The Goa Cabinet has approved the development of the Koti Tirth Corridor on a 10,000 sq m Archaeology Department plot at Narve, Divar, near the ruins of the Saptakoteshwar temple.
The project, to be executed by the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC), will serve as a memorial for the 1,000 temples destroyed during Portuguese rule. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said the temple would “belong to the whole of Goa,” stressing its symbolic importance.
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A high-level committee headed by the Secretary (Archaeology) had recommended the corridor’s development as a memorial. Earlier, a scrutiny committee of experts was tasked with verifying applications and representations documenting the destruction of temples under Portuguese colonial rule, and to propose a suitable site. The panel submitted its final report on December 30, 2023. The Archaeology Department has since compiled details of the 1,000 destroyed temples. Sawant had announced the reconstruction of lost shrines in his 2022-23 budget speech, marking Goa’s 60 years of Liberation.
