Completed bridge which villagers feared needed human sacrifice: Parrikar

Citing successes of BJP governments in Goa in creating infrastructure, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday recounted how he managed to successfully complete a bridge project so jinxed that villagers even hinted that a human sacrifice might be needed.

Addressing a party meeting in Ponda assembly constituency, he said that after becoming Chief Minister of Goa for the first time, he made an announcement in 2001, that the incomplete Siolim-Chopdem bridge would be ready in six months.

"Some days later some people from Mandrem met me and said 'Bhai, you have made a good announcement, that the bridge should be completed soon, but it appears, that it is calling for a narabali (human sacrifice), therefore the pillar has leaned over'.

"I told them, if you want to, you can sacrifice a rooster, but I will not give you any permission for anything beyond that and that there was no need for sacrifice. All that needs to be done is pull the pillar straight up and in order to finish the job. In six months, the bridge was ready," he said.

The former Goa Chief Minister also said that in his first tenure, 14 bridges had been built.

--IANS

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