Team Herald
PANJIM: Opposition to the proposed project – which is suspected to be a mall – within the world heritage precincts at Old Goa has gathered steam with the Save Old Goa Action Committee (SOGAC) deciding to take out a morcha on Sunday to protest against the large-scale felling of trees in the buffer zone to pave way for the project under the Centre’s Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) Scheme.
The committee has called upon the people of Goa to come in large numbers to protect the UNESCO recognised heritage site. SOGAC member Evaristo Rodrigues filed a police complaint alleging illegal construction work opposite Bom Jesus Basilica.
However, a board put up by the Goa Tourism states that it is for the “Development of amenities of Basilica of Bom Jesus, Old Goa under PRASAD Scheme, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, and the proposed parking lot and that they have obtained all required permissions.
Speaking to mediapersons, SOGAC coordinator Peter Viegas claimed that the Department of Tourism has planned to construct a mega shopping mall in the buffer zone by cutting a large number of trees.
“A petition signed by as many as 35,000 people was submitted to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant during the Exposition of the Sacred Relics of St Francis Xavier, urging him not to give permission to the shopping mall project in the buffer zone. But the Department of Tourism has begun its work on the shopping mall project by destroying the heritage site. To this act, we will take out a morcha near the Basilica of Bom Jesus at Old Goa at 4 pm on Sunday,” Viegas said.
Jacqueline Fernandes, a SOGAC member alleged that the authorities have cut a large number of trees to facilitate construction of the alleged mall which is coming under PRASAD or Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive scheme of the Government of India.
“It is being done only to destroy our heritage site. We are holding the protest as we have to protect the land for our next generation,” Fernandes said.
Caterina Peres, another member, said, “This shopping mall project is nothing but an attempt to destroy our heritage site. We will not allow this.”
Last year, the SOAC had written to the Chief Minister to save UNESCO World Heritage site at Old Goa before the decennial Exposition of “Amcho Goencho Saib” and to stop all illegalities and unwanted projects.
On Saturday, the villagers found cannon balls and arsenal near the ruins of Five Wounds of Christ Church.
Later in the evening, SOGAC member Evaristo Rodrigues filed a police complaint alleging illegal construction work opposite Bom Jesus Basilica. In his complaint, he stated that excavation work is going on using earthmovers and that many trees have been felled.
He said that during excavation a large quantity of archaeological material was dug up and transported out.
Using heavy machinery, the contractor built an internal road and cut the ground below one metre. A concealed road has been built from the rear side of the site to transport the excavated archaeological material, Rodrigues claimed.
During the visit, the activists saw many cannon balls at the excavated site and opined that there was no permission for this work. “This is an archaeological and heritage protected site where such works cannot be carried out without permission from the ASI as well as permission from the Church authorities," Rodrigues said.
“I just reached in time at Old Goa. I saw workers excavating the mud, I questioned them for the excavation and for felling trees within the heritage site. Seeing a large number of people at the site and before police could reach the spot, the workers along with one earthmover fled from the site, abandoning another earthmover and a truck at the site. There was large-scale destruction under the nose of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI),” said Goa Green brigade convenor Avertino Miranda.