PANJIM: Calling his friend and colleague a man of his word, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said that because of Matanhy Saldanha’s sense of commitment and penchant for standing by what he believed in, he (Matanhy) had suffered. Parrikar was speaking at a function organized to commemorate the death of Matanhy.
“Matanhy was one of the few who was willing to do anything for the State,” Parrikar said, recounting that the death of Matanhy was one of the occasions when he could not control his emotions.
“Politics has taught us how to hide tears. But I still remember that I could not control my tears on the day he went,” he told an audience where Matanhy’s wife and Environment Minister Alina Saldanha, Nobel Laureate and Director General of The Energy Research Institute R K Pachauri, PWD Minister Ramkrishna Dhavalikar, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, MLAs Pramod Sawant, Michael Lobo and others were present.
“He should have been there for five more years at least. There would have been a lot of benefit for Goa… This person was what was needed at this time,” he said, stressing that “the way he (Matanhy) lived was the real Goan ethos…. Slowly probably because of development we have lost many of our values, but he retained them.”
Pachauri was the keynote speaker at the special lecture and panel discussion where panelists such as Datta Naik, Dr Oscar Rebello and others debated issues pertaining to development versus environment, as well as sustainable development and the balance between ecology and employment.
