He was speaking at the Dalgado Konknni Akademi 2016 award ceremony on Tuesday. The awards were presented to six persons for their achievements in different fields.
The Archbishop said, “Konkani is the mother tongue of Goans. We respect Konkani because it is a holy language. Our prayers happen in Konkani. There were many scholars who wrote in Devanagari script. Hence, we should not consider this as a movement against the script,” said the Archbishop. “Konkani is the queen and all the scripts are its maids, so there is no need to have negative feelings or competition with the other scripts. Work for Konkani in your own ways” urged the Archbishop.
“Speak in Konkani at home. Only by these means Konkani language will survive. We need to have programmes and events at Churches in Konkani,” he added.
The award ceremony was held at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, where besides the Archbishop, former Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly and writer Tomazinho Cardozo and others were present.
Dalgado Sahityik Puroskar was presented to Cirilio Fernandes, Dalgado Sonskrutik Puroskar was given to Alfredo Fernandes, Seva Puroskar to Fr. Conceicao D’Silva, Joel D’Souza Daiz Puroskar to Benecio Vitorino Pereira, Fr. Freddy J. Da Costa Potrakarita Puroskar to Ashok Chodankar and Dalgado Sonvstha Puroskar was given to Goenkarache Daiz organisation from Margao.
