Rohit Monserrate was on Monday elected unopposed as the Mayor of the Corporation of the City of Panaji, while Vasant Agshikar was elected as Deputy Mayor. With this, Monserrate has created history by becoming Mayor for a record sixth consecutive term.
Earlier in the day, newly elected councillors of the Corporation took oath before the formal election process. As announced earlier, Monserrate will continue in the chair before contesting the 2027 Assembly elections.
Speaking to media persons after his election, Monserrate said that the mandate given by the people of Panaji is a significant opportunity to serve the city once again. He assured that completing pending works from the previous term and fulfilling promises made during the election campaign would be his top priorities.
Monserrate further informed that discussions have already been held with traffic police officials to identify technical solutions to ease congestion. He also stated that special efforts would be undertaken in the initial phase to ease traffic bottlenecks in the casino belt area of the city.
Following the formation of the new council, various committees were also constituted:
Monserrate will be heading the Standing Committee, with Councilors like Vitthal Chopdekar, Rupesh Halarankar, Uday Madkaikar, Kabir Makhija and Nikita Naik as its members.
The CCP Market Committee will be headed by former Mayor Carolina Po and councillors Asmita Kerkar, Kishore Shastri, Kirti Sakhalekar, Sylvester Fernandes and Vidya Gadkar are the members.
Former Mayor Shubham Chodankar will head the Public Works Committee. Councilors Prasad Amonkar, Karan Parekh, Yutika Jambavlikar, Varsha Shetye and Tukaram Chinnanavar are appointed as the members. The newly elected council is expected to hold its first meeting shortly.
