PANJIM: Fifty first death anniversary of Goa’s first chief minister was observed across the state on Monday. Bandodkar died in office on 12 August 1973 at the age 62. He was seen as a leader of the Bahujan Samaj and worked for upliftment of the downtrodden. Bandodkar laid the foundation for the development of Goa by building primary schools and primary health centres in villages, introducing the concept of Tourism Hostels, industrial estates etc, on which subsequent chief ministers expanded. In his initial years, he propagated the merger of Goa with Maharashtra and Marathi as the official language of Goa.
Dayanand Bandodkar was chief minister thrice during his little over 9 year rule after the Liberation of Goa. In his first terms her served from 20 December 1963 and resigned on 2 December 1966, to make way for the 16 January 1967 opinion poll.
Then he served a full term from 5 April 1967 to 23 March 1972.
His third term from 23 March 1972 was truncated on 12 March 1973, after just one year and five months in office. He was succeeded by his daughter Shashikala Kakodkar as the second chief minister of Goa.