MAPUSA: The renovated Gandhi Chowk near the entrance to the Mapusa town was inaugurated on Thursday at the hands of Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza and Water Resources Minister Dayanand Mandrekar in presence of the Mapusa Municipality chairperson Sandip Falari, vice chairman of Goa State Urban Development Agency Sudhir Kandolkar, councillors, Ryan Costa of Cosme Costa Group and consultant Pushakaraj Karaket.
After the inauguration, D’Souza garlanded the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and later Costa and Karaket were felicitated by him.
The Gandhi Chowk has been renovated and illuminated at a cost of Rs 18.5 lakh by the Cosme Costa Group under its corporate social responsibility. The renovation work was done in record time.
The statue of Mahatma Gandhi was installed at the chowk by Mapusa Municipal Council (MMC) and was unveiled on October 22, 1967 at the hands of the former Union minister Late Yeshwantrao Chawan.
MMC chairperson Sandip Falari expressed happiness over the work executed at the Gandhi Chowk and said “The chowk has been renovated and it looks very nice and the design is very good as previously on Gandhi Jayanti there was a need of ladder to climb and garland the statue but now it’s not required.”
After the inauguration, D’Souza along with Falari, Kandolkar and councillors visited the Lohia maidan and reviewed the ongoing work of garden which is being executed by GSUDA.
Speaking to media persons, Kandolkar informed, “The work of Lohia Maidan is almost 80 per cent complete and remaining work will be completed shortly. The work of garden and beautification of Bodgeshwar temple was taken by GSUDA at a cost of Rs 3.40 crore.”
He further expressed confidence that the works undertaken by GSUDA in Mapusa which includes the second and third phase of beautification of Mapusa city, ongoing work of exhibition hall for self-help group are going at a fast pace.”