PANAJI
The Goa Union of Journalists celebrated its 44th Foundation Day at the GUJ office in Panaji recently. Goan journalists first launched the Press Club of Goa, inaugurated on November 28, 1963, by the then Lieutenant Governor of Goa, Daman and Diu, late Mulkraj Sachdev. The Goa Union of Journalists (GUJ) then came into existence on July 26, 1978, with R V Prabhugaonkar as the president and Dilip Deshpande as the secretary. Balaji Gaunekar and Gurudas Sawal took over as the president and secretary respectively the next year. At the GUJ office there was a celebratory cutting of cake and journalists Sandesh Prabhudesai and Shaikh Jamaluddin explained how journalists and journalism has evolved over the years. “On GUJ Foundation Day, it is imperative to remember the services of Flaviano Dias. He took up several cases and didn’t have a life beyond GUJ. There was a huge vacuum once he passed away,” said Sandesh. GUJ president Rajtilak Naik said, “The organisation planned to organise several programmes on the Foundation Day but last year’s plans for a lecture series were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Even this year’s plans of having the GUJ Awards on Foundation Day didn’t come to fruition due to the ongoing state-wide curfew.” GUJ secretary Vasudev Pagi proposed the vote of thanks.
