PANAJI
The government has decided to hold Shigmotsav parades in Panaji, Mapusa and Ponda in the first week of April.
In the meeting held by the Shigmotsav committee, it was decided to hold parades only in three cities due to the Covid pandemic. Earlier such parades used to happen in eight cities.
The meeting was chaired by Tourism Minister Babu Ajgaonkar.
Tourism Director Minino D’Souza, Panaji Mayor Uday Madkaikar, Traffic SP Arvind Gawas, SP Utkrusht Prasoon and Goa Tourism Development Corporation MD Nikhil Desai were also present at the meeting.
The routes of the parades and traffic management were discussed and the dates of the parades have been tentatively fixed -- Panaji (April 3) and Mapusa (April 4) and Ponda will be finalized within the next 2 days.
It was first decided to hold the parade only at Ponda and Mapusa considering one parade in one district. However, due to request from the Panaji MLA Atanasio Monseratte, CM Pramod Sawant intervened and later it was decided to hold the event in the capital city.
“Government will spend around Rs 54 lakh on prize money and infrastructure. In Ponda, the government will spend around Rs 17 lakh, Panaji Rs 21 lakh and Mapusa Rs 17 lakh,” Ajgaonkar informed.
