Goa ex-deputy Speaker Victoria Fernandes dead

Victoria Fernandes, a former deputy Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, died here in the wee hours on Saturday.

She was 85.

"Victoria Fernandes died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Panaji in the wee hours of Saturday," former St Cruz MLA and Fernandes' family friend, Victor Gonsalves, told PTI.

She had served as deputy speaker during 2005-2007.

Fernandes had represented St Cruz Assembly segment in North Goa for four terms from 1994 till 2012 on tickets of regional parties and also as a Congress nominee.

She quit the Congress ahead of the 2012 Assembly elections after denied ticket.

She had also served as a minister in the Congress-led governments in the state and held various portfolios like Agriculture and Fisheries, Tourism, Animal Husbandry, Women and Child Development.

Fernandes was a leader of anti-merger movement supporting the cause of Goa remaining as an independent state during the historic 1967 Opinion Poll.

She had also worked for the cause of traditional fishermen and toddy tappers.