Amid protests, civic body defers naming road after Parrikar

Amid controversy, the municipal council of South Goa town Margao on Thursday deferred its decision to name a two km road after former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar, Goa Forward Party President Vijai Sardesai, a prominent member of the ruling panel in the civic body, said.

Announcing the decision, a day before the naming ceremony was scheduled to take place on Parrikar's birth anniversary on Friday (December 13), Sardesai said that he did not want to give an opportunity to vested interests who were keen on vitiating the atmosphere.

"Some elements are trying to create a controversy about people who are not even (alive). I would not want to further vitiate the atmosphere and further muddy the waters by going ahead with the event," Sardesai told reporters here.

Sardesai said that instead of being drawn into a controversy, the municipal council would instead work on further improving the road from Arlem junction to Ravindra Bhavan.

Last week, angry residents of Margao and its suburb Fatorda had erected road signages dedicated to former leader of Opposition late Jack Sequeira and Goa's best known poet and Padma Shri late Balakrishna Bhagwant alias Bakibab Borkar, while opposing naming the road after Parrikar.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, without naming Sardesai, had also chided the latter for naming minor projects after the former Defence Minister, which Sawant said could ruin Parrikar's legacy.IANS