Probe ordered after tricolour found on garbage heap

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Panaji's municipal corporation ordered a probe on Thursday after a national flag was found dumped in a garbage heap in the civic authority's premises.

Mayor Yatin Parekh said he had ordered the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) commissioner Agnelo Fernandes to probe how the tricolour was dumped in the garbage heap.

"This is a very serious incident. I have asked the commissioner to probe the entire incident. We will get to the bottom of this," he said.

The incident was brought to light on Thursday evening by media photographers, who had arrived at the CCP head quarters in Panaji to cover a town hall meeting, which was being chaired by the mayor.

"We were shocked when we saw the flag in the garbage dump. When we took the first few photos, the CCP workers started abusing us and saying that we had put the flag on the heap on purpose, for taking sensational photographs," a photographer working for a local daily said.

President of the Photo Journalists Association of Goa (PJAG) Rosario Estebeiro said the association has condemned the incident.

"It is a matter of national shame. Our photographers handed over the dumped flag to the mayor later," he said, adding that media photographers would co-operate with the probe.