It is reported that Gram Sabha has passed a resolution demanding acquisition of the ancestral house of the Blessed Joseph Vaz, to preserve the same for posterity as a monument. FIrst and foremost, I must make it known to the Panchayat that there is no house of Blessed Joseph Vaz in Benaulim.
Blessed Joseph Vaz, whose father hailed from Sancoale lived at Sancoale and the place is already receiving due recognition over the years. Be that as it may, Panchayat which is a secular Body cannot promote any remote and imaginary wish/dream by using public funds for their ulterior motives.
Let the Panchayat look after the welfare of its villagers which is an urgent and pressing problem that needs attention on day to day basis and on war-footing. Proper amenities by way of access to the houses, acute problem of sanitation (garbage) and illegal proliferation of housing with the active connivance of powers to be had to be checked/regulated in a systematic manner to alleviate the woes of the villagers at present and in immediate future- this is the greatest monument in honour of Blessed Joseph Vaz which could be perpetuated by making Benaulim an ideal village, infact it is the crying need of the hour.
It is to the knowledge of everyone that existing monuments are allowed to perish and deteriorate before our very eyes and examples of which are ad galore; the house of Francisco Luis Gomes better known as Abbe Faria, in Navelim, the great son of the soil and the old Municipal Building in the Old Market, opposite Holy Spirit Pharmacy and hardly 3 mts. away from the Chapel of Santas Almas are living monuments where no attempt whatsover are made to preserve. What useful purpose will be served to add to new monuments when the existing ones cannot be preserved and are on the verge of becoming ruins?
Joaquim G.A. de Souza, Margao
