Bhirondem mourns demise of Pilar priest

TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
VALPOI: Gloom descended on Bhirondem-Sattari following the untimely demise of a widely respected priest from the Pilar Society, who had worked selflessly to promote agricultural activities in the state and had strived towards the welfare of people from all sections of society.
Fr Inacio Almeida (69), who had served in Bhirondem for seven years, had suffered a stroke on December 18, 2013 and had been in GMC hospital, where he died on Wednesday evening. The funeral mass will be held at Mission Seminary Chapel, Pilar, on January 3 at 3.30 pm.
Recalling the services rendered by Fr Almeida, Bhirondem Panch Tereza Andrade informed that people from all over the State would visit the ‘Zagroti Farm’ at Bhirondem.
“Many people would take the blessings of Fr Almeida and would also avail of medicinal plants from him at the farm,” said Andrade.
Another villager, Estevo Andrade, said that Fr Almeida would encourage people to get involved in agricultural activities and would always guide them to achieve success.
Residents cutting across communities remembered Fr Almeida for serving people from all sections of society, especially the poor and downtrodden.
Students from various schools in the state were very often seen with Fr Almeida in his farm during field trips. He used to explain to the students the different traditional techniques of extracting oil and juice from the fruits and stem of plants. He would also brief them about some traditional medicines which were used earlier to cure skin ailments.
Fondly known to the Pilar Fathers as ‘Dharthi Mata’, Fr Almeida was born at Macasana-Salcete on October 14, 1943 and joined the Seminary in 1957. He received his diaconate ordination on October 14, 1971 and was ordained a priest at Pilar on December 21, 1971.
He did his pastoral training in Ranchi in 1974 and has undergone Agricultural Training in Japan.
Fr Almeida had served the Pilar Society mainly by looking after the farms and the agricultural properties. He worked at the Pilar Fathers Farm at Dabal (1972-73) and was in-charge of the Collem Farm (1975-90). He was in-charge of Pilar properties and Agricultural concerns of the whole Society from 1990 to May 2007. 
His last posting was at Birondem (Valpoi), where he looked after the ‘Zagroti Farm’ from June 2007 till he breathed his last.
Fr Almeida had also received many awards in appreciation to his contribution in the field of agriculture, including the ‘Krishi Samrat’ award from Zuari Agro Chemicals (1986).
He pioneered the making of Bio-Fuel from the Jatropha plant in (2005), and experimented with vermin-culture Projects and the cultivation of Palmolive.
His latest interest was the plant ‘Laxmi Taru’ with many medicinal benefits, which he was very enthusiastically propagating and many people would visit him from various parts of the State to avail of the medicine. He was a common figure every Thursday at Pilar meeting the people and giving them various medicines derived from plants and herbs to help them cure many ailments.
He was well known to the farmers in the State and many would meet him to learn the latest techniques of cultivation and farming.