FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 2024
On Gandhi Jayanti there were two protests – just a few kilometres apart – where citizens concerned about the onslaught on visible architectural heritage came together raising their voice for its preservation. From children to senior citizens, they called for the preservation of the monuments, a few of the young ones even hugging the trees that are slated to be axed at one of the sites.
The protests were at Old Goa and Chimbel. The former is a world heritage site – the only one in Goa – that draws visitors from around the world, that every VIP and VVIP is taken to visit, but that receives scant attention from the authorities. The latest affront to the world heritage site is a construction coming up that the Save Old Goa front has been fighting against. The latter are the ruins of a monastery where a number of trees have been listed to be cut to make way for a home for the aged. This cutting of the trees is what the people are opposing.
A heritage site cannot speak for itself, nor can the trees, so they need the people to speak for them. Luckily, there are people willing to do this, and they do it selflessly. Are those who are fighting for the heritage getting anything in return? Personal gains are none. Unlike the political class that takes up issues where they get returns – or at least some publicity for what they are fighting – these here are people on a mission without any personal reward other than the knowledge that they did their bit for the conservation and restoration of the heritage they inherited from their forefathers, and for the trees that have stood on the land for decades.
Current generations have to remember that they are not owners of the heritage but mere custodians of it and that they will hand over what they have received from their ancestor to their descendants. As custodians, the heritage is not theirs to do as they please with, but to protect and keep it for posterity. It is only when this is ingrained in every mind that heritage will be preserved. It is those who believe in this that are doing what is required. What we are seeing here is not just experts crying out for the preservation of heritage, but the people – the common man too – who value it also demanding the same.
There are laws, there are rules for the preservation of heritage, but they can all be bent and circumvented. Old Goa needs to be protected, all heritage sites in the State have to be similarly saved from any damage. But, the people cannot be expected to stand up and protest every time there is an attempt to cut a tree, encroach on a heritage area or change the zoning of a heritage site. If this happens, it means there has been a failure of governance. Heritage conservation needs to be taken seriously and the laws that exist cannot be diluted or circumvented. That laws are skirted, does not mean it should continue to happen. It should stop.
Can the government assure the people that the heritage of the State – tangible and intangible – will be protected? Goa needs strategies for regeneration of its heritage but instead time is wasted on fighting to stop the obliteration of what exists. Professionals who could have used their time and expertise to the improvement of the heritage structure within the principles of conservations are called upon to ensure that the sites are not tampered with. The focus should be a future with the heritage that exists today remaining intact.
