The Save Old Goa Action Committee has given the Goa government 15 days to justify or rectify the notified name of the New Pillory at Old Goa, arguing that there is no historical evidence for its official designation as ‘Haat Katro Khambo’ or ‘Pelourinho Novo’. The committee has also questioned the decision to separately declare the structure protected when it already lies within the buffer zone of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Committee members said they had submitted objections to the Directorate of Archaeology and the Archaeological Survey of India’s Goa Circle when suggestions were invited before the notification. They said their objections had not been adequately addressed before the name was notified.
“There is no historical evidence of this pillar being called Haat Katro Khambo (Pelourinho Novo), yet the government has notified it,” committee member Peter Viegas said, according to the Times of India. He demanded that the government prove the claim associated with the name within 15 days or change the designation to New Pillory or Pelourinho Novo.
The naming dispute places a local heritage-management decision within the wider administrative framework governing Old Goa, one of India’s most significant historic urban precincts. The committee’s objection is not limited to terminology: it challenges the evidentiary basis used for identifying a protected monument and the process through which the notification was issued.
Viegas also criticised people who celebrated the notification alongside Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. The committee described the notification as an election-related move, a claim that was made by the committee and not independently established in the report.
Resident Vincent D’Silva said the decision appeared to be part of an attempt to distort history and create social disharmony. He referred to an earlier controversy involving Gautam Khatter, who, according to his statement, had tried to portray St Francis Xavier as a terrorist. D’Silva said that episode had failed to gain public acceptance and drew a parallel with the dispute over the New Pillory’s name.
The committee’s demand now places the government and heritage authorities on a 15-day timeline to respond to the historical evidence question or reconsider the notified designation. The report does not state whether the Directorate of Archaeology, the ASI’s Goa Circle or the state government has issued a response to the objections.
