PANAJI
A group of seven Goan environmental and political activists on Sunday held a demonstration at Delhi's Jantar Mantar to draw attention of Central government authorities to the case of the controversial ground-plus-one bungalow within Old Goa's protected heritage area and demand its demolition.
The activists comprising Anthony D'Silva, Glen Cabral, Xencor Polgi, Pratima Coutinho of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) among others held placards and chanted slogans for several hours at the iconic venue in the national capital.
The activists resorted to the action as the State government authorities were showing no inclination to act against the illegal construction which recently got a reprieve from the Bombay High Court at Goa which quashed a demolition notice issued by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) which is the custodian of the area, a UNESCO certified world heritage site.
The activists have also submitted memorandums demanding demolition of the structure to the Union Ministry of Culture under whose administrative control the ASI functions.
Meanwhile, two Delhi MLAs of AAP -- Kuldeep Singh and Rajesh Gupta -- joined the activists in the demonstration. Later, some Youth Congress activists also joined in.
The Old Goa structure had been at the centre of a long drawn agitation and a hunger strike by locals and activists from across the State and reached a crescendo in the run-up to the 2022 assembly election, given that the construction originally belonged to high-profile BJP leader Shaina NC.
