Portuguese-era cannonballs found at Goa heritage site; tourism project work halted

Panaji: The ASI has found some Portuguese-era cannonballs at a heritage site in Old Goa, following which the tourism department’s ongoing work there has been temporarily stopped, officials said.
The work had been going on at the site, close to a church, under the central government’s PRASHAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive) scheme to facilitate tourism activities there with the construction of a tourist facilitation centre, a parking lot and other amenities.

The Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) assistant superintending archaeologist, Dr Kishore Raghubans, told reporters on Monday that during the clearance work, some Portuguese-era cannonballs were discovered at the site.

Following the development, the ASI instructed the tourism department to halt the work to allow proper documentation (of the findings) through photography, drawings and reports.