The Goa Foundation Mourns the Victims of the 2025 Sirigao Jatra, Warns of Larger Crisis Ahead

The Goa Foundation Mourns the Victims of the 2025 Sirigao Jatra, Warns of Larger Crisis Ahead

Sirigao, Goa 4 May – 2nd May 2025:
The Goa Foundation has expressed deep sorrow over the tragic loss of seven lives during the annual Shree Devi Lairai Jatra held in Sirigao on 02 May 2025. The incident, believed to be caused by a stampede amidst the massive turnout of over thousands of devotees, this has triggered widespread concern and an official investigation. Notably, the district Collector was absent when the stampede took place.

Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant visited the injured and offered condolences to the victims’ families. However, the Goa Foundation has sharply criticized the Chief Minister, urging him to reflect not only on the lives lost in the stampede but also on the gradual destruction of Sirigao and the historic Devi Lairai temple due to rampant mining activity.

Devi Lairai, symbolized by a kalash of water, came to Sirigao for its once-bountiful natural springs, making the village a vital part of Goa’s agricultural wealth. But decades of mining have ravaged the landscape. Two-thirds of the village’s land and all its natural springs have vanished. The cramped settlement now struggles to sustain even its cultural traditions, with no productive land and persistent drought during the monsoon.

In 2022, instead of initiating restoration, Dr. Sawant—also the Minister of Mines—reportedly issued Letters of Intent to mining companies Vedanta Ltd., Rajaram Bandekar, and Salgaoncar Shipping. These granted rights to extract leftover minerals from within the very lands on which the temple and settlement stand.

Although Dr. Sawant initially denied knowledge of the settlement’s location within lease boundaries, he later acknowledged the oversight in the Goa Assembly. Despite this, in March 2024—during the election code of conduct—he signed a lease agreement handing mining rights beneath the temple and settlement to Vedanta Ltd., actions the Goa Foundation sees as deliberate and destructive.

The state government has declared a three-day mourning period for the seven devotees lost in the stampede, none of whom were residents of Sirigao. The Goa Foundation warns that the greater loss—the ecological, cultural, and spiritual death of Sirigao—is yet to come and may remain ignored until it’s too late.

As the Foundation stated, “Today’s politicians destroy not just the quality of life of the present generation, but all prospects for future generations as well.”

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