The Pinto rebellion remembered

A special structure depicting the story of the ‘Pinto Revolt’ of 1787 will soon be coming up in the Rose Garden, in the heart of the Capital city which is currently undergoing a facelift. The structure will be in the memory of those who lost their lives in the Revolt, which was a rebellion against Portuguese rule. 

Apparently, Government is considering renaming the Rose garden as ‘Kranti Garden’. 

After a year’s delay the Salvador Souza, commonly known as Rose Garden, is all set for a makeover, with a state-of-art attraction of the Panjim city. The Goa State Development Corporation (GSIDC), the nodal agency for development, has set May end deadline for completion of the project. 

The beautification and landscaping of the municipal garden was funded by former MP Shantaram Naik under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLAD). After partially completing the garden’s renovation, the Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) handed over the project to GSIDC in 2015 after its technical department refused in continuing the work.

“The proposal was initially for a rose garden; but later the entire concept changed. The government now wants to have special structures in the memory of those who lost their lives in the Pinto Revolt. That was the first revolution against the Portuguese in Goa,” sources at GSIDC told HERALD. 

“Accordingly, the entire plan changed. We started working as per the new plan,” sources added.  Apart from having a rose garden and martyred structure, the garden will have sitting arrangements, science project, lighting and 14 mini waterfalls. 

The project which was initially Rs 80 lakhs, is now estimated to be Rs 1.4 crore. CCP made use of around Rs 26 lakhs only to stop the work thereafter. However, CCP is yet to release the balance Rs 54 lakhs to GSIDC, which has till date poured in its own fund. 

When contacted, GSIDC Managing director Srinet Kotwale said that the garden will be ready by May end. However, he refused to comment on the issue of re-naming the garden as Kranti Garden. 

“I am monitoring the work. Last week I had inspected the work. Before end of May, we will complete the beautification work and it would be thrown open for public,” he said. 

As per historical accounts, the conspiracy of the Pintos, also known as Conspiracy of Goa, the Pinto Revolt or the Pinto Conspiracy, was a rebellion against Portuguese rule in Goa in 1787. The leaders of the plot were three prominent priests from Candolim. They belonged to the Pinto clan, hence the name of the rebellion.