MARGAO
Goa Forward Party has knocked on the doors of Union Minister for Culture Prahlad Singh Patel with a plea to preserve the heritage of Goa from development that will be detrimental to its culture.
GFP President Vijai Sardesai demanded that Old Goa be declared a heritage zone, as proposed by numerous archaeological and engineering experts who have been raising this issue since 2015.
In his letter to the Union Culture Minister, Sardesai sought the intervention of the Ministry of Culture as a national institution and defender of archaeological sites in India to preserve and protect Goa’s UNESCO world heritage sites in Old Goa.
Inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1986, Old Goa has more than 50 monuments and sites. Since the 15th century, the sites that stand today are not only acclaimed cultural and historical monuments but symbols of faith for Goans.
Sardesai pointed out that the people of Goa are concerned that the suggested government policies to allow development in Old Goa would destroy the skyline and heritage monuments protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
