The Save Old Goa Action Committee (SOGAC) recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. Bom Jesus Basilica Rector Fr Patricio Fernandes cut the cake to commemorate the anniversary.
Looking back at how SOGAC began, they first unofficially got together in 2004 after the haphazard organization at that time by the then State Government for the decennial exposition of Relics of St Francis Xavier. The group of concerned citizens from across Goa decided to join hands at that time, for the next exposition in 2014 as well as the annual Old Goa feast.
Against that backdrop, they formalised SOGAC in 2011 and their address is the house of Franklin & Fatima Pereira. Fatima is the incumbent president.
“We started to notice that a lot of the temporary structures that came up during the week-long feast stayed there and became permanent. Out of concern for the integrity of the heritage structures and the sanctity of Old Goa as an international pilgrimage site, we started to play an active role in reporting unauthorised development and infrastructure projects that could put heritage at risk,” SOGAC members told Herald.
In 2008, during the process of submitting suggestions/objections of the Draft Regional Plan for Goa, they played an important role in ensuring the ‘Rua Direita’ between the Basilica of Bom Jesus and Se Cathedral was not notified as a national highway. They also managed to get the annual dates of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) adjusted so as to not clash with the feast of St. Francis Xavier in 2014.
Currently, they have been carrying out sustained protests along with local residents against the construction project coming up near a protected area of Old Goa, which threatens to damage heritage structures in the vicinity and also set a bad precedent.