PANJIM, NOV 30
The Old Goa Church authorities have taken a serious view of some stall keepers jumping the Basilica of Bom Jesus wall to use the tap water facility in the church premises during the novena days being celebrated in preparedness for the feast of St Francis Xavier.
The authorities on Tuesday said even though the Government has put up some 20 to 24 mobile toilets in the area for the novena days the same wasn’t enough and more needed to be done to see that everything was managed in a professional manner.
The church authorities maintained lakhs of people throng Old Goa during the novena masses in preparation for the feast of St Francis Xavier, but the international heritage area had a few mobile toilets to cater to such a big number of devotees.
Rector Fr Savio Barreto said what was adding to the problem is a regular feature of stall keepers crossing over a wall of the Basilica of Bom Jesus on the Gandhi Circle side and entering the church premises to have bath.
Fr Barreto maintained it is so unruly to see these men, mostly Hindi-speaking, bathing in their underclothes when devotees are converging to attend church services in the morning. The panchayat, I think, has to do more to take care of the sanitation because we are situated in an internationally recognised heritage site, he asserted.
The main coordinator for the novena masses, Peter Viegas, observes there is no harm in the traditional stall keepers coming in and using the tap water facility near the Basilica, but these migrants have scant regards for sanitation and decency. “This year, too, we are having the same problem. If the toilets set up in the area are enough then why do we have these men jumping over the church wall and entering inside,” he questioned.
Viegas said since we have these men jumping over it can be even construed as a problem of security breach. Even though there are local policemen and other national security men around, these miscreants surprisingly find their way inside the church premises, he said and added, “When they were inside I informed 100 once but nothing happened.”
The panchayat has allotted roughly 700 stalls, including the ones set up on private properties. Old Goa Sarpanch Jenita Madkaikar maintained besides the mobile toilets there are toilets of PWD and Sulabh. People should also act responsibly to go and use these facilities, she stated.
