Panaji, Aug 16 (IANS): The Mumbai-Navi Mumbai urban model should be adopted in Goa's Panaji and its rapidly expanding suburb of Porvorim, which has become the de facto seat of power in the state, Goa's Panchayati Raj Minister Mauvin Godinho said on Monday.

"I have always thought that Porvorim is an extension of Panaji. The Assembly is here. The High Court is close by. Which government offices aren't here. Three (more) government offices will be shifted here. When I was in government under another chief minister, I suggested to him that like Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, this could be a new Panaji," Godinho said at a state Housing Board function organised in Porvorim, Godinho, in presence of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.

"It is part and parcel of our state. In reality, it has the seat of power, Assembly, High Court... All government offices are shifting here. The manner in which Porvorim is expanding, it would be in the fitness of things," Godinho also said.

Porvorim, which lies across the Mandovi river from Panaji is one of the state's biggest urban clusters and already outnumbers the state capital in terms of population.

The argument of Porvorim, which is still governed by multiple village panchayats, as an extension of the city, comes at a time when the state has witnessed large scale in-migration, resulting in rampant urbanisation especially in and around the state's tourism friendly coastal belt and already existing townships like Margao, Vasco, Mapusa, Ponda, etc.