Shahin Bepari Lambe
Panaji
After more than a year of uncertainty over its future, the Public Astronomical Observatory in Panaji is likely to be temporarily shifted to the PWD building at St Inez, next to the Caculo Mall. The move will take place within the next fortnight, said Association of Friends of Astronomy (AFA), Goa.
“We were even offered a place at the bus stand, but we rejected it as the location was not suitable because of continuous light pollution. We had requested that space be allotted either at Altinho or within Panaji city. Finally, the government has decided to shift us to the new upcoming building at St Inez,” said AFA president Satish Nayak.
He said that some internal work such as electricity and furnishing is still pending at the new location and that once completed, the observatory will be shifted.
“We are following up with the Department of Science and Technology on the matter and packing at the Junta House observatory is almost complete. We are now waiting for the green signal,” Nayak said, adding that their efforts to identify a permanent location, however, continue. Nayak said a meeting with PWD officials was held last week and the feedback received was positive.
He said that the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and the PWD Minister Digambar Kamat have supported the relocation of the Public Astronomical Observatory to St Inez.
The observatory received a formal notice from the North Goa Collectorate in April 2025 directing it to vacate its premises at Junta House within a month due to safety concerns arising from the dilapidated condition of the building. Established in 1990, the facility is run voluntarily by AFA, Goa, a registered society supported by the Department of Science, Technology and Waste Management.
For more than four decades, the observatory has functioned from the seventh-floor terrace of Junta House along the 18th June Road. AFA houses Goa’s first fully automated observation dome and operates a 14-inch automated Celestron telescope that enables visitors to observe distant planets such as Uranus and Neptune.
