The Junta House in Panjim is more than just a building, it has been, and still is, a pulsating nerve centre of Goa since it was inaugurated in August 1966.
It can be described as the veritable concrete example of Goa’s post-Liberation modernisation that came to symbolise the then Union Territory’s growth and development story.
It functioned, and continues to function till this day, not just as an administrative building housing numerous government offices, but also as a hub of commerce, culture, science and in decades past as residence of the administration’s top bureaucrats.
So when last week, the notice from the District Collector was released, asking that the premises be vacated within 30 days, memories tumbled across the minds of the many persons who have been connected in some way or the other to the building, and to many it was a poignant moment coming to terms that this iconic structure is soon to come under the wrecking ball, taking with it a piece of Panjim’s heritage. But one could well ask, should Junta House be preserved merely for its heritage value?
Ardent heritage enthusiast Sanjeev Sardesai has a perspective that balances the past with the present and the future. “I have got a dual view on this. From the heritage point of view, Panjim and Goa are going to lose something of a huge heritage value, as a passionate heritage lover, I would say that. However, everything has got a life. And that life, if it is going to take a human life, then I think it is time that it rejuvenates,” Sardesai said.
The reason for the evacuation notification from the North Goa Collector is the structural audit of the building submitted by PWD, on perusal of which the Collector was satisfied that Junta House ‘is in dilapidated and dangerous condition and poses a safety hazard’. The reasons for the structure coming to this condition could well be lack of maintenance, but few of those who saw that building when it was new would imagine it having to be demolished in less than six decades.
Says historian Lourdes Bravo da Costa Rodrigues who lived on that street when the Junta House was built, “It is obvious that the reason for demolishing is that the building was not maintained. So what was the PWD with so many engineers doing all this time? That it stood for so long with little maintenance is indication that the construction was good.” She points out that the builders, MSB Caculo, did construct bridges that are still standing.
When Junta House was inaugurated, almost 59 years ago, on August 15, 1966, O Heraldo, then a Portuguese language paper but in an article penned in English, had described it as ‘the pride of Goa... the biggest building so far constructed in either the private of public sector.’ The article had gone on to describe the exteriors as magnificent and majestic, all under a subheading that said the Junta House was ‘a milestone in progressive development’.
For Goa in 1966, Junta House was indeed a milestone in the journey it had commenced less than five years earlier when it had been liberated from Portuguese rule. On a street shaded by a canopy of trees, that was otherwise lined with structures that were a storey high, arose this six-storey building that would change not just the character of the street, but be the precursor for the transformation of the city.
Historian Prajal Sakhardande says, “The historic heritage Junta House, inaugurated on 15thAugust 1966 by Lt Governor K R Damle during the tenure of Goa Daman and Diu’s first Chief Minister Dayanand Bandodkar was a precursor to the transformation of Panjim in terms of building landscape as it was the first modern building with six floors ever in the history of Goa.”
He adds, “If I remember correctly the construction of this building had started before Liberation but it got completed later. The place had the godown and offices of Junta de Comercio Externe (Federation of Imports and Exports), hence, when ready it was named Junta House. I am told by Arun Bana Naik that there was a sort of campaign in a prominent Marathi daily that it be named Janata House.”
On a street that in the 1960s effortlessly allowed two-way traffic and was predominantly residential with little commerce, Junta House towered over all the other buildings, breaking away from the colonial past, not just in the form of architecture, but also setting the tone for vertical growth of the city, reflecting the nascent Union Territory’s baby steps towards creating a new identity for itself.
Agrees Bravo da Costa Rodrigues and says, “It was the first high rise in town and an iconic building, the beginning of vertical development. At that time there was no concept of FAR. Because it was government land and a government building they allowed so many floors.” In that respect the building was a trailblazer in more ways than one, for it also altered business perspectives.
Interestingly, in 1966, the O Heraldo article on the inauguration had said ‘...its sixteen divisions marked for commercial establishments bid fair to convert Rua 18 de Junho into an elite shopping centre’. Considering that earlier this space was the address of the Junta de Comercio, this in a manner of speaking was a sort of continuation of trade in the area. In current times 18th June Road has hotels, restaurants, showrooms and is the street where tourists converge for shopping, even if showrooms and shops have also spread across the city. And though the street is now just one-way, it is still bustles and perhaps has the longest traffic jams in Panjim at peak hours.
But it’s not just commerce that defined Junta House. In the early years people lived there as three floors were designed as apartments, but later, with the exception of the ground and top floor all the other floors were converted into government offices.
Over the years, some of the departments that were housed at Junta House were Forest, Panchayat, Transport, Water Resources, Civil Supplies, Planning, Statistics & Evaluation, Block Development Office Tiswadi, Consumer Redressal Forum, Art & Culture, Civil Registrar cum Sub Registrar and others. Hence, to the people of Tiswadi, Junta House was where you went to get your driver’s licence, or to get your marriage registered, or to register a sale deed or for a myriad other government services.
“It was the tallest building in the heart of Panjim on the Swami Vivekanand road. It stood tall and majestic with rallied balconies, marble flooring and a cultural hall called the Swami Vivekanand Hall on its 6th floor. The Junta House housed several govt departments including the Civil Registration Office, Registration of Society, Friends of Astronomy Observatory, Conservator of Forests for some time, RTO,” says Sakhardande.
Tolentino Furtado who worked at Junta House for 24 years remembers just how busy the building used to be. “It was a very prominent place, the administrative hub where we used to meet people from far and wide who came there for all kinds of work. People were always around the place.”
Sadly, though it holds a piece of history, perhaps many chapters of history, including the vestiges of a bomb blast on the 6th floor, as related by Sardesai, it will not be conserved. Says Sakhardande, “Indeed it was a heritage building but since it poses a threat to the people there is no option I suppose but to demolish it. Now it's upto the people, or rather the authorities, to make whatever they want of this. Except for fighting to maintain its name Junta House, I feel nothing else can be done by the people.”
If in the 1960s and 1970s Junta House was the most modern building in Goa, then for the 2020s and beyond it will make way for a building that is modern for the future, perhaps another iconic structure that will come to symbolise Goa’s current narrative.
Perhaps a parallel story runs here, of Goa’s growth and development that took off with high expectations in the 1960s, but fumbled along the way to reach another destination. No doubt Goa has achieved much, yet like the Junta House that isn't merely a relic but is symbolic of Goa’s transition to modernity in the early post-liberation years and decades and is today slated for redevelopment, perhaps Goa’s growth and development course too needs to be redefined.
Junta House is one of six projects that is to be taken up by realty firm NBCC (India) Limited, NationalBuildings Construction Corporation, for redevelopment. All six projectsare valued at Rs 10,000 crore but will be undertaken without any budgetary support from the State. Citizens, however, advise some caution in the redevelopment plan.
“Junta House,” says Sanjeev Sardesai,“was built at a time when Goa had a ratio of maybe 500 vehicles to the entire population of Goa. Today, we have got a population of vehicles, which is 4.5 per house in Goa. So, the area around is being misused for parking, leading to the arterial roads and the life of people becoming difficult.”
Considering that the building houses a large number of offices and has no parking space allotted, traffic jams on 18th June Road are common, and this is what the redevelopment project has to account for.
“If it is going to be demolished, because it needs demolition, the new Phoenix bird that arises out of this must cater compulsorily, whether they like it or not, to a parking quota, which is into two of the number of rooms that are going to be constructed. It is not adequate, but it will be sufficient,” says Sardesai.