PANJIM: The Pramod Sawant government’s much-hyped plan to reconstruct and restore temples destroyed during the erstwhile colonial Portuguese rule, is likely to be derailed as the five-member committee, constituted to scrutinize and recommend the sites and shrines for restoration, has sought additional time to study the details.
The committee of academicians set up in January 2023, was supposed to submit its report within 30 days.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
The five-member committee is chaired by Varsha V Kamat from the department of history, Ponda Education Society’s Ravi S Naik College of Arts and Science, Farmagudi. The committee has already submitted a preliminary report and has sought additional two months to go into further details.
Sources informed that the committee, which was supposed to submit its recommendation report in February, has only come up with preliminary study so far. “Now, they have approached the Archaeology department requesting to grant further two months time to study little more details based on the available records,” sources said.
The proposal would be now placed before the government, sources added.
The government has received total of 19 applications, one pertaining to the reconstruction of a mosque, while the majority is from temple committees or NGOs. The Chief Minister has made a budgetary provision of Rs 20 crore, this financial year, to undertake construction of these temples.
The scope of work of the committee includes scrutinising applications along with documentation and evidence received by the department of archaeology and verifying the archival sources available at the Department of Archives and elsewhere.
The committee will also consider proposals out of their knowledge of archival sources. The committee will consider folk beliefs/stories and other oral sources of history for cross-verification of evidence. The committee will also study, examine and scrutinise applications that may come before the department of archaeology in due course of time.
