GOA DAY CANCELLED: SADDEST DAY FOR ALL GOANS IN SWINDON AND ELSEWHERE IN UK.

SWINDON: This is a day that brings all the Goans together in their thousands as they visit the venue where the famous Swindon Goa day is celebrated, with grandeur and pomp. Goans from other European countries,especially from Paris (France), Portugal etc come all the way to have fun that day in Swindon.

GSA President Jacinto explaining Goans why Goa Day was
Cancelled

But this year is a very sad day as the Goa day was cancelled by the Swindon Borough Council with a last minute notice to the committee members of GSA who were the organisers of the event.

But the main reason for the cancellation of the event is one single email from a fellow Goan who recently had declared himself as the leader of Goan Community in Swindon, in which it is claimed that he is the legal authority of the GSA with a request to the Swindon Borough Council to stop the event as he had not given any permission to the current organisers to organise the event.

The man is none other than Mr. Santana Souza, a native of Goa Velha in Goa, who by force is trying to hold on to the reins of GSA. The current committee which was lawfully elected in October 2010 consists of President: Mr. Jacinto Sousa, Vice President: Ms Sheela D’Costa, Chairman: Mr Anthony Fernandes, General Secretary: Mr Hilario Do Rego and Treasurer: Mr. Nascito Francisco Fernandes.

Mr Abel Nunes clarifiying his stand to the Goans
over his name featuring in the email of Santana

However inspite of the new committee in active role, Mr Santana claims that he and his ex-co-committee members are the legal Committee and not the current committee.

According to the current president of GSA Mr Jacinto who spoke to Niz Goenkar, Mr. Santana is not ready to step down even as he has been asked by the members. He continues to defy the new committee and that is what he showed by creating a rift among the Goans and causing the cancellation of the yearly Goa Day.

Mr Jacinto further stated that they had initiated the legal procedures for the event and obtained the necessary licence from the Borough Council of Swindon. On 6th June 2011, the Borough Council had issued a licence to the committee consisting of Mr. Jacinto and others mentioned above. Preparations for the event were in full swing. Stalls were allotted to the Goans who setup food items etc every year. Those who had booked the stalls prepared themselves spending lot of money to get the items ready for the event.

On 13th of July the Borough Council summoned Mr. Jacinto and his co-committee members for discussions about the event and to ensure that the rules and regulations have been followed.

GSA Vice President Ms Sheila D'Costa next to her the child
artist Chloe in purple.

On 14th they were again summoned for a chat with the fire security officer and were given the safety details list. They were briefed about the noise pollution etc.

However on 15th i.e. just one day before the all set event, the council called them in again and told them that the event has to be cancelled as all the procedures were not done in accordance with the rules and regulations, they were asked to sign the event cancellation letter. All the pleadings went deaf.

However the Borough Council asked them to organise the event at a later date about four weeks from now. They also promised to help them do the legal procedures and to provide them a fresh licence.

Goans gathered to find a solution

This morning Mr. Jacinto received a letter by post which turned to be a copy of an email by Mr. Santana Souza , addressed to Mr. James Holland stating that he is the authority of the GSA along with Mr. Abel Nunes, Floriano D’SA and Mr. Miguel da Cunha. At the ending part of the email Mr. Santana has mentioned ‘As the president of GSA I DON’T AUTHORISE the event to go ahead on the 16th July without them completing ALL THE FOMALITIES.’ (FOMALITIES is as spelled in the email) This email brought to light that Mr. Santana was instrumental in the great event being cancelled.

The organisers and the stall takers are the ones that suffered the greater loss at the cost of this selfish man Santana Souza said one Goan in the crowd, at the County Ground where Goans gathered today to find a solution and the cause behind the cancellation of the Goa day.

Niz Goenkar interviewed Mr. Abel Nunes the ex-Secretary of the so called committee run by Mr. Santana, who had this to say:
NG: What do you say on this Mr Abel
ABEL: I have no objection for the Goa day whatsoever and I have done nothing to stop the event.

NG: Mr. Abel, your name features on this email, whereby it shows that you are involved in the cancellation of the Goa day. Is that correct?

ABEL: No I do not know anything about the email and I am not involved in this at all.

NG: Then how come your name features on the email by Santana? Can you shed some light on it?

ABEL: This has been done without my permission. I was not even consulted on this by Santana.

NG: So you say that this is done without your knowledge?

ABEL: Absolutely I am not aware of any such thing. Mr. Santana has not even consulted me.

NG: Who do you think that your name appearing on the email of Santan?

ABEL: I was very very angry as I have nothing to do with it.  I did not even know about this.

NG: Thank you Mr. Abel.

We interviewed two little children of age 6 and 8 about the cancellation of Goa day. Little Miss Chloe and Little Master Valanko the two little children who had practiced hard some dances to be performed were totally dejected and heartbroken. When asked by NG how she felt about the cancellation of Goa day, Chloe said that she was upset. We felt that she was gloomy with sadness. She said that she had practiced a lot and was to perform some dances with Valanko. NG then asked master Valanko his feelings; he said he is very sad that he could not perform due to the sudden suspension of the event. We felt the boy too was very gloomy. All this was caused by just one person who tried to and tries to portray himself as the leader of the Goans when he is not.

Below is the copy of the email of Santana which was received through post by the president of GSA Mr. Jacinto Sousa.

A meeting has been called of all the Goans in Swindon on 23rd July 2011, Saturday at 11 AM to deal with the problem and to have a fresh go for organising the GOA DAY at a later day.

The copy of the email of Santana