RECHRISTENING OF GOA by Andrew Pereira

The names they are a changin’. In a reflection of the demographic changes the state is undergoing, new colonies and wards being carved out in Goa’s towns and villages are more likely to call themselves some NAGAR or the other instead of the traditional VADDO.

First Step of NAGAR by incoming migrants in Goa

"Nagar is not a native word. It is a suffix given to the name of a settlement in other parts of India, mostly North India," says horticulturist Miguel Braganza who is passionate about local history.

Forgive a Saxttikar if he looks askance at hearing of the existence of a Kargil in Sao Jose de Areal, or a Bardezkar of being asked to look for a Shanti Nagar in Socorro. A few years ago, locals in Sao Jose de Areal did wake up to find that a part of their village was named Kargil by migrants living there. The name was even displayed on local buses, serving the migrant population in the area, until the south Goa district administration put an end to it.

In Mapusa, a young student at St Xavier's college was amused to see the address of his rented house on his electricity bill. Situated behind the college premises, the house address on the bill read Fukat Nagar.

Trust the politicians not to be behind in their quest to leave a legacy. A field in Margao, locally known as Calgonda, was given away for a slum settlement and christened Babu Nagar. Subsequently, the migrants changed it to Azad Nagar.

On Betim’s hills north of the River Mandovi exists a Ram Nagar, while every second new colony in Porvorim is being termed as a nagar. Says history lecturer Prajal Sakhardande, "Ram Nagar is a village in Belgaum."

On Porvorim plateau, the new colonies that have sprung up are Jai Nagar, Vidya Nagar and Shanti Nagar. Recently, a landscape contractor said he was executing a project at a Patel Nagar in Porvorim.

The village of Socorro has been given a Shanti Nagar and a Sai Nagar, courtesy a government scheme to convert comunidade land for housing plots. Another government scheme, ostensibly to give land to Goans from the lower income group, but which was lapped up by migrants, was named Indira Nagar in Chimbel.

Completed GANTTI NAGAR in Goa aerial view

There’s another Fukat Nagar created in Sancoale and existing for years. "The migrants have constructed illegal huts on comunidade land and are not paying a single paisa for it. Neither are they contributing anything by way of government taxes. Hence, the name Fukat Nagar which has been accepted by those concerned," says social activist Simon Carvalho.

"After Zuari industries came in and called the land Zuari Nagar, the trend was followed by others. Today, besides our vaddos, we have a Shanti Nagar, a Upas Nagar and a Queeny Nagar," Carvalho says.

"Travel to Assonora by bus, and you will hear the conductors calling it Alsanwadi," says Braganza, adding, "The migrant labourers living in the village call it by that name, and the bus conductors have already adapted to it for their customers

(More pictures will follow on a special on a video clip. Await please.........)