File photo of an illegal scrapyard being razed in Socorro.
PANAJI
For more than a year, the Goa government has promised order in a sector that remains stubbornly chaotic. There is still no scrapyard policy, and no land has been finalised for relocation. Across the State, dozens -- by some estimates hundreds -- of scrap yards continue to operate in residential and eco-sensitive areas, many without basic clearances, including mandatory fire safety approvals.
The issue has surfaced in virtually every Assembly session over the past two years, with legislators across party lines raising concerns. Yet each debate has ended with assurances and little visible change on the ground.
Chairman of the Goa Industrial Development Corporation, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, clarified that sites tentatively identified for relocation remain entangled in disputes and administrative delays.
“The last time, we had identified survey numbers of Comunidade and government lands. After that, the Mamlatdar and the Collector’s representatives have not visited the sites to finalise the land for setting up such scrapyards. There were also issues relating to ownership details that remain unresolved. We will have to see whether there are objections from people at the locations that have been identified,” he told The Goan.
On August 8, 2025, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant reiterated that the government would introduce a scrapyard policy within six months to resolve the issue. The statement echoed an assurance made a year earlier during the 2024 monsoon session, when the House was told that registration of all scrap yards would begin before August 15, 2024, and that every yard would be brought under regulation within six months.
In January 2026, the government said the Goa Waste Management Corporation was framing the “Goa Scrap Yards and Recycling Units Policy”. The policy, however, remains in draft form, and no relocation plan has been executed.
Government records show that only 20 complaints regarding illegal scrap yards were received over the past five years. In just one instance, a panchayat issued a stop-work order, that too on complaints filed by government departments.
In contrast, MLA Vijai Sardesai, during the last monsoon session of the Assembly, alleged that more than 1,000 scrap yards operate across Goa, while only 269 are registered with the State.
Even by the government’s own admission, compliance remains thin. Records indicate that around 75 scrapyards are functioning without a No Objection Certificate from the Fire Department. In fact, not a single scrapyard has secured a fire NOC. Inspections have been conducted, officials told The Goan, but enforcement action is still awaited.
Meanwhile, fires continue to break out, with the latest reported in February, when a massive blaze tore through a scrapyard in Ashawada, Betoda, in Ponda. In November 2025, nearly 10,000 square metres of land in Sancoale was gutted after scrap material, including combustible waste allegedly stored illegally, caught fire.
