the goan I network
PONDA
A huge crowd thronged the streets of Ponda to witness the carnival parade with different floats displaying various social issues from water scarcity to formalin in fish.
Ponda MLA and former chief minister Ravi Naik kicked off the carnival float parade in the presence of Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar, PMC chairperson Pradip Naik and other councilors.
The main attraction at the parade was a float presented by a group ‘Boys of Ilha de Rachol’ that brought to fore the recent fears over the formalin issue. The float was titled “Say no to Formalin” and drew an applause from the crowd.
There were other floats too with messages on ‘save water’, grow more coconut trees, ‘Goenkarponn’, that were witnessed by spectators.
The parade that started from city, concluded at Tisk-Ponda with chants of ‘Viva Carnival’ reverberating along the route as youths danced to western music. Konkani and English tracks also entertained the crowd.
It may be recalled that last year the parade was wrapped in ninety minutes, while this year too it was wrapped for shorter period -- forty minutes.
