The Goa government on Tuesday announced that it was temporarily putting on hold the work on the proposed tourist amenity centre at Old Goa heritage site after the ASI found some Portuguese-era cannonballs.

The work won’t continue until clearance is granted by the Archaeological Survey of India and church authorities approve it again, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte told the Assembly, two days after some citizens protested against the project claiming “a mall is being constructed at Old Goa, a UNESCO protected heritage site”.

The tourist amenity centre is coming up near a church, under the central government’s PRASHAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive) scheme to facilitate tourism activities. This issue was raised in the House through a calling attention motion by BJP MLA Rajesh Phal Desai and St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar. The legislators raised concerns after some citizens on Sunday protested against the project claiming “a mall is being constructed in Old Goa, which is a protected heritage site by UNESCO”.

“The project work is currently put on hold after ASI found cultural deposits in the form of cannonballs while cleaning the proposed site,” Khaunte said.

He stressed that the facilitation centre construction work started only after securing approval from ASI and consulting church authorities.

The minister said the proposed facility houses a building with a lower ground floor and a ground floor with facilities created for tourists.

Speaking about the protests, the minister pointed out that various works of Rs 300 crore were undertaken in Old Goa during the recently-held exposition of relics of St Francis Xavier. “Nobody opposed the implementation of works earlier. The current facilitation centre is coming up at the same place where the exposition secretariat was built,” he said.

ASI assistant superintending archaeologist, Dr Kishore Raghubans, told reporters on Monday that during the site clearance work, some Portuguese-era cannonballs were discovered.

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.