the goan I network
MARGAO
Three-time MP and former Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Shantaram Naik passed away on Saturday morning at his Gogol residence following a massive heart attack.
He was 72 and is survived by wife Beena and son Archit.
Naik complained of chest pain in the morning and was rushed to the Trimurthy hospital, Gogol, but was declared dead. His funeral cortege will leave his Gogol residence on Sunday morning at 10.30 am to his native village Cuncolim for the last rites at the Culvaddo crematorium at 11 am.
The former Lok Sabha MP and two-time Rajya Sabha MP had celebrated his 72nd birthday on April 12 last, before he handed over the GPCC baton to the younger lot in the party.
Born in the historic village of Cuncolim on April 12, 1946, Naik was a lawyer and agriculturist by profession.
Considered a Congress loyalist, Naik started his political activity as a student in 1967 by putting up Congress election campaign posters in public places.
As a member of the eighth Lok Sabha having won the North Goa Lok Sabha seat in 1984, Naik vigorously pursued the demand for Statehood to Goa with then Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi, which ultimately resulting in the passage of the Statehood Bill and grant of Statehood to Goa on May 30, 1987.
As a Member of Parliament, he introduced the highest number of Private Members’ Bills in the Eighth Lok Sabha. During his stint as Rajya Sabha MP from 2005, Naik took up various issues plaguing Goa and Goans.
As a Member of Parliament, Naik was a member of the Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Pension, Law and Justice, Standing committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution and was Member, Consultative Committee on Finance.
As the Secretary AICC), Naik held various positions, including member, Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Member, Committee on Privileges.
He has to his credit a compilation of Law of Town and Country Planning in Goa, 1994.
