Mural of late Goa CM Parrikar adds colour to Mapusa-Calangute road

A mural of the late Manohar Parrikar former chief minister of Goa and Union defence minister was inaugurated by Calangute MLA Michael Lobo at Parra on Wednesday evening The area on MapusaCalangute road where the tiled mural was inaugurated in the presence of nearly 800 residents and had been beautified by the sitting MLA Lobo will now be known as Manohar Parrikar JunctionldquoThe area was lying abandoned in a messy condition as large thick bushes had grown and it looked very awkward So I decided to do something for our visionary leader Manohar Parrikar and contacted residentsrdquo said Lobo who is following the footprints of Parrikar in his political work that is being appreciated by people of his constituencyUtpal Parrikar son of Manohar Parrikar flanked by his paternal uncles Avdhut left and SureshldquoPeople from all communities joined hands to make this junctionrdquo said Lobo who added ldquoIrsquove conducted the inauguration ceremony of Manohar Parrikar Junction and the installation of St Anthonys statue at Salis Waddo Parra I am honoured by the presence of chief guest Sulakshana Sawant guest of honour M S Bitta Ji keynote speaker Sadguru Patil MLA of Siolim constituency Delilah Lobo Sarpanch of Parra Panchayat Chandanand Harmalkar Deputy Sarpanch Daniel Lobo the Parrikar family and all supporters of Manohar Parrikar BhairdquoThe event was attended by Parrikarrsquos family members including his son Utpal and brothers Avdhut and Suresh ldquoWe are honoured that the MLA sarpanch and deputy sarpanch have recognised the efforts of my father and made Manohar Parrikar Junctionrdquo Utpal told middayMLArsquos initiativesLobomdashwho runs many businesses and has been supporting the people of his constituency by giving them free ambulance services and medical camps besides fulfilling other basic needs such as installing household toiletsmdashis one of the richest politicians in Goa and his development work is being widely appreciated Of late Lobo removed all the encroachment on a 10km stretch of MapusaCalangute Road ldquowithout acquiring any landrdquoMichael Lobo MLA CalanguteldquoThe road was really in a bad shape as the encroachment had reduced its width to 45 metres I took the initiative to remove the encroachment and today we have the width up to 145 metres with a divider at some placesrdquo Lobo told midday ldquoToday the footpath is free of encroachment and it looks so beautiful that residents had brought in kandeel lanterns from their houses during Diwali and the entire stretch looked amazingly beautiful Everyone loved the developmental workrdquo said Lobo whose wife Delilah Lobo is an MLA from the adjacent Siolim constituencyAntiencroachment driveAt the time when extended parts of houses were razed to remove the encroachment Lobo said people were unhappy ldquoThey had also approached local court and filed cases against me to derail my developmental work But I did not give up and continued doing things the way I had been doing them for the citizens of Calanguterdquo he added Lobo would be present on the site at the time of the antiencroachment drive ldquoI would notice the level of damage in the houses that had encroached upon the footpath and roadrdquo he saidldquoNot only did I remove the encroachment but I also ensured that partly razed houses were properly repaired So I contacted all the hotels located along the sea beaches and got them engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility CSR to generate funds for the repair workrdquo Lobo added ldquoThe antiencroachment drive was done successfully and the road was widened for smooth running of traffic without any land acquisition This was welcomed by one and all in the areardquo he saidRise to the topLobo told midday that his childhood was fraught with challenges ldquobut I was always a dreamer and wanted to do something bigrdquo ldquoAt the age of 13 I was a dishwasher at a hotel in Goa But I was later promoted to a waiter before being promoted to an assistant managerrdquo he claimed ldquoSince there was a high footfall of foreign tourists at the hotel the customers would always give me tips Since my childhood was challenging so when I started to earn from the hotel I would go to my school and give plenty of gifts to the students so that they did not feel bad for want of anythingrdquo Lobo addedldquoIt always gave me immense pleasure to help people Later after I grew up people pushed me into politics and they made me win this constituency So with the help of developmental work I am giving back to the citizensrdquo he added Lobo has been encouraging students sports enthusiasts etc ldquoPeople did not have toilets in their houses So using CSR funds I got them made and it cost over Rs 1 lakh to build each toilet People will like the development workrdquo he addedldquoToday Manohar Parrikar Junction has been inaugurated on the MapusaCalangute road where his tiled mural has also been unveiled People are liking it and taking selfies I have learnt a lot from Parrikar and have been following his footprintsrdquo Lobo said Today the legislator runs four hotels including one in partnership and owns 10 villas that are rented out ldquoTwo hotels are still under constructionrdquo added Lobo who further stated ldquoI am the highest taxpaying politician in Goardquo