Goa, Jan. 2 -- The Magisteri al Inquiry Report into the tragic fire at the Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub in Arpora has merely put an official stamp on what residents, activists and whistle-blowers have long alleged - that governance in coastal Goa has hol lowed out, reduced to se lective enforcement, willful blindness and institutional complicity. Far from being an iso lated administrative lapse, the inquiry lays bare a sys temic breakdown where laws existed only on paper, authorities abdicated stat utory duties, and illegality flourished under official protection. The report documents how unauthor ised construction, forged documents and expired licences were allowed to persist openly, culminating in a disaster that claimed 25 lives. At t...