DATE: July 4th, 2026
MICKKY PACHECO SLAMS GOA GOVT’S ‘DEEMED APPROVAL’ DEADLINES; ACCUSES PANCHAYAT MINISTER OF RUSHING TO FAVOR OUTSIDER BUILDER LOBBY AT THE COST OF LOCAL GOVERNANCE.
Betalbatim: Former Goa Tourism Minister and veteran leader Mickky Pacheco has strongly condemned the recent circular issued by the Directorate of Panchayats, dated June 23, 2026, which forces mandatory "deemed approval" timelines on local village bodies. Terming the directive "completely arbitrary, dictatorial, and detached from ground reality," Pacheco alleged that the sudden urgency shown by the Panchayat Minister indicates a desperate rush to please outside real estate lobbies before the current political tenure concludes.
In a detailed critique of the government’s directive, Pacheco highlighted the severe practical difficulties that the common man and local village administrations will face:
1. Panchayats are Democratic Bodies, Not Rubber Stamps for Builders: A Village Panchayat is a constitutionally mandated local self-government meant to safeguard the environment and interests of the local community. The Panchayat Minister is treating these elected bodies like corporate clearance windows operating under duress, systematically taking away their powers to favor mega-builders and commercial interests.
2. Absence of In-House Technical Experts to Meet Insane Deadlines:
Village Panchayats are not technical departments equipped with engineers. To process construction or occupancy applications, they must rely on external technical surveyors to conduct actual on-ground inspections. Expecting a small village administration to receive an application, hire an outside surveyor, schedule an inspection, verify facts, and pass a resolution within 15 days is an impossible demand.
1. Paper Permissions vs. Crucial Ground Realities: Permissions issued by the Town and Country Planning (TCP) Department on paper frequently clash with physical ground reality. In reality, when a Panchayat surveyor goes for an inspection, they often find that the proposed layout overlaps with traditional village pathways, existing local houses, or natural water bodies. By enforcing a blind 15-day deadline, the government is taking away the Panchayat’s vital right to catch these illegalities and report them back to the TCP.
2. The Dangerous Loophole of "Deemed Approval": If a Panchayat fails to respond within 15 days due to staff shortages, public holidays, or lengthy site inspections, a project automatically gets "deemed approved." This creates an alarming loophole. Wealthy, powerful applicants can easily manipulate or delay the local administrative process to run out the 15-day clock, completely snatching away the village's right to object to destructive mega-projects.
3. Crushing Burden on Existing Village Infrastructure: Every massive construction project directly strains a village’s limited water supply, electricity grid, waste management, and roads. Panchayats need ample time to evaluate whether local infrastructure can take the burden of a new project. Forcing rushed approvals ensures that Goan villages will be choked with concrete, leaving the common Goan villager to suffer the lack of basic amenities.
4. Direct Assault on Panchayati Raj Autonomy: By giving direct mandates to Panchayat Secretaries and bypassing the elected body, the state government is undermining the spirit of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. The government is reducing elected local representatives to mere spectators to push its corporate agenda of "Ease of Doing Business," completely ignoring the "Ease of Living" for local citizens.
5. Mandating Weekly Meetings Exposes the Real, Rushed Agenda: Traditionally, Village Panchayats hold body meetings once every 15 days to handle village affairs, budgets, and welfare schemes with care. Forcing Panchayats to hold meetings every single week completely disrupts local governance. It leaves no doubt that the Panchayat Minister is operating at the behest of an outsider builder lobby, aggressively forcing weekly clearances to ensure full-swing financial collections before his tenure comes to an end.
Demands:
MickkyPacheco has demanded the immediate withdrawal of this arbitrary circular. He stated that deadlines must be set realistically, and no "deemed approval" should ever be recognized without a physical, joint inspection and the explicit, written consent of the elected local Panchayat body.
"The government must immediately stop rushing to serve the builder lobby and start protecting the land, the infrastructure, and the identity of the people of Goa," Pacheco concluded.
