Panaji: A team from the department of archives and archaeology (DAA) inspected the site of Casa da Polvora, a protected monument under its charge, following a complaint of construction activity in its precincts at Panelim.The site comprises a long river-facing wall running east to west along Old Goa-Panaji road with an ‘embedded cross’ at the centre. Years ago, the beautification carried out by a local institution had already impacted the visual integrity of the historic monument.The present intervention on the wall’s western side from near the cross has left it heavily concretised. A plaque that described the history of the monument is hardly visible after the illegal construction activity.With DAA initiating the process to investigate the encroachment, it has submitted a complaint to various authorities for action. “The collector, Old Goa panchayat, the police and other authorities have been approached in pursuance of the matter,” a source said.Despite a complaint from an activist, who noticed construction material dumped at the site last month, the work had continued for a few days.In recent weeks, the protected heritage site has sprung into the limelight after the state govt admitted that the monument was recorded under an incorrect survey number.In reply to a starred question by MLA Cruz Silva during the assembly session in Sept, chief minister Pramod Sawant, as the archaeology minister, had informed that examination of the bhunaksha map (of Department of Survey and Land Records) and revenue records revealed a discrepancy in the survey number.A process to establish the monument’s precise location in the official records has been initiated.In just over a month, the construction activity has followed at the sprawling site of the 17th-century gunpowder factory on Old Goa’s western border.Development activity on its periphery and partly on site, including a multi-dwelling-unit project, has reduced it to a shrunken patch from its historic status in its heyday.When construction activity began, a couple of decades ago, on its western side, huge millstones were found at the site. The Portuguese had imported the unique millstones from Belgium to crush the ingredients at its gunpowder factory, according to a study by Abhijit Ambekar, an ASI official, and others.The millstones were utilised for mashing the ingredients: saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal for the explosive material, Ambekar said.The Portuguese also acquired basalt on a mass scale to decorate the facades and windows of churches, convents and other secular structures from Dharavi (Uttan) located to the south of Bassein fort (Vasai) in Mumbai during the 16th and 17th centuries.
