‘Koti Tirth’ corridor at Divar for temples destroyed by Portuguese

Panaji: The state cabinet on Wednesday granted approval for the development of Koti Tirth Corridor at Divar, at the site of the temple of Saptakoteshwar, to commemorate the destruction of temples during the 450-year-old Portuguese regime.

The govt has constituted a high-level committee under the chairmanship of secretary, archaeology department, to plan, execute and oversee the development of the corridor.CM Pramod Sawant, in his budget speech for the financial year 2022-23, had said that govt would restore places of worship destroyed by the Portuguese in Goa.Accordingly, several applications were received with information about the temple destroyed during the Portuguese colonial rule, along with documents and details.Govt constituted a scrutiny committee of experts under the chairmanship of Varsha Kamat, professor of history, to scrutinise the applications and representations for consideration and selection of suitable sites for construction or restoration.The committee held several meetings and conducted site inspections based on the representations received by the department, and an interim report was submitted to govt in Sep 2023, giving several recommendations to the govt.

The final report was submitted to govt on Dec 20, 2023.One such recommendation of the committee was to reconstruct the temple of Shree Saptakoteshwar at Divar once the archaeological potential is explored.State will develop the Koti Tirth Corridor at Divar, at the site of the Temple of Saptakoteshwar in land owned by government. The work may be undertaken by the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) by floating the competition.