Team Herald
PANJIM: The controversy surrounding the listing of 17 State monuments under the Central government’s ‘Adopt a Heritage’ scheme seems to have settled for now, with stakeholders including Goa Government and Church authorities unanimously agreeing ‘not to say no’ to the scheme, which is aimed towards development of world-class infrastructure to attract tourists and not taking over the monuments.
A meeting chaired by Archives and Archaeology Minister Vijai Sardesai also resolved to ensure that while signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the private party, Drishti Lifesaving Pvt Ltd, a No Objection Certificate (NoC) from the Church or local management should be made mandatory.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Archbishop of Goa, Archdiocese of Goa and Daman, Parish Priest of Se Cathedral, Rector of Basilica, Archaeological Survey of India, Chief Secretary Dharmendra Sharma and officials of the Departments of Archives and Archaeology and Tourism.
Addressing media persons after the meeting, Sardesai said that the stakeholders discussed the pros and cons of the scheme. “Basically it has been clearly understood after discussion that the scheme is not about taking over the monuments. It is about preserving the monument on the international standard,” he said.
“After discussing the pros and cons of the scheme, we unanimously felt that we should not say no to the scheme. By and large we have reached to the conclusion that the scheme is in the interest of Goa if implemented properly,” Minister stated.
Sardesai said, “I had come here to say no to the scheme initially. But on understanding the implications of the scheme, we realised that the scheme can be actually used to harness more footfalls and increase the carrying capacity of the monuments by upgrading it to world-class infrastructure.”
The Minister assured that the core areas of the monument will not be allowed to be touched and hence the question of endangering the monument does not arise.
Citing an example of the concerns, Sardesai said that the Old Goa churches are under ASI but not owned by ASI, they are owned by the Church. “This is a unique situation which the State government will have to impress upon the Central government. We will have to inform the Centre about the sentiments and feelings of the religious institutions and of the government, when it comes to preserving the heritage,” he said.
The Minister said that the next issue is, that the MOU to be signed should have an NOC issued by the church authorities, which will make further problems impossible. “So the interest of everybody including State, religious monuments, institutions that runs these monuments, ASI and the private party is protected,” he commented.
“In case, if any other monuments are to be covered under the scheme, maybe churches or temples, we will not go ahead without having the consent bond from the concern authority,” he assured.
Rubbishing allegation that his Department had proposed all the monuments, the Minister said that his department was involved in proposing Cabo De Rama fort, the Mormugao fort, Khorjuvem fort and the rock garden in Sanguem. “Our dept had not proposed any church,” he clarified.
Sardesai also took a jibe at Congress State president Girish Chodankar stating that the concept had been in existence since 1996 when the UPA was in power.
“In the past the Humayun stone was allotted by the UPA government to a private corporation under the scheme national cultural fund drafted by then Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao in 1996. The interest of this fund was basically to protect and conserve India’s heritage in the PPP mode,” he recalled.
