Parrikar memorial foundation stone to be laid on Dec 13

The foundation stone for a memorial dedicated to Goa chief minister late Manohar Parrikar would be laid here on December 13, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Wednesday.

Parrikar, who also served as the country's defence minister, died on March 17 this year at the age of 63.

"The foundation stone for the 'smriti sthal' in the name of Parrikar would be laid at the Miramar beach here on December 13, the late BJP leader's birth anniversary," Sawant told PTI.

After Parrikar's death, his final rites were also performed at the Miramar beach located in the state capital.

Sawant chaired a high-level meeting on Tuesday to finalise the architect and design for the memorial.

He said the design of the Mumbai-based firm UCJ Architecture and Environment was selected for the memorial.

The Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) will be executing the memorial's work, Sawant added.

While the state government is yet to make public details of the proposed memorial project, sources said it will showcase the life of Parrikar.

A memorial dedicated to Goa's first chief minister late Dayanand Bandodkar is already set up at the Miramar beach.

Parrikar, who enjoyed a man-next-door image in the politically-volatile Goa, served four times as chief minister of the coastal state and had a three-year stint as defence minister in the previous Narendra Modi-led cabinet.

He became chief minister of Goa for the first time on October 24, 2000, but his tenure lasted only until February 27, 2002.

On June 5, 2002, he was re-elected and served another term as chief minister till January 2005.

He also served as the CM from 2012 to 2014 and later from March 2017 until his death in March this year.

In November 2014, he was offered a ministerial berth in the then Narendra Modi-led Cabinet at the Centre. He remained in the Union cabinet till 2017, when his party failed to garner a majority in the Goa Assembly polls.

He returned to Goa in March 2017 and managed to woo regional outfits like the Goa Forward Party and the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party to support him to form the state government.