PANAJI
The Goa Legislative Assembly’s select committee has changed the nomenclature of the ‘The Goa Outdoor Advertisement (Regulations & Control) Bill, 2025’. The Bill, that will now be called ‘The Goa Outdoor Hoardings Bill’ will be placed in the monsoon session, scheduled next month.
The Committee, headed by Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte will submit its preliminary report to the House before June 26 and thereafter in consultation with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, will table a redrafted bill in the Assembly.
Speaking to media persons post meeting, Khaunte said that lot of changes have been made in the bill taking into consideration pros and cons. “Will submit the preliminary report to the House and will try to introduce the modified Bill in the next session,” the Minister said.
He said that the Bill will help in curbing revenue leakages and also introduce mounting mechanism. “The illegal hoardings will have to go,” he said.
The members of the committee include MLA Vijai Sardesai, Carlos Almeida, Jeet Arolkar and Nilesh Cabral, who all submitted their views/suggestions in writing for consideration.
Earlier speaking, Cabral confirmed that the select committee has renamed the Bill as the Goa Outdoor Hoardings Bill 2025.
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-moto cognisance from the High Court of Bombay at Goa with regards to haphazard and illegal outdoor advertisement devices proposed to ban erection or display of outdoor advertisements in No Development Zones (NDZ), protected areas, Khazan land, wetlands and other ecologically and archaeologically sensitive areas.
As opposition raised serious concerns and flaws in the Bill, the same was referred to the Select Committee for further consideration and deliberation.
