Goa nightclub fire: 'Landowner' alleges illegal zone change to benefit Birch by Romeo Lane

Days after a fire accident killed 25 people in a nightclub in North Goa, a man, who claimed to be the original owner of the land on which the nightclub stood, alleged that a portion of his property was converted from a salt pan to a settlement zone without his knowledge to benefit the club.

Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar claimed that it was his land on which ‘Birch by Romeo Lane’ stood. He said that he signed a sale agreement with Surinder Kumar Khosla almost two decades ago, in 2004. However, the agreement was cancelled within six months as Amonkar did not receive the payment. Khosla set up a nightclub on the land, and it was later taken over by Saurabh and Gaurav Luthra, owners of Birch by Romeo Lane.

Fire accident

On the night of December 6, a blaze swept through the nightclub in Arpora village, North Goa. The accident killed 25 people, including staff members and a few tourists.

Amonkar said he was fighting a court battle against Khosla over the land. “For 21 years, I have been fighting in courts to get back my land in Arpora, which has been wrongfully occupied,” he told the news agency PTI.

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While the case is proceeding, Amonkar said he had learnt about a new development. “The government quietly changed the zoning of my land without informing me,” he said. Amid the ongoing litigation, he said no notice had been served to him concerning the zone change.

'It was a salt pan'

According to Amonkar, the place where the nightclub was built was a salt pan, and now the status of the land has been changed to a settlement zone. “How can a salt pan be converted into a settlement zone?” he asked.

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Amonkar said he discovered the “zone change” on December 11 while preparing documents to move the High Court against the club in connection with the fire accident.

A senior Goa Town and Country Planning official said that since an inquiry into this matter is underway, it would not be appropriate for them to respond to Amonkar’s allegations at this stage.