Goa has a glorious history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and the government's endeavour is to create the ideal welfare State, working towards happiness and welfare of people as has been done by the great Maratha ruler, stated Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant speaking after garlanding the statue of Shivaji Maharaj at the State-level Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti celebrations organised by the Department of Information & Publicity in association with VP Bandora at Farmagudi, Ponda on Sunday.
The government celebrated Chh. Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti with great pomp and fervour. The Chief Minister garlanded the statue of Shivaji Maharaj, leading the people of the State to pay rich tribute to the great legendary warrior of the country.
The Chief Minister said when we recall Shivaji Maharaj we will remember his valour, an ideal king, statesman, courage and his qualities of well-charactered sacrifice, and objective of people's welfare. Sawant said he is fortunate to be part of the government in undertaking the renovation of the Saptkoteshwar temple at Narve in Bicholim taluka and dedicated to the people which was re-erected by Shivaji Maharaj many years back.
He said not only Shivaji Fort at Ponda but the statue of Late Bhausaheb Bandodkar along with the beautification of the area around Ganesh temple would be undertaken by making special provisions in the budget to enhance the touristic importance of Ponda. While creating New India, the Chief Minister said due care would be taken that Goa marches along in terms of progress and development. Those who intend to make research on life and work of Shivaji Maharaj, a special chair has been established at Goa University, CM said and urged those who intend to do research on the life and work of Shivaji Maharaj to make good use of it.
Minister for Sports & Youth Affairs, Govind Gaude said we need to imbibe upon our children the great values of bravery, determination, sacrifice, social responsibility etc. to acquire welfare and development. "We also need to adopt his qualities of struggle, hard work and dedication towards working for the people. The one who follows the footsteps of a legendary leader like Shivaji Maharaj would be acknowledged by history. Shivaji Maharaj created a people's kingdom by pledging his life and working towards the welfare and happiness of the people. Let's work together to make achieve the dream of a welfare State of Shivaji Maharaj," Gaude said.
The Power Minister Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavlikar said, "We have to derive inspiration from the life and history of Shivaji Maharaj. We have to follow ideals and principles to achieve the welfare of the people."
The keynote speaker, Dr Amar Adke, a divisional editor and writer of Gazetteer Kolhapur Division; Member, Board of Studies, Shivaji University (Department of History), spoke in detail about the life and times of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Yoga guru Ramdev Baba also spoke on the occasion. Tapobhumi Kundai Mathadhish Bramheshanand Swamiji was also present at the function.
A school-level competition on the life of Shivaji Maharaj received a huge response. Leena Pednekar, Raju Naik and Kirtikumar Prabhu were the judges for the competition.
Minister for Water Resources, Subhash Shirodkar, Minister for Agriculture Ravi Naik, Chairman GTDC Ganesh Gaonkar, Chairman PMC Ritesh Naik,, ZP Member Ganpat Naik, Sarpanch VP Bandoda Sukhanand Kurpaskar, Secretary DIP Subhash Chandra, IAS; Information Officer DIP Allwyn Pereira, Asst Information Officers of DIP and others attended the function.
Historical dramas on the life of Shivaji Maharaj have been planned across the State. The day-long programme commenced with a Dhol Tasha Pathak performance by Jagdamb Club, Marcaim and a presentation (singing) of Powadas by Bal Bhavan children. Earlier, Chief Minister garlanded the burst of former Chief Minister of Goa, Late Dayanand Bandodkar at Farmagudi while the other dignitaries offered floral petals.
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