Team Herald
PONDA: Tempers ran high in Marcaim after villagers prevented the Navdurga temple committee members from holding their budgetary meeting scheduled in the morning, inside temple premises, on Sunday.
The Mahajans Act mandates that budgetary meetings of temples in Goa be held on July 31, every year.
The meeting commenced under a heavy police protection; however, the villagers opposed the meeting claiming that the committee has no right to conduct meeting, because, the villagers contented, it had suspended religious rituals of Godess Navdurga in the temple from March 28, this year.
At the very start of the meeting, a temple committee member was injured in clashes, forcing the police to intervene and take away the committee members to a safer place outside the temple. Consequently, meeting could not be held.
The villagers claimed that since March, this year, after the mahajans stopped the rituals, the locals are performing religious rituals in the temple by spending their own money.
“If villagers are performing all rituals at their own cost, wehre is the need for a budgetary meeting by mahajans?” asked Sandesh Naik and Vishakha Gandagi, local villagers.
The duo claimed that they had even made gold jewellary for the godess through their own contribution to facilitate performance of rituals that was topped by temple committee.
Further, they alleged, the temple committee has kept all the gold jewellary as well as idols used for festival occasion in its custody due to which the villagers are facing problems in celebrating festivals and rituals.
They said that not only the mahjans but also the local devotees have been worshipping the godess since the time of their forefathers, but the mahajans have been denying equal right of worship, taking advantage of the Mahajans Act enacted by the Portuguese.
The government should give the villagers equal right of worship in the temple along with the mahjans by scrapping Mahajan Act, the demanded.
Deputy Collector Johnson Fernandes, Mamladar John Fernandes, DySP Sunita Sawant and PI Sudesh Naik were present at the spot with large police personnel.
Meanwhile, following the news of tense situation at Marcaim, Santandre MLA Vishnu Wagh rushed to Navdurga temple at Marcaim and supported the locals on their demand for scrapping the Mahajans Act.
He assured villagers that he would raise the issue in Assembly.
