OLD GOA: A group of parishioners protested on Monday to a move by the Archaeological Survey of India to allegedly occupy a room adjoining the residence of the parish priest of Se Cathedral in old bishop's house, Old Goa and carry out renovation without their knowledge.
ASI, which maintains several monuments in the world heritage church complex at Old Goa allegedly occupied a room adjoining Fr Lenorado Correia, the parish priest in his absence- due to illness- and stored sand, cement, tiles and plywood, a parishioner alleged.
"The old bishop's palace behind Se Cathedral is in the possession of the Goa archdiocese and ASI has no right in this property," Correia said.
Alleging violation of rules by ASI, parishioners said that some heritage belongings were broken and the room excavated for fixing tiles and other work without the permission of church authorities. In the past, some rooms in the heritage building had been used as a kitchen and bedroom with installations of TV with dish antenna and other domestic appliances.
Rector of Basilica of Bom Jesus Fr Savio Baretto said, "These are parish priest's quarters but now ASI has illegally occupied them and carried out renovation in violation of their own norms, including driving nails in the wall."
However, efforts to contact V Shivananda Rao,superintending archaeologist, ASI Goa circle proved futile, but another official said the matter is sought to be amicably settled.
The parishioners gathered near Se Cathedral in the morning and requested the priest, who had returned on Saturday, to file a complaint with the police. Though the police came to the site and sought an explanation from ASI authorities, the work resumed soon after they left, the parishioners alleged.
When they realized that the work would not be stopped, they requested the labourers to peacefully vacate the premises and take away the materials. "Our attempts to hold a dialogue with Rao also failed," parishioners said.
As the labourers did not pay heed to the request, the parishioners forcibly stopped the work. "Later, the police arrived on the scene to question the parish priest, but went away after we spoke to them," the parishioners said. However, when contacted the officials at Old Goa police station declined to comment.
Recently, ASI officials had issued a show-cause notice to Cumbarjua MLA Pandurang Madkaikar for carrying out unauthorized development near the World Heritage Site at Old Goa in violation of rules, stating that it was in violation of Ancient Monuments And Archaeological Sites And Remains (Amendment And Validation) Act, 2010.
"This work is also in violation of the rules," Anil Afonso, a parishioner said. "We will hold a meeting soon and petition the Union ministry of art and culture and other authorities about the ASI's serious lapses," he added. (TNN)
Gosh what is happening here, i barely put a comment bout we loosing our identity and that we will only have our Names and Buildings which might also soon go away and here I see them already trying to destruct the Old Heritage buildings, what’s next? Parishioners of Old Goa, Good Job, rest of the Goans please unite for this common cause, do not let them destroy our Culture and our Precious Buildings... pls....
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