Team Herald
PANJIM: Veteran freedom fighter and Konkani writer Naguesh Karmali passed away at his Chimbel residence on Wednesday. He was 90.
Karmali’s last rites will be held at St Inez crematorium on Friday morning.
Karmali, affectionately called Nagueshbab joined Goa’s liberation movement at a young age in 1952 and was imprisoned from 1954 to 1959. He was a Konkani writer and while in jail, he edited the handwritten magazine `Zot’.
After liberation, he joined AIR as a staff artiste. He was the founder member of Konkani Bhasha Mandal and All India Konkani Parishad. He bagged the Sahitya Akademi Award for his collection of poems “Vanshalakullachem Dennem” (Our debt to our heritage) in 1992.
Karmali was presented `Tamrapatra’ by the Central government in 1972; State Cultural Award in 1993; State Literary Award in 2007 and was honoured as a freedom fighter by President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi in 2008.
Goa Freedom Fighters Association general secretary Gurudas Kunde has condoled Karmali’s death. He said that Karmali was a staunch Konkani activist and edited `Goem’, a monthly published in Konkani arousing the freedom movement among the masses.
Goa Freedom Fighters’ Association member Rohidas `Dad’ Desai offered floral tributes by laying a wreath.
