MARGAO: The Carnival celebrations in Margao will start on ‘Fat Saturday’, February 22 with Intruz being held at the Municipal building followed by the float parade that will be held on Sunday February 23. Interestingly, the parade will follow the old route of starting from Holy Spirit square and ending at Municipal square even though this move has angered the councillors from Fatorda who boycotted the press briefing on Wednesday.
Chairman of the Margao Carvinal Committee Arthur D’Silva briefing media persons said the Tourism Department is fully supporting the carnival parade and added that necessary permission from Collector and other authorities will be obtained by the government for the committee.
Incidentally only 12 councillors were present for the media briefing and what was significant is that the secretary of the Margao Carnival Committee Lyndon Pereira was conspicuous by his absence and nobody had any explanation for his absence.
While Arthur said all councillors were invited for the media briefing, former Chairperson Babita Angle, while speaking to media persons, said Arthur had failed to pay heed to the councillors demand that the float parade continue in Fatorda.
“Instead of honouring the councillors demand, he has shifted to float parade to Margao from where it was taken to Fatorda because of ease in organizing it there,” she said and added that the councillors from Fatorda will also boycott the carnival float parade in Margao on February 23.
While earlier Margao Carnival Committee used to have Intruz programmes at the Municipal building on three days namely Sunday to Tuesday, this year it will be held for only two days namely Saturday and Sunday.
“However, we will be staging khell tiatrs in each and every ward of the city as and when the local councilor decides the date,” said Arthur adding that Rs 20,000 has been allotted to each ward for carnival celebrations.
“The khell tiatr itself costs around 13 to 15 thousand,” said councillor Doris Texeira, who is in charge of the Intruz programme in Saturday. At this event, local talented singers as well as dance troupes will perform and there will be a fancy dress competition as well.
Arthur was confident of attracting a large number of floats even though float parades will be held at two other places on the same day. “As we are going back to the old route, we expect better response this year,” he said.
He added that the Tourism Department will be giving Margao Municipal Council Rs 27 lakhs for the carnival celebrations, of which around Rs 7 lakhs will be spent on the prizes while another Rs 5 lakhs will be given for ward-wise carnival programmes.
