Shrine Over Shelter: Indian State Has It's Priorities Wrong

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Shrine Over Shelter: Indian State Has It's Priorities Wrong

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Millions are diverted to build religious shrines in Indian state of Goa by village councils to make money, while villagers await basic amenities like food and shelter. An IndiaUnheard community reporter Devidas Goankar has highlighted this dark story about Goa - a coastal place that is otherwise known to the world as full of sun and fun.

In Goa, panchayat or village councils are the grass root government institutions responsible for developing rural areas. But the panchayat members often embezzle funds meant for development projects. Devidas,  a forest tribal youth who lives in Goa's Cotigao forest area, documents corruption in the local panchayat. 

Cotigao has poor road, transport and other basic civic facilities. To improve this, the panchayat has received millions from the state government. But instead of developing the village, the panchayat has spent most of the money to build a number of temples.

The temples, once open to public, attract thousands of devotees. The caretaker of the shrines is a board of temple trustees who collect the offerings and donations from the devotees. Several of the panchayat members are in the board, so the temples are only helping them get rich. But locals get no benefits.

However, when Devidas asked the panchayat about the details of the money spent on temples, the panchayat refused to do so. So, Devidas  filed an application under the Right to Information(RTI) Act and found  out that more than half of the money allocated for village development was diverted by panchayat.

However, after Devidas filed the RTI, it angered the panchayat members who accused Devidas of provoking the village to rebel. As a result this video took more than 2 months to complete.  Finally Devidas was able to complete it because his community members supported him after they learnt of the fund diversion.

Devidas  and his community members feel, while building a shrine or two is justified,  spending lakhs on them is a gross injustice to them because  the money wasn’t given to panchayat for  shrines, but to provide the community facilities that they need such as better roads, housing, schools and healthcare.

Devidas has received threats from the panchayat members for shooting the video. But he is determined to talk about the issue unless the panchayat has stopped this divertion of development fund and begin spending where it is meant to be spent – development of the village.