PANAJI
Morjim is fast emerging as the most favoured locale among cash-rich residents of metros and tier-2 cities of the country yearning to own a piece of real estate in Goa, either as a second home or as their retirement abode.
The recent 'farm house' and 'villa' building trend in Goa's real estate sector has manifested itself in this latest tourism hub in coastal Prenem, especially in the post Covid years.
Official data mined from documents tabled in the recent monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly, the TCP department had permitted as many as 18 farmhouses in Morjim village alone in the year 2023. In the previous year of 2022, seven farmhouses were permitted in the village.
Across Goa, a total of 68 farmhouses were granted permission by the TCP department between 2020 and up to May 30 this year.
And, of the 68 across Goa, 30 farmhouses are in Pernem taluka itself with as many as 28 of them in Morjim alone. One farmhouse each was permitted in Kasarvarne and Mandrem.
In 2022, Morjim had six farmhouses and a year later in 2023, the number tripled to 18 farmhouses. This year until May, the TCP department has given its nod for seven farmhouses to be built.
Interestingly, more than half the farmhouses in Morjim, 17 to be precise, are owned by Gangareddy Infrastructure Pvt Ltd.
Meanwhile, while Pernem has seen a frenzy for farmhouse culture in the Covid years between 2020 and now, the bug is yet to catch up with other regions of the State.
In the same period, the central taluka of Tiswadi has five farmhouses, Ponda had four and six each in Salcete and Quepem.
Bardez taluka had seven farmhouses in this almost five-year period while Sattari had four and Bicholim three.
Meanwhile according to the data, the TCP department has received complaints of illegalities in the case of six farmhouses, none of which are related to the ones in Morjim or Pernem.
Two of the complaints are related to farmhouses in Mormugao and Tiswadi and one each in Bicholim and Ponda where the TCP department claims to have taken "appropriate action" without explaining what it actually did and asserting that commercial activity is disallowed in these 'farmhouses'.
