Goans oppose tourism project near 16th century basilica

Mar 26, 2025

By Michael Gonsalves
About 700 people, mostly Catholics, marched through Old Goa, the colonial-era Portuguese capital, to protest a government plan for a tourism project near the Bom Jesus Basilica, the 16th-century church that houses the relics of St. Francis Xavier.

Environmentalists and residents of Old Goa joined the protest at the popular pilgrimage site on March 23 to oppose the project.

The Goa Tourism Department reportedly planned to build a 'tourism mall' on the ruins of a 16th-century church near the basilica.

Residents of Old Goa have formed a forum — Save Old Goa Action Committee — to oppose the project, which they say is planned with scant regard for their history, Catholic sentiments and environment.

“It is outrageous that a commercial structure is being planned on the ruins of the Five Wounds of Christ Church. The project is also within the 100 meters of the world heritage site of Bom Jesus Basilica,” Catholic priest Savio Barretto, former rector of the Basilica of Bom Jesus told UCA News News on March 24.

He said a commercial structure would mar the sanctity of Old Goa, a pilgrimage destination "not only for Christians but people of other faith, who come for a glimpse of St. Francis Xavier," the patron of Goa.

The state government, run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), announced the project as additional amenities for pilgrims and tourists visiting the basilica.

A government signboard at the site reads, “Development of amenities at Basilica of Bom Jesus Old Goa under the Centre’s Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD)” scheme of the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.

Old Goa is the former capital city of Portuguese-ruled Goa (1510-1961) and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Peter Viegas, a member of the Save Old Goa Action Committee, said the Basilica is also a federal government-listed archaeological building, and any construction near it is illegal.

A law — Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act of 1958 — prohibited constructions within a 100-meter radius of such protected buildings. However, in 2017, the Modi government amended it purportedly to allow development projects.

Elvis Gomes, a former senior bureaucrat who served as Goa Tourism Department director, said workers found several cannon balls and other artifacts when the new project's foundational work started in early March.

"When such historical things are found on the site, the procedure demands to stop the work and report the findings to the police and the government,"  Gomes noted.

Fr Anthony da Silva, former director of the Xavier Center of Historical Research in Goa, told UCA News that people view the new project as “an illegal and fraudulent development on sacred soil.”

“It is equally puzzling and disappointing" that Catholic clergy and the hierarchy are silent and do nothing "to safeguard these holy grounds,” he said.

Goa’s Tourism Minister Rohan A. Khaunte told UCA News on March 24 that the work at the project site is being undertaken with the “concurrence of the church authorities."--ucanews.com