PANAJI
Continuing their strong opposition, the villagers of Chimbel performed the traditional ‘Garane’ prayer near Dev Baigainkaar, at Kadamba Plateau, beside the bypass highway, against the State government’s ambitious Unity Mall and Prashasan Stambh (Administrative Building) projects.
Interestingly, the ceremony is held just a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah virtually laid the foundation stone for the two projects. The ritual was performed to seek divine protection over the village’s sacred sites and ancestral lands.
The villagers have been protesting against the two projects citing ecological concern and destruction of fields.
The Unity Mall, proposed by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), aims to occupy roughly 12,000 square meters of land in Chimbel with an investment of Rs 132 crore under the Central government’s One District One Product (ODOP) initiative. The mall will feature outdoor exhibition spaces, a children’s play area, an amphitheater, and conference halls, showcasing and selling products from every Indian state. The project has already received environmental clearance.
The state government plans to erect the Prashasan Stambh, poised to be Goa’s tallest administrative building at 15 stories and 75 meters high. The structure will rise on approximately 25,000 square meters of land recently transferred from the IT Department to the General Administration Department, with costs estimated to exceed Rs 300 crore.
