Proposal must be open to objections from public before final decision
PANAJI
In line with legal advice, the Goa government opened to public scrutiny its proposal to both delete and add substantial parcels of land within the command area of the Tillari Irrigation Project, only after Advocate General advised that any denotification must follow due process and invite objections before a final decision.
Official sources told The Goan that when members of Goa’s Command Area Development Board met on January 7, they were faced with a delicate question -- whether portions of land already notified under the Tillari Irrigation Project could be removed without undermining the scheme’s agricultural objectives. The Board sought the Advocate General’s opinion.
“The AG advised that any proposal to denotify land from the command area of the Tillari Irrigation Project should be considered only in genuine cases, published in the Official Gazette, and opened to objections from the public before a final decision is taken,” the source revealed.
The advice followed concerns recorded during the meeting that indiscriminate denotification could disrupt agricultural planning and dilute the irrigation potential of the project, conceived to expand assured water supply to cultivable land in North Goa.
Acting on the opinion, the government issued two notifications -- one proposing the removal of land from the existing command area, and another proposing the inclusion of new areas considered capable of benefiting from irrigation.
The first notification seeks to delete about 3.65 lakh sq mtrs (36.53 hectares) of land across villages in Pernem, Bardez and Bicholim.
The proposed deletions follow representations from landowners seeking exclusion of specific survey numbers. The Board partially modified an earlier notification issued on November 25, 2024.
Then, a second notification dated February 20, 2026 proposed to bring nearly 292.97 hectares -- about 22.96 lakh square metres -- within the command area. Officials said the inclusion is intended to ensure fuller utilisation of the irrigation potential created under the scheme.
“The proposal to include additional command areas is a welcome step, as it strengthens the objective of utilising the irrigation potential of the Tillari Irrigation Project and extending the benefits of irrigation to more farmers and cultivable lands. However, the simultaneous issuance of notifications proposing both addition and deletion of command area lands raises serious questions and concerns regarding the larger intent behind such decisions. As such, the general public have been asked to give their objections, if any, to ensure these are not diluted or diverted for private commercial interests,” the source added.
