PONDA
People in Ponda were stunned to hear about the sudden demise of former Ponda MLA and ex-DySP Lavoo Mamledar in Belagavi on Saturday afternoon.
News of the former MLA’s death spread like wildfire, as people expressed shock to learn that Mamledar had passed away following an altercation with a cab driver.
People recalled Mamledar as a committed police official, who had a close connect with the people of all sections in society. Mamledar is survived by his wife and two daughters.
Having completed his BSc from Chowgule college in Margao, Mamledar began teaching at the Almeida School in Ponda and at a high school in Savoi-Verem.
While serving as a teacher, Mamledar was selected as a sub-inspector in the Goa Police. He also worked in Belgaum for a few months.
Mamledar was later promoted as police inspector and then as deputy superintendent of police.
During his police service, Mamledar was posted in different police stations, including Valpoi, Vasco, Margao, Sanguem and Ponda. Locals recalled that he was transferred to the reserve force a number of times, but did not succumb to pressures of politicians and senior officers.
Power Minister and Marcaim MLA Sudin Dhavalikar and Lavu Mamledar were close friends. At the insistence of Dhavalikar, Mamledar resigned as DySP in 2007 and contested assembly elections from Ponda constituency on the MGP ticket, but lost by about 2,000 votes.
Mamledar was not deterred and contested the 2012 assembly elections, where he defeated Ravi Naik.
After being elected as MLA, Mamledar served as the president of the Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir in Ponda and the chairperson of the Handicrafts Corporation. Ravi Naik, however, returned to power after defeating Mamledar in the 2017 assembly elections.
In 2022, Mamledar unsuccessfully contested elections from Marcaim constituency on the Congress ticket against his close friend Sudin Dhavalikar.
