TEAM HERALD
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BICHOLIM: The State government on Wednesday decided to change the name of Sanquelim to Sakhali, thereby doing away with the Portuguese name of the town.
Welcoming the government’s move to identify the town by its pre-colonial name, Sanquelim MLA Dr Pramod Sawant has now asked the government to revert the names of other places to their pre-colonial names.
It may be recalled that in a letter dated April 14, 2011, the Sanquelim Municipal Council (SMC), under the then chairmanship of Anand Naik, had asked the North Goa collector to change the name of the city from ‘Sanquelim’ to ‘Sakhali’.
The name ‘Sanquelim’, stated the letter, was a distortion by Portuguese and needed to be changed.
Speaking to Herald, former SMC chairman Anand Naik has expressed satisfaction over the government’s decision to change the name of the town.
“We had requested the government for a change in name and we are satisfied that the government has done it. It is always better late than never. There were cases when the letters used to go to Sanguem due to the similarity of names,” informed Naik.
When contacted, Dr Pramod Sawant confirmed that the government had decided to change the name of the town.
“Sakhali is a Marathi word, which actually means link, and this town is a link between Bicholim and Valpoi,” said Dr Sawant.
“I had put forward the issue in the assembly and it was the wish of the people. It is a good decision and we all welcome it. We demand that the government should also change the names of other places so that they are in line with their original names,” added Dr Sawant.
