Civilian War Memorial to come up in Goa soon

October 29, 2009 01:28 pm | Updated 01:32 pm IST - Panaji

Nearly five decades after they laid down their lives for liberation of Goa from the Portuguese rule, a Civilian War Memorial would be established to commemorate the sacrifice of Indian soldiers.

“We are scouting for a suitable place to set up this memorial that will be located in a civilian area,” Capt (Retd) Venugopal Nair, Secretary Rajya Sainik Welfare Board (RSWB), said on Thursday.

The RSWB, which takes care of 2,300 retired military men and army widows in Goa and is headed by Chief Minister Digamber Kamat, this year decided to set up the memorial in memory of Indian army soldiers who laid down their lives, he said.

Codenamed ‘Operation Vijay’, the 36-hour-long military exercise in 1961 - involving air, sea and land strikes - ended 451 years of Portuguese colonial rule in Goa.

Major S S Sidhhu, Captain V K Sahagal, Sepoy Mansingh and Daffier Suljit Singh - all from Goa - were killed in the operation, as per the official records here.

Besides them, the memorial will also salute Indian soldiers from Goa who have sacrificed their lives for the country post-liberation, Mr. Nair added.

The civilian war memorial will also honour Sepoy Tukaram who was was killed in 1965 Indo-Pak war, Lieutenant J J Rane died in 1971 Pak war, Lieutenant Narendra Mayekar died fighting ULFA militants, Sepoy Mahesh Binnar who died in J&K and Sepoy Ramchandra Shinde who died in anti-insurgency operation.

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