Goemkarponn Desk
CALANGUTE: Calangute Village Panchayat Sarpanch Joseph Sequeira today said that the Panchayat had just send a letter to Shivswarajya organisation to remove the statue and that it was never mentioned that it would be demolished.
“I know who is Shivaji Maharaj, even I’ve learnt about him in school. I’m not against Shivaji Maharaj. We had only sent a letter to Shivswarajya organization to remove the statue, we never said we will demolish it,” said Sequeira
He further said that the statue is put at the junction which is a accident prone zone and that why we were not in favour of it. I even told them that we will build a fort of Shivaji Maharaj like in Farmagudi but at the side of the road.
“I am not against Shivaji Maharaj. I have studied chapters of Shivaji in Marathi school. But as per a Supreme Court order statues cant be installed on major district roads… So we were forced to issue a notice of its removal,” Sequeira said.
“My intention was not to hurt anybody’s religious sentiments, but if anyone has been hurt then I apologise. I have withdrawn the notice,” also said.
Following the incident wherein shiv premis had damaged panchayat property Sarpanch Joseph sequeira has filed a police complaint against the attack and damaging the panchayat property.
Tensions prevailed in North Goa’s Calangute after a group of 200 people surrounded panchayat office and threw stones at the office of Calangute Panchayat in Goa on Tuesday after its order to remove the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj installed on the roadside.
