Will 42 religious structures face axe or be relocated?
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, AUG 20
Will the axe finally fall on these religious structures or will they be saved by relocation in private properties? This question is staring at the authorities in Catholic dominated Salcete taluka, as 42 religious structures, mostly comprising of crosses and portion of shrines have been cleared for removal or relocation as per orders of the Supreme Court.
Given the sensitive nature of the issue, the authorities are hoping that representatives of religious bodies and locally elected members relocate or remove the structures on their own.
Says Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Margao Johnson Fernandes: “We had initially identified around 193 structures in private, public or Communidade land coming close to the roads. Later, the structures in private land were struck off from the list identified by the administration, narrowing down the number of structures to 42.”
“As per the government directives, I had an interaction with the concerned people to voluntarily come forward and shift all or any of such structures within the scope of the directives of the court”, he said.
Records revealed that barring one or two religious Ghumtis, most of the structures identified for either removal of relocation are crosses or shrines.
In fact, the Holy Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima at Sirlim revered by all people of all walks of life is giving authorities sleepless nights During the interaction, the committee members drew attention of the authorities that the government had granted them land admeasuring 200 square meters at the time of land acquisition. But, the authorities have contended that the land in question comes within the setbacks.
“The people have requested the authorities to allot space admeasuring 1000 square meters or in the alternative to align to save the religious structure. We are examining the matter”, he added.
Another monument that has occupied the attention of the authorities is the monument of St Francis Xavier at Pirni-Verna. The Salcete,SDM has had meetings with the parish priest and others to explore the possibility of shifting the monument away from the public road.
In Cuncolim, around three crosses has been identified for removal, of which one has been relocated to a new lace. The local authority had nothing to state as regards the remaining two structures.
In Margao, a Ghumti under the fly over is one of the structures identified for removal by the committee as per the court directions. The SDM, however, said that representatives of the place of worship have assured to take steps to ensure the structure is shifted to an alternative place.
A senior district official told Herald on Friday that the SDMs have forwarded their reports to the government for a final decision on these religious structures.
