The fire that ripped through Birch nightclub did not simply ignite and consume. It exposed the rot that has festered within Goa’s governance for far too long. Twenty-five young lives – promising, ambitious, full of dreams – were lost not because fate was cruel, but because the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) chose indifference over accountability, paperwork over enforcement, and the interests of a few over the safety of the many. Birch nightclub’s illegal existence and eventual deadly collapse were enabled step-by-step by a timeline of blatant bureaucratic failure which now must be laid bare before every Goan.
In February 2025, residents of Arpora Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil D. Divkar raised the alarm against illegal constructions, waterbody encroachments, and CRZ violations at Birch. GCZMA acknowledged the complaint, and from that very moment they were duty-bound to protect the people.
In March 2025, GCZMA officers carried out a detailed site inspection of the Birch property. During the inspection, officials identified extensive construction activities in the waterbody area, clearly indicating blatant violations of coastal regulations. The primary structure was a major RCC ground-plus-one building of a distinctive hexagonal shape, covering approximately 550 sq. meters. The ground floor housed a kitchen and storeroom, while the first floor consisted of a restaurant operating under the brand name “Birch by Romeo Lane,” supported by MS channels with coconut leaf roofing. Additionally, two bridges had been erected across the wetland to facilitate access – one on the eastern side measuring around 25 meters in length and 1.50 meters in width, and another on the western side stretching roughly 23 meters, extending toward a hotel located outside the CRZ area. Officials also noted four temporary seating structures erected upon permanent bases, further intruding into the environmentally sensitive zone. Circular platforms and connecting passages were constructed over laterite masonry pillars, reinforcing the commercial exploitation of the waterbody. Moreover, 13 RCC ground-plus-one shops or structures were found near the northern entrance of the property, creating a full-fledged commercial hub in a prohibited area. The findings collectively established an organised and large-scale encroachment on the protected waterbody, disregarding environmental safeguards and legal norms.
Even the Arpora Outline Development Plan (ODP) leaves no room for ambiguity: Survey No. 159 is classified as a salt pan, an ecologically sensitive and hydrologically crucial wetland zone where commercial construction is strictly prohibited. Salt pans act as natural flood buffers and support the delicate coastal ecosystem – yet GCZMA allowed a nightclub to rise over this protected terrain. The Authority had clear proof, mapping, and environmental classification all confirming illegality. This was their first and most decisive opportunity to stop a future disaster from forming – but they did nothing.
From April to July 2025, they turned hearings into an art of postponement – June adjourned to August, July adjourned twice, September delayed without reason, and by the time the 483rd meeting arrived in October, the message was clear: GCZMA was determined to do nothing. During this period of strategic paralysis, the nightclub continued to expand, party seekers continued to fill the illegal premises, and a firetrap continued to take shape under the full watch of the regulatory authority that had the power to stop it.
By August 2025, the accused operators performed their legal gymnastics – claiming their structure was beyond CRZ jurisdiction based on manipulated interpretations of the CZMP 2011. GCZMA, instead of asserting its own earlier findings, simply surrendered. No further investigation. No mapping verification. No enforcement. Just a hasty acceptance that magically erased “gross violations” from the record.
Then came October 9, 2025 – a day that will remain one of the darkest in Goa’s administrative history. GCZMA led by its chairman Arun Kumar Mishra IAS dropped proceedings against Birch entirely. No penalties. No demolition. No accountability. With the stroke of a pen, illegal became legal. Recklessness became acceptable. A deathtrap was cleared for business.
And then a few weeks later tragedy struck. A fire erupted inside Birch nightclub – built over a waterbody with combustible materials, narrow passages, unsafe bridges, and zero compliant exits. Panic spread faster than the flames. People had nowhere to run. Structures collapsed into the water. Smoke suffocated those trapped inside. Bodies were charred because the State refused to burn a few files.
Let us be very clear: the 25 young people who died did not perish in a mere accident. They were killed by an authority that failed to enforce its own laws. They were killed by dereliction of duty. They were killed by those who sat in air-conditioned rooms, casually dismissing critical violations with the arrogance of impunity. The fingerprints of this crime are not only on nightclub owners and politically connected nightlife lords – they are on GCZMA officials, the Chairman who signed the closure, the technical experts who looked away, and the political masters who ensured protection instead of prosecution.
Now, as families bury their children and India, the government will initiate inquiries, orders, committees, and press briefings. But we do not need more paperwork. We need criminal liability. Every official who ignored warnings must be investigated for culpable homicide. Every illegal nightclub operating with political blessings must be sealed and demolished. Every regulator who failed to regulate must be held to account.
The Birch tragedy was not destiny. It was a preventable massacre. And unless Goa wakes up and demands justice, unless we replace corruption with conscience and action where delay once ruled, this will not be the last time that innocent people die in a place where they simply went to enjoy life. What happened at Birch must become the turning point – where we as Goans refuse to allow authorities to gamble with our lives again. Twenty-five souls lost their future because the system valued profit over protection. We owe them justice. We owe their families truth. We owe Goa a future where nightlife is vibrant but governed, where tourism thrives but responsibly, and where regulatory bodies act before tragedy – not after the funeral pyres have turned cold.
Not one more life should ever be sacrificed to official negligence. Not in our Goa. Not ever again.
Birch GCZMA Meeting
