(April 06, 2011) A Church official in India’s south-western Goa State, welcomed on
Monday the state government’s decision to withdraw a levy on Hindu temples the Portuguese
colonial rulers imposed 125 years ago. “Of course, we welcome any such withdrawal,
but it’s a non-issue,” said Pilar Fr. Feroz Fernandes, who edits a Konkani weekly.
He said the levy was withdrawn to show the state’s Congress government was not pro-minorities.
Some groups, especially the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the state’s main
opposition, had protested at the tax on Hindu shrines, even 50 years after the Portuguese’s
departure from Goa. A government official, who wished to remain anonymous, said the
levy, known as “derram,” was collected to defray the cost of supervising temple administration.