PANJIM: The committee appointed by the State government to monitor the day-to-day functioning and to oversee all activities related to the forthcoming decennial Exposition of the Sacred Relics of St Francis Xavier, popularly known as ‘Gõycho Saib’ undertook preparatory site inspection of certain areas to identify the various works that require to be undertaken for the event.
The Exposition will be held between November 21, 2024 and January 5, 2025 at Old Goa.
Sandip Jacques, IAS, Secretary (Revenue) and Exposition Commissioner–I (Infrastructure, Services & Co-ordination); Uttam Parsekar, PWD Principal Chief Engineer PWD and Exposition Commissioner–II (Infrastructure & Services); Stephen Fernandes, Electricity Chief Engineer, Chief Architect Marvin Gomes along with Fr Henry Falcao, Convenor of the Exposition Fr Patricio Fernandes, Rector of Basilica Bom Jesus, other representatives of the Church and other line departments inspected the various sites to understand the nature of works that needs to be undertaken such as infrastructure, beautification, illumination, identifying of parking areas, pilgrims centres, sanitation plan along with waste management facilities apart from other amenities for the exposition.
Asserting that this being the first meeting of the members, Jacques exhorted upon all the line departments to identity the grey areas and the difficulties faced during the last Exposition to ensure better facilities, easy movement of pilgrims and vehicle without any hindrance with ample circulation facilities for better experience of the pilgrims and the general public that come for veneration of the Relics.
Jacques directed the officials concerned to ensure that systematic queue arrangements be made for people going for veneration apart from appropriate place for people to sit in case of being tired including a separate queue for senior citizens and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).
The members inspected the sites for the setting up the Exposition Secretariat, Traffic diversions, parking areas, pilgrims centres, etc.
Senior government officials from PWD, GSIDC, DoIT, Revenue Department, Department of Information and Publicity and Goa Police were present for the inspection.
