At 75, Anil Salgaoncar breathes his last in S'pore

THE GOAN NETWORK | JANUARY 02, 2016, 12:00 AM IST

MARGAO: Goa's mining baron and former MLA Anil Salgaoncar passed away on Friday morning in Singapore. He was 75.

Born on 26 December, 1940, the eldest son of Late Vasudev Salgaoncar, Anil had celebrated his 75th birthday in Singapore. The end came on Friday after he turned ill and is learnt to have been hospitalised in Singapore itself. Thereafter, his family joined him in Singapore, highly placed sources informed.

Popularly known as Anilbab, his business interests included mining, earthmoving machinery, in addition to some business establishments in the State. His interests also spread to the media world, when he owned Marathi Daily Rashtramat, which had subsequently closed its operations. He conducted his business operations from Salgaoncar Chambers located in the heart of Margao city.

The late Anil has two siblings --- Shivananand and Dattaraj.

He also had a stint in politics. While he lost the Assembly polls in the year 2002 from Sanvordem constituency, he had romped home in 2007 as an independent from the same constituency, defeating the current State BJP president Vinay Tendulkar.

His sons - Sameer and Arjun - also dabbled in politics. Both had unsuccessfully contested the 2012 Assembly polls from Mandrem and Sanvordem constituencies respectively.

Anil Salgaocar is also survived by his wife Lakshmi and two married daughters - Chandana and Purnima, besides his two sons - Sameer and Arjun.

Sources, however, could not throw much light on funeral schedule.

CM offers condolences: Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Friday condoled the demise of Anil Salgaoncar. Recalling the contributions Salgaocar made in the field of industry, economics, politics and social welfare, Parsekar said he was also instrumental in addressing the problems of the people residing in the mining belt.

With the demise of Anil Salgaoncar the State has lost a great industrialist, politician and social worker, he said.

Datta Naik (businessman): “Anilbab was one of the most dynamic businessman I have seen. He had a razor sharp intelligence and was quick in taking decisions and ruthless in execution. I met him several times. He had a sharp memory, and, being an erudite, voracious reader, he could quote from literature. He had a sense of humour. Basically, he was a good

friend.

Narayan Bandekar (GCCI President): "Both of us started our career in mining, more or less at the same time while also starting the process of taking forward the family business of mining. Young Anilbab, as he was popularly known, was a very dashing and innovative businessman who was never averse to taking risks and facing challenges. He helped in expanding, modernising and integrating the family's core business of mining.

"Coming from almost the same locality in Vasco, I got to know him from close quarters. I learnt many good things about conducting the mining business from him. We did not meet much after Anilbab parted ways with his father and brothers and started his own mining business."

S Sridhar (Executive director of GMOEA): "I’ve worked with Anil Salgaoncar for several years as he was the vice-president of the association and later also its president. He was a great visionary as he always had lot of ideas and schemes to help the industry. For instance, the idea of Panaji port came from him and I think it has really been good for trade.”

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