PANAJI
In his first ‘Hello Goenkar’ phone-in programme broadcast on Panaji-Doordarshan, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said that the report of a committee on temples demolished by the colonial Portuguese regime is ready and will be made public by his government soon.
The phone-in interaction was live in which Sawant was posed questions by citizens and he addressed them. One such exchange was between a citizen from Merces, Kripa Pirankar, who sought to know the progress of a government initiative to restore temples and shrines allegedly demolished during the Portuguese era.
Sawant in response said, his government had set up a committee to study the claims made by the general public in response to an appeal by the Archives and Archaeology Department seeking information on such temples and shrines said to have been demolished by the colonial rulers.
“It has prepared a report after going through all letters received from the public about temples demolished by the Portuguese regime. We will publish it soon,” Sawant said.
Sawant, in the budget he presented after returning to power post the 2022 elections, had provided Rs 20-crore ostensibly to restore such temples demolished by the Portuguese regime and also heritage sites which are in dilapidated condition.
The Sawant government had appointed a five-member committee in January this year comprising academicians to study the claims received from the public of temples demolished.
Professor Varsha Kamat, the history department HoD of PES College, Ponda, was named the panel’s chairperson. It also had Dr Rohit Phalgaonkar, Dr Varad S Sabnis, Balaji Shenoy and Ulhas K Prabhu Dessai as members.
Sawant in his Friday phone-in programme was possibly referring to this committee having completed its work and filed a report.
