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Former Goa CM Dr Wilfred de Souza Passes Away

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Former chief minister, Dr Wilfred de Souza passed away after a brief illness at a city hospital on Friday morning. He was 86.

He was admitted to a city hospital affect developing some respiratory problems.

 

Dr Wilfred de Souza was a surgeon and politician from Goa. He had served as Goa’s chief minister on three occasions when he was a member of the Indian National Congress and the Goa Rajiv Congress, during his third tenure.

Political career

In July 1998 Dr de Souza formed the Goa Rajiv Congress as a splinter group of the INC. He was sworn in as Chief Minister for the third time on 30 July 1998 and remained in the post until 26 November 1998.

In 1999, Dr de Souza joined the Nationalist Congress party and was its Goa president from 1999 to June 2009. During this period he was Deputy Chief Minister in a coalition government with the INC from February 2005 to June 2007. He failed to retain his seat in the 2007 assembly election. After he left the party, Gurunath Kulkarni, national general secretary of the Nationalist Congress party accused him of impeding the party’s growth in Goa.

In 2007, he was appointed the Deputy Chairperson of the State Planning Board. He attended “The Navhind Times Ex-NCC Achiever Cadet Awards” ceremony organised by the Ex-NCC Cadets Association and presented awards and certificates to various winners. He also related his experience when he was a member of University Cadet Corps (now NCC) while complementing the award winners.

For the 2012 assembly election he was a member of the All India Trinamool Congress as head of the Goa branch of the party. During the election, he criticised the INC for corruption.

Background

He was born in Kampala, Uganda on 23 April 1927, to Dr Tito Fermino de Souza and Alina Ana Maria de Souza

Dr de Souza has been credited with being one of Goa’s most skilled surgeons and holds a doubleFRCS. He is married to the British-origin nurse Grace.

He is also credited (together with political strategists and allies like Govind Panvelcar) with managing to work out the surprising 1980 first-ever Congress victory in Goa, whose politics from 1963 till 1979 had been dominated by the regional parties, particularly the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.

Educational Qualifications

M.B.B.S. (Bombay University); Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, England; Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh; Honorary Fellow of the International College of Surgeons; Fellow of the Association of Surgeons of India.

Awards and achievements

  1. Commander, Grand Cross of the Order of Dom Infante Henriques – from the Government of Portugal at the hands of the President of Portugal, H.E.Mario Soares;
  2. Dr. B. C. Roy Award – as “Eminent Medical Man & Statesman” from the Medical Council of India at the hands of the President of India, H.E. Shri K.R. Narayanan;
  3. The Silver Elephant Award – for services to Scouts & Guides by the President of India;
  4. Sons of India – award from the society for Advanced Studies in Medical Sciences at the hands of Swami Brijendramandji, Head Ramkrishna Mission;
  5. Jawaharlal Nehru Excellence Award – given by Institute of Economic Studies, New Delhi;
  6. Indira Gandhi Solidarity Award – given by Indian Solidarity Council, New Delhi; Rajiv Gandhi Excellence Award, 1992;
  7. International Gold Star Award – by Industrial Economic Forum, New Delhi; Super Achievers of India Award by Front for National Progress;
  8. Glory of India International Award – by International Friendship Association of India;
  9. Gold Award – by Shiromani Institute;

In addition, he has worked in several hospitals in the UK 1957–1963; Consultant surgeon to Goa Medical College Panjim; Asilo Hospital Mapuca; Hospicio Hospital Margao; Holy Cross Hospital, Mapuca; C.M.M. Memorial Hospital, Panjim.

 

 

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South Goa Advocates’ Association resolves to boycott Margao Trial court

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Margao: South Goa Advocates’ Association resolved to boycott the trial courts in Margao complaining that the premises housing the facility is in a dilapidated condition. After the lawyers decided to boycott the courts, Law Minister Nilesh Cabral, who also holds PWD portfolio, rushed to meet them.

A senior lawyer said as per the resolution taken today in the Extraordinary General Body Meeting, it has been resolved that we will not enter the Margao civil and criminal court building for the entire day tomorrow i.e.13th July 2022 on account of the dilapidated condition of the said building and further as very heavy rainfall warning has been issued by the IMD.

“The Hon’ble PDJ has been requested to instruct all the judges in the Trial Court not to pass any adverse orders on account of non appearance of the advocates,” he said. “The members of SGAA are requested to assemble tomorrow at 9.30 am at the court premises to discuss the further course of action,” he added.

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“First round of Iron Ore mining e-auctioning to be completed in next 3-4 months”

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Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday told the House that first round of auction process of Iron Ore mining leases is proposed to be completed in next three-four months. Sawant was cornered by opposition benches including Leader of Opposition Michael Lobo, Goa Forward party MLA Vijai Sardesai, Independent MLA Chandrakant Shetye on the issue of retrenchment of staff by the mining companies.

The mining industry in the state has come to standstill since 2018 after Supreme Court quashed the mining leases. Sardesai sought an assurance that State government will make it mandatory for the companies, winning the auction, to retain the workforce which is currently working on those mining leases.

The Chief Minister told the House that the first round of auction process is proposed to be completed in next 3-4 months, the experienced workforce available in Goa is expected to get employment opportunities once the mining activity resumes in the state.

“The State will explore the possibility of giving preference in employment to the existing workforce through successful bidders after auction process is completed and mining activity is resumed,” Sawant said.

The Chief Minister said that order to restart mining activity in the State, Government is gearing up for auctioning of mining blocks on priority.

“In order auction the mining blocks expeditiously the State has entered into a MoU with Mineral Exploration Consultancy Limited (MECL), a Government of India enterprise, for providing Geological reports,” he said.

Sawant told the members of the House that the State has decided to engage services of SBICAP Securities Limited for transaction advisory services for preparation of bid documents and conduct of bid process. “The Directorate of Mines and Geology is expected to sign the agreement with SBICAP in couple of days,” he said.

The State has proposed to engage Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited (MSTC) auction platform for conduct of auctioning process, Sawant said adding that a High Powered Committee is being set up to monitor the auction process in a time bound manner.

He said that the Directorate of Mines & Geology has set up a Special Auction Cell to expedite auction process.

“Government has to comply with the statutory requirements and court orders in re-starting mining activity in the State. In this direction, as stated, Government has already taken concrete steps for resumption of mining activity through auction process,” he added.

Sawant said that this will give employment opportunities to the existing experienced workforce. Therefore, there should not be any fear or anxiety in this regard and government is committed in its efforts, he added. (GoaNewsHub)

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Many countries waiting to land their flights in Goa: CM

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Panaji: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that several countries are waiting to sign agreements with Goa to land their flights in the coastal state, which would be possible only after commission of greenfield airport at Mopa in North Goa.

Sawant told the State Legislative Assembly that Goa has agreement with only 18 countries with the existing infrastructure at Dabolim Airport. “There are many other countries which are waiting to sign agreement with Goa, who would be able to do it after Mopa Airport becomes operational,” the Chief Minister said.

He said that only 70 flights land at Dabolim Airport on daily basis as no landing is permitted from 9 am till 2 pm at this facility. Sawant said that after the commissioning of Mopa Airport, the number of flights landing in Goa will touch a figure of 150.

The issue was raised on the floor of the House during Question Hour by Congress MLA Sankalp Amonkar. Amonkar had expressed apprehensions that the commissioning of Mopa Airport will lead to closure of Dabolim Airport, which is located in South Goa.

Sawant said that the State government has given written assurance that Dabolim Airport will not be closed after Mopa Airport is commissioned. He said that Mopa Airport will be commissioned anytime after August 15, 2022.

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