PANAJI
Former Panaji Mayor Ramesh Silimkhan (85) passed away in the early hours of Saturday.
He had been ailing for the last couple of years and died while undergoing treatment at the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC), Bambolim.
Silimkhan was the mayor of the erstwhile Panjim Municipal Council (PMC) before the capital city’s civic body was elevated to a Corporation in 2004.
He held the post for a full five-year term from 1995-96 to 2000.
A teacher by profession, Silimkhan also dabbled in State-level politics and contested Assembly elections twice, albeit unsuccessfully, ending as the runner-up on both occasions.
The first time he contested was in 1989 from Taleigao, which was newly carved out in the post-Statehood delimitation process from portions of Panaji and St Cruz constituencies.
On an MGP ticket, Silimkhan ended as the runner-up to the late Somnath Zuwarkar of the Congress.
More than a decade later, he contested from the Panaji constituency in 2002 on a Congress ticket.
Here too, Silimkhan lost, being the runner-up to the late Manohar Parrikar of the BJP.
It was an election that Parrikar won with the thinnest of all margins in his six wins from Panaji.
