Civilian war memorial to come up in Goa
Five decades after they laid down their lives for the liberation of Goa from the Portuguese rule, a civilian war memorial would come up soon to commemorate the Indian soldiers' sacrifice.
"We are scouting for a suitable place to set up this memorial, which will be located in a civilian area," Capt (Retd) Venugopal Nair, Secretary of the RSWB told reporters."We are looking for a suitable place in and around Panaji," he said.
The Rajya Sainik Welfare Board (RSWB), which takes care of 2,300 retired military men and widows in Goa, and is headed by state chief minister Digamber Kamat, this year decided to set up a civilian war memorial saluting Indian Army's soldiers who laid their lives to free Goa from Portuguese rule. Codenamed 'Operation Vijay', the 36-hour-long military exercise to liberate Goa from Portuguese rule in 1961 had left four brave-hearts martyred and equal number injured.
The armed action, involving air, sea and land strikes, ended 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule in Goa. As per the official records in Goa, the 36-hour-long action had left Major S S Sidhhu, Captain V K Sahagal, Sepoy Mansingh and Daffier Suljitsingh, all from Goa, were killed.
Besides them, the memorial will also salute Indian soldiers from Goa who have sacrificed their lives for the country post-liberation, Nair added. The civilian war memorial Sepoy will honour Tukaram Gawas was killed in 1965 Indo-Pak war, Lieutenant J J Rane died in 1971 Pak war, Lieutenant Narendra Mayekar died fighting ULFA militants, Sepoy Mahesh Binnar who died in J&K and Sepoy Ramchandra Shinde who died in anti-insurgency operation.
