Addressing government officials during Vigilance Awareness Week 2026, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant once again expressed his ire at arrogant staff behaviour and the deliberate delay of official files. Complaints about peons acting like bosses, officials obstructing routine work, and citizens walking out of government offices, disappointed and frustrated, have become all too familiar in the corridors of administration.
In January 2026, during the Krishi Pe Charcha event, Sawant issued a similar warning, telling non-performing officials that they could be forced to “sit at home.” His public addresses have repeatedly carried the same message: Officials must reject bribery and stop delaying files and welfare benefits. However, the constant repetition of these warnings has failed to bring a noticeable change.
The problem with public service delivery in Goa goes far beyond rude behaviour at government counters. The Revenue Department, particularly in South Goa, offers a clear example. Essential services such as land mutation and partition continue to suffer from serious bottlenecks. The introduction of a centralised mutation cell, followed by its eventual dismantling, disrupted the orderly processing of applications. An uneven distribution of work among Joint Mamlatdars left more than 1,000 cases pending across South Goa offices. Outdated manual procedures for serving notices further slowed the process.
Such gaps inconvenience the public. Protests held by the South Goa Advocates Association recently brought these concerns into sharper focus. Lawyers alleged that officials at both junior and senior levels were disregarding the SOPs issued in December 2024. Applicants face arbitrary objections, files go missing, and people are often pushed towards private touts and agents who charge exorbitant sums to get basic work done. Unfortunately, citizens feel compelled to rely on middlemen to comply with government processes.
Short-term interventions may help momentarily, but do not offer a holistic solution. Organising special camps to clear pending cases may offer some relief, but they do little to resolve the underlying problems. The suspension of around 20 officers for misconduct shows that disciplinary action is possible. However, random enforcement measures cannot change an administrative culture. Warning junior staff and asking HoDs to step in also leaves a crucial question unanswered: Why have existing supervisory controls failed in the first place?
If Sawant’s vision of a corruption-free State is to come true, the government must move beyond mere oral reprimands and establish systems that make accountability unavoidable. The priority should be end-to-end digital tracking of files, backed by clear statutory deadlines and stiff penalties for unjustified delays. Applications should be traceable at every stage, leaving little room for manipulation.
An independent judicial commission, as demanded by legal associations, should examine allegations of entrenched extortion networks in revenue offices. Administrative reshuffles and internal inquiries will not be enough to uncover practices that are embedded in the system. Lastly, HoDs must be held directly accountable when their offices repeatedly miss service-delivery targets.
The cleansing of administration cannot be achieved through headline-grabbing speeches. Dignified behaviour matters, but courtesy without efficiency and integrity offers little comfort to a citizen whose application remains unresolved for months. Until transparent systems are in place coupled with effective oversight, ordinary people will continue to bear the brunt.
The common man does not need another assurance that misconduct will not be tolerated. They need a government that delivers services without forcing them to pay for what they are already entitled to receive.
