MARGAO
Senior Congress MLA and former chief minister Digambar Kamat on Tuesday said it is the need of the hour to build the seven pillars reflecting the seven arrows of Lord Parshuram emphasised in the Goa Vision 2035 Document prepared by the Goa Golden Jubilee Development Council under the Chairmanship of eminent Goan, Dr Raghunath Mashelkar.
Without going into the controversy triggered by former Goa RSS chief Subhash Velingkar about whether Lord Parashuram or St Francis Xavier should get the title of Goencho Saib, Kamat appealed to all to work together to build Suramya, Susanskrut, Santulit, Suvidya, Samrudha, Sushasit and Swanandi Goa.
Extending his greetings on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya & Eid ul-Fitr which also coincided with Lord Parshuram Jayanti on Tuesday, he said it is very much significant that the Goa Vision 2035 Document prepared by luminaries in various fields had the illustration on its cover page of "Lord Parshuram" done by a Canada-based Goan Mel D'Souza in Fr Nascimento Mascarenhas' book.
“As Goa commemorated 50 years of Liberation in 2011, I got an opportunity to constitute the Goa Golden Jubilee Development Council comprising of experts like Dr Ragunath Mashelkar, Dr Vijay Bhatkar, Dr Anil Kakodkar, Arch Charles Correia, Prof Madhav Gadgil, Dr Ligia Noronha, Ashank Dessai, Dr Vijay Kelkar, Prof Errol D'Souza, Prof Vithal Sukhtankar, Dr P S Ramani, Prof Dilip Deobagkar, Dr Satish Shetye, Raj Paroda & others to prepare a Roadmap for Goa. The council prepared the document to create a land that strikes a balance between their traditional values and modern opportunities”, he said.
He added: “The essence of the Goa Vision 2035 Document is its focus on Goans known for their multicultural, peaceful, contended-yet-adventurous spirit, who are in an eminent position to aim high and far. We all need to work in unison to transform Goa into serene & beautiful, cultured, balanced, knowledge-centric & enlightened, affluent, well-governed and happy Goa”.
While underscoring the need to keep aside everything else and focus on transforming Goa into a Model State, Kamat said: “We need to set our priorities right and act sensibly. We need to preserve the fabric of communal harmony, tradition & heritage”.
