MAPUSA
The road work to Chapora Fort, which was stopped by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) under the former BJP government, will finally resume but only after taking the concerns of the locals into consideration.
"Access to the fort is important but locals do not want the road close to the heritage structure. After building the road up to a certain distance, we will build steps to the fort with exposed laterite stones," said Town and Country Planning Minister, Vijay Sardessai.
He along with Water Resources Minister and local MLA, Vinod Palyekar and officials of the Directorate of Archives and Archaeology, PWD, GCZMA, etc, held an inspection of the road to the fort late in the evening.
Anjuna Sarpanch, Savio Almeida was also present at the inspection site.
The TCP minister said it was necessary to carry out restoration work of the fort and keep it from crumbling.
"We need to conserve our heritage and at the same time have a planned development in Anjuna and Chapora," he said.
The minister disclosed that the archives department had floated a tender to restore the Chapora Fort which was quoted at a high rate because there was no proper road connectivity.
"The fort restoration tender was quoted on higher side by 86 percent and therefore the tender had to be cancelled. But the contractor had quoted it so high only because he had to manually shift stones to the fort in absence of a road," Sardessai, who is also the Archives and Archeology Minister informed.
Making a case for a road to the fort, he said cost of restoration will reduce.
"Restoration cost will be reduced drastically if we have the road but we will take public sentiment into consideration," he said.
The Director of the Directorate of Archives and Archaeology informed that the estimated cost for restoration of the fort was Rs 1.92 crore and the road Rs 4.64 crore.
He said the government was planning to start light and sound show on the fort to attract tourists at the fort and to add to the night life in the coastal belt.
It may be recalled that GCZMA experts, Prabhakar Shirodkar, Suhas Godse and Audhot Bhonsule had stopped construction of the road in February this year, after a joint site inspection at Chapora fort, stating that neither the Directorate of Archives and Archaeology nor the Public Works Department had sought approval from the GCZMA before the road was built.
The road work to Chapora Fort, which was stopped by the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) under the former BJP government, will finally resume but only after taking the concerns of the locals into consideration.
"Access to the fort is important but locals do not want the road close to the heritage structure. After building the road up to a certain distance, we will build steps to the fort with exposed laterite stones," said Town and Country Planning Minister, Vijay Sardessai.
He along with Water Resources Minister and local MLA, Vinod Palyekar and officials of the Directorate of Archives and Archaeology, PWD, GCZMA, etc, held an inspection of the road to the fort late in the evening.
Anjuna Sarpanch, Savio Almeida was also present at the inspection site.
The TCP minister said it was necessary to carry out restoration work of the fort and keep it from crumbling.
"We need to conserve our heritage and at the same time have a planned development in Anjuna and Chapora," he said.
The minister disclosed that the archives department had floated a tender to restore the Chapora Fort which was quoted at a high rate because there was no proper road connectivity.
"The fort restoration tender was quoted on higher side by 86 percent and therefore the tender had to be cancelled. But the contractor had quoted it so high only because he had to manually shift stones to the fort in absence of a road," Sardessai, who is also the Archives and Archeology Minister informed.
Making a case for a road to the fort, he said cost of restoration will reduce.
"Restoration cost will be reduced drastically if we have the road but we will take public sentiment into consideration," he said.
The Director of the Directorate of Archives and Archaeology informed that the estimated cost for restoration of the fort was Rs 1.92 crore and the road Rs 4.64 crore.
He said the government was planning to start light and sound show on the fort to attract tourists at the fort and to add to the night life in the coastal belt.
It may be recalled that GCZMA experts, Prabhakar Shirodkar, Suhas Godse and Audhot Bhonsule had stopped construction of the road in February this year, after a joint site inspection at Chapora fort, stating that neither the Directorate of Archives and Archaeology nor the Public Works Department had sought approval from the GCZMA before the road was built.
