PANAJI
The Goa Legislative Assembly on Monday granted additional time to the Select Committee to submit the modified ‘The Goa Outdoor Advertisement (Regulations & Control) Bill, 2025’.
The Select Committee Chairman and Minister Rohan Khaunte said that the committee needs time till this session to submit the modified Bill. The House unanimously approved, even though the Select Committee member and MLA Carlos Alvares Ferreira demanded three months’ time. The committee, in principle, has agreed to rename the Bill as ‘The Goa Outdoor Hoardings Bill’.
The committee, headed by Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte, submitted the preliminary report to the Legislative Secretary in the last week of June, as the term ended. The committee, constituted in March, was granted three months’ time to deliberate on the Bill and recommend necessary changes.
The members of the committee include MLAs Vijai Sardesai, Carlos Alvares Ferreira, Jit Arolkar and Nilesh Cabral, who all submitted their views/suggestions in writing for consideration.
During the Budget Session, the State government introduced ‘The Goa Outdoor Advertisement (Regulations & Control) Bill, 2025’, proposing to appoint the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) as a competent authority to regulate and control the erection and placement of outdoor advertisement devices across the State.
The Bill, drafted following suo motu cognisance from the High Court of Bombay at Goa about haphazard and illegal outdoor advertisement devices, proposed to ban the erection or display of outdoor advertisements in No Development Zones (NDZ), protected areas, khazan land, wetlands, and other ecologically and archaeologically sensitive areas.
As the opposition raised serious concerns and flaws in the Bill, it was referred to the Select Committee for further consideration and deliberation.
