","slug":"ugf-alleges-institutional-land-grab-in-panaji-seeks-fir-against-tourism-port-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/ugf-alleges-institutional-land-grab-in-panaji-seeks-fir-against-tourism-port-officials\/","title":{"rendered":"UGF Alleges \u2018Institutional Land Grab\u2019 in Panaji, Seeks FIR Against Tourism & Port Officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Panaji, April 9:
The United Goans Foundation (UGF) has filed a serious complaint alleging an \u201cinstitutional land grab\u201d of over 6,500 sq. metres of reclaimed riverine land in Panaji, accusing the Department of Tourism (DoT) and the Captain of Ports (CoP) of illegally conferring government land to a private concessionaire allegedly linked to casino interests.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint names M\/s Shanta Infratech Pvt. Ltd., reportedly connected to the Deltin Group, as the beneficiary of what activists claim is an wrongful act of transfer and commercial exploitation of public property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allegations of Illegal Land Transfer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UGF has alleged that the Tourism Department attempted to hand over operational rights over land that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is not part of any surveyed property<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does not belong to the Tourism Department<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Falls under the jurisdiction of the Revenue Department and Captain of Ports<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The land in question reportedly includes reclaimed riverine areas created during the construction of the Atal Setu bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discrepancies in Survey No. 46\/10<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint points to irregularities in Survey No. 46\/10 in Panaji:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total land: 31,853 sq. metres (government-owned)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DoT holding: 15,093 sq. metres<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Land transferred: 16,015 sq. metres<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This indicates an alleged excess allocation of 922 sq. metres, raising questions over legality and demarcation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third-Party Land Included Without Consent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UGF further claims that approximately 9,140 sq. metres of GTDC-developed parking space, built using central funds, was included in the concession agreement without GTDC being a party, triggering concerns over misuse of public assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reclaimed Land \u2018Illegally Monetised\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint alleges that reclaimed land has been:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brought under private operational control without authority<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Used for unauthorised fee collection from vessel operators<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Misrepresented as falling within Tourism Department jurisdiction<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allegations of Collusion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UGF has accused officials, including former and current Directors of Tourism and the Captain of Ports, of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Misrepresenting ownership of government land<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avoiding proper demarcation to enable encroachment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facilitating illegal commercial exploitation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint also suggests a possible larger conspiracy involving a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) structure and alleged links to casino sector entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demand for Probe and Criminal Action<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organisation has demanded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A high-level vigilance and anti-corruption inquiry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Registration of FIRs against officials, including former DoT Director Menino D\u2019Souza, current Director Kedar Naik, and CoP Octavio Rodrigues<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Declaration of the 2021 Leave & Licence Agreement as void<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forensic audit of Shanta Infratech Pvt. Ltd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recovery of revenues allegedly collected illegally over the past five years<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UGF has also called for an investigation into possible links between government officials and casino operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serious Legal and Financial Implications<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint warns of significant loss to the state exchequer and potential violations of land revenue laws, port regulations, and anti-corruption statutes, while seeking accountability for what it describes as a \u201csystemic abuse of authority.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panaji, April 9:The United Goans Foundation (UGF) has filed a serious complaint alleging an \u201cinstitutional land grab\u201d of over 6,500 sq. metres of reclaimed riverine land in Panaji, accusing the…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6189,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-main-story"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gaonkaari.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-04-09-at-17.00.29.jpeg?fit=940%2C459&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6190,"href":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6188\/revisions\/6190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gaonkaari.com\/mr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}