Heritage activist Heta Pandit in a to-be-aired short film series, speaks about the proposed double tracking in South Goa and the harmful effects it will have on the residents and their age-old heritage houses.
Heta Pandit began her career as a writer and researcher on heritage as Jt. Hon. Secretary, Indian Heritage Society, Bombay. She co-founded the Goa Heritage Action Group in 2000 and has written 9 books.
Heta is considered an expert on Goan architecture. She also translates Goan literature from the Marathi language into English to enable this genre to reach a wider audience. She is currently working on Grinding Stories Volume II and a translation of Pournima Kerkar’s book Vismrutichya Umbarthyavar, on Goa’s heritage domestic objects and spaces of Goa.
Heta elaborates on what drew her to preserving heritage houses in Goa. “I’ve been in the field of preservation and advocacy of heritage since 1982; first in Bombay (Mumbai) and then in Kerala and in Goa since 1995. I got my big break with the invitation (by Gerard da Cunha) to write the book Houses of Goa. With that, and research, advocacy and awareness campaigns (like the Goa Heritage Festivals and the Fontainhas Festival of the Arts) you can say that we’ve come a long way.” Thanks to Heta, people in Goa are now aware of the wealth and treasure of the heritage homes they live in.
Heta along with architects Poonam Verma Mascarenhas and Raya Shankhwalker started the Goa Heritage Action Group in October 2000 in order to create awareness and bring in some laws that would help preserve priceless heritage.
She gives her opinion on the double tracking by the South Western Railways and the transportation of coal in Goa. “It is a destructive and disruptive policy to accommodate a few at the cost of many. The noise, air and water pollution will cause havoc in the lives of the residents of these villages. High speed trains running along the double tracks are going to cause more physical damage to the heritage houses, health issues to the elderly in the villages and contaminate the water table in the area. Coal is being rejected as a fuel all over the world. When we finally put away the coal wagons, what is the double track going to be? A permanent monument to our momentary foolishness!”
Heta is launching a short film serial on Goa’s heritage properties. She elaborates on the idea behind the project, along with inputs from a local resident, who is an engineer, Max Merces de Souza. “In the villages of South Goa, everything moved at a relaxed pace in the bygone years. As life took on a faster pace, when there came the proposal to build a narrow-gauge railway line through the village, the people welcomed it.” The elders, in their wisdom, decided to give up the footpath and allow the railways to lay a track in its place. However, they still kept a walking footpath or cycle track on either side of the railway line for the use of the village. In the early years of this railway line, there must have been three trains running in a day and these trains were meant to get people to work, back for lunch or half-day breaks and back home at the end of the day.
“The first signs of trouble came with the changing of the narrow-gauge to metre-gauge. This brought in bigger trains, noisier engines and more trains more frequently. The few steps that took you from the railway tracks to your houses disappeared. The pathways on the sides of the tracks where you could cycle or walk vanished. With more trains, heavier train traffic, the fragile earth around your houses began to tremble. There were cracks on your walls and floors as a result of this vibration. You could no longer visit your neighbours across the tracks; you could no longer go to school on your cycle. When the trains began to transport coal in open wagons, they stood on the tracks for hours without moving. If you wanted to cross, you had to go from under the wagons risking life and limb. And because you were left with no choice, you crossed the busy tracks and the trains hooted each time they passed your village. You could not carry on a simple conversation even with your family, within the four walls of your own home. Life became a nightmare.”
She goes on to explain about the damage that will be caused if the double track is laid. “A proposal for a double track railway line by the South Western Railways is the death knell for everything that we stand for today. Beautiful heritage homes, built and refurbished over the past 80-100 years, already under duress, are going to be completely destroyed with the vibrations of the high-speed trains. There are cracks in the walls and floors already even with the metre-gauge. The coal that is currently being transported in wagons is covered lightly with a thin tarpaulin. They tell us that if the wagons are shut tight, the coal will auto-combust and cause a fire. Instead of finding a safer solution, they allow the nuggets of coal to scatter, the fine coal dust to fly around causing respiratory problems, soot on garden plants and on the exterior of over 100 heritage houses. Red markers have already marked the expansion of the railway tracks.”
Heta has raised pertinent questions in her short series. “When they calculate the compensation to be given for the heritage houses that will be affected, how will they evaluate these treasures?” Will they measure the land, this way and that? Will they be able to evaluate the effort put in by the home owners of the past, the craftsmen and the intellectual property that has gone into the building of these houses? Will they see the houses for what they are? That they are crucibles of Goan culture, evidence of Goa’s history? That these houses represent a lifestyle, certain values? That these houses were made with organic, natural materials (stone, lime and wood) and that these materials were all put together to make a harmonious entity? That these houses are the perfect example of climatic adaptation? That they were built to breathe in a hot and humid climate such as ours in Goa? Who can really enumerate the value of these heritage homes?”
“Not only is the peace and tranquility of these villages going to be disrupted, it is going to damage and destroy over 100 heritage houses along the tracks. How can we as a heritage group keep quiet about that? I am doing what I know how to do best, generate awareness; give information, share research and express solidarity with the foot soldiers in the battlefield,” says Heta, emphatically
