Team Herald
MARGAO: History Lovers Group on Monday demanded that the new under-construction South Goa District Hospital be named after the founder of the Hospicio Late Fr Antonio Joao de Miranda, who was popularly known as Padre Miranda.
“He underwent a lot of trouble and hardships to set up Hospicio, which has emerged as an icon in the past 150 years, rendering service to so many people,” President of History Lovers Group Yogesh Nagvenkar said.
He said the past should not be forgotten in pursuit of modernisation and Padre Miranda’s contribution in providing health care to the people of Goa and particularly South Goa has to be recognised and immortalised by naming the new hospital after him.
I appeal to the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane and Town & Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai to recognise this great son of Goa by naming the new district hospital after him, he said.
Meanwhile, he also appealed to the government to immediately transfer the remnants of the Betul Fort to the Department of Archives and Archaeology, so that the little that remains of the fort can be saved and salvaged.
He said only one canon and a triangular portion of a bastion survives and said this historic monument has to be restored.
The fort was built by Shivaji in 1679 and then taken over by the Portuguese and unfortunately is in ruins today except for this small portion, he said.
