State leaders pay homage to Francis

MAPUSA: The Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, on Friday evening, visited the residence of  former deputy chief minister Francis D’Souza in Mapusa, and paid homage to his childhood friend, cabinet colleague and senior BJP leader, who breathed his last on Thursday while undergoing treatment at a private hospital at Old Goa, and offered condolences to his family.

Besides various politicians including ministers, MLAs, and former MLAs,  bureaucrats and people from different walks of life paid homage to the departed Mapusa MLA throughout the day.

Since Friday morning, heavy rush was witnessed at the former deputy chief minister’s residence in Mapusa, where the mortal remains of the departed MLA were kept for the public to pay homage.

During his visit, Parrikar paid homage, and offered condolences to Francis’ wife and family members.

Others who paid their reverence include Maharashtra Minister for Home (rural), Finance and Planning Deepak Kesarkar, Revenue Minister Rohan Khaunte, TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai, Art Minister Govind Gaude, Speaker Dr Pramod Sawant, Urban Development Minister Milind Naik, Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo, Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha, ex-Mandrem MLA Dayanand Sopte, former Union minister Ramakant Khalap, Padma Shri Dr Suresh Amonkar, GPCC president Girish Chodankar, Datta Kholkar and BJP leader Sanjeev Desai.

Chief Secretary Parimal Rai, Commissioner of Commercial Taxes,  Dipak Bandekar, director of fire and emergency services Ashok Menon, IGP Jaspal Singh, Sanjit Rodgrigues, MGP president Deepak Dhavalikar, Sidharth Kunkalienkar, along with chief minister’s son Abhijat Parrikar also visited D’Souza house for paying

reverence.

Former MLAs including Benjamin Silva, Naresh Sawal, Caetano Silva, Victor Gonsalves, Prof Surendra Sirsat, Ulhas Asnodkar, Pratap Gawas, Dayanand Narvekar, and Agnelo Fernandes, besides prominent citizens including Gurudas Natekar, Anil Hoble, Amarnath Panjikar, Vijay Bhike, Dr Pramod Salgaonkar and Dilip Salgaonkar also paid their

reverence.