Team Herald
MARGAO: Nearly 2,000 citizens on Sunday signed a memorandum opposing around 12 unwanted projects in Old Goa that threaten the heritage and cultural significance of the UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Save Old Goa Action Committee (SOGAC) encouraged others too to join the drive against these developments, highlighting community concern for preserving the site’s heritage and sanctity.
The signature campaign was held at the Grace Church complex, where the young and the old lined up to sign the memorandum and fill the forms.
The strong turnout demonstrates widespread community support for opposing the proposed projects in Old Goa.
The 12 proposed projects include four farmhouses, floating jetties, and a proposed Sagarmala jetty. Additionally, there are plans for illegal bungalows, a road construction touching the wall of the St Francis Xavier Chapel, a heritage interpretation centre, a garbage treatment plant, a chocolate exhibition centre, 21 ghost house numbers, an IPB-initiated laterite resort, land conversions in specific survey numbers, and a bungalow with a helipad at the an estate.
Speaking to mediapersons in Margao, Peter Viegas from the Save Old Goa Action Committee noted the strong response to the signature campaign and warned that Old Goa could lose its UNESCO status if the unwanted projects are not halted immediately.
He emphasised the need for grassroots efforts to protect the sacred site.
He called for preparing a heritage master plan that includes demarcating buffer zones for national and State monuments in the Regional Plan for Old Goa, emphasising the need for this before the upcoming Exposition.
On behalf of the Save Old Goa Action Committee, he appealed to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to intervene and halt all illegal developments planned in non-permitted zones.
He emphasised that these projects threaten the sanctity of the World Heritage site and the sacred ecosystem of the area.