Team Herald
MARGAO: Goa Forward Party Chief and Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai on Saturday alleged that State’s Patron Saint St Joseph Vaz is not safe under the rule of the BJP government.
He was speaking after inaugurating St Joseph Vaz Community Courtyard at Chandrawado, Fatorda.
Sardesai, while extending wishes of St Joseph Vaz Feast to the faithful, recollected that when he was the Minister for Archives and Archaeology he had facilitated the work of making the Sancoale site of Our Lady of Health available for novenas for the feast.
“The site had to be made available for novenas and there was very little time. Since the protection of the archaeological sites of Goa is the work of the Minister of Archaeology I had taken steps to make sure that all the problems were cleared and the church was opened as the Our Lady of Health church,” recollected Sardesai.
He said that the facade of the Our Lady of Health is protected as the heritage site.
“We had taken a stand in the government that whatever the Bishop of Goa wished was wanted by people and was agreed. We took steps accordingly and opened the site,” informed Sardesai.
He said that as soon as they were out of the government there were problems created by people with vested interests. This year too there were problems amidst the worries whether the feast would happen or not.
Sardesai taking a dig at the eight Catholic MLAs, who have defected to BJP said that 10 MLAs who changed sides to BJP of which eight are Catholics have not done anything to protect the site.
He said that Goemkarponn means people of all religions live together and commended the ward for having lived on perfect religious harmony.
He appealed to the citizens to remain alert as some anti-social elements would try to divide and rule in the area. We have seen earlier how few individuals tried to create a divide.
Former chairperson of MMC Pooja Naik, Women of Fatorda Convenor Usha Sardesai, Ramesh Parab, Rajendra Chandwani and other prominent citizens were present.
