St. Augustine’s tower braving monsoon

Arrival of monsoon is usually happy news for everyone, but for an archaeology practitioner it is a nightmare, particularly those who are in-charge of the world heritage centres. St. Augustine's Tower in Old Goa is one such centre where the caretakers of it fear the fall of this world heritage centre every monsoon.

The remains of the tower are so fragile that it can comedown anytime.

Though the experts in the Archaeological Survey of India don't say that the tower may find the monsoon tough on it, they agree that during the last few years the remains of the tower, the tallest on the Eastern side of the site, have weathered badly and the strength of the remains has taken a severe beating.

The local group of conservationists who opposed concrete flooring on the site sometime back told DNA that with the arrival of every monsoon the structure gets weaker every time. The local ASI officials do visit the place but they can only act as per the norms that govern the maintenance of the heritage structures.

“Under ASI ambit there are heritage structures that are very old and have glorious architecture, they are very fragile as they are hundreds of years old, but there is nothing that can be done immediately, the structures will have to be analysed before being repaired,” ASI regional director, Dayalan, said.

“Before the repair, We have to check the strength of the material, find the same grade of material with same texture and learn about the architecture, he said.