-
OHERALDOThe Voice of Goa Since 1900
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, MAY 12
Activist Nilesh Gaonkar, spear-heading the anti mining
agitationat Cavrem-Quepem was brutallyattacked by two unknown
as-sailants, while he was proceed-ing to work at Verna,
Thursday.
Two persons armed with aniron rod and riding a
motorcycleconfronted Nilesh Gaonkar out-side a company at Verna
Indus-trial Estate, where Gaonkar isemployed as a trainee
mechan-ical engineer.
Gaonkar was proceeding toduty in the morning, when twounknown
persons assaulted himoutside the company gate, saidVasco police PI
Braz Menezes,who is holding additional chargeof Verna police.
The assailants came from be-hind and attacked the victim.They
reportedly warned Gaonkarnot to fight against the mininglobby in
Cavrem-Quepem.
We have registered an of-fence under Section 307 of IPC.No
arrests have been made tillnow since the accused are un-known, PI
Menezes added.
Police said Gaonkar sustainedinjuries on his collarbone,
frac-tures on his left hand and anabrasion near the ear. He
waslater shifted to the Hospicio atMargao.
Speaking to reporters, an in-jured Gaonkar said he was walk-ing
towards his office, when twopersons restrained and attacked
PTI
GREATER NOIDA/LUCKNOW, MAY 12
An all out political war brokeout among Congress, BJP andBSP
over the issue of farmersagitation in Uttar Pradesh withChief
Minister Mayawati accus-ing Opposition parties of spread-ing lies
and rumours anddoing dirty politics.
A day after Rahul Gandhimade a dramatic entry into theBhatta
Parsaul village in GreaterNoida and held a dharna sup-porting
farmers agitation forbetter compensation for theirland, Mayawati
accused him ofengaging in mean theatrics.
Congress was quick to jumpto his defence lambasting theBSP chief
for the arrest and sub-sequent release of Gandhi sayingthat
Mayawati government wasdigging its own grave throughsuch actions
and her reactionwas due to frustration as shehas realised that she
would bevoted out in the next Assemblyelections.
Senior BJP leaders RajnathSingh, Arun Jaitley and MukhtarAbbas
Naqvi, LJP chief Ram VilasPaswan, UPCC president RitaBahuguna Joshi
and BharatiyaKisan Union (BKU) leader RakeshTikait along with their
support-ers were detained by UP Policewhile they were agitating in
sup-port of farmers of Greater Noida.
Joshi and scores of Congressleaders, including legislators,and
workers were baton-charged and detained in Luc-know and elsewhere
during astatewide chakka jam protestby the party against the
arrestof Gandhi in Bhatta ParsaulWednesday night and in sup-port of
farmers demands inwestern UP.
Similar protests were held inother parts of the state
includingJhansi, Meerut, Allahabad andSitapur districts.
Visit us at:www.oheraldo.in panjim, Friday, may 13, 2011 postal
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4
Business: Food inflation drops
to 18-month low of 7.7% Pg 9
Sports: Warne in trouble for
abusive behaviour Pg 16
There is no pillow so softas a clear conscience
French Poverb
Goas Heartbeat: Shilpa Shetty
expecting her first baby Pg 4
High Tide: 0717; 1857Low Tide: 0048; 1239
T I D E S T O D A Y
via
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
From reel life to real life thedrug menace is haunting
Goa,despite denial by the outgoingDGP. Earlier this month, a teamof
Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB), swooped down upon aGerman supporting
actor, whoworked as an extra in the con-troversial movie Dum
MaroDum (DMD) and arrested himand his supplier on a
drugscharge.
Ralph Diersmanm, a Germantourist and a frequent visitor toGoa
was caught by the NCBsleuths at Anjuna flea market,while he waited
for a peddlerwho would deliver him 11 pack-ets of good hashish,
amountingto Rs 5 lakh.
During interrogation, Ralphclaimed that he has acted in
twoscenes in the DMD, which wasincidentally based on drug
mafia. On May 3, the team ze-roed in on the German on a tip-off
that a Delhi tourist wouldsmuggle narcotics to Goa viaMumbai and
Sawantwadi routeand deliver it to Ralph.
NCB sources said that KrishnaSingh was raided in his hotelroom,
at Sawantwadi, at about1 pm. The officials intercepteddrug packets
hidden in his lug-gage, weighing 3.5 kgs. Sleuthsalso seized two
boxes intendedto be used for transportingdrugs to Goa.
Tests confirmed that hashish
was of good quality, which isusually consumed by
foreign-ers.
Krishna confessed during in-terrogation that his Germanclient
would wait for him at An-juna flea market. Our secondteam rushed to
Goa and caughtthe foreigner red-handed aftera brief surveillance,
later in theevening, said the officer.
Both drug pushers were ar-rested under the Narcotics andDrugs
Psychotropic SubstancesAct. A local Magistrate inSawantwadi
remanded both toseven days custody of NCB forthorough
interrogation. Laterthey were remanded to judicialcustody.
The pair was escorted to Goaduring their remand period
forfurther investigation and werelodged in Porvorim lock-up.
In-terrogation further revealed that
DMD haunting Goa for realGerman supporting actor held on drug
charge
Counting of votes in five States today
PTI
NEW DELHI, MAY 12
The six week-wait for who willru l e Tami l Nadu , Ke ra l a
,Puducherry, Assam and WestBengal will end tomorrow whencounting of
votes for Assemblyelections will be taken up.
At sharp 8 am, the countingprocess would start in 839
hallsspread over in the five states in-volving 43,982
personnel.
The Election Commission hasmade elaborate arrangementsfor the
massive exercise andpressed into service nearly17,700 central
security personnelto provide a three-tier security.
The entire process, whichwould decide the fate of
severalpolitical leaders, would bevideographed to prevent
anymalpractice. According to ChiefElection Commissioner S
YQuraishi, the poll outcome isexpected by early lunch.
The counting would takeplace in 142 counting halls inAssam, 140
in Kerala, 11 inPuducherry, 234 in Tamil Naduand 312 in West
Bengal. WhileKerala has an assembly strengthof 140, Assam has 126,
TamilNadu 234, Puducherry 30 andWest Bengal 294.
PTI
KABUL, MAY 12
Prime Minister Manmohan SinghThursday demanded a
thoroughinvestigation into the presenceof Osama bin Laden in
Pakistanfor several years, but ruled outa US-type operation by
India toeliminate Pak-based terroristswanted by it.
One needs to go for a thor-ough investigation into the pres-ence
of Osama bin Laden forsuch a long time on the soil ofAbbottabad, he
said at a jointpress conference here withAfghan President Hamid
Karzaiafter their talks.
The killing of bin Laden wasa unique moment in the his-tory of
the region, said the PrimeMinister, who arrived here ear-lier on a
two-day visit amidsthighest levels of security.
Asked if India would adoptthe type of operation that theUS
carried out to eliminate theal Qaeda chief, in order to
getPak-based terrorists wanted byit, Singh began by saying theseare
sensitive issues and we dont
discuss strategies on terror inpress conferences.
The Prime Minister concludedhis response by stating, I wouldlike
to say India is not like theUnited States, in a clear indi-cation
that he did not favoursuch an operation.
Referring to the killing of bin
PM rules out US-typeoperation in Pakistanl Demands probe into
Osamas presencel Announces $500 mn Afghan package
Experience in thepast has beenrather frustrating
and disappointing. Onecannot lose hope. Let mesay one thing, I
would liketo say India is notlike the UnitedStates.- PM Manmohan
Singh
Sir, we need to reduce your secu-rity staff from 21 to 18. They
allcan't fit in with you.
ITS WAR IN UPMaya govt cracks down on protesters
Police lathi charge members of Youth Congress staging 'Chakka
jam'in protest against the arrest of AICC General Secretary Rahul
Gandhi,at Bhangel village in Noida on Wednesday.
Cavrem activist assaulted at Verna
The Cavrem Adivasi Manch leader Nilesh Gaonkar at Hospicio
afterthe attack on him at the Verna Industrial Estate on
Thursday.
Photo by Santosh Mirajkarhim with an iron rod.
Ten days ago, I had receiveda call from some unknown peo-ple
warning me not to travelalone. Todays attack is a con-spiracy of
the mine lobby to pre-vent locals from opposingmining activities at
Cavrem,Gaonkar added.
Margao Reporter adds:Thursday morning attack onNilesh Gaonkar
has failed todampen the spirit of this anti-mining activist from
carryingout the crusade against rampantmining in his Cavrem
village,
PTI
NEW DELHI, MAY 12
As a controversy rages over landacquisition in Uttar Pradesh,
theCentre Thursday said it has plansto introduce a bill in this
regardin the next session of Parliamentas there appears to be
consen-sus on the issue.
However, Home Minister PChidambaram said law and
order in Uttar Pradesh is not ahappy situation as farmerswere
protesting in many villageson the land acquisition issueand
criticised the way Chief Min-ister Mayawati was handling
theprotests by farmers.
But he ruled out sending acentral team to assess the situ-ation
there in view of recentclashes in Bhatta Parsaul in
Greater Noida where two farm-ers and as many policemen
werekilled.
We must have a new landacquisition law. Government hasdrafted a
new act that has pro-visions for better compensation,rehabilitation
and other meas-ures. But it was not possible tobuild a consensus on
the law.
Consensus building took
some time. Now we are at apoint when there is a fair degreeof
certainty that there is a con-sensus on the law with
someamendments, he told a pressconference, the first after
PrimeMinister Manmohan Singhformed a Group of Ministers tobrief
media to counter the badpress government may face onoccasions.
New land acquisition law soon: PC
Attack is conspiracyof mine lobby: Nilesh
l Attack on activist flayed
(Continued on page 8)
(Continued on page 8)
O N PA G E 2
O N PA G E 5
l Oppn hits out at Mayawatil NHRC to send team
(Continued on page 8)
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GOAOHERALD
O
Pg2GOA, FRIDAY, 13 MAY, 2011
Attack on anti-mining activist flayed HERALD CORRESPONDENT
QUEPEM, MAY 12
Political leaders, activist and so-cial workers have strongly
con-demned the cowardly attack onanti-mining activist NileshGaonkar
at Verna on Thursdaymorning.
Leaders agitating against min-ing activities at
Cavrem-Quepemhave threatened to intensifytheir agitation.
Expressing shock over the at-tack, Quepem Taluka Mining
Af-fected Peoples Front ConvenorAdv. Fredrick Pereira describedthe
incident as "the handiworkof goons of mining companiesoperating at
Cavrem and Maina."
"Terrorist tactics adopted bymining companies with
politicalblessings will not slow downthe anti-mining agitation,
whichhas gained momentum inQuepem," warned Pereira.
Adv. Suhas Velip of Cavrem,who is part of the Cavrem Adi-vasi
Bachav Samiti, stated thatthe attack on Gaonkar exposedthe "coward
act" of mining com-pany. "Our movement is withinthe law and since
we are on thewinning track, mining compa-nies are out to terrorise
vil-lagers," said Velip.
"The attack on a tribal leaderlike Gaonkar is nothing but
frus-trated attempts by mining com-panies and their agents. Fromnow
onward, our momentumwill be more forceful," he added.
Margao Reporter adds: BJPMLAs Damu Naik and RameshTawadkar
visited Hospicio hos-pital on Thursday evening andcondemned the
cowardly attackon the anti-mining activist NileshGaonkar at the
Verna IndustrialEstate.
MLA Ramesh Tawadkar said
members of United Tribal Al-liance Association will call onthe
deputy Collector, Quepemand submit a memorandum de-manding justice
for the citizensof Cavrem fighting against min-ing and ore
transportation.UTAA will take up the matterwith deputy Collector
and de-mand justice for agitating vil-lagers of Cavrem. We will
extendall our support to agitating peo-ple, Tawadkar said, while
con-demning the attack on theactivist.
Fatorda MLA Damu Naik saidthe attack on Nilesh Gaonkarexposes
the government on thelaw and order front and showsthat the common
man feels in-
sure in the state.He said the government
should initiate prompt action inthe matter, while
demandingjustice for the people of Cavremagitating against the
mining ac-tivity.
Social activist Judith Almeidasaid the incident should comeas a
wake up call for the youthof Goa. The attack on Gaonkarshould
awaken the youth of Goa.This is your wake up call. If youdont seek
justice, you wouldhave no say in the future. Thisis the message
that goes to allthe youth over the attack onGaonkar, she said.
Condemning the incident,Goenchea Rakhandarancho
Ekvott said the attack on theactivist shows how far the min-ing
mafia would go in order tosilence people fighting to pro-tect the
state from destruction.GRA activist Jose Maria Mirandasaid justice
should be metedout to Gaonkar and warned thatthe people of Goa
would nottake things lying down or coweddown by such cowardly
accc
Spokesman of GoencheaRakhandarancho Avaz JohnPhilip Pereira
warned the mininglobby not to use goondagiri tosilence the activity
and disclosedplans to take up the humanrights commission. The
gov-ernment should listen to thevoice of the people fightingagainst
mining. This is not Bihar.The people of Goa will not tol-erate
goondagiri, he said, whilesending a strong message to themining
lobby.
nThe government should listen to the voice ofthe people fighting
against mining. This is notBihar. The people of Goa will not
tolerategoondagiri. --John Philip Pereira
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
Goa Coastal Zone ManagementAuthority on Thursday directedProject
Director of Rural Devel-opment Agency, South, to haltall type of
construction and re-lated works on the retainingwall on the banks
of a rivulet, atributary of River Sal at Don-gorim-Navelim.
In his order, GCZMA MemberSecretary Michael DSouza di-rected RDA
to halt work till suchtime that Coastal Zone Manage-ment Authority
investigates andpasses appropriate orders in thematter.
DSouza maintained that theAuthority is in the process
ofexamining the matter regardingapplicability of CRZ
notification,2011 at the site of constructionof the retaining wall.
RDA Proj-
ect Director has been furtherdirected to submit a detailedaction
by Friday.
The order has further directedthe deputy Collector, Margao
totake needful action to stop workat the site and conduct a
sum-mary inquiry into the matter
The GCZMA directions comesagainst the backdrop of a com-plaint
received from EdwardLima, a resident of Dongorim,Navelim and other
petitionersreferring to alleged illegal con-struction of a
retaining wall bythe RDA, South.
They pointed out that theHigh Court had directed theGCZMA to
examine the griev-ance of the petitioners that theconstruction work
may bestopped or halted till such timeas it is examining the
griev-ances and passing of requi-site orders.
Incidentally, the high courthad granted a stay on the
con-struction of a Temple in the samearea and had directed the
Authorityto examine the grievance of the pe-titioners regarding
alleged violationof CRZ notification.
GCZMA orders stop to works on retaining wall
nThe GCZMAdirections comesagainst the backdropof a
complaintreceived from EdwardLima, a resident ofDongorim,
Navelimand others referring toalleged illegalconstruction of
aretaining wall by theRDA, South.
Mickky warns against second-time opening of Majorda road under
bridge
Flanked by the sarpanchas of Majorda and Betalbatim, Benaulim
MLA Mickky Pacheco briefs the mediaon Fridays road under bridge
inauguration at Majorda. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
Majorda road under bridge, in-auguration of which has
beenscheduled on Friday evening,may be the scene of confronta-tion
between Chief Minister,Digambar Kamat and some cab-inet colleagues
and BenaulimMLA Mickky Pacheco as the bat-tle lines appear to be
clearlydrawn.
Benaulim MLA has warned ofa law and order situation at Ma-jorda
if Chief Minister, DigambarKamat inaugurates the bridgein the
presence of PWD Minister,Churchill Alemao, Urban Devel-opment
Minister, Joaquim Ale-mao, Power Minister, AlexioSequeira and
Cortalim MLAMauvin Godinho.
The people of Majorda willnot tolerate any insult to thePriest
who has already blessedand inaugurated bridge. If 1000people come
and stops the in-auguration, the governmentwould be solely
responsible forany untoward incident, Pachecowarned.
Saying that the road underbridge in question was thrownopen for
traffic and pedestriansafter being blessed by Fr Mart-inho Gomes on
April 27 in thepresence of Majorda Sarpanch,ZP members and locals,
Pachecohas demanded to know why thegovernment is hell bent on
in-
augurating the bridge onceagain.
The people of Majorda willnot tolerate any insult to thePriest,
who had already blessedthe bridge in question. The Con-gress
government appears morecommunal than the BJP. Theyare dividing the
village. Theydont know to respect religiousleaders, he
asserted.
Pacheco also demanded toknow what Power Minister, AlexSequeira,
Urban DevelopmentMinister Joaquim Alemao andCortalim MLA Mauvin
Godinhohave to do with the bridge inMajorda. What has
Mauvin,Joaquim and Alexio got to dowith the bridge inauguration.I
fail to understand how the
road under bridge is linked withJoaquim, Alexio and Joaquim.
Isthe road under bridge a Con-gress bridge. I had initiated
theproject with the tax payersmoney, he said, and assertedtheres no
need for a second in-auguration of the bridge.
Incidentally, Pacheco had in-augurated the road under bridgeon
April 27 in the presence ofMajorda Sarpanch and ZP mem-bers, while
Fr Martinho Gomeshad blessed the project.
Majorda Sarpanch VisitationDSilva and ZP member Nelly Ro-drigues
also took strong excep-t ion to the government sdecision to
inaugurate thebridge when it was alreadyblessed by the Priest.
Govt run by eunuchs
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
Continuing his tirade on theDigambar Kamat government,former
Tourism Minister, MickkyPacheco has allegedly claimedthat the
present governmentin Goa is being run by eu-nuchs.
Pacheco made the remarkwhen he sought to know howPWD Minister,
Churchill Ale-maos daughter Valanka can in-augurate road works in
Colvaand Benaulim without even aproper government sanction.
Buffalo dies in bullfight
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
In shocking incident, an illegalbullfight resulted in the
deathof a He Buffalo near Moga Baim,Benaulim, when two buffaloswere
just few minutes into afight, in full view of dhirio
en-thusiasts.
This should come as an eyeopener to the men-in-uniformturning a
blind eye to the hold-ing of banned dhirios along Sal-cetes coastal
belt.
Sources in the know said theowners of the two buffaloes hailfrom
Varca and Pedda (Benaulim)respectively. The dead buffalowas found
lying at the venue,covered with palm leaves.
An eye witness told Heraldthat Colva police personnelmade their
presence felt at thevenue of the bull fight soon afterthe incident.
However, whencontacted, they feigned igno-rance over the bull fight
at Be-naulim.
A police official said theresno report of any bull fight norany
death of a buffalo at Be-naulim on Thursday noon.
This is not the first time thatbull fight has been
organizedalong Salcetes coastal belt com-ing within the
jurisdiction ofColva police station. A weekago, Colva police rushed
toVarca, but reached the venueonly after the bull fight endedand
the crowd dispersed fromthe venue.
GSPCB chief denies wrong doing in illegal mining
HERALD REPORTERPANJIM, MAY 12Chairman of Goa State Pollu-
tion Control Board, (GSPCB) hasdenied that he or the board
hasdone any illegality in a case ofillegal bauxite mining in
whichsenior NCP leader Jitendra Desh-prabhu as well as senior
bureau-crats have been booked.
Cr ime Branch, Tuesday,booked NCP national secretaryJitendra
Deshprabhu, DirectorMines and Geology ArvindLolienkar and Chief
Conservatorof Forests Shashi Kumar for de-frauding the state
exchequer ofRs 50 crore by allowing the ille-gal mining of
bauxite.
The complaint had also men-tioned that Chairman of theGSPCB was
also party to allow-ing the illegal mine. The GSPCBhas not
committed any wrong.Infact we had not given themany permissions to
carry outmining, Dr Simon N de Souzatold Herald.
According to documents fur-nished by Dr de Souza, theboard had
issued directions tothe mine owners to stop themine on December 17,
2010.The directions were issuedunder section 33A of the
water(prevention of pollution) Act andsection 31 A of Air
(preventionof pollution) Act.
Subsequently a site inspec-tion conducted on February 4
showed that there was activitythere. On February 24, we
issuedagain directions this time basedon our own inspection
reportto stop the mine because of noconsent under the Air and
WaterAct, Dr de Souza said.
The company JRD Mines andMinerals then sought permis-sion from
the board to set up abeneficiation plant, which wasdenied by the
board on groundsthat they did not possess anNOC from the local
village pan-chayat.
We sent a letter to themdated April 12, 2011 saying wecannot
process their application.We are yet to process any oftheir
applications, Dr de Souzasaid buttressing his claim thatthe board
has done no wrong.
Police were forced to file anFIR on the directions of a
localcourt following a complaint byright to information (RTI) ac-t
iv ists Pradeep Kakodkar,Kashinath Shetye and KetanGovekar.
The mine concerned is lo-cated at survey number 299/0at
Bhaidvaddo in Corgao villageof Pernem taluka.
Deshprabhu has already beenfined Rs.1.72 crore by the
statemining department for illegallyextracting nearly 50,000
tonnesof bauxite from an open castmine, located in his property
atKorgao village in Pernem.
Chargespolitically motivated:
DeshprabhuHERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)leader Jitendra Deshprabhu,
onThursday, claimed that illegalmining allegations against himwere
due to his announcementto contest Assembly electionsfrom Porvorim
constituency andthat mud excavated in his propertywas for a mango
plantation.
Charges against me are po-litically motivated, he said.
As-serting that he has never beeninvolved in illegal mining
Desh-prabhu said that mud extractedis for planting thousands of
Al-fonso mango trees.
It may be recalled that CrimeBranch has registered First
In-formation Report (FIR) againstDeshprabhu, Mines and
GeologyDirector, Director Transport,Chief Conservator of Forest
andother officials for illegal miningactivity at his property in
Korgaovillage in Pernem taluka.
The FIR was filed after PernemJMFC directed state police to
registera case against Deshprabhu and otherofficials for their
involvement inillegal mining.
Houseburgled
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, MAY 12
Burglars broke into a house atColvale and decamped withgoods and
cash, all worth Rs30,000.
In his complaint, Clyde D'-Souza told Mapusa Police sta-tion
that the burglars enteredhis house by removing the rooftiles and
decamped with cash,a mobile and camera.
Mapusa police has registereda case of theft.
MANgALSuTRA SNATCHED:Robbers snatched the MangalSutra of a
pedestr ian nearG u i r i m o n We d n e s d a yevening.
In her complaint, AmritaKerkar from Sangolda told Ma-pusa police
that she was walkingalongside the road when someunknown person came
on a mo-torcycle and snatched her Man-galsutra worth about Rs
40,000and fled.
Anti-corruption activists arrive to rousing welcome HERALD
REPORTER
VASCO, MAY 12
Overwhelmed by the enthusi-asm of Goans in the 'IndiaAgainst
Corruption' campaign,Arvind Kejriwal and Swami Ag-nivesh said they
needed the sup-port from people of Goa to fightagainst
corruption.
Arvind Kejriwal and SwamiAgnivesh, activists of the civilsociety
in the joint drafting com-mittee for the Jan Lokpal, onThursday
received a rousing wel-come, as a large number of peo-p le ho ld
ing banners andsporting 'India Against Corrup-tion' badges welcomed
them atthe Dabolim airport.
"We need the support frompeople of Goa cutting acrosscaste,
creed and party lines to fightagainst corruption," said Arvind
Ke-jriwal, while addressing a press con-ference on his arrival.
Swami Agnivesh said theywere surprised that "in a smallstate
like Goa, there is so muchenthusiasm to fight against cor-ruption."
"This is a good signand we need continuous sup-port as there many
challengesahead," he said.
'India Against Corruption' activists Arvind Khejriwal and Swami
Ag-nivesh at Dabolim airport on Friday. Photo by M Prabhav
As part of this campaign, apublic meeting will be addressedby
Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal,Swami Agnivesh, Kiran Bedi,Manish
Shisodia and others atAzad Maidan in Panjim on Fridayat 5 pm.
Arvind Kejriwal and SwamiAgnivesh will address a publicmeeting
at Ravindra Bhavan,Margao and later in the after-
noon, they along with activistsof Art of Living will visit the
Sec-retariat to affix badges 'I amAgainst Corruption. Area
You?'.
Former IPS officer Kiran Bediwill address a public meetingand an
interactive session atShantoshi Maata Temple Hall,New Vaddem, Vasco
at 3 pm andwill later proceed to Panjim toaddress the public
meeting.
India needs thousands of Hazares, Ramdevs: Arvind
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, MAY 12
India needs hundreds andthousands of Anna Hazaresand Baba
Ramdevs to fightagainst widespread corrup-tion, stated Jan Lokpal
CivilSociety Panel member ArvindKejriwal.
Addressing a press conferenceat Chicalim, Kerjiwal affirmedthat
they would not be a conflictof interest regarding BabaRamdev's
recent plans to go ona Satyagraha (fast) to bring backblack money
and other seriesof demands.
"Corruption so widespread inthe country that we need hun-
dreds and thousands of AnnaHazares and Baba Ramdevs tofight
against corruption and assuch, there is no conflict any-where,"
said Kerjiwal.
"We are concentrating com-pletely on the Jan Lokpal billand the
Swami has serious de-mands before the government.We completely
support hismovement."
"Baba Ramdev is an inte-gral part of this campaignand he is a
leading voiceagainst corruption since thelast many years,"
Kerjiwaladded.
Urging people and mediato play a constructive role,
Kerjiwal said a negative cam-paign had started againsteach and
every member ofthe civil society panel of theJan Lokpal.
"Malicious campaigns werelaunched against members ofJan lokpal
and people of Indiashould not fall prey to such cam-paigns. I f
people have anydoubts , they are f ree toask questions and
correctus i f we go wrong," sa idKerj iwal .
He said that they have kept adeadline of June 31 to draft
thebill, which would be introducedin the monsoon session of
par-liament.
Cops accused of tardinessin suicide case
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
Family of Reshma Korgaokar,who allegedly committed sui-cide on
November 23 last year,has expressed their ire at theslow pace of
the police investi-gation.
The family, which includesher sister and parents, have re-fused
to believe that she com-mitted suicide but have stoppedshort of
saying that they blameher in-laws for her death.
Addressing a press confer-ence, Nilima Amerkar, her sisterhas
accused police of dilly-dal-lying with the case and makingthem run
from pillar to post insearch for justice.
We have been left in thedark. She committed suicide onNovember
23, and the Sub Di-visional Magistrate completedhis investigation
(as is manda-tory if a girl commits suicidewithin seven years of
marriage)and submitted his report basedon which her in-laws were
ar-rested and released on bail; but
since then nothing has hap-pened, Amerkar said.
Reshma Korgaokar, who livedin Pilerne, but married in Saligaoin
2004 was found hanging fromthe roof of her house with a
du-patta.
There also was a suicide noteon the scene. However the
post-mortem report revealed severalinjuries on her limbs and
reportof the SDM too implicated herhusband Sagar
Korgaokar,mother-in-law Chandravati Ko-rgaokar and father-in-law
Chan-drakant based on which thepolice had arrested the three.
They were however releasedon bail. When asked whethershe
believed her sister was mur-dered, Amerkar said: We dontknow
anything. All we want is afinal answer and for that the po-lice
need to investigate thecase.
The family now alleges thatthe police are making themdance from
pillar to post to as-certain what the status of theircase.
96-yr-old diesin mishap
BY HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
A 96-year old pedestrian died in aroad accident at Majorda on
Thurs-day, when he was knocked downby a two-wheeler.
Colva PSI Tukaram Chawansaid the deceased RedenttoPereira, a
resident of Majordawas trying to cross the roadwhen he was knocked
down.He was declared at Hospiciohospital. The police arrested
therider Swapnil Sapekar (24) andlater released him on bail.
2 held by Porvorim
police HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, MAY 12
Porvorim police has arrestedAnupama Savoiker and PravitaNaik of
Quitla in Salvador-do-Mundo on charges of assaultingNarendra
Chatim.
Chatim had filed a police com-plaint stating that Savoiker
andNaik abused and assaulted himwith a wooden stick on Thurs-day
morning, when he wasproceeding to his propertyin Quitla.
Acting on the complaint, po-lice arrested the two accusedunder
Sections 143, 147, 148,342, 504 and 323 of Indian Penalcode. They
were later releasedon bail by the Judicial MagistrateFirst
class.
In a counter police complaint,Savoiker claimed that Chatimhad
set fire to her wooden hut.Porvorim PSI Sagun Sawant
isinvestigating this case.
Assault: 3 heldHERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, MAY 12
Mapusa police arrested 3 personson charges of assaulting a man
atColvale.According to reports, Prakash
Gaonkar was travelling in his car,when he was stopped by three
per-sons, Mandar Paresekar, PrakashSinari and Vishal Warkhandkar,
whowere traveling in Sumo. The accusedallegedly pulled him out of
car and as-saulted him, says the complaint.
Panchassaulted
at PorvorimHERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, MAY 12
Penha-da-Franca Panch UmeshPhadte was assaulted by an un-known
person outside his resi-dence at Housing Board colonyat Porvorim on
Thursday night.
According to reports, a manalighted from a car and
assaultedPhadte, while he was enteringhis residence.
The panch sustained frac-tures on his hand and wasshifted to the
GMC hospitalat Bambolim.
Though Porvorim police wereinformed about this incidentthey did
not lodge the com-plaint.
"If the complaint is notregistered within 48 hours,residents of
Porvorim willtake a morcha to the policestation," warned social
ac-tivist Sunil Kavthanker.
Pregnantwoman hurt inmishap
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, MAY 12
Six persons, including a preg-nant woman, were injured whenan
inter-state truck rammed intoa tea stall at the Karaswada junc-tion
in Mapusa late Thursdayevening.
According to reports, thetruck (MH-12-SZ-5853) was pro-ceeding
towards Pernem, whenthe truck rammed into a teastall.
The driver fled from thesite and an irate mob laterdamaged the
truck and de-flated the tyres.
The injured persons wereshifted to the GMC hospitalfor further
treatment, wherethe pregnant woman is re-ported to be in a
seriouscondition.
Mapusa police is investigatingthe case.
A major fire that gutted an office-cum-godown at Station road
Margao on Thursday night. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar.
-
GOAOHERALD
O
Pg2GOA, FRIDAY, 13 MAY, 2011
Attack on anti-mining activist flayed HERALD CORRESPONDENT
QUEPEM, MAY 12
Political leaders, activist and so-cial workers have strongly
con-demned the cowardly attack onanti-mining activist NileshGaonkar
at Verna on Thursdaymorning.
Leaders agitating against min-ing activities at
Cavrem-Quepemhave threatened to intensifytheir agitation.
Expressing shock over the at-tack, Quepem Taluka Mining
Af-fected Peoples Front ConvenorAdv. Fredrick Pereira describedthe
incident as "the handiworkof goons of mining companiesoperating at
Cavrem and Maina."
"Terrorist tactics adopted bymining companies with
politicalblessings will not slow downthe anti-mining agitation,
whichhas gained momentum inQuepem," warned Pereira.
Adv. Suhas Velip of Cavrem,who is part of the Cavrem Adi-vasi
Bachav Samiti, stated thatthe attack on Gaonkar exposedthe "coward
act" of mining com-pany. "Our movement is withinthe law and since
we are on thewinning track, mining compa-nies are out to terrorise
vil-lagers," said Velip.
"The attack on a tribal leaderlike Gaonkar is nothing but
frus-trated attempts by mining com-panies and their agents. Fromnow
onward, our momentumwill be more forceful," he added.
Margao Reporter adds: BJPMLAs Damu Naik and RameshTawadkar
visited Hospicio hos-pital on Thursday evening andcondemned the
cowardly attackon the anti-mining activist NileshGaonkar at the
Verna IndustrialEstate.
MLA Ramesh Tawadkar said
members of United Tribal Al-liance Association will call onthe
deputy Collector, Quepemand submit a memorandum de-manding justice
for the citizensof Cavrem fighting against min-ing and ore
transportation.UTAA will take up the matterwith deputy Collector
and de-mand justice for agitating vil-lagers of Cavrem. We will
extendall our support to agitating peo-ple, Tawadkar said, while
con-demning the attack on theactivist.
Fatorda MLA Damu Naik saidthe attack on Nilesh Gaonkarexposes
the government on thelaw and order front and showsthat the common
man feels in-
sure in the state.He said the government
should initiate prompt action inthe matter, while
demandingjustice for the people of Cavremagitating against the
mining ac-tivity.
Social activist Judith Almeidasaid the incident should comeas a
wake up call for the youthof Goa. The attack on Gaonkarshould
awaken the youth of Goa.This is your wake up call. If youdont seek
justice, you wouldhave no say in the future. Thisis the message
that goes to allthe youth over the attack onGaonkar, she said.
Condemning the incident,Goenchea Rakhandarancho
Ekvott said the attack on theactivist shows how far the min-ing
mafia would go in order tosilence people fighting to pro-tect the
state from destruction.GRA activist Jose Maria Mirandasaid justice
should be metedout to Gaonkar and warned thatthe people of Goa
would nottake things lying down or coweddown by such cowardly
act.
Spokesman of GoencheaRakhandarancho Avaz JohnPhilip Pereira
warned the mininglobby not to use goondagiri tosilence the activity
and disclosedplans to take up the humanrights commission. The
gov-ernment should listen to thevoice of the people fightingagainst
mining. This is not Bihar.The people of Goa will not tol-erate
goondagiri, he said, whilesending a strong message to themining
lobby.
nThe government should listen to the voice ofthe people fighting
against mining. This is notBihar. The people of Goa will not
tolerategoondagiri. --John Philip Pereira
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
Goa Coastal Zone ManagementAuthority on Thursday directedProject
Director of Rural Devel-opment Agency, South, to haltall type of
construction and re-lated works on the retainingwall on the banks
of a rivulet, atributary of River Sal at Don-gorim-Navelim.
In his order, GCZMA MemberSecretary Michael DSouza di-rected RDA
to halt work till suchtime that Coastal Zone Manage-ment Authority
investigates andpasses appropriate orders in thematter.
DSouza maintained that theAuthority is in the process
ofexamining the matter regardingapplicability of CRZ
notification,2011 at the site of constructionof the retaining wall.
RDA Proj-
ect Director has been furtherdirected to submit a detailedaction
by Friday.
The order has further directedthe deputy Collector, Margao
totake needful action to stop workat the site and conduct a
sum-mary inquiry into the matter
The GCZMA directions comesagainst the backdrop of a com-plaint
received from EdwardLima, a resident of Dongorim,Navelim and other
petitionersreferring to alleged illegal con-struction of a
retaining wall bythe RDA, South.
They pointed out that theHigh Court had directed theGCZMA to
examine the griev-ance of the petitioners that theconstruction work
may bestopped or halted till such timeas it is examining the
griev-ances and passing of requi-site orders.
Incidentally, the high courthad granted a stay on the
con-struction of a Temple in the samearea and had directed the
Authorityto examine the grievance of the pe-titioners regarding
alleged violationof CRZ notification.
GCZMA orders stop to works on retaining wall
nThe GCZMAdirections comesagainst the backdropof a
complaintreceived from EdwardLima, a resident ofDongorim,
Navelimand others referring toalleged illegalconstruction of
aretaining wall by theRDA, South.
Mickky warns against second-time opening of Majorda road under
bridge
Flanked by the sarpanchas of Majorda and Betalbatim, Benaulim
MLA Mickky Pacheco briefs the mediaon Fridays road under bridge
inauguration at Majorda. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
Majorda road under bridge, in-auguration of which has
beenscheduled on Friday evening,may be the scene of confronta-tion
between Chief Minister,Digambar Kamat and some cab-inet colleagues
and BenaulimMLA Mickky Pacheco as the bat-tle lines appear to be
clearlydrawn.
Benaulim MLA has warned ofa law and order situation at Ma-jorda
if Chief Minister, DigambarKamat inaugurates the bridgein the
presence of PWD Minister,Churchill Alemao, Urban Devel-opment
Minister, Joaquim Ale-mao, Power Minister, AlexioSequeira and
Cortalim MLAMauvin Godinho.
The people of Majorda willnot tolerate any insult to thePriest
who has already blessedand inaugurated bridge. If 1000people come
and stops the in-auguration, the governmentwould be solely
responsible forany untoward incident, Pachecowarned.
Saying that the road underbridge in question was thrownopen for
traffic and pedestriansafter being blessed by Fr Mart-inho Gomes on
April 27 in thepresence of Majorda Sarpanch,ZP members and locals,
Pachecohas demanded to know why thegovernment is hell bent on
in-
augurating the bridge onceagain.
The people of Majorda willnot tolerate any insult to thePriest,
who had already blessedthe bridge in question. The Con-gress
government appears morecommunal than the BJP. Theyare dividing the
village. Theydont know to respect religiousleaders, he
asserted.
Pacheco also demanded toknow what Power Minister, AlexSequeira,
Urban DevelopmentMinister Joaquim Alemao andCortalim MLA Mauvin
Godinhohave to do with the bridge inMajorda. What has
Mauvin,Joaquim and Alexio got to dowith the bridge inauguration.I
fail to understand how the
road under bridge is linked withJoaquim, Alexio and Joaquim.
Isthe road under bridge a Con-gress bridge. I had initiated
theproject with the tax payersmoney, he said, and assertedtheres no
need for a second in-auguration of the bridge.
Incidentally, Pacheco had in-augurated the road under bridgeon
April 27 in the presence ofMajorda Sarpanch and ZP mem-bers, while
Fr Martinho Gomeshad blessed the project.
Majorda Sarpanch VisitationDSilva and ZP member Nelly Ro-drigues
also took strong excep-t ion to the government sdecision to
inaugurate thebridge when it was alreadyblessed by the Priest.
Govt run by eunuchs
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
Continuing his tirade on theDigambar Kamat government,former
Tourism Minister, MickkyPacheco has allegedly claimedthat the
present governmentin Goa is being run by eu-nuchs.
Pacheco made the remarkwhen he sought to know howPWD Minister,
Churchill Ale-maos daughter Valanka can in-augurate road works in
Colvaand Benaulim without even aproper government sanction.
Buffalo dies in bullfight
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
In shocking incident, an illegalbullfight resulted in the
deathof a He Buffalo near Moga Baim,Benaulim, when two buffaloswere
just few minutes into afight, in full view of dhirio
en-thusiasts.
This should come as an eyeopener to the men-in-uniformturning a
blind eye to the hold-ing of banned dhirios along Sal-cetes coastal
belt.
Sources in the know said theowners of the two buffaloes hailfrom
Varca and Pedda (Benaulim)respectively. The dead buffalowas found
lying at the venue,covered with palm leaves.
An eye witness told Heraldthat Colva police personnelmade their
presence felt at thevenue of the bull fight soon afterthe incident.
However, whencontacted, they feigned igno-rance over the bull fight
at Be-naulim.
A police official said theresno report of any bull fight norany
death of a buffalo at Be-naulim on Thursday noon.
This is not the first time thatbull fight has been
organizedalong Salcetes coastal belt com-ing within the
jurisdiction ofColva police station. A weekago, Colva police rushed
toVarca, but reached the venueonly after the bull fight endedand
the crowd dispersed fromthe venue.
GSPCB chief denies wrong doing in illegal mining
HERALD REPORTERPANJIM, MAY 12Chairman of Goa State Pollu-
tion Control Board, (GSPCB) hasdenied that he or the board
hasdone any illegality in a case ofillegal bauxite mining in
whichsenior NCP leader Jitendra Desh-prabhu as well as senior
bureau-crats have been booked.
Cr ime Branch, Tuesday,booked NCP national secretaryJitendra
Deshprabhu, DirectorMines and Geology ArvindLolienkar and Chief
Conservatorof Forests Shashi Kumar for de-frauding the state
exchequer ofRs 50 crore by allowing the ille-gal mining of
bauxite.
The complaint had also men-tioned that Chairman of theGSPCB was
also party to allow-ing the illegal mine. The GSPCBhas not
committed any wrong.Infact we had not given themany permissions to
carry outmining, Dr Simon N de Souzatold Herald.
According to documents fur-nished by Dr de Souza, theboard had
issued directions tothe mine owners to stop themine on December 17,
2010.The directions were issuedunder section 33A of the
water(prevention of pollution) Act andsection 31 A of Air
(preventionof pollution) Act.
Subsequently a site inspec-tion conducted on February 4
showed that there was activitythere. On February 24, we
issuedagain directions this time basedon our own inspection
reportto stop the mine because of noconsent under the Air and
WaterAct, Dr de Souza said.
The company JRD Mines andMinerals then sought permis-sion from
the board to set up abeneficiation plant, which wasdenied by the
board on groundsthat they did not possess anNOC from the local
village pan-chayat.
We sent a letter to themdated April 12, 2011 saying wecannot
process their application.We are yet to process any oftheir
applications, Dr de Souzasaid buttressing his claim thatthe board
has done no wrong.
Police were forced to file anFIR on the directions of a
localcourt following a complaint byright to information (RTI) ac-t
iv ists Pradeep Kakodkar,Kashinath Shetye and KetanGovekar.
The mine concerned is lo-cated at survey number 299/0at
Bhaidvaddo in Corgao villageof Pernem taluka.
Deshprabhu has already beenfined Rs.1.72 crore by the
statemining department for illegallyextracting nearly 50,000
tonnesof bauxite from an open castmine, located in his property
atKorgao village in Pernem.
Chargespolitically motivated:
DeshprabhuHERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)leader Jitendra Deshprabhu,
onThursday, claimed that illegalmining allegations against himwere
due to his announcementto contest Assembly electionsfrom Porvorim
constituency andthat mud excavated in his propertywas for a mango
plantation.
Charges against me are po-litically motivated, he said.
As-serting that he has never beeninvolved in illegal mining
Desh-prabhu said that mud extractedis for planting thousands of
Al-fonso mango trees.
It may be recalled that CrimeBranch has registered First
In-formation Report (FIR) againstDeshprabhu, Mines and
GeologyDirector, Director Transport,Chief Conservator of Forest
andother officials for illegal miningactivity at his property in
Korgaovillage in Pernem taluka.
The FIR was filed after PernemJMFC directed state police to
registera case against Deshprabhu and otherofficials for their
involvement inillegal mining.
Will Shirpads entry into State politics help BJP?
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
Will the return of North Goa MPShirpad Naik to state
politicsalter the fortunes of the BJP inthe State? Naik declared
thathe would contest the next as-sembly elections from new
con-stituency of Porvorim.
Naik who has been more ac-tive at national level for last
fewyears has secured consent fromBJP national leaders to
contestassembly election.
Yes, I have a got green signalfrom higher-up to contest
fromPorvorim constituency, toldNorth Goa BJP MP when con-tacted on
phone.
The BJP MP represented Mar-caim constituency in 1994 when
BJP entered Goa Assemblywith four seats. However, helost in the
next assembly elec-
tion and joined national pol-itics.
He returned to State politicsin 2002 and took on the toughtask
of contesting against cur-rent Home Minister Ravi Naikfrom Ponda
constituency butlost.
But why does he desire to re-turn to State politics yet again.My
well wishers and workers
wants me here and have gotsupport from senior leadersfrom the
party,? he claimed,when asked about his return toGoa politics.
So will the re-entry of Naikin State politic prove beneficialto
BJP which has been losingground since 2005? It has notbeen able to
resurrect its polit-ical fortune since 2005 whenthe BJP led
government wassacked by then governor S CJamir.
In 2007, the BJP was unsuc-cessful under the leadership
ofOpposition leader, Manohar Par-rikar to defeat the Congress
andallies, and had to spend time inOpposition over last
severalyears.
BJP desperately needs to sur-vive and keep its flock togetherin
the state.
Houseburgled
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, MAY 12
Burglars broke into a house atColvale and decamped withgoods and
cash, all worth Rs30,000.
In his complaint, Clyde D'-Souza told Mapusa Police sta-tion
that the burglars enteredhis house by removing the rooftiles and
decamped with cash,a mobile and camera.
Mapusa police has registereda case of theft.
MANgALSuTRA SNATCHED:Robbers snatched the MangalSutra of a
pedestr ian nearG u i r i m o n We d n e s d a yevening.
In her complaint, AmritaKerkar from Sangolda told Ma-pusa police
that she was walkingalongside the road when someunknown person came
on a mo-torcycle and snatched her Man-galsutra worth about Rs
40,000and fled.
Anti-corruption activists arrive to rousing welcome HERALD
REPORTER
VASCO, MAY 12
Overwhelmed by the enthusi-asm of Goans in the 'IndiaAgainst
Corruption' campaign,Arvind Kejriwal and Swami Ag-nivesh said they
needed the sup-port from people of Goa to fightagainst
corruption.
Arvind Kejriwal and SwamiAgnivesh, activists of the civilsociety
in the joint drafting com-mittee for the Jan Lokpal, onThursday
received a rousing wel-come, as a large number of peo-p le ho ld
ing banners andsporting 'India Against Corrup-tion' badges welcomed
them atthe Dabolim airport.
"We need the support frompeople of Goa cutting acrosscaste,
creed and party lines to fightagainst corruption," said Arvind
Ke-jriwal, while addressing a press con-ference on his arrival.
Swami Agnivesh said theywere surprised that "in a smallstate
like Goa, there is so muchenthusiasm to fight against cor-ruption."
"This is a good signand we need continuous sup-port as there many
challengesahead," he said.
'India Against Corruption' activists Arvind Khejriwal and Swami
Ag-nivesh at Dabolim airport on Friday. Photo by M Prabhav
As part of this campaign, apublic meeting will be addressedby
Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal,Swami Agnivesh, Kiran Bedi,Manish
Shisodia and others atAzad Maidan in Panjim on Fridayat 5 pm.
Arvind Kejriwal and SwamiAgnivesh will address a publicmeeting
at Ravindra Bhavan,Margao and later in the after-
noon, they along with activistsof Art of Living will visit the
Sec-retariat to affix badges 'I amAgainst Corruption. Area
You?'.
Former IPS officer Kiran Bediwill address a public meetingand an
interactive session atShantoshi Maata Temple Hall,New Vaddem, Vasco
at 3 pm andwill later proceed to Panjim toaddress the public
meeting.
India needs thousands of Hazares, Ramdevs: Arvind
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, MAY 12
India needs hundreds andthousands of Anna Hazaresand Baba
Ramdevs to fightagainst widespread corrup-tion, stated Jan Lokpal
CivilSociety Panel member ArvindKejriwal.
Addressing a press conferenceat Chicalim, Kerjiwal affirmedthat
they would not be a conflictof interest regarding BabaRamdev's
recent plans to go ona Satyagraha (fast) to bring backblack money
and other seriesof demands.
"Corruption so widespread inthe country that we need hun-
dreds and thousands of AnnaHazares and Baba Ramdevs tofight
against corruption and assuch, there is no conflict any-where,"
said Kerjiwal.
"We are concentrating com-pletely on the Jan Lokpal billand the
Swami has serious de-mands before the government.We completely
support hismovement."
"Baba Ramdev is an inte-gral part of this campaignand he is a
leading voiceagainst corruption since thelast many years,"
Kerjiwaladded.
Urging people and mediato play a constructive role,
Kerjiwal said a negative cam-paign had started againsteach and
every member ofthe civil society panel of theJan Lokpal.
"Malicious campaigns werelaunched against members ofJan lokpal
and people of Indiashould not fall prey to such cam-paigns. I f
people have anydoubts , they are f ree toask questions and
correctus i f we go wrong," sa idKerj iwal .
He said that they have kept adeadline of June 31 to draft
thebill, which would be introducedin the monsoon session of
par-liament.
Cops accused of tardinessin suicide case
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
Family of Reshma Korgaokar,who allegedly committed sui-cide on
November 23 last year,has expressed their ire at theslow pace of
the police investi-gation.
The family, which includesher sister and parents, have re-fused
to believe that she com-mitted suicide but have stoppedshort of
saying that they blameher in-laws for her death.
Addressing a press confer-ence, Nilima Amerkar, her sisterhas
accused police of dilly-dal-lying with the case and makingthem run
from pillar to post insearch for justice.
We have been left in thedark. She committed suicide onNovember
23, and the Sub Di-visional Magistrate completedhis investigation
(as is manda-tory if a girl commits suicidewithin seven years of
marriage)and submitted his report basedon which her in-laws were
ar-rested and released on bail; but
since then nothing has hap-pened, Amerkar said.
Reshma Korgaokar, who livedin Pilerne, but married in Saligaoin
2004 was found hanging fromthe roof of her house with a
du-patta.
There also was a suicide noteon the scene. However the
post-mortem report revealed severalinjuries on her limbs and
reportof the SDM too implicated herhusband Sagar
Korgaokar,mother-in-law Chandravati Ko-rgaokar and father-in-law
Chan-drakant based on which thepolice had arrested the three.
They were however releasedon bail. When asked whethershe
believed her sister was mur-dered, Amerkar said: We dontknow
anything. All we want is afinal answer and for that the po-lice
need to investigate thecase.
The family now alleges thatthe police are making themdance from
pillar to post to as-certain what the status of theircase.
96-yr-old diesin mishap
BY HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
A 96-year old pedestrian died in aroad accident at Majorda on
Thurs-day, when he was knocked downby a two-wheeler.
Colva PSI Tukaram Chawansaid the deceased RedenttoPereira, a
resident of Majordawas trying to cross the roadwhen he was knocked
down.He was declared at Hospiciohospital. The police arrested
therider Swapnil Sapekar (24) andlater released him on bail.
2 held by Porvorim
police HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, MAY 12
Porvorim police has arrestedAnupama Savoiker and PravitaNaik of
Quitla in Salvador-do-Mundo on charges of assaultingNarendra
Chatim.
Chatim had filed a police com-plaint stating that Savoiker
andNaik abused and assaulted himwith a wooden stick on Thurs-day
morning, when he wasproceeding to his propertyin Quitla.
Acting on the complaint, po-lice arrested the two accusedunder
Sections 143, 147, 148,342, 504 and 323 of Indian Penalcode. They
were later releasedon bail by the Judicial MagistrateFirst
class.
In a counter police complaint,Savoiker claimed that Chatimhad
set fire to her wooden hut.Porvorim PSI Sagun Sawant
isinvestigating this case.
Assault: 3 heldHERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, MAY 12
Mapusa police arrested 3 personson charges of assaulting a man
atColvale.According to reports, Prakash
Gaonkar was travelling in his car,when he was stopped by three
per-sons, Mandar Paresekar, PrakashSinari and Vishal Warkhandkar,
whowere traveling in Sumo. The accusedallegedly pulled him out of
car and as-saulted him, says the complaint.
Panchassaulted
at PorvorimHERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, MAY 12
Penha-da-Franca Panch UmeshPhadte was assaulted by an un-known
person outside his resi-dence at Housing Board colonyat Porvorim on
Thursday night.
According to reports, a manalighted from a car and
assaultedPhadte, while he was enteringhis residence.
The panch sustained frac-tures on his hand and wasshifted to the
GMC hospitalat Bambolim.
Though Porvorim police wereinformed about this incidentthey did
not lodge the com-plaint.
"If the complaint is notregistered within 48 hours,residents of
Porvorim willtake a morcha to the policestation," warned social
ac-tivist Sunil Kavthanker.
Pregnantwoman hurt inmishap
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, MAY 12
Six persons, including a preg-nant woman, were injured whenan
inter-state truck rammed intoa tea stall at the Karaswada junc-tion
in Mapusa late Thursdayevening.
According to reports, thetruck (MH-12-SZ-5853) was pro-ceeding
towards Pernem, whenthe truck rammed into a teastall.
The driver fled from thesite and an irate mob laterdamaged the
truck and de-flated the tyres.
The injured persons wereshifted to the GMC hospitalfor further
treatment, wherethe pregnant woman is re-ported to be in a
seriouscondition.
Mapusa police is investigatingthe case.
-
GOAOHERALD
OPg3
GOA, FRIDAY, 13 MAY, 2011
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TThhee ffrruuiittss ooff wwoorrkk sshhoouulldd nnoott bbee
yyoouurr mmoottiivvee..YYoouu sshhoouulldd nneevveerr bbee
iinnaaccttiivvee..
-- BBhhaaggaavvaadd GGiittaa
OOnn tthhee 9955tthh BBiirrtthh AAnnnniivveerrssaarryy ooff
oouurr FFoouunnddeerr CChhaaiirrmmaann,,wwee rreeddeeddiiccaattee
oouurrsseellvveess ttoo hhiiss vvaalluueess aanndd hhiiss
vviissiioonn
aanndd ppaayy oouurr mmoosstt hhuummbbllee ttrriibbuuttee ttoo
hhiimm..
Crucial meet on medium today HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
As a curtain raiser to the May18, Delhi meeting, Chief Minis-ter
Digambar Kamat has calledfor a state level meeting ofstakeholders
on Friday to dis-cuss the medium of instruction(MoI) ,
implementation of nodetention circular and Right toEducation Act
issues.
State Education MinisterBabush Monserrate said thatChief
Minister has scheduled ameeting this Friday, wherein theissue of
RTE along with MOI willbe deliberated.
The stakeholders whowould part ic ipate at the
Delhi meeting, will also at-t end tomor row s meet , Monserrate
informed.
The issue of MOI in the state,which has divided the
Congressparty, will be discussed in Delhion May 18 with the
unionHuman Resources DevelopmentMinister Kapil Sibal.
Chief Minister Digambar
Kamat, along with other Con-gress office-bearers will be
pres-ent at the meeting.
The state government wasfound itself on the back footafter its
own legislators werefound lobbying for English asMOI.
Contrarily, Monserrate, in therecently concluded Budget Ses-
sion, had said that primary ed-ucation in Goa will continue tobe
in mother tongue.
Interestingly, the rules framedunder RTE Act, 2009 for Goahave
elucidated that Marathi/Konkani would be used as MoIin all
schools.
Monserratte said that stateeducation department is firmon
implementing RTE Goa andschools would have to imple-ment the no
detention circularfrom academic year 2010-11.
No school can give excuseand not implement the circular.There is
no possibility of revok-ing the circular, the ministerconcluded
firmly.
nThe state government was found itself on theback foot after its
own legislators were foundlobbying for English as MOI.
Contrarily,Monserrate, in the recently concluded BudgetSession, had
said that primary education in Goawill continue to be in mother
tongue.
MEDIuM OF INSTRuCTION CONTROVERSY
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
While it should have been theobsession of ministers,
legisla-tors and politicians to brushtheir grey cells to hammer
outa solution to the Medium of In-struction imbroglio,
seniorpoliticians are scoring browniepoints on the issue,
crossingswords and degrees of sanity.
The slinging match betweenformer chief minister Dr Wilfredde
DSouza and PWD ChurchillAlemao after citing historicalnarrative on
the issue on whodid not give grants to English
have now got personal, thussidetracking the issue. After Ale-mao
allegedly called Wily se-nile and suggested he shouldquit politics.
the latter has re-torted, What right has he gotto call me senile?
How manyclasses has he studied?
Wily stated, At least, I havestudied medicine, indicatingthat
PWD Minister has no rightwhatsoever to call him a senile.
The Prime Minister Dr Man-mohan Singh and senior BJPLeader
Advani have crossed 80years of age, so should theyquit politics,
asked Dr Souza
seeking explanation from Ale-mao.
Though both are on the sameside of the issue and supportgrants
to English medium pri-mary schools, the clash startedwhen Willy
told media that inJuly 1990, when the MoI issuecame to be debated
in Goa As-sembly, Alemao had supportedthen Educat ion
MinisterShashikala Kakodkar on MoIissue. The government then
haddecided that only Konkani andMarath i medium pr imar yschools
will get grants.
Willy who was then Opposi-
tion Leader had pitched infavour of English medium pri-mary
schools. He had then de-bated in the House that therecould not be
discrimination ingiving to schools on basis ofmedium of instruction
espe-cially when Constitution of Indiaand Official Language Act
per-mit the use of English.
In a recent press conferenceWilly pointed out that Alemaowho has
now been fighting forgrants for English medium pri-mary schools had
21 years agop i t ched fo r Konkan i andMarathi.
Degrees of sanity, senility and statesmanship
Mining firms agree to restrict 600 trips per day on two
routes
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
Mining companies agreed torestrict their operations oncrucia l
Kapsem- Cauvrem-Maina and Columb-Rivon-Kapse route to only 600
tripsper day, per route, at a highlevel meet ing chaired byChief
Minister DuigambarKamat, on Thursday.
Around 13 mining companiesoperating trucks along this sec-tor
agreed to this move to reg-ulate traffic at the meetingattended by
Chief Secretary, Di-rector Mines and Geology, sec-retary transport
and secretarymines.
The restrictions would be im-plemented on a trial basis
fromMonday on both routes.
Talking to Herald, TransportDirector Arun Desai said
thatcompanies have to give writtenstatement saying they haveagreed
to the government rec-ommendations.
Desai said authorities feltthat if cap is put on numbersof
trips, uncontrolled mining
truck movement would berest r i c ted in the reg ion,which have
been hauntinglocals there.
The mining firms and govern-ment is battling the issue of
fre-quent public agitations againstmining trucks which has
nowresulted in total stoppage oftruck movement.
Tightening its nose around
illegal and excessive movementof mining trucks, state Minesand
Geology department hasforwarded to government seriesof measures,
for its final ap-proval, as detailed by Heraldearlier such as
uni-color fortrucks, display of informationof mining companies and
driver,allocating fixed day for plyingtrucks for each mine etc.
CABS rejects formulaHERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
Cauvrem Adivasi Bachao Samiti(CABS) has said that they dis-agree
with the formula sug-gested by state government toregulate mining
truck traffic intheir village.
This is not the solution andwe will not withdraw our agita-tion,
CABS leader SurendraVelip said.
He said that their demand isto completely control the
trucktraffic, which has devastatedtheir fields.
There is nothing growinghere. Village is not benefitinganything
from mining. Why dowe require mining here, Velipsaid.
CABS are also disturbed be-cause of assault on their
leaderNilesh Gaonkar at Verna onThursday. Velip said that theywill
continue agitating againstthe trucks which has wreakedhavoc in
their village.
15 beggars held in Panjim
CCP workers picked up beggars near Caf Bhosle in the city.
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
Corporation of the City of Panjim(CCP) has finally taken
cog-nizance of beggars by initiatinga drive against this nuisance
inthe city, along with police de-partment and arrested 15
beg-gars.
CCP plans to continue its ef-forts to make Panjim beggarfree.
Speaking to Herald, MayorYatin Parekh said the drive hasbeen
initiated as menace of beg-ging has grown in the city. It isa
organized racket and there isa ring leader who operates beg-gars in
the city, said Mayor.
However, he said CCP alonecannot weed out beggars fromstreets of
Panjim and withoutcooperation from Police depart-ment.
Arvind Gawas, SP North hasassured me all co-operation,he
added.
Of late, number of beggars
in Panjim have suddenly in-creased even though begging
isexplicitly prohibited under theAct -- Goa Prevention of
Begging
Act, 1972. All the beggars whowere arrested today howeverwere
later released by a localmagistrate.
Mid-day meal menu revised
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
Education department has de-cided to effect changes in
itsmid-day meal scheme from thenext academic year based onfeedback
from students.
Senior education departmentofficials said that due to stu-dents
reluctance to eat foodsuch as sheera,since it is toosweet, they
have decided to in-struct self help groups to givepau bhaji and
pulao instead.
As per the fresh guidelines,Pulao would be served thrice aweek,
Pau bhaji twice a weekand sheera once a week for thetots.
The mid day meal scheme was
launched in Goa from 2005-06,providing 1,122 primary
schoolstudents with cooked food. Forthe year 2009-10, an
additional88,681 students were coveredunder the scheme and
89,588children were covered during2010-11. Around 83 self
helpgroups (SHG) have been con-tracted the work to give midday meal
to students in govern-ment run primary schools.
The department has decidedto persist with last years rates,paid
to self help groups.
The scheme had received crit-icism after it was observed thatmid
day meals were cooked inunhygienic condition by SHG.The inspection
conducted by
FDA had identified that foodcooked by almost half the SHGare
unhygienic.
Sufficient water at Opa: Official
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MARCEL, MAY 12
The scorching summer maythreaten to evaporate waterbodies in the
State, but the OpaWater Works at Khandepar hassufficient water
supply till themonsoons.
Officials at Opa Water Workstold Herald that there is ade-quate
water in the Kale Riverand Khandepar River to with-stand the summer
period.
Opa water works suppliespotable water to Ponda andT i s w a d i
a n d p a r t s o fS a n g u e m a n d B i c h o l i mtalukas.
When contacted, Opa WaterWorks Assistant Engineer SudhirParab
said they would not behit by water scarcity.
" T h e s i t u a t i o n i sfavourable and the water lev-els
have been maintained.Water levels normally de-
crease from January to May,but the 18 Bandharas builtby the
Water Resource De-partment in the two rivershas maintained water
levels,especially during the sum-mer," said Parab.
"On average, around 140MLD (million litres per day)is processed
and it will con-tinue as there is sufficientwater level of 2.64
metre-mean sea level."
A view of the Khandepar river. Photo by Amresh Parab
Parab explained that theKhandepar River, which orig-inates at
Dhudhsagar, andKale River, which originatesat Sanguem, are the
twomajor sources of fresh waterfor the Opa Water Works.
The WRD pumps waterfrom the Salulim Dam intothe Kale River which
furtherhelps to maintain water lev-els at Opa.
"There are four treatmentplants, two at Opa and anothertwo at
Kurti. Both units operatewith around 150 workmenround the
clock."
"These water filtration unitshave two 5,000 cubic litres,
two3000 cubic litres and five 800cubic litres master balancingrese
r vo i r s , f ro m w h e r eprocessed water is releasedto househo
lds in Ponda ,T i s w a d i a n d p a r t s o fB i c h l o i m a n
d S a n g u e mtalukas," said Parab.
He informed that turbidity isa major problem during rainsas it
affects water filtrationprocess.
"Due to dirty water, filters getclogged and they have to
beregularly cleaned and this takesa lot of time. However,
watersupply is restored within anhour. Maintenance is a contin-uous
process and plant is nevershut down."
"Of the 12 motors in 4 plants,we shut down each motor
sep-arately for maintenance work.It would take at least two tothree
days if the whole plant isshut down for maintenance,"Parab
added.
-
GOAOHERALD
O
Pg 4SHORT TAKES UPCOMING EVENTS
GOA, FRIDAY, 13 MAY, 2011
Probe Bicholim river desiltationwork, Green urges Dy
Collector
HERALd CORRESPONdENT
MAYEM, MAY 12
A Bicholim-based environmen-talist has accused the Water
Re-sources Department (WRD) ofimproper desiltation of the Bi-cholim
river near the Shan-tadurga High School at Bicholim.
In a complaint to the NorthGoa deputy collector at Panjim,who is
also chairman of disastermanagement team, RameshGawas stated that a
major por-tion of the main flooding pointof the river near Shri
Shan-tadurga high school Bicholim
has not been de-silted.This, he said, could lead to
flooding of the main road nearthe river during the monsoons.
Gawas has also stated that theWRD has not adopted proper
pro-cedures while constructing theconcrete wall on one side of
the
river. He has requested the deputycollector to conduct an
inquiryinto the desiltation work.
Copies of the complaint havebeen forwarded to Minister forWater
Resources Filipe Neri Ro-drigues, chief secretary and theforest
department.
Desiltation work of the Bicholim River in progress. Photo by
Vishant Vaze
Musicalevening atGoa Velha
HERALd NEWS dESK
PANJIM, MAY 12
Youngsters of Dando will or-ganize a musical evening onMay 14 on
the occasion of thefeast of Holy Cross Chapel,Dando, Goa Velha from
7pmonwards.
The show which is supportedby Tiatr Academy of Goa willhave
singers from Goa Velha andsurrounding villages.
This will be followed by per-formance from one of Goas No1
Orchestra Omcar Melodiesfrom Ponda.
HERALd CORRESPONdENT
CANACONA, MAY 12
A 55-year-old native of Bangaloredied in a road mishap when his
two-wheeler hit a roadside drainagestone at Agonda on Thursday
after-noon.
According to police sources,V Raj Kumar, who was residingat
Khola, was riding down theslope at Karashir-moll (Agonda)on an
Activa scooter (GA-09-U-1753) when his two-wheeler hita roadside
drainage stone.
Raj Kumar was thrown off histwo-wheeler onto a nearby Mango
tree.According to locals, the 108
ambulance took a long time toreach the site and Kumar
waseventually shifted in a privatepick-up to the Canacona
Com-munity Health Centre, wheredoctors on duty declared himdead,
Canacona police said.
Sources told Herald thatKumar was working as a man-ager at a
private seasonal resortin Saleri-Khola. The body hasbeen sent for
an autopsy at theHospicio at Margao and PSI Ter-ron D'Costa is
investigating.
CME programmes PANJIM (HND): The Department of Pathology Goa
MedicalCollege in collaboration with the Indian Academy of
Cytologistsis organising two CME (Continuing Medical Education )
Pro-grammes .
The First CME Programme will be held at the Pathology
De-partment seminar room on Saturday May 14 at 10.30 am. TheFaculty
includes Dr Anjali Amrapurkar, Professor of Pathology,Topiwala Nair
National Medical College and B Y Nair CharitableHospital Mumbai
Central ,Mumbai; Dr Cherry Shah ,Professorof Pathology, N H Medical
College Ahmedabad and Dr ShardaRane, Professor of Pathology, B J
Medical College, Pune . Thetopics to be covered include lesions of
the liver, gastrointestinaltract and slide seminars.
The second CME Programme will be held on May 25, at 3 pmin the
Pathology Department seminar room and there will bea Clinico
Pathologic Conference on neuroblastoma of theadrenal gland . The
Faculty includes Dr Vishal Sawant Head ofPediatric Surgery, GMC; Dr
Reena Mathews,Resident, GMC Pe-diatrics Department; Dr Vamoshi K
,Resident, GMC RadiologyDepartment; Dr Anuya Bandekar and Dr
Vynetta Maria, PostGraduates from GMC Pathology Department.
The topics to be covered include clinical features,
imaging,other investigations, gross, microscopy, treatment,
prognosis,follow up and recent advances of neuroblastoma of the
adrenalgland. The Goa Medical Council has given CME accreditationto
both the CMEs and they are open to doctors. Both CMEs
arecoordinated and chaired by Dr R G Wiseman Pinto
Family Day at Caculo MallPANJIM (HND): Caculo Mall,Panjim will
celebrate InternationalFamily Day on May 15.
The extravaganza will have a makeover for women by
inter-national brand NYX, play and learn workshops for children
atWestside, pleasurable evenings at the food court,
delicious,sizzling barbeques (veg/non-veg) of your choice, while
you testthe singer in you at the karaoke system.
The event is managed by BizzNBuzz Event Minds, the officialevent
managers for Caculo Mall.
Medha kendra anniversaryPANJIM: Medha Parrikar Rugna Seva Kendra
will celebrate its8th anniversary on May 15, at Mapusa Residency
(Conference)Hall at 10 am.
Cancer specialist and well-known social activist Dr
ShekharSalkar will be the chief guest. He will deliver keynote
addresson the topic Other Side Of Cancer.
Every year, renowned doctors from different fields are invitedto
deliver talk on different topics of health. This Kendra ishaving
its 24-hour ambulance service and has maintained bloodgroup
directory for the needy. The organization also lendsmedical
equipments to the poor and needy on the recommen-dation of
doctors.
Our Lady of Grace feast PANJIM (HND): The feast of Our Lady of
Grace, Patroness of theParish of Bicholim, will be celebrated on
Saturday, May 14.
On the feast day, the concelebrated High Mass will be
cele-brated at 9am and will be officiated by Fr Tony Salema,
Rectorof the Minor Seminary of Our Lady, Saligao-Pilerne.
During the nine-day special preparation for the feast,
Frs.Afonso Mendonsa, Arvind Severes, Joseph Rodrigues, GabrielLobo,
Seby Vaz preached on virtues that epitomised the holylife of
Mary.
On the occasion of the feast, Bicholim locals have come
to-gether to present a tiatr entitled Bapa, Tankam bhogos whichwill
be staged at 7pm.
GIDC AGM at MiramarPANJIM (HND): Goa Industrial Development
Corporation em-ployees co-operative credit societys 10th annual
general meet-ing has been convened on May 14 at 10.30 am at Goa
ScienceCentre, Miramar, Panjim, followed by annual get-together
ofmembers and their families and felicitation of retired membersof
society at the same venue.
Bone Mineral Density campPANJIM (HND): Free Bone Mineral Density
(BMD) camp will
be conducted at Vintage Hospital on May 13 from 10 am to1pm.
Another free BMD camp will be held on May 14 at KamatHospital,
Miramar, in collaboration with Rotary club of Riviera,Panjim from 9
am to 12.30 pm. Dr Shekhar Shivrekar willconduct the camp.
Dance performance at MoiraPANJIM (HMD): A performance by Hartman
D'Souza's dance
troupe highlighting the effects of the mining industry on
thelives of people, not only in the mining belt but much
furtherafield including villages like Moira will be held on May 13
at5.30 pm at AA de Moira club.
CCP develops cold feet on Maha Sabha
Seamen urge Sardinha,Churchill not to fight
for mileageHERALd REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
The Goan Seamen Associationof India (GSAI) has requestedSouth
Goa MP Franc i s coSardinha and PWD MinisterChurchill Alemao not to
fightfor mileage, but come togetherand fight for the seamen
com-munity.
Welcoming Alemaos state-ment that he will be happy ifChief
Minister Digambar Kamatincludes seamen in the pensionscheme by Goa
Government,GSAI General Secretary MichaelBenny Da Costa said as a
sea-men himself, he should havedone it, but GSAI had to remindhim
of this existing scheme.
Saying that no one can fool
Goan seamen anymore, Bennysaid people of Goa know whois fooling
whom. They cant foolus any more. All seamen havecome together under
GSAI toshow that they are united andcan fight the government on
anysocial issue affecting our seamencommunity, it may be MoI
orcorruption. As a community wecan play a major role. Dont takeus
for granted, we can do it inSalcete too.
Regarding Alemaos state-ment quoting Abdulgani as say-ing it is
not possible to enhancemonthly ex-gratia relief from Rs200 to Rs
1500, Benny remindedthat the promise was made onthe eve of last
Assembly pollsby Serang and Alemao.
HERALd REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
General Secretary of NationalUnion of Seafarers of India(NUSI)
Abdulgani Y Serang hassaid the Union has forcefullytaken up with
the National Wel-fare Board of Seafarers threemajor demands
affecting sea-men, including a pensionscheme and contributory
annu-ity scheme for seafarers.
Abdulgani hoped that thesewelfare initiatives will be an-nounced
on the first Interna-tional Seafarers Day scheduled
Serang hopes welfare initiatives to be announced on Seafarers
Day
on June 25, 2011.He pointed out that members
of the Welfare Board have askedfor a one-time grant of Rs
250crore from the Centre so thatretired, unfit and deceased
andtheir widows get financial as-sistance when they are no
longerworking on ships.
Moreover, Abdulgani said thelong-pending demand of NUSIto start
contributory Annuityscheme for seafarers evokedsupport from the
Union Ship-ping Minister G K Vasan andother board members. In
fact,NUSI general secretary saidUnion Shipping Minister has
di-rected his office to finalise thescheme by June 25.
He said Vasan has assured theBoard that Ministry of Shippingis
taking up the matter with theFinance Ministry very strongly.NUSI
clarified that seafarersworking on Indian flag ships arereceiving
salary which they have
to spend in their unemploymentperiod also. This is one of
thestrong justifications for gettingIncome Tax exemption,
headded.
Terming the meeting as verypositive after discussing
issuesregarding the welfare of seafar-ers, he said NUSI officials
havebeen interacting with seafarers,particularly from Goa on
theseissues. Based on their feedbackand personal meetings withPWD
Minister Churchill Alemao,these three demands were par-ticularly
discussed at the meet-ing held on May 4, he said
The meeting also discussedthe issue of piracy and safety ofthe
Indian seafarers serving inthe pirate infested areas washighlighted
by the Union, Ab-dulgani said, adding that theUPA government under
thePrime Minister Dr ManmohanSingh is proceeding actively
andeffectively on this matter.
HERALd REPORTER
PANJIM, MAY 12
Though Mayor Yatin Parekh hadpromised to hold Maha Sabhafor
Panjim on the lines of gramsabhas in Panchayats -- Corpo-ration of
the City of Panjim (CCP)has not yet officially decidedto hold a
Maha Sabha.
CCP Commissioner MelwynVaz in response to a RTI queryposed by
Adv Aires Rodrigueshas informed that CCP has nottaken any such
decision so far.
It must be recalled that postelection, Parekh had trumpetedthat
to ensure transparency infunctioning of CCP, Maha Sab-has would be
held to enablethe people of Panjim to en-counter the corporators on
var-ious issues.
It is almost two months thatParekh has been in office buthe is
yet to deliver on his assur-ance. Mayor Parekh could notbe reached
on his cellphone forhis reactions.
Water pipeline damaged HERALd REPORTER
MARGAO, MAY 12
Contrary to district Magistrates fiat to all and sundry to stop
roaddigging by April 30, a water pipeline behind Navelim Church
wasdamaged due to digging on Wednesday resulting in disruption
inwater supply to the locality.
The incident has raised questions over adherence to
DistrictMagistrates directions, even though officials in the
Collectoratesay the directions have been relaxed in case of
emergencies tomeet certain deadlines.
In Wednesdays incident, the water pipeline was left damagedafter
the contractor tried to excavate the road for laying of cables.The
mater came to light after water gushed out of the damagedline,
inundating the area. Former Margao Municipal ChairpersonSavio
Coutinho demanded to know how the contractor was allowedto
undertake road digging activity when Collector has issued
di-rections to cap all such activity by April 30. I fail to
understandthe rationale behind allowing road digging when the
Collectorhas banned all such activity by April 30, he said.
Bangalore native diesin Agonda mishap
Summer Slam begins VASCO (HR): The six-day extravaganza 'Summer
Slam' of Mor-mugao Municipal Council (MMC) began at the Baina beach
onThursday.
The festival was inaugurated by South Goa MP FrancisSardinha in
the presence of MMC Chairperson Suchita Shirodkar,Vice Chairperson
Manesh Arolkar, Councillors Saifulla Khan,Carlos Almeida, Nitin
Chodecar, Fiola Rego, Lavina D' Souza,Daji Salkar, Sunita
Usgaonkar, Bhavana Bhosle, and VinayPalankar event coordinator of
5th Dimension.
This is the first time that the MMC has appointed an
eventmanagement professional to conducted cultural, sporting andfun
events. The programmes will commence daily at 6 pm.
According to the Events Chairman Sharad Chodecar, theprogrammes
slated during the 'Summer Slam' include an all-Goa dance
competition (May 13), fire dance and fashion show(May 14), an art
exhibition, volleyball game and rock show byZygnama (May 15),
drawing competition for kids, a Konkanimusical show and live music
(May 16) and a musical event(May 17).
Chodnekar is GTDC GMPANJIM (HND): Sanjay V P Chodnekar,
Deputy General Manager of GoaTourism Development
Corporation(GTDC) Ltd has been promoted to thepost of General
Manager, according toan office order issued by the Corpora-tion.
Chodnekar joined the Departmentof Tourism in 1980 and thereafter
wasabsorbed in GTDC in 1987.
Rotary Club of Panaji Mid Town handed over one wheelchairand a
walker to physically challenged patient Sadanand Shir-gaoker at the
recently held function at Rugnashreya, Bambolimat the hands of
District Governor Rtn Mahesh Raikar of Dist3170. A number of
members of the Club also attended thisfunction.
POWER SHUTDOWNMAY 13
MARGAO: From 9 am to 2 pm. Areas affected are 33/11 KV RaiS/s,
Monte, Margao, Fatorda S/s and Bethora S/s.
MOLLAR: From 9 am to 2 pm. Areas affected are Primos Park,Own
Den hotel, Vijaynagar, Milrock, Mollar, Bela Vista,
Vikasnagarcolony and vicinity of Corlim village.
KAKOdA: From 9 am to 1 pm. Areas affected are Kakoda
Madegal,Khadebag, Soliem, Voldemol, Gawaliwada, Ghadiwada,
Karmaliwadaand Chirkanally.
MAY 14
CARAMBOLIM: From 9 am to 2 pm at Navelkar Estate, NavelkarHill
city of Old Goa.
Banastarim bridge closure PANJIM (HND): Banastarim Bridge on
NH-4A will remain
closed for all vehicular traffic on May 22 from 6.30 am to8.30
am for the purpose of inspection and recording of decklevels.
A Little About Civics
The Every Man'sRight, or Alleman-srtt, is unique to Swe-den. It
is a right basedon practice and datesback to medieval tradi-tions.
It is still in prac-tice today, although thereason it came aboutwas
because of the na-ture of the country dur-ing the older
timeperiod.
It came about at a time,when Sweden was avery sparsely
populatedcountry. Travellingabout the country wasconsidered a
dangerousexperience, and wasusually a big undertaking. Between
thescattered villages, there were vast areasof forests that did not
belong to anyone- only outlaws inhabited the woods.
However, when people needed to travelthrough the woods, they
would need toforage to survive. It was not always fea-sible to
carry sufficient provisions fromtheir starting-point and therefore
theEvery Mans Right came about.
As they needed sustenance, they had theright to collect what
they required forsurvival during the journey. For exam-ple, these
included provisions such asnuts, acorns, wood, grass for horse
fod-der, and timber for repairing a brokencarriage perhaps. This
practice was reg-ulated in the provincial laws.
The right did not conferblanket permission toraid the forest of
every-thing, as the lawsclearly took the valueof the items into
ac-count. For instance,there are no restric-tions on berries,
asthey are not consideredas nutritious (andhence valuable)
ashazelnuts. The provin-cial laws didn't onlyguarantee rights
butalso limited rights andstated the punishmentfor those who
exceededthese rights.
The Every Man's Right, which today isalmost a right for everyone
to use thenature for recreation and tourism, wasinitially a
provision for survival.
At the end of the 19th century, tourismand outdoor living became
popular inSweden. This caused claims for a moremodern regulation of
Every Man's Right,but the proposition was not accepted.The rights
were formed for a medievalsociety where farming was the main
oc-cupation, not for a modern industrial-ized society - but the
right has importantcultural value as a right based on
prac-tice.
It is important to understand that EveryMan's Right isn't just a
matter of free-dom but also a matter of responsibility.
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What is the Allemansrtt?
Sweden
-
INDIAGOA, FRIDAY 13 MAY 2011
Pg 5OHERALD
O
PTI
MUMBAI, MAY 12
Claiming ownership over theland on which the controversialAdarsh
Society building stands,the Maharashtra governmenthas told the
judicial panel prob-ing alleged irregularities in itthat the plot
was never trans-ferred to the army.
"Revenue records and lettersaddressed to the State govern-ment
by the Ministry of Defencedating back to 1950s show thatthe land
where Adarsh buildingstands belongs to the State gov-ernment," the
affidavit filed byCollector Chandrashekar Oakstates.
According to the affidavit, theMinistry of Defence had on
De-cember 31, 1958, written a let-ter to the State
governmentseeking the land in upmarketColaba in exchange for a plot
insuburban Santacruz that wasowned by the Army.
The State government hadtaken possession of the SantaCruz land.
The army sought forBlock 6 of Colaba land, whereAdarsh stands, in
return of theland in Santa Cruz. However,this is was not given.
Maharash-tra government is the owner ofthe land," the affidavit
says.
The collector has relied onseveral letters written by thearmy
stating that the Ministryof Defence has no ownership ofthe
land.
The affidavit clarified that in
March 1956 the army washanded over Block 7 in Colabaas it fell
within the boundary ofdefence premises. Possessionof Block 6 was
never handedover to the Defence Ministry.Entries in the land
revenuerecords show that the plot hasbeen in possession of the
Stategovernment," it said.
The army has contended be-fore the Inquiry Commissionthat the
land on which the 31-storey structure is located be-
longed to it.Though they have so far not
been able to produce recordsto prove ownership, the Armyhas
consistently been claimingthat the land was in their pos-session
even prior to 1937.
All lands owned or underpossession of the Army are en-tered into
the Military Land Reg-ister. However, the Adarsh plotdoes not exist
in the register,"Brigadier Deepak Saxena of theArmy Headquarters
(Maharash-
tra, Gujarat and Goa) had ad-mitted before the panel in
hisdeposition.
In the course of his deposi-tion, Saxena had also refutedAdarsh
Society counsel SatishManeshinde's contention thatthe state
government had trans-ferred a part of the land to thearmy in
exchange for the San-tacruz plot.
The army was always in pos-session of the land and hencethe
question of State govern-ment transferring part of theplot or
seeking to hand over theland does not arise," he had toldthe panel
yesterday.
The terms of reference of theInquiry Commission includelooking
into the ownership ofthe disputed land, whether thehousing society
was meant forKargil war widows and war vet-erans alone and if there
wereviolations of environmental andcoastal regulatory norms.
Adarsh land is ours, Maharashtra tells probe panel
"Revenue records and lettersaddressed to the S ta tegovernment
by the Ministry ofDefence dating back to 1950sshow that the land
whereAdarsh bu i ld ing s tandsbe longs t o t he S t a t
egovernment," the affidavit filedby Collector ChandrashekarOak
states.
Opposition lashes out at Mayawati for 4 years of misrule,
corruption
Activists of the Congress party burn an effigy of Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Mayawati during a demonstration in Amritsar.The
demonstrators were protesting against the arrest of Rahul Gandhi
after he joined farmers protesting against theconstruction of a
highway.
PTI
NEW DELHI, MAY 12
Pained over violence over land acquisition and complaints
ofpolice atrocities in Greater Noida, the National Human
RightsCommission today said it will send an investigation team to
theaffected villages.
The rights panel said it has received complaints about
policetrespassing into villagers' houses, outraging women's dignity
andmercilessly lathicharging farmers demanding more compensationfor
their land acquired for a road project.
The NHRC is pained to see complaints and media reports al-leging
large-scale violence in village Bhatta and other nearbyareas in
Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh leading to loss of life andinjuries to
several persons, including the officers on the stategovernment's
duty," it said.
In view of the gravity of the situation, the Commission
hasdecided to depute its investigation team for conducting an
on-the-spot inquiry in the mat