Team Herald
PANJIM: Tension rent the air at Vodakade, Porvorim, as the authorities “mercilessly” chopped the 200-year-old sacred banyan tree on Sunday to go ahead with six lane elevated corridor work, with the residents forcing the government to take a back seat and stall the removal and relocation of the Lord Khapreshwar’s idol.
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As per the court order when the officials of Public Works Department (PWD) officials and police arrived to commence the translocation of the tree, activists and local residents gathered at the site, as they feared the exercise could damage the Khapreshwar Temple adjacent to the tree.
Social activist Swapnesh Sherlekar confronted the PWD officials and police, warning them of grave consequences if the temple’s dome was harmed.
He asked: “How can workers remove the idol in the absence of mamlatdar when the order for razing down the temple was not given by any authority.”
“Which religion are we talking about? If the location of Ram Temple in Ayodhya was important then, the location of our Khapreshwar temple is also important. The government should not play with the sentiments of the people and the religious places. If this idol is to be removed then the Chief Minister along with his family members should come here and remove the idol,” he said.
“There is no mention of a temple in the order. We felt agitated as workers were trying to remove the idol with the Mamlatdar not present at the site, he said.
Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte’s absence further left the residents fuming.
“Where is the MLA, who claims to be the resident of Porvorim? What wrong Lord Khapreshwar has done to him? I have been performing Vat Poornima here for the last 25 years. I know what will be the government’s final decision, but we want Khapreshwar temple here,” demanded a resident.
Farida, another local resident of the area said, “I am a Muslim, but am feeling very hurt that the Khapreshwar temple is being demolished. This is being done despite the authorities having no permission to touch the temple. The Chief Minister talks about protecting the Hindu religion. What sort of protection is this?”
Dhananjay Borkar, another resident of Porvorim, said, “It is surprising that the temple and the tree are not being saved, while so many houses and housing complexes have been spared earlier.”
The workers went ahead and mercilessly trimmed the tree branches without leaving a single leaf.
The commotion caused due to cutting of the tree caused traffic congestion which forced the motorists to move at a snail’s pace.
The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Tuesday last had permitted the translocation of the tree with strict precaution. The court had disposed of the miscellaneous civil application and recommended that the tree be translocated between March 5 and 10, 2025, following strict precautionary measures and guidelines provided by landscape designer and ecological consultant Parag Modi.
Meanwhile, condemning the incident, the Opposition alleged that the temple was destroyed and the idol shifted despite the High Court order not mentioning this.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) State president Amit Palekar said, “For the First time Hindus have become helpless in Goa because of a political party. It is also sad that the devotees are sitting at home despite of today being a Sunday””
Claiming that the High Court order did not mention touching the temple or the idol, Palekar said, “There is no specific order from the High Court to shift the idol of Lord Khapreshwar. It is absolute high handedness.”
Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Amit Patkar said, “Where are those people, who had gone to the house of a senior person saying that their sentiments were hurt? Are their sentiments not being hurt today on account of the shifting of the idol of Lord Khapreshwar?
Meanwhile, late evening, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in a statement said that Khapreshwar Temple will be reconstructed.
“Dev Shri Khapreshwar Temple will be reconstructed by the Goa government at the new site of the translocated banyan tree,” he said.
POOJA BEFORE RELOCATION
Emotions ran high among Porvorim residents as later in the evening, the ‘pooja’ of Lord Khapreshwar also known as the Rakhandar (protector) was performed before relocating the idol to another location.
According to the temple priest, the idol will be relocated near a four-wheeler showroom.
