Porvorim town square, creek circuit works to be ready by Mar '26: Khaunte

Panaji:
With the cabinet approving the Porvorim town square and the development of a creek circuit, the tourism department hopes to issue the work order to Bagkiya Constructions Pvt Ltd by next week, said tourism minister Rohan Khaunte.
The minister said both projects will be completed by March 2026.
Khaunte said Porvorim town square is inspired by New York's Times Square, San Francisco's Union Square, and London's Piccadilly Circus. 'When we travel around the world, we realise that open spaces are developed, where people come together and where activities are held,' said Khaunte. 'The Porvorim square will have a performance theatre, market area, musical fountains, movie court, heritage area, the Ashoka Stambh, and basement parking.
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The Porvorim town square is being built on three plots repossessed by govt from private developers after a legal battle and handed it to the tourism department.
'Work will start soon and should be completed by March 2026. The work order is to be issued next week. At the same time, work on the Porvorim creek will also start,' said Khaunte.
Under the Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme, a rural circuit from Porvorim to Harvalem will be created, enhancing the Porvorim creek experience by encompassing Torda Creek, Malim Jetty, Virlosa, and Pomburpa Spring, and extending up to Harvalem, Khaunte said.
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The minister said the proposal to revamp Colva under Swadesh Darshan is being finalised and will likely be placed before the cabinet next month.
Also announced were the beautification of Porvorim creek and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Museum at Farmagudi to boost cultural tourism. The press conference was attended by Shri Kedar Naik, director of tourism, Shri Kuldeep Arolkar, MD GTDC, and Shri Gavin Dias, General Manager GTDC.
The Porvorim town square, spread over 11,000sqm, is a first-of-its-kind heritage-linked public space aimed at promoting economic growth and year-round public programmes.
Khaunte said nearly Rs 400 crore is being spent to revitalise Goa's tourist spaces with Central support under the scheme for special assistance to states for capital investment (SASCI) scheme.

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Marang Buru vs Parasnath: The conflict over Jharkhand's highest peak

I t was 8.30 pm in the town of Madhuban in Jharkhand, and Itwari Soren and Ramesh Murmu sat listless outside a lavish Jain mansion. The two, who are palanquin bearers and belong to the Santal Adivasi community, were waiting for shops on the town's main road to close so that they could sleep. 'We sleep on the roads with just our gamchas to lie down on,' said Itwari, referring to the towel also often used as a headscarf. 'The mosquitoes keep biting us and if it rains, we get drenched. There are several guesthouses around here for pilgrims, but no facilities for us doliwale to stay.' The two had not had any work that day in mid-May, or in fact that week. 'This is the off season. The peak season is between March and October when Jain pilgrims visit in flocks,' Itwari said. 'Then, we compete to book passengers and carry them up the hill.' The hill he was referring to is the highest point in Jharkhand, and goes by two names. To Jains, it is Parasnath Hill, named after Parsvanatha, the twenty-third of 24 Jain tirthankaras, the central spiritual figures of the religion. Jains know the sacred site atop the hill as Sammed Shikarji and believe that 20 tirthankaras attained salvation there. But the hill is also a sacred site to Itwari and Ramesh's community. The Santals call the hill Marang Buru, after the foremost hill deity in their pantheon. They have three key sacred sites – the dishom manjhi thaan, where the headman worships ancestors and deities, the jug jaher thaan, a sacred grove, and the lo bir vaisi bodra darha, where the traditional court of Adivasis of the region is held. At the same time, the hill is also a crucial source of employment to thousands of doliwalas like Itwari and Ramesh, who depend on Jain pilgrims and other visitors for a livelihood for at least six months in a year. 'Pilgrims, especially older ones, are not able to climb to the top,' said Sikandar Hembrom of the Marang Buru Sanvta Susaar Baisi, an organisation which is fighting for the rights of Adivasis over the hill – Hembrom is also a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He explained that it was typically Adivasis, as well as members of a few other marginalised groups, such as the Ghatwar and Turi communities, who carried pilgrims to the peak. The palanquin bearers usually set out at 2 am, and take at least eight hours to complete the trek of 27 km. Two bearers charge Rs 2,300 to carry a person who weighs less than 49 kg, and Rs 2,760 for a person who weighs between 50 kg and 69 kg. For those who weigh more, bearers usually use chairs carried by four people, for which rates start at Rs 4,600. These rates haven't changed since 2019, Itwari said, showing me a rate card. During peak season, the bearers get regular work and earn between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 a month. For the remainder of the time, they work on their fields in neighbouring villages and do small odd jobs. 'It is not an easy job, carrying so much weight while climbing a hill,' said Ramesh. 'But we don't have a choice and are compelled to do it. There are no better opportunities around here to earn a living.' Some locals claim that the two communities have co-existed in this fashion since time immemorial. 'Jains and Adivasis live harmoniously here,' said Amit Jain, the mahamantri, or general secretary, of Madhuban's Jain community. 'This practice of Adivasi doliwalas carrying pilgrims up to the peak has been going on for thousands of years.' But this description also elides a tension that has long simmered between the two groups over their rights to the hill. It is centred around the very different relationships the two communities have with the site, and with their faith. The most prominent point of contention is Sendra, an annual religious festival of the Adivasis, at which the community hunts animals in the jungles of the hill. A 2024 paper on Sendra in West Bengal and 'ethnotourism' notes that the hunting in the festival is largely a 'symbolic expression of ancient culture' through which tribes seek to 'retain their ancestral legacy'. Jains, meanwhile, see nonviolence as a core principle of their religion – over the years, some members of the community have challenged the hunt as a practice that hurts their religious sentiments. In January, a Jain trust filed a petition in the Jharkhand High Court – among its demands was that the government 'take preventive measures against activities that defile the sanctity of the Hill'. The petition also sought the implementation of a 2023 environment ministry memorandum, which effectively prohibited hunting, and the consumption of meat and alcohol, on the hill. 'This ruling fails to recognise Adivasi traditions, so we will challenge it and fight for our rights in court,' said Hembrom. Some Adivasis argue that these demands contravene core tenets of Jainism itself. 'The Jain religion is a beautiful one, they have a principle which says – live and let live,' said Bhagwan Kisku, an activist. 'But in Madhuban, they are not practicing that. Instead, they are erasing Adivasis.' Scroll sent queries about the conflict over the hill to Jain trusts involved in litigation, as well as the environment ministry, local police and the state government. This story will be updated if any responses are received. C ommunities' legal claims over the hill, and efforts to gain control over it, have a long and chequered history. In 1893, for instance, the Calcutta High Court heard a dispute over the running of a pig's lard factory on the hill, which offended the sentiments of Jains. In its judgement in favour of the Jains, the court cited a previous order of a district judge, stating 'the plaintiff's witnesses have told us that in their estimation every stone of Parash Nath Hill is holy and an object of adoration'. That order noted that it could not mark out particular places as sacred because the tirthankaras 'may have died anywhere on the Hill'. But over the years, courts and administrative bodies have also upheld the rights of Adivasis over the hill. For instance, the community's hunting tradition was noted in a 1911 'cadastral survey', which set out land rights of communities over particular tracts of land. That same year, Maharaj Bahadur Singh, acting on behalf of the Shwetambar Jain community, filed a case in the Patna High Court demanding, among other things, that the entry about the hunt in the cadastral survey be expunged. The judge ruled in favour of the natives, stating that they had a 'prescriptive or customary right' to the hill. He further quoted the 'assistant settlement officer', who had stated that 'the hunting does not seem to me to do any harm to the worshippers of the temples and the hills, as the hunters do nothing which could hurt their feelings'. The petitioners appealed this decision in the highest court of appeal in the British empire at the time. 'The case went up to the Privy Council and it was held that the Santals have the customary right of hunting on Parasnath Hill,' the 1957 Hazaribagh district gazetteer stated. The Jain community continued to try and gain exclusive control over the hill. Court documents show that in 1918, the Seth Anandji Kalyanji Trust, representing the Shwetambar Jain community, paid to gain rights to the hill from local rulers. But these efforts were negated after India acquired independence and became a democracy. Specifically, in 1953, the state of Bihar passed the Bihar Land Reforms Act, which vested rights over the hill with the state government. In the decades that followed, both communities used the hill as part of their customs without any significant disputes arising between them. In 1984, the government granted the area significant protection by forming the Parasnath and Topchanchi wildlife sanctuaries, which included large portions of the hill. The area under protection was widened in 2019, when the ministry of environment, forests and climate change issued a new notification declaring a strip of land 25 km wide around the sanctuaries, amounting to a total of 208.82 sq km, as an 'eco-sensitive zone'. Developments that followed this left both communities worried about their rights over the hill, albeit for strikingly different reasons. In 2019, the environment ministry instructed the state government to promote eco-tourism in the area and develop a 'tourism master plan'. Accordingly, in February 2022, the Jharkhand government launched a tourism policy, under which it stated that Parasnath, along with other sites, would be developed as a religious pilgrimage site. This move led to widespread outrage in the Jain community, which came out in large numbers across the country to protest the proposed changes to the site. 'We were afraid that the promotion of tourism would desecrate the sanctity of the site,' said Amit Jain. In January 2023, under pressure from the protests, the environment ministry issued an office memorandum that stayed all activities on the hill related to tourism. But the memorandum contained another directive that Adivasis argued impinged on their rights over the hill: it instructed the state government to 'strictly enforce' provisions of a clause of the 'management plan' of the Parasnath sanctuary 'which protects the whole Parasnath Hill'. This provision includes a categorical prohibition on the sale and consumption of 'liquor, drugs, and other intoxicants' and 'committing injurious acts to animals'. These prohibitions are in keeping with the Jain tenets of vegetarianism, teetotalism and non-violence towards all living creatures. However, they are in direct opposition to customary Adivasi rituals that require the use of hadiya, or rice beer, and often include the sacrifice of animals like chickens. Thus, the Adivasi community believes that these policies favour the Jain community over them. But the state government did not press forward with the implementation of these directions. It was in this context that the Ahmedabad-based Jain trust, named Jyot, filed the petition in the Jharkhand High Court asking that the directions be implemented. After hearing the petition, the High Court directed the state government to implement the clauses listed in the memorandum. Following this order, Giridih's superintendent of police told Scroll, the number of home guards in the area had been increased to ensure that the court's orders were enforced. As of May 13, they had not received any complaints of the order being violated. But several Adivasis in and around Marang Buru are outraged. 'It's not like we're forcibly entering their temples to perform our rituals,' said Arjun Marandi, a local Adivasi leader from Sohraia village. 'We're doing it on our land, which is far away from their temples.' Referring to the Ahmedabad-based petitioners, Hembrom argued that urban, non-Jharkhandis from outside the state had no right to dictate terms on Marang Buru. 'As Adivasis we were here first,' he said. 'We have co-existed in harmony with the Jain population here so far. How can those sitting in metropolitan cities decide that the hill belongs solely to them?' A group of activists from the area, including Hembrom, filed a counter-petition in the high court on May 5. The petition asserts Adivasis' claims over Marang Buru and seeks the protection of their right to conduct their customary practices and rituals on the hill. E ven as the dispute between the communities plays out, Adivasis argue that their presence on the hill and their rights over it have to a large extent been erased. This is despite the fact that there are far more Adivasis in the region than Jains. According to the 2011 census, Scheduled Tribes form 44% and Jains form 0.6% of the total population in Pirtand block, where Madhuban is located. The eco-sensitive zone also has a large Adivasi population. Giridih's district collector Naman Priyesh Lakra told Scroll that many of the 99 villages located within this region were inhabited by Adivasis. But he noted that the last land survey in the area was conducted in 1911 and that official current data was unavailable. The administration planned to start work on a social profile led by the District Legal Services Authority soon, he added. Meanwhile, in recent years, 'none of the government notifications regarding Parasnath hill have recognised that the place is also sacred to Santals', Hembrom said. Indeed, the recent notifications by the centre and the state government, pertaining to environmental protections and restrictions on tourism on the hill, make no reference to the site as Marang Buru, or mention Adivasis. 'This is despite the fact that multiple Adivasi chief ministers from the state, and even President Droupadi Murmu, have travelled to Marang Buru to pay their respects,' Hembrom said. This was apparent on the route from Parasnath railway station to Madhuban, along which one only sees signboards directing travellers to 'Parasnath hill'. Upon entering Madhuban, one is greeted by a tall ornamental gateway typical of Jain architecture. Inside the town, there are several grand temples, mansions and guest houses, all for Jain pilgrims who visit from across the country. The main pathway that leads to the top of the hill has a tall signboard with a logo of the government of Jharkhand that welcomes visitors to Shikarji Sammed. It is only below this that a much smaller signboard welcomes visitors to Marang Buru. A few steps ahead, a few Sarna flags can be seen near the manjhi thaan. Some activists noted that Adivasis had been edged out of Madhuban by wealthier communities. 'A lot of the land that has been developed in Madhuban originally belonged to the Turi community,' said the activist Bhagwan Kisku. 'But today when you walk through the town, you'll find it difficult to spot a Turi person. There are so many grand mansions there of different sects of the Jain community but the number of locals is very less.' The Jain community's dominance over land in Madhuban is clear atop the hill too. Lakra, the district collector, told Scroll that the Jain community owned only eight decimals of land on the hill. But Jain sacred sites stretch across the 27-km-long parikrama path, or circular pilgrimage path. 'For the longest time there were only two temples on top of Parasnath,' said Kisku. 'But after the 2000s, these grew in number and today there are a total of 32 sacred Jain structures on top of the hill.' He noted that it was not just that Adivasi customs conflicted with the Jain religion, but also the reverse. 'Adivasis worship trees and rocks. Haven't Jains torn down these trees and rocks to build their temples? But nobody thinks of that as an issue,' said Kisku, who is a member of an association called Marang Buru Sansthan, which is affiliated to the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party. Some local leaders from the Jain community sought to downplay the conflict. 'We don't deny that this is an Adivasi area. Adivasis have been living in the forest for thousands of years,' said Amit Jain. 'Of course they have the right to practice their own customs in their homes and sacred sites.' He added, 'The actual community based here is far away from this conflict. It is small leaders who are spreading political propaganda to agitate local people.' But when it came to specific rules and restrictions, it was clear that there was a lack of clarity among the communities, which was breeding resentment. The question of consumption of meat and alcohol on the hill is among the most contentious of these matters. Upon entering the pathway to the peak, one is greeted by large hoardings installed by the Madhuban panchayat, which state that the 'consumption of non-vegetarian food and alcohol is a punishable offence, as per orders from the district administration'. Savita Tudu, the panchayat pramukh of Madhuban, and the sole Adivasi person mentioned on the hoardings, said that the rule only applied to the Jain community's sacred sites and not everywhere on the hill. 'It's possible that Adivasis might give up alcohol and meat but our deities cannot do without them,' she said. 'They are an inherent part of our culture.' Jain, meanwhile, said that tourists to Parasnath hill consumed meat and alcohol in the open, and that it was this that the Jain community primarily opposed. Lakra admitted that it was difficult to enforce the ban in all 99 villages in the eco-sensitive zone. 'It's possible that sacrifice and consumption of meat and alcohol happens here,' he said. 'These are traditions that have been ongoing for a long time. We act if there are complaints.' But the ban infringed on the fundamental rights of Adivasis to practice their own religion and culture, Kisku argued. Further, he said, it was not just Adivasi and Mulvasi, or non-Adivasi native, communities who consumed meat and alcohol. 'There are multiple CRPF camps in Parasnath,' he said, referring to the Central Reserve Police Force. 'Are you telling me that they don't allow the military to eat meat?' The question of animal killing came to the fore in July last year. That month, soon after Chief Minister Hemant Soren was released from prison, he and his wife Kalpana Soren, a member of the Jharkhand legislative assembly, visited the manjhi thaan in Marang Buru. The two performed traditional Santhal rituals there, which included feeding rice to goats. While they were at the site, a priest also sacrificed a goat as part of the rituals. Afterwards, photos of the Sorens with the live goats were soon shared widely on social media, along with information that a goat had been sacrificed at the site. The local Jain community in Madhuban was enraged and took the matter up with the local administration. 'This shouldn't have happened and the government, the block development officer and the sub-divisional magistrate apologised for it,' said Jain. The incident was soon deeply entangled with local politics and tensions between members of the ruling party in the state and those of the BJP, like Sikandar Hembrom. Even as debates over the chief minister's visit were unfolding, on July 24, a local named Dineshwar Mahato filed a first-information report against five unnamed individuals for making photos of the sacrifice go viral. The complaint cited provisions of criminal law that deal with offences such as promoting enmity between groups, defiling a place of worship and disobeying orders of public servants. Following this, police sent letters to five activists – Sikandar Hembrom, Budhan Hembrom, Saheb Ram Murmu, Fagu Marandi and Arjun Hembrom – asking them to present themselves at the Madhuban station. Sikandar Hembrom has not yet presented himself to the police. Though he himself is not opposed to the consumption of meat and alcohol, and animal sacrifice, at the site, he described the case as 'illogical'. 'The FIR is not registered against those who conducted the sacrifice, but against those accused of making photos of the event go viral,' he said. O n May 12 as the full moon lit up the night sky, Santal Adivasis from villages across the Santal Pargana, prepared to celebrate Sendra. In the Marang Buru hills, this celebration was held in defiance of the recent court order. The day began early in Sohraia village, with traditional rituals performed by the naeke, or village priest. By 8 am, almost all the men in the village had emerged from their houses – carrying axes, slingshots and bows and arrows, they marched on toward the hills. Arjun Marandi explained that the festival was essentially a stock-taking exercise of the forest. 'We head out into the forest and spend the whole day there,' he said. 'We don't just bring back animals, but also herbs and plants.' He stressed that the community mostly hunted small animals like rabbits and pigs, and that too in small numbers. 'We don't hunt to finish off a particular animal,' he said. 'We do so as caretakers of the forest.' Sikandar Hembrom noted that participating in the Sendra was seen as a rite of passage for Santal men. 'At times we might not bring anything back from the forest, but it is important that we go inside,' said Hembrom. Marandi said that the traditional worship atop Marang Buru was halted sometime in the 1970s, and that it was only some 30 years later, in the early 2000s, that people decided to revive the site. He argued that it was vital for the community to celebrate Sendra today, given the massive societal changes it was dealing with. 'Today the youth is more familiar handling mobile phones and laptops instead of our traditional hunting and agricultural implements,' he said. 'Sendra is an important festival to ensure the youth remain in touch with our ancestral ways.' This is particularly important, community members argue, given the economic dominance of Jains in the region. In fact, the area's economy was completely reliant on Jain pilgrims, noted Rajiv Pandey, a local journalist. 'It is not Marang Buru that provides a livelihood to Adivasis here, but Jain pilgrims visiting Parasnath Hill,' he said. Amit Jain argued, 'If Jains learn that forbidden activities are taking place here, then they will stop coming and business would shut down.' Many Adivasis resent this dominance of the Jains. 'Be it a religious site or a tourist site, it should be recognised as such for everybody, not just Jains,' said Arjun Marandi. Activists noted that Jains had greater access to legal and administrative resources to fight their battles. 'The Jain community is not fighting us in the open,' said Hembrom. 'They are strong with pen and paper, so they fight in court. Their reach goes up to the central government. We too approach the government with our demands, but they go unheard.'

Time of India

3 hours ago

• Time of India

Students stuck in Israel hope for early exit

1 2 3 4 5 6 Kolkata: Students stranded in Israel hoped for an early exit from the country after Iran escalated strikes on Israel following the US bomber jets striking three nuclear facilities in Iran. The first batch of 160 Indians left Jordan on Sunday. "We are waiting for the next list of evacuees to be published by the Indian embassy in Israel. They are picking up students and other evacuees from different areas and taking them to Jordan," said Sayantan Maiti, a Barrackpore resident who is pursuing research at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. While the first batch reached Jordan by Sunday afternoon, the journey was not bereft of missile threats. The bus had to halt after sirens went off twice. The bus was parked at the nearest public shelter, and the passengers took cover. "There were armed forces on the bus, and the driver was skilled in handling emergency situations. But such a situation always breeds fear. There are long stretches with nothing but fields, where there is no possibility of finding a shelter," said Maiti. On Sunday morning, Priyangana Deb from Kolkata, pursuing post-doctoral research at the Medicine and Health Science Faculty of Tel Aviv University, said: "There could be an escalation of offensive by Iran after the US attack. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 오돌토돌 모공각화증, 자꾸 손대지말고 이렇게 해보세요 현명한소비자 Undo I don't know when my turn will come." Salboni resident Aniruddha Bera, who was initially in two minds about leaving Israel, went to the bus stop on Sunday to see off friends who were picked up from Tel Aviv. "He is a bit tense now after recent developments. We don't think he will be able to get listed before Tuesday," said Asim Bera, his father. Additionally, family members of 100 workers from Nadia are also hoping for their safe return from Israel, where most of them had gone to work as construction workers. According to sources, at least 30 workers from Lalbazar in Betai are currently in Israel. "My sons Sanjib and Sujit are working in Israel. They said missile alerts went off suddenly, and they rushed to shelters. For some days, they have practically been living inside bunkers," said Goshto Charan Biswas, a resident of Betai.

Time of India

4 hours ago

• Time of India

Odisha slams US advisory cautioning travel to state over Maoist threat

1 2 Bhubaneswar: A US travel advisory cautioning its citizens from visiting India citing concerns over sexual assaults and Maoists activities in six states, including Odisha, has come in for criticism from the Odisha govt, which considers it a deliberate attempt to tarnish the reputation of PM Narendra Modi and the nation. "As India emerges as the world's fourth-largest economy, US's conspiracy and false narratives through the travel advisory seem designed to undermine our growing global influence under Prime Minister Modi's leadership. Foreign nations, including the US, are unable to accept and digest India's economic progress and global influence," state law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan said, while rebutting the US claims. The Level-2 advisory issued on June 16, a day after a 20-year-old student was gang-raped by 10 men at Gopalpur beach, stated, "rape is one of the fastest growing crimes in India. Violent crimes, including sexual assault, happen at tourist sites and other locations." The advisory cautions against travel to parts of central and eastern India due to terrorism and Maoist activities. "Attacks against officers of the Indian government continue to occur sporadically in the rural parts of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand that border with Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villas Prices In Dubai Might Be More Affordable Than You Think Villas In Dubai | Search Ads Get Rates Undo Southwest areas of Odisha are also affected," it added. "Due to the changing nature of the threat, US government employees working in India are required to obtain permission prior to travelling to most areas in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Meghalaya and Odisha," the advisory went on to say. Harichandan said while the United States grapples with violent crimes, it chooses to issue "misleading advisory" about India and Odisha. "Trump should be very much aware that violent crimes like riots and atrocities on women are alarming in the US. The Centre and Odisha govt know how to address issues in our country. Trump and foreign countries should not interfere. Ministry of External Affairs will address the travel advisory issue through proper diplomatic channels," the minister said. Regarding security concerns, the minister pointed out that Maoist presence has significantly gone down in Odisha, aligning with the central govt's goal to eliminate their influence across India by March 2026. Addressing the recent Gopalpur beach gang-rape case, he emphasised, "Whenever any crime has occurred in Odisha, the perpetrators were arrested within 24 or 48 hours. Prompt action has already been taken in the Gopalpur gang-rape incident. Six fast-track courts will soon be set up in Odisha to ensure that trials in cases of crimes against women are completed in one month." Odisha Police also rebuffed the US advisory. ADG (law and order) Sanjay Kumar said, "The content of the advisory is false. Odisha is a safe place for visitors and tourists. Odisha Police have been taking strong action against criminals involved in crimes against women. Prosecution and conviction of the accused in such heinous offences is also a focus area of Odisha Police." Meanwhile, apprehending a decline in the arrival of international tourists, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Odisha said, "We urge the Indian embassies abroad to present factual information backed by official statistics about the decreasing LWE activities in Odisha."