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OHERALDOThe Voice of Goa Since 1900
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JUNE 14
The hustle and bustle at the fish-ing jetties across the State
finallywent missing on Monday aday before curtains come downon this
years fishing season.
Hundreds of fishing vesselsdropped anchor at the jetties,while
the migrant labour haveall headed to their native States.
But, mechanised boat ownersappear a worried lot. In fact,many a
boat owner is keepingtheir fingers crossed over theavailability and
arrival of crewmembers for the next fishingseason, beginning from
July 31.
Their fear stems from the factthat a large number of
migrantlabour working on the fishingvessels had left the State
afterlast years cyclone left manylabourers met a watery grave inthe
Arabian sea off Maharashtracoast.
The fact that the mechanisedfishing industry were hit by
amanpower shortage post cy-clone has come to haunt theboat owners,
forcing them to
keep their fingers crossed overthe availability of the
manpowercoming season.
Says Elvis Gomes, Executivemember of the Cutbona BoatOwners
Union: Last years cy-clone has left bitter memoriesin the minds of
the labourersand their families. But, we arestill hopeful that the
labourerswill return to the jetties for thenew season. Let us wait
andsee.
Other boat owners echoed
similar sentiments at the Cut-bona fishing jetty hoping
againsthope for the arrival of the mi-grant workforce in time
As is the normal practice,many a boat owner is believedto have
paid advance money totheir crew members, with thehope that they
return for thenew season.
Goas mechanised fishing in-dustry is totally dependent onoutside
workforce to meet the
PTI
LONDON, JUNE 14
Shocked by reports of massiveembezzlement in India in theuse of
mil l ions of poundsgranted as aid for education,Britain today
promised zerotolerance to corruption andlaunched an immediate
in-quiry.
In a statement to PTI, the In-ternational Development secre-tary
Andrew Mitchell said theallegations reported from Indiaabout
widespread corruption inthe use of British aid was shock-ing.
These are shocking allega-tions. I have launched an imme-diate
inquiry to ensure Britishaid money has not been mis-used. The new
British Govern-ment will have a zero tolerancepolicy to corruption,
he said.
When I took up this job amonth ago I made a pledge toBritish
taxpayers; they mustknow that for every pound oftheir money, we
will get 100pence of value, he added.
Mitchell said he was review-ing every single one of
theDepartment for InternationalDevelopments country pro-grammes to
ensure that Britaingave aid to where it was mostneeded, to help the
worldspoorest people.
But I want to go much fur-ther. This is why last week I
an-nounced a new independent aidwatchdog - to scrutinise aid onthe
taxpayers behalf. In futurewe will also publish all detailsof the
departments spending
on our website, he said.According to DFID figures, 24
per cent of Britain annual aidto India is earmarked for
edu-cation. Reports in the Britishmedia about the corruption
inIndia mentioned a figure of 340million pounds in aid to a
schools project for childrenunder the age of14.
One audit of money ear-marked for the Sarva ShikshaAbhiyan
project found that 70million pounds had reportedlyvanished. A
report in the TheNews of the World quoted
Indias Auditor General as sayingthat that almost 14
millionpounds had been spent on itemsand luxuries that had
nothingto do with schools.
Cash meant for kids educa-tion has been blown on luxuries.We
discovered that officialsthroughout the country hadused it to buy
new cars and inone instance aid cash was spenton four luxury beds
costing atotal of 17,754 pounds as wellas a 3,803 pounds
computer,the report said.
Meanwhile, Human ResourceDevelopment Ministry sourcesin New
Delhi said the Sarva Shik-sha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme has avery robust
financial monitoringsystem which includes an annualaudit by
chattered accountantsempanelled by the CAG, con-current financial
review by In-stitute of Public Auditors ofIndia, periodic
performance re-view by the CAG and quarterlyreview with the
financial con-trollers of states SSA societies.
Large amounts of moneywere shown to have been spenton schools
that reportedly didnot exist, while in some casesair conditioners,
faxes, photo-copiers and 7,531 colour tele-vision sets were
reportedlybought despite there being noelectricity supplies. The
reportsaid that 150,000 pounds waspaid into a mystery bank ac-count
with no reason given.
It quoted a report by the In-stitute of Public Auditors ofIndia
that in Bihar children were
Goas Heartbeat: Abhishek
for Team Brazil Pg 14
Sports: Seniors will play to
potential, says Dhoni Pg 13Business: Top officials hint
at RBI tightening Pg 12
Visit us at:www.oheraldo.in panjim, TUESDaY, jUnE 15, 2010 pRiCE
Rs. 3.00 (air Surcharge Rs. 1.50) pages 18
IN BRIEF
From now on yellow cards forMinisters involved in
bribes,corruption, links with mafia...and red cards for murder,
rape,molestaiton...
PM asks GoM on Bhopal to meet With the raging politicalstorm
over Bhopal gas tragedyshowing no signs of abating,Prime Minister
ManmohanSingh sought to do some dam-age control by directing
thereconstituted Group of Minis-ters to meet immediately andprepare
a report in 10 days.The GoM, headed by HomeMinister P Chidambaram,
hasbeen asked to assess the op-tions and remedies availableto the
Government. It is ex-pected to meet on Thursdayor Friday. (PTI)
(Report on page 9)
25 drown in boat tragedy At least 25 people, mostlywomen and
girls, drownedwhile around 17 others wentmissing when an
overcrowdedboat capsized in Ganga riverin Ballia district in
Lucknow. The boat carrying around 60people sunk in Dubahar areathis
morning. Its occupantswere proceeding to attend afunction on the
other side ofthe river, Additional DirectorGeneral of Police Brij
Lal toldreporters, adding, 17 peoplewere either rescued by
policepersonnel or safely made it tothe shore. (PTI)
Kandla Port polluting creekAnthropogenic activities atKandla
Port were contaminat-ing water in its creek whichcould affect the
marine sanc-tuary and national park there,a study by the NIO, Goa,
said.A conclusion to this effectwas drawn by a study on In-fluence
of Anthropogenic Ac-tivities on ExistingEnvironmental Conditions
ofKandla Creek (Gulf of Kutch)by NIO scientists. (PTI)
Labourers carrying fishing nets at Cutbona jetty. Photo by
Santosh Mirajkar.
Showers drenchGoa, Met warnsof gusty winds
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JUNE 14
The much-awaited monsoonshowers lashed the State earlyMonday
even as the Met De-partment warned of heavy rainsaccompanied by
strong gustywinds in next 24 hours.
Rain or thundershowers ac-companied by strong gutsy windwould
hit parts of the State.Some areas might also witnessmoderate to
heavy rainfall incoming 24 hours, Indian Me-teorological
Observatory in-charge K V Singh said.
Predicting a good rainfallin the next two days, Singhsaid,
though the monsoonarrived late in the State, weexpect good showers
in com-ing days.
Singh confirmed that south-west monsoon had advancedinto Goa on
June 10 but due tothe weakening of monsoon cur-rents, the State
could not wit-ness good amount of rainfall atthe beginning.
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JUNE 14
The Hospicio mortuary was backin the news once again for
thewrong reasons. This time, how-ever, there was no complaint
ofspace constraint at the 18-unitmortuary, but the Hospital sim-ply
had no senior medico-legalsurgeon to conduct a post-mortem
examination on Mon-day.
The hospital witnessed up-roar this morning after relativesof
the girl murdered in Margaoon Sunday came to the hospi-tal to take
possession of herbody, only to find no doctor toconduct the
autopsy.
A lady medical officer, draftedby the Government to the
Hos-picio mortuary, declined to per-form the autopsy on groundsthat
it was a murder case.
A relative of the girl main-tained that they were called tothe
hospital at 9.30 am todayto take possession of the girlsbody, but
added that the post-mortem did not take place evenat 11.30 am.
Worse still, since there wasno senior medico-legal
surgeon,acting Hospicio Medical Super-intendent, Dr Nasnodkar
issuedinstructions to the lady medicalofficer to transport the
girlsbody and get the post-mortemdone by a senior doctor at theGoa
Medical College and hos-pital mortuary.
This infuriated the relatives,who were left high and dry forno
fault of theirs, since theywere anxious to take possessionof the
body to perform the final
rites this evening.The acting Hospicio superin-
tendent informed that the ladymedical officer had her own
lim-itations in carrying out the post-mortem of the girls body.
Sinceit is a murder case, it is in thefitness of things that the
autopsywas done by a senior doctor,he added.
The explanation failed to sat-isfy the agitated relatives,
whodemanded to know why thecommonman is put to greathardships for
want of a doctor.If the lady doctor is not autho-rised to perform
post-mortemexaminations, why is she ap-pointed at Hospicio, a
memberof the Hospicio Visiting Com-mittee, Damu Shirodkar de-manded
to know.
Shirodkar said if the seniorconsultant, Dr Avinash Poojaryis on
leave, the acting Hospiciomedical superintendent oughtto have made
alternate arrange-ments, adding that the girlsfamily ought to have
been toldlast night about the prevailingsituation at the district
hospi-tal.
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JUNE 14
Lyndon Monteiro, officer on spe-cial duty (OSD) to formertour i
sm min i s te r Mickk yPacheco today withdrew his an-ticipatory
bail plea from GoaBench of Bombay High courtafter he was asked to
remainpresent during hearing of hisplea.
Justice U D Salvi of BombayHigh Court had directed Mon-teiro to
remain present in thecourt for his anticipatory bailplea hearing,
which has beenpostponed to June 17.
Monteiros lawyer, AmitPalekar, said that he has with-drawn the
anticipatory bail pleaand legalities are being exam-ined to decide
further courseof action.
When the anticipatory bailapplication came up for hearingtoday
morning, social activistand High Court lawyer Aires Ro-drigues
pointed out that therehas been a circular of the HighCourt that any
anticipatory bailhas to be filed by the concerned
person.The provisions of law and
High Court rules mandate thatan anticipatory bail applicationcan
be filed under Section 438of the Criminal Procedure Codeonly by the
person anticipatingarrest, Rodrigues told the court.
Meanwhile, the Public Pros-ecutor (PP) Carlos Ferreira,
tooargued that the application wasnot maintainable as it was
filedby Monterios mother. He de-manded that Monteiro be pres-ent
for his anticipatory bail pleahearing.
Justice U D Salvi told Palekar,appearing on behalf of
Monteirothat it was very glaring that theanticipatory bail
application wasnot in accordance with the rules.
Palekar told the Court thathe would take instructionswhether to
withdraw the antic-ipatory bail application and laterJustice Salvi
adjourned the mat-ter to June 17.
Monteiro, who has been onthe run since June 6, has beendeclared
as co-accused in the
Lyndon withdraws bail petition
Drug dealerDudu moves HC for bail
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JUNE 14
Israeli drug dealer David Drihamalias Dudu has moved to theHigh
Court seeking bail, point-ing out to the anomalies in po-lice
panchanama conductedwhen he was raided.
In the bail application movedbefore the court, Dirham hassaid
that he is innocent.
Dudu was arrested on Febru-ary 21, 2010 for possessing nar-cotic
substances at Anjuna byAnti Narcotic Cell. An offenceunder Narcotic
Drugs and Psy-chotropic Substances Act hadbeen registered against
him forpossessing cocaine, heroin pow-der and charas.
The alleged drug dealer in hisbail petition has said that
theletter written by investigatingOfficer Sunil Gudlar to
deputysuperintendent of police (DySP)informing about the raid
wasfabricated.
The covering letter ad-dressed to DySP has such awealth of
factual material added
Education aid to India blown on luxuries
Britain shocked, orders immediate probe
Money for nothing?70 million pounds for Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyanproject had reportedly vanished. Almost 14 m pounds spent on
items and luxuriesthat had nothing to do with schools.Officials
throughout the country bought new carswith aid money. 17,754 pounds
spent on 4 luxury beds while 3,803pounds used to buy a
computer.ACs, faxes, photocopiers and 7,531 TVs boughtdespite no
power supplies. 150,000 pounds paid into a mystery bank accountwith
no reason given.(According to a report in The News of the World
that quoted IndiasAuditor General).
Curtains down on fishing seasonFear over manpower shortage
looms
Hospicio plays truant; doctor
refuses autopsy
(Continued on page 10)
(Continued on page 10)(Continued on page 10)
(Continued on page 10)
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GOAHERALD
Pg2GOA, TUESDAY, 15 JUNE, 2010
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MAYEM, JUNE 14
Believe it or not, students insome classes at GovernmentPrimary
School (GPS), Vithala-pur-Sanquelim are being madeto squat on the
floor due tolack of benches.
Speaking to Herald, PTAmember Manasi Borkar saidshe had
requested the educa-tion department to provide ad-ditional benches
about sixmonths ago to avoid the exist-ing situation.
However, my requests fellon deaf ears. Students arenow facing
acute problems.In some classrooms, four-fivestudents have to sit on
onebench while in other class-rooms students are compelledto sit on
the f loor, saidBorkar.
The total strength of stu-dents in the school is 263,which
consists of pre-primarystudents (31), Urdu medium(27), Std 1 (52),
Std 2 (42), Std3 (50) and Std 4 (61).
The government shouldlook into the matter with im-mediate
effect, said a parent,Sajjala Awakhale.
Another parent Sriram Bakresaid there is no toilet for the
school due to which studentshave to answer natures call bythe
roadside.
The worst affected are theteachers, who cannot go inopen places
to answer natures
call, said Bakre.The parents and teachers
have requested the educa-tion department to provideadequate
facilities for theschool.
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JUNE 14
Blaming Mamlatdars and BlockDevelopment Officers for block-ing
his plan to include more andmore Goans in the BelowPoverty Line
(BPL) list, Rural De-velopment Minister ChurchillAlemao has said
the Centre hascome out with new criteriawhich would help bring
largenumber of Goans in the BPL cat-egory.
Alemao warned the RDA staff,especially from South Goa dis-trict,
that he would crack a whipand send them home, if theirperformance
continues to re-main below par.
At the meeting with RDA of-ficials and staff held here onMonday,
Alemao announcedthat the Centre has relaxed theBPL norms which will
now makeit easy for economically back-ward Goans to get in the
BPLlist. The Mamlatdars and BDOshad blocked our plans to bringmore
Goans in the BPL list on
grounds the applicant does notfall in the category. But, the
lat-est criteria will help people tobe brought under the
category,he said.
The RDA Minister issued di-rectives to the officials to
ensurethat more and more Goans areincluded in the BPL list to
availbenefits under the Centralschemes. There are someSarpanchas,
who have refusedto approve names for the BPLfamilies. Now, the
rules arechanged that the householdowners can now take approvaleven
from a Zilla panchayatmember and other persons men-tioned in the
criteria, he said.
The Minister asked the RDASecretary to immediately writeto the
Mamlatdars and the BDOson the refusal to clear the namesunder the
BPL list and also calla meeting with them to solvethe
imbroglio.
He replied in the negativewhen suggested that the RDAdepartment
could not make
major inroads in the villages tobring the poor under the
BPLlist. In Navelim village, therewere only three people includedin
the BPL category. Now thefigure has shot up to over 600.Things are
certainly improving,but more needs to be done. Peo-ple should
realise that a NREGcard holder is automatically in-cluded in the
BPL list, he added.
Meanwhile, the RDA Secre-tary has called upon the officialsand
staff from South Goa to putin more efforts to ensure suc-cessful
implementation of theBPL schemes. The DRDA, northhas initiated many
steps. Thestaff in south Goa might havebeen working hard, but
thereare many inadequacies as perthe records, he said.
The Secretary said that audi-tors have questioned the
poorimplementation of BLP schemesin South Goa and called uponthe
staff to work with dedicationand sincerity by bringing morepersons
in the BPL category.
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JUNE 14
Following a representation bythe parents to the
EducationMinister Atanasio Monserratewith their grievances, the
Stategovernment on Monday di-rected the Mustifund schoolmanagement
to hold back thefee hike of the primary studentsuntil further
decision.
According to the parents, theMustifund school managementhad
raised the fee from Rs 550to Rs 800 in April this year, dur-ing
admissions to the new aca-demic year.
However, we were in formore shock when the school re-
opened. The management gavea notice that the fee has
beenincreased from Rs 800 to Rs1350 based on government
rec-ommendation, a parent saidspeaking to Herald on conditionof
anonymity.
The management gave thereason that the fee hike wasnecessary for
paying the teach-ers according to governmentscales, the parents
stated.
The parents today met the ed-ucation minister in his chamber,who
assured them to take a de-cision in the matter by evening.
By evening the Education De-partment issued directions tothe
school to hold back the fee
hike.We have asked them to hold
back the fee hike, Education Di-rector Celsa Pinto told
Herald.
It may be recalled recentlythe government appointed com-mittee
had submitted a feestructure to be followed by allschools after
complaints ofheavy fees being charged by theprivate schools.
The education director saidthat the minister has decidedto ask
the committee to take are-look into the fee structure.
Until than we have asked theMustifund management to re-fund the
excess fee collected tothe parents, she stated.
Mustifund school directed to hold back fee hike
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JUNE 14
The All Goa Unaided SchoolsParents Association (AGUSPA)has
warned the Education de-partment against playing withthe sentiments
and anguish ofparents, who toil hard to edu-cate their children and
refusedto be exploited.
The Association has alsoasked the Director of Educationto
scrutinise the statements ofaccounts submitted by theseschools and
further audit thesame before granting any ap-provals as per the Goa
SchoolEducation Act 1984.
Association Secretary OrlandoPacheco has accused the Edu-cation
Department of adoptinga casual attitude towards theconcern of
parents with regardsto the matter of fee hike in theunaided schools
in Goa. He saidthe circular dated 16th April2010 issued to the
schools withregards to the fees is misleadingand bound to create
confusionand has been issued without un-derstanding the ground
realitiesexisting in the State and withoutany details or
directions.
Association Chairman NisserDias has taken strong exceptionto the
report filed by DeputyDirector of Education Anil Powarto the
government, stating thatonly a few parents have filedcomplaints on
the fee hike. TheDeputy Director of Education
has made the statement inspiteof several protests being
raisedfrom several quarters by parents.This only goes to show
thatPowar is more inclined towardsthe school managements, whichare
usually headed by industri-alists and businessmen and notthe
parents, Dias said.
He said the fee of Rs 1350pm for primary section and Rs1800 pm
for the middle and sec-ondary section recommendedby the Pednekar
Committee andaccepted by the Government isbased on an assumption
thatthere is an average of 25 stu-dents in the primary section
and30 students in secondary sectionper division or class after
cal-culating the sixth pay scalesalaries to teachers. In
reality,however, there are almost 40students per class or
divisionsin most of theses 148 unaidedschools in the State which
areusually English medium schools.Therefore, the fees per monthin
most of these schools shouldbe much less then the fee rec-ommended
by the PednekarCommittee and thereafter ac-cepted by the
Government,Dias said.
He further pointed out thatthe fees will be much lesser
thenthose proposed by some ofthese schools which had askedfor
approval to fees upto Rs1800 pm month for primary sec-tion and upto
Rs 2500 pm for
middle section and secondarysection.
Meanwhile, Association Pres-ident Orlando Pacheco hasurged the
teachers communitywho are to receive the salarieson par with
Government teach-ers as per directives from thecentral government
be vigilantand ensure that these schoolswho will be hiking the fees
uptothe set limit, as per the recom-mendation of the
PednekarCommittee get their salaries asper the scale they
deserve.
He further said the DoEshould also ensure that theteachers are
actually paid as perthe scale recommended as thesame will be
collected from theparents.
The association has furtherappealed to the Education Min-ister
and the State governmentto bring in legislation and enactan Act on
the lines of Tamil NaduSchools (Regulation of collectionof fees)
Act 2009, which was up-held by the division bench ofthe Madras High
Court, dismiss-ing all writ petitions challengingthe validity of
the said Act.
The Association said such alaw is necessary to put an endto the
donation, capitation fees,profiteering and commercializa-tion of
education and exorbitantfees resulting in exploitation ofstudents
and parents by themanagements of these unaidedschools in the
state.
Fee hike in unaided schools unwarranted, says AGUSPA
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, JUNE 14
The Bardez unit of Shiv Sena hasdemanded that the Directorateof
Education should make avail-able all text books to
studentsimmediately and end the mis-eries of teachers and
students.
The Shiv Sena has threatened tostage an agitation in the State
withparents and teachers, if the Direc-torate of Education failed
to makeavailable the text books to students.
In a memorandum to the Di-rector of Education on Monday,Vibhag
Pramukh of Shiv Sena,Bardez, Philip DSouza has statedthat textbooks
are one of themajor teaching and learning re-sources used in the
schools.
Non-availability of text bookson time hampers the
academicactivities of the students andschools. If students do not
haveaccess to the textbooks, it isnot possible for the teachers
togive homework for the stu-dents, stated DSouza in
thememorandum.
Besides, pressure on teachersalso increases to complete
thecurriculum when books are notmade available at the commence-ment
of the academic year andconsequently the students haveto burn
midnight oil to cope upwith the studies, he added.
The memorandum further statedthat failure to supply textbooks
tothe students at the beginning ofthe academic year has become
anannual event and misery.
The woes pertaining to non-availability of textbooks haveplagued
our education sectorconsistently for years together.Yet the
government does notappear to have taken any effec-tive steps to
solve this persistentproblem, said DSouza.
If the tenders were floatedon time and the concerned
ed-ucational authorities had takenup the matter with
printers/pub-lishers vigorously, then this prob-lem would not have
arisen. Theavailability of textbooks on timesave teachers and
students from
unnecessary pressures andstress, stated the memorandum.
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JUNE 14
Hazard a guess why the MargaoUrban Health Centre witnesseda huge
queue of migrant labour-ers on Monday morning.
Well, the monsoons have fi-nally arrived and the UrbanHealth
Centre has taken up thework of screening of migrantworkers for
malaria and healthcards in right earnest.
Around 150 migrant labour-ers, besides women and chil-dren, made
a queue outside thehealth centre this morning, wait-ing for their
turn for malariatesting and vaccination.
Health officials led by theHealth Officer, Dr Geeta Kakod-kar
attended to the migrantsand even recalled the field staffto the
office to meet the heavyrush of migrants.
As inquiries revealed thatmost of migrant labourers hadno health
cards, the health au-thorities noted down details ofthe workers,
and have assuredto provide the cards immedi-ately.
Says Urban Health Officer, DrGeeta Kakodkar: Most of
thelabourers hailed from the east-ern state of Orissa. The
health
officials tested them for malariaand administered them
thetreatment. The drive was partof the awareness drive under-taken
by the health office duringthe monsoon season.
She said the migrant labour-ers were vaccinated today andwill be
soon provided with themandatory health cards by heroffice. We have
taken precau-
tionary measures to ensure thatthe malaria situation is kept
abay this season. The health of-fice does not want to take
anychances over the outbreak ofvector borne diseases in
theCommercia l Capita l , sheadded.
The Margao Urban Health of-fice has recently received a paton
its bag, right from the Chief
Minister, Digambar Kamat to theMargao Municipal Chief
SavioCoutinho for the sincere workput in to combat vector
bornediseases in the city.
In fact, health officials saidthe sustained campaign by
theMargao Health office has helpedto keep the number of malariaand
dengue cases under checkin recent times.
Migrants queue outside the Margao Urban Health Centre for
malaria testing on Monday. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar
Migrants screened for malaria in MargaoNCP image will not be
tarnished
by Mickkys
controversyHERALD REPORTER
VASCO, JUNE 14
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)Legislature Wing Chief and
Rev-enue Minister Jose Philip D-Souza has claimed that theNCPs
image would not get tar-nished by the controversy sur-rounding
former tour ismminister Mickky Pacheco.
Speaking to media along thesidelines of World Blood DonorDays
function organized by Her-itage Institute of Hotel andTourism at
Vasco on Mondaymorning, DSouza also said theNCP would retain all
portfoliosof the resigned minister.
After the party high com-mand decision, Pacheco re-signed
gracefully on moralgrounds and he himself hasasked the probe in the
death ofNadia Torrado. These are hispersonal issues that will
cer-tainly not tarnish the partysimage, stated the revenue
min-ister.
When asked about newlysworn minister Nilkant Halankar,DSouza
said there will be nochange in the portfolio, as itwas earlier
decided by the highcommands of both the parties.The question of a
compromiseon portfolios doesnt arise, headded.
Centre-backed criteria will bringGoans in BPL list:
Churchill
PSI case: cops
file chargesheetHERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JUNE 14
The Cuncolim police on Mondayfiled a charge sheet against
ac-cused Santosh Naik in the at-tempt to murder CuncolimPolice
Sub-Inspector PrasannaBhagat.
The police has cited around16 witnesses in support of
itscase.
In this case, accused SantoshNaik was charged by the Cun-colim
police for stabbing PSIBhagat with a knife at Balli whena police
team had gone to hishouse to arrest him in a criminaloffense.
PSI Bhagat had sustained twowounds on his left groin andhand and
was immediatelyrushed to Hospicio hospital,where he was treated for
thestab wounds.
The incident had taken placeon February 28 night.
Students squat on floor at Sanquelim school
Students squat on the floor of the classroom due to lack of
benches at Government Primary School,Vithalapur-Sanquelim. Photo by
Vishant Vaze
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, JUNE 14
The Deputy Town Planner ofMormugao taluka is reportedlyirked
with the order issued bythe Sub Divisional Magistrate(SDM) over
hill cutting activitiesin Consua-Cortalim.
The recent ex-parte order ofSDM Levinson Martins, asking theTown
and Country Planning De-partment and Director of Minesand Geology
to file compliance re-port and take immediate correctivemeasures
over massive hill cuttingactivities in Consua-Cortalim, hasannoyed
both the departmentsfor overlooking activities carriedout beyond
the prescribed per-mission by the company.
Why were villagers quietover the issue that was goingon since
2008? Am I a crow tokeep a vigil on hill cutting ac-tivities, asked
an annoyedDeputy Town Planner A P Diniji.
Though the order has beenissued to the Town Planner, butthe
Deputy Town Planner, beinga concerned department in Mor-mugao
taluka, has been asked
to file compliance report to thesub divisional magistrates
order.
In his compliance report,Diniji has claimed that the hillcutting
has carried out regard-less of TCP norms. He ques-tioned the
attitude of thevillagers as to why they werequiet and got up
suddenly afterthree years to complain abouthill cutting
activities.
It may be recalled that PedroFernandes of Consua had lodgeda
complaint with the DeputyPlanner in March, 2010. Actingon the
complaint, Diniji hadlodged a police complaint, butthe police are
yet to establishthe identity of the accused.
When pointed out that the Townand Country Planning Departmentin
an order dated April 9, 2008,had issued permission to a com-pany to
excavate the hill and howhe claimed that he was unawarewho has cut
the hill although com-plaint has been filed, Diniji said hehas
referred Fernandes complaintletter to Verna police to lodge
com-plaint against unknown person, asno survey number was
mentioned
in the complaint.He further said he along with
Executive Engineer, PWD, AnilRingne has inspected the areaand
machinery would be de-ployed to take corrective meas-ures as
suggested by SubDivisional Magistrate.
Interestingly, Martins orderstates the company names andsurvey
numbers, while Diniji inits recent compliance report hasalso
mentioned the companyname, but till date police has failedto
establish who has cut the hillthough an offence has been
reg-istered under Section 17(a) of GoaTown and Country Planning
Act.
We have written to differentauthorities after getting com-plaint
and investigating thecase, said Verna PI Jivba Dalvi.
However, the monsoon hascommenced and Sub DivisionalMagistrates
order has stated totake measures to save impend-ing disaster within
seven days,while Monday being the seventhday, only inspection has
beencarried while the work is yet tocommence.
Vasco Dy town planner reacts angrily to SDM directives
Says hill cutting goes on regardless of TCP
Margao murder
accused
remandedHERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JUNE 14
The accused arrested in the broadday light murder of the
youngwoman in the city here on Sundayevening has been remanded
totwo days police custody.
Margao police station in-charge, PI Santosh Desai said
theaccused Abhijit Patil was takenfor medical examination to theGoa
Medical College and hospi-tal, Bambolim Monday morning.
When asked to throw lightwhether the accused was takento
Bambolim to ascertainwhether he was in a disturbedstate of mind, PI
Desai said theaccused made it appear that hewas not in a proper
frame ofmind, adding that this is onereason why the accused
wastaken to the GMC hospital.
Meanwhile, the body of de-ceased gir l M Shaikh washanded over
to her relativesafter a post mortem examina-tion at the Goa Medical
Collegeand Hospital, Bambolim.
Shiv Sena demands text books availability to students
immediately
Lucky escape forVasco local as
house roof collapsesHERALD REPORTER
VASCO, JUNE 14
A 36-year-old man from Bogda-Vasco had a miraculous escapeafter
the roof tiles of his house fell on him on Monday after-noon.
The incident occurred when Sunil Sakalkar was sleeping in oneof
the rooms of his house near El-Monte Theatre,
Bogda-Mormugao.Sakalkar has fractured to his leg.
Vasco fire brigade personnel informed that Sakalkar was alonein
the room when the wall of an abandoned house located abovehis house
collapsed on his room due to heavy showers.
Sakalkar, who was trapped in the debris of the roof tiles,
wasremoved by his niece and the 108 ambulance later shifted him toa
hospital.
Official from Mormugao Mamlatdars office has estimated thedamage
of about Rs 20,000. Mormugao MLA Milind Naik has askedhis labourers
to clear the debris to provide relief to the affectedfamily.
It may be recalled that the thickly populated Bogda area,
whichis declared as landslide-prone zone by the government
authoritiesfew years ago, has seen such incidents during
monsoon.
During last monsoon, about three cases of landslide were
re-ported on the mountainous stretch of Tariwado-Bogda.
The damaged house at Bogda-Mormugao. Photo by M Prabhav
Colva theft:maid held
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JUNE 14
The Colva police has arrested amaid servant in connection
withthe theft of gold ornaments andUS Dollars all valued over Rs
1.5lakh from the house of one Ken-neth Saldanha, a resident of
Colva.
The Colva police said that Sal-danha complained that gold
orna-ments consisting of bangles, pearearrings, a pendant, finger
ring,gold earrings, besides 1000 USDollar were stolen from the
house.
Based on the complaint fromSaldanha, the Colva police
arrestedthe maid servant and is being in-terrogated by the
men-in-uniform.The Colva police are investigating.
Bijapur manfound dead
CALANGUTE (HC): A 25-year-oldman from Bijapur was founddead at
Sinquerim on Mondaymorn ing . Accord ing toCalangute police,
Santosh Gan-garam Rathod, residing at KhaliBhat, Sinquerim, was
addictedto liquor and suspect that hemay have died due to
overdose,thus ruling out the possibilityof murder. The body has
beensent to Bijapur for final rites.
BICHOLIM (HC): A 55-year-oldsecurity guard from Jharkhandwas
allegedly murdered by hisroommate over a petty quarrelon Sunday at
about 10.30 pm.
According to reports, one Kr-ishna Sahu from Jharkhand
andShankar Sharma (48) from Bihar,both security guards, were
stay-ing with three of their friendsat Maina-Navelim,
Sanquelim.
On Sunday, Sahu was sleepingon the floor with his legs
towardsShankar, who was having dinner.Enraged at this, Shankar
askedSahu to move his legs as he washaving his food. This led to
alter-cation between the two andShankar hit Sahu with a woodenlog.
Sahu fell unconscious and wasrushed to PHC Sanquelim, butdied on
the way to the hospital.
Security guardreported killedat Sanquerim
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GOA, TUESDAY, 15 JUNE, 2010
GOAHERALD
Pg3
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JUNE 14
Strongly opposing the bail ap-plication by the ministers OSDin
the High Court, Goa Policehave raised suspicions aboutthe firm
Bresources Manage-ment S.A, run by former tourismminister Mickky
Pacheco,wherein Nadia Torrado workedas Accounts Co-ordinator.
The reply filed by CrimeBranch before Goa Bench ofBombay High
Court, has men-tioned that the business was tocover something.
There was no formal andstructural functioning. Every-thing
seemed to be working ina personal fiefdom of Pacheco.
There were no meetings and de-cision of the Board of
Directors,the reply reads.
The activities of the com-pany are very suspicious andseems to
be cover for some-thing else, police added in theirreply.
The investigations by CrimeBranch have revealed that Nadiawas
the part of Pachecos com-pany, Bresources ManagementPvt Ltd.
Even though the deceased(Nadia), was an employee coor-dinator of
his office, she nevercame to the office, police said.
Claiming that Nadia andPacheco had intimate relation-ship,
Police have said that they
have recovered a half burntboarding pass which claimsNadia as
VIP/spouse of touris Further letters on this pass areburnt.
Pacheco was the person whowas present with the victim atall time
during the treatment,police said adding he was pres-ent at Apollo
Hospital, Margao,Jupiter Hospital, Mumbai andApollo Hospital at
Chennai andwas closely monitoring visit ofpolice officer and other
per-sons.
From the conduct, it is clearthat he is an accused involvedin
this offence, police said.
Police reply before the HighCourt on Monday has strongly
opposed the anticipatory bailplea of Lyndon Monteiro, OSDto
Pacheco and co-accused incase of death of 28-year-oldNadia.
Monteiros plea that the caseis politically motivated, is
beendenied by Crime Branch.
Police said that this is a verysensitive matter wherein ayoung
woman has died in verysuspicious and mysterious cir-cumstances.
On the contrary, Monteirobeing in very powerful positionis hell
bent on impending theinvestigations and creating hur-dles in the
efforts of police tounravel the truth, Crime Branchsaid opposing
the anticipatory
Firm run by Mickky suspicious: Crime Branchbail plea filed by
Monteiro.
There has been systematicand sustained destruction of ev-idence
and it appears thatMickky Pacheco and his OSDmay have a very
important roleto play in destruction of evi-dence, police said
adding thereis every possibility that the ap-plicant may further
indulge indestruction of whatever evi-dence police is trying hard
toretrieve. He is required for cus-todial interrogation for
recoveryof two mobiles, passport, laptopof the victim and empty
Ratolpaste tube, which are missing.
Police have said that takingin view the statements of
thewitnesses, PM reports, circum-stantial and scientific
evidences,it is clear that Monteiro has beeninvolved in the crime
and isevading his arrest.
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JUNE 14
Strongly denying that he hadever called Goans as squealingpigs,
the PWD Minister offeredto resign both as an MLA andMinister if
proved that he hadmade the statement.
What I had said was that theNGOs are always crying whenthe
government takes up devel-
opment and also when there isno development. I had nevercompared
Goans to crying pigs.I have no right to say that, anagitated Alemao
said.
The Navelim MLA said hewould never call Goans pigs andaccused
his political opponentbehind the campaign againsthim on the
issue.
If I have ever called Goans
Churchill denies calling Goans squealing pigsOffers to resign if
statement proved
pig, I am ready to resign as anMLA. What I had said was thatin
Goa, there should be a policyon housing as there are
around1000-2000 Goan builders andaround two lakh workers em-ployed
in the construction in-dustry. Everywhere, the NGOsdemand a stop on
the construc-tion activity, he said, addingin Goa, Christians rear
pigs andkill them. If we go to catch pigsto rear or kill them, they
dontknow why they cry.
In the same way, he said thatthe NGOs are crying even whenthe
government tries to take updevelopmental project such asthe bridges
in his Navelim con-stituency.
He blamed his political op-
ponent from Navelim for writingletters to the Editor in the
localpapers. Goans by and largeknow what Churchill has donefor Goa.
It is very difficult to getanother Churchill. The sacrificewhich I
and my family made forthe Konkani language, everyoneknows. People
will realise mycontribution only when I leavethis world, Alemao
added.Some people even came to Car-mona with a pig. My
supporterswere agitated and disturbedover the false campaign, but
Iadvised them not to react, hesaid, and reminded his
politicalopponents that only God andthe people of Goa can finish
himpolitically and termed his op-ponents as mere samples.
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JUNE 14
The Goa Association of Prema-turely Retired Employees of
Gov-ernment of Goa have decidedto go on hunger strike as theState
government has failed topay heed to their impending de-mands.
In a memorandum submittedto the Chief Minister DigambarKamat on
Monday, the associationhas demanded that their demandsbe accepted
within 15 days.
We will have no option butto proceed on chain hunger
strikeindefinitely by talukawise repre-sentatives; in case the
matter isnot settled within a period of fif-teen days, the
association said.
The chief minister is learntto have assured the associationto
look into the matter.
The association memoran-dum says that the central CivilServices
Vth Pay commission
Prematurely retiredgovt staff seek
resolve to demandsThreaten to go on hunger strike
1996 envisaged the age of su-perannuation to 60 (sixty) yearsto
all government employeesbut the Goa Government re-tained the age of
superannua-tion as fifty eight years (58)instead of sixty years
(60).re-sulting in violation of the termsof Goa Daman & Diu
reorgani-zation act 1987.
Subsequently, the memoran-dum says, the age of superan-nuation
was enhanced to 60years vide in 1998.
Again the superannuationage was reduced to 58 years in1999 only
to be raised to 60years in 2007, the memoran-dum says.
In view of the above, thememorandum says, 293 nos
ofrepresentations of retired gov-ernment servants at the age of58
years were sent to the chiefminister & The chief Secretaryon
October, 27, 2009 and sec-ond lot of 235 nos of such
rep-resentations were sent to themon November, 11 2009 request-ing
monetary benefit for twoyears (incremental benefits, payand
allowances, pension andpensionary benefits) accordingly.
However, the association says,it is very much regretted to
notethat nothing is heard from chiefminister and the chief
secretarytill date.
Nilkanth yet to be givenportfolioHERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JUNE 14
Even a week after he was for-mally sworn in as the minister,NCPs
Thivim legislator NilkanthHalarnkar is yet to be given
anyportfolio.
Halarnkar was sworn in onlast Tuesday, af ter formertour i sm
min i s te r Mickk yPacheco resigned from the cab-inet following
his questioningby the Crime Branch in NadiaTorrado death case.
Halarnkar has expressed hisdesire to take over as the
Tourismportfolio saying he would put anend to the rave parties in
theState if given a chance.
However, when contacted hesaid that it was the prerogativeof the
Chief Minister to decideon the matter.
The NCP too wants the port-folios of Tourism, Captain ofPorts
and Housing Board begiven to Halarnkar saying theywere with their
party ministerearlier.
When contacted Chief Min-ister Digambar Kamat told Her-ald a
decision in this regard isyet to be reached.
There has been no decisionon the portfolio as yet, Kamattold
this reporter over phone.
He said he will discuss withthe high command and take adecision
soon.
pg3:Layout 1 6/14/2010 11:54 PM Page 1
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GOA GOA, TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2010
HE
RA
LD
Pg 4sHoRt tAKes upcoming events
Computer Academy opened
Sr Jennifer Crasto inaugurates Computer Academy at St
AlexsConvent, Calangute. Photo by Thomas Fernandes
CALANGUTE(HC): Superior General of Handmaids of
ChristCongregation Sr Jennifer Crasto inaugurated the
ComputerAcademy of the Congregation at St Alexs Convent,
Calangute,on Sunday.
Sr Crasto inaugurated the Computer Academy in the presenceof St
Alex Church, Calangute, Parish Priest Fr Carmo Martins.Others
present at the inaugural ceremony included Sr AmeliaDSouza, Sr
Joanita DSouza, Sr Lina Dias, Sr Tomacine DSaand Sr Perpetua
Fernandes among others.
Sr Jennifer Crasto cut the ribbon to throw open the
ComputerAcademy for the public, while Fr Martins blessed the
premisesand invoked Gods blessing for the commercial premises in
in-terest of all concerned.
Sr Sunita has been entrusted the teachers job with varietyof
courses including Web Designing, Desktop Browsing, HTML,Multimedia,
Accounting and Basic/Advance courses. Fro moredetails, contact the
Computer Academy on 2914257.
Pediatric conference heldPANJIM(HND): The Goa Association of
Pediatricians recently
hosted the 8th National CME of Pediatric Infectious Diseasesat
the NIO Auditorium, Dona Paula. This was the first timethat a
national event in pediatrics was held in Goa.
National President of Indian Academy of Pediatrics Dr DeepakUgra
was the chief guest on the occasion. Dr Deepak compli-mented the
Goa Association of Pediatricians for the progressmade by them in
the academic field over the last few yearsand also for achievement
of several milestones in the healthsector.
He also appraised the State government and Directorate ofHealth
Services for their efforts in making Goa free from Poliocases, for
the last 10 years and now, recommended the use ofinjectable polio
vaccine.
The Conference was addressed by 30 eminent nationalfaculty
members and attended by 250 pediatricians from allover India. The
highlights of the scientific topics discussedwere, polio
eradication in India, future perspectives, issueson recent
vaccines, antibiotics, childhood diseases like malaria,dengue,
chikungunya, pneumonia.
The National Pediatrics Infectious Diseases Chapter
felicitatedthe organising chairperson Dr Virendra Gaonker,
organisingsecretary Dr Nelly de Sa and treasurer Dr Sushma Kirtani,
andscientific committee chairperson Dr Shivanand Gauns, fortheir
commendable efforts in making this prestigious event agrand
success.
Sanguem school re-opensPANJIM(HND): Miracles High School and
Miracles PrimarySchool, Sanguem began the academic year 2010-2011
recentlywith a Eucharistic celebration, the theme being Bloom,
Godloves you.Rev Fr John C DSouza, Manager of Miracles High School
andRev Fr Michael Rebello, the Headmaster of the School werethe
main celebrants. The priests urged the students to
bloomintellectually by developing their minds and to bloom
spirituallyby coming closer to God and to bloom morally by
leavingbehind what is bad and cultivating what is good.During his
homily, Rev Fr John C.DSouza preached about theduties of the
headmaster, the teachers, the parents and mostof all, the students.
The liturgy was organized by Enid da Costa.
HERALD NEWS BUREAU
PANJIM, JUNE 14
It is the good attitude of thePriest that matters to
resolveadministrative problems, stateda Pilar professor of
theology,during the keynote address ofthe Inaugural year of the
PilarTheological College on June 11.
Pilar Professor Fr Kyriel D-Souza, who delivered the
LecttioBrevis, Priest A Steward ofCommunity was referring tothe
recent accusations reportedby media about
administrativemismanagement made bypriests.
Fr DSouza, who is currentlythe Provincial Superior of thePilar
Society, said priests needthe specific contribution of thelaity not
only for the organiza-tion and administration of thecommunity, but
also for faithand charity.
A certain osmosis exists be-tween the faith of the priest
andthat of the other faithful, saidFr DSouza.
Fr DSouza noted the internaldangers to the priestly ministrywith
regard to bureaucracy, func-tionalism, democratization,planning
which is more mana-gerial than pastoral.
Unfortunately in some cir-cumstances, priests can be
over-whelmed by structures whichoverpower them and are not al-ways
necessary, or which inducenegative psycho-physical con-sequences
detrimental for the
Good attitude of priest matters to resolve problems in
parish
Pilar Professor Fr Kyriel DSouza delivers the keynote address
atthe Pilar Theological College.
spiritual life and for the veryministry itself, Fr DSouza
said.
It is both urgent and neces-sary to ensure unity among
allecclesial forces so as to respondeffectively to the attacks
cur-rently being made on priestsand their ministry, he added.
Fr DSouza stated that themost attractive image of a priestis a
Man of God for others.Ven. Fr Agnelo DSouza, whowas humble,
accountable andtransparent even beyond office
hours , is a role model topriests, he said.
Archbishop Emeritus RaulGonsalves recalled the words ofPope
Benedict XVI and affirmedthat the priest is not a socialworker, but
a man of God. Theprelate warned about thehermeneutics of
discontinuityand rapture and called to choosethe hermeneutics of
continuityand reform.
In his inaugural address, Rec-tor of the Pilar Theological
Col-
lege Fr Anslemo DSouza statedthat peace with God, peace
withCreation is the theme for theentire seminary year.
He informed that there are41 students of theology, 5 dea-cons
are exercising diaconateministry, 19 students studyingPhilosophy in
Nagpur, 10 doingtheir regency and 64 studentsdoing their graduation
in theProvinces.
Fr Walter Gomes, Vicar Gen-eral and Chairman of
FormationCommission, released the Hand-book 2010-10 of the Pilar
The-ological College.
Dr (Fr) Jacob Theckanath, abiblical scholar, presently
Exec-utive Secretary of the Federationof the Asian Bishops
Conference(FABC) Office of Evangelizationwas the moderator for the
in-augural lecture.
Archbishop Emeritus RaulGonsalves later presided overthe solemn
Eucharistic celebra-tion in the Pilar Seminary Chapel.As the church
is formally closingthe year dedicated to Priests onthe solemnity of
the SacredHeart of Jesus, Archbishop Gon-salves invited the people
to con-tinue to pray for the priests.
The ministries of Lector andAcolyte are the first step
towardspriesthood, stated Bishop Gon-salves, while conferring the
min-istries of lector and acolytes to10 students of theology.
Theseministries precede the diaconateordination.
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, JUNE 14
Tiatr Academy Goa (TAG) organ-ized recently a workshop ontiatr
at Desterro High School,Vasco in collaboration with theschool
authorities. 45 studentsof Standard IX and all the teach-ers of the
school attended theworkshop and actively partici-pated in the
proceedings.
Tomazinho Cardozo, Presi-dent of TAG gave the history oftiatr in
brief and explained aboutthe correct traditional formatof tiatr. He
also gave detailedinformation about songs (Kan-
taram) which are an integral partof tiatr.
Anil Kumar, a veteran tiatrartiste dealt with the directionof
tiatr and explained the par-ticipants the various aspects
ofdirection such as acting, stagesetting, background music,light
effects, etc. The studentsof Desterro High School pre-sented a
small skit on the oc-casion.
The headmistress SarojiniSousa welcomed and JyotiPanchal,
theatre art teacherp r o p o s e d t h e v o t e o fthanks.
TAGs workshop at Vasco school
The students of Desterro High School performing a skit on the
oc-casion.
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, JUNE 14
A General Body meeting of In-dian Academy of Cytologists washeld
recently at Edinburgh. Atthis meet it was finalized thatthe Indian
Academy of Cytolo-gists has been affiliated to theEuropean
Federation of Cytol-ogy Societies (EFCS). The IndianAcademy of
Cytologists whichconsists of Cytopathologists andCytotechnologists
in India andhas a membership of around1400 can now interact with
theEuropean Societies.
According to a press release,the Indian Academy of Cytolo-gists
was represented by Dr RG Wiseman Pinto- Past Presi-dent of IAC and
Professor andHead of Dept of Pathology GoaMedical College and
Hospital.The EFCS was represented byall the members of the
Euro-pean Federation. The Presidentof the EFCS is Dr FernandoSmith
for Portugal and the Sec-retary is Dr Phillipe Vielh
fromFrance.
The Indian Cytopathologistscan now gain access to the
tu-torials, CMEs and conferencesbeing held in Europe. The
Cy-topathologists form Europe willalso visit India when the IAC
or-ganizes its Annual National Con-ferences and CMEs.
The diagnostic terminologyfor reporting the FNAC of Thy-roid is
also being discussed.
The EFCS has a Eurocytologyprogramme where the learnerscan learn
Cytology, E-Scan whichis a network of European Pathol-ogists and
Cancer PreventionPrograms; there would be alsoexchange of doctors,
technol-ogy, information and commonclinical studies between IAC
andEFCS, Dr R G Wiseman Pinto hasbeen instrumental in the
affili-ation of IAC to EFCS.
The events and journals ofEFCS would be now availableto the
Indian doctors; similarlythe journals and events of Indiawould be
available to the Euro-pean doctors, add the press re-lease.
Indian Academy ofCytologists gains
affiliation to EFCS
San Joao blast PANJIM (HND): Sao Joao Rain Dance Blast will be
held at
Socos Creative Farm Chinchinim on June 24, from 10 am to10
pm.
Bands in attendance will be Alcataraz, Purple Rain, DJCynthia,
DJ Nik besides Konkani entertainment Frog by BenEvangelisto &
troupe and duo show by Agnelo & Fredy. Variouscompetitions like
fancy dress, San Joao queen, coconut breaking,etc will be
organised.
For details contact Stanley Pereira on 9767239123.
Cookery, bakery classesPANJIM(HND): A comprehensive course on
low fat bakery
and cookery classes will be conducted from June 21 by
FatimaMoniz in Margao.
The course includes cakes with decoration, desserts (hot
&cold), pies, tarts (sweet & savoury), breads, cookies,
souffles,mousses and veg/non-veg dishes. The cuisine will be
Portugese,Goan, Continental, Italian, Indian etc. Cooking without
eggswill also be taught. For details contact Fatima on 2776035
or9370275702.
Night school classesMARGAO (HR): The Adult Education and Welfare
Association,
Vidhyanagar-Margao will conduct the regular night schoolclasses
for Std VIII and Std IX for drop out and employed stu-dents between
6 pm to 9.30 pm at Housing Board school,Gogol near the government
primary school.
Chairman Luis Alex Cardozo said the school is conductingthe
night classes since last 10 years. He said students who
areinterested should contact the school on mobile No
0422059808.
The school is recognised by the Education Department andby the
Goa Board of secondary and higher secondary education,Porvorim,
Cardozo added.
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, JUNE 14
Speaker Pratapsing Rane re-leased two Konkani dramabooks Pashaan
Pazaar, writtenby Zilu Gaonkar and second edi-tion of Ani Ek Buto
Fullo, writ-ten by Dr Prakash Vozrikar atForest Training School,
Valpoiin Sattari taluka.
Both the books are publishedby Bhoomi Prakashan Saunsthaof
Sarvorshem, Sattari.
Speaking on the occasion,Rane said, education can be im-pacted
by using theatre skills,if the learning is fun, no childwould
refuse education.
Rane congratulated both theauthors and said the authors ofthis
book are experts and ex-perienced professionals in theirrespective
fields. What is com-mendable is their sincere effortto make the
subject compre-hensible for the common man.
Highlighting the role of au-dience in drama hall, ShridharKamat
Bambolkar said, theatrerequires an audience. The phys-ical presence
of an audiencechanges the performance of anartist and automatically
it in-spires actors, and increases ex-pectations. Public from
Sattaritaluka has proved it by gathering
in large numbers at the KalaAcademy, he added.
Hanumant Chopdekar spokeon the positive and negative as-pects of
the books.
Abhay Jog, well known direc-tor, and both the authors
ZiluGaonkar and Dr Prakash Vozrikaralso spoke on the occasion.
Prize distribution for poetryrecital competition was held onthe
occasion.
Earlier, Abhijeet Gaonkar ofBhoomi Prakashan welcomedthe guest.
Raghoba Pednekarproposed the vote of thanks,while Shyam Gaonkar
comperedthe function.
Theatre skills required in childs education: Rane
Speaker Pratapsing Rane releasing the Konkani books Pashaan
Pazaar, written by Zilu Gaonkar andsecond edition of Ani Ek Buto
Fullo, written by Dr Prakash Vozrikar at Forest Training School,
Valpoi inSattari taluka.. Also present are Shridhar Kamat
Bambolkar, Abhay Jog, Dr Prakash Vozrikar, ZiluGaonkar, Hanumant
Chopdekar and Abhijie Gaonkar.
GU Registraraccepts
SIOs demandHERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, JULY 14
The Students Islamic organizationof India (SIO), Goa Zone
submit-ted a demand letter to the Reg-istrar of Goa University
requestingan extension of the last date forsubmitting the
application formsfor the post-graduate coursesfrom June 15 to a
further date.
According to a press release,the delegation of SIO led byAnwar
Khan, zonal president wasassured by the Registrar, M M San-godkar
that the dates would beextended to June 18. the SIO hadrequested to
extend the dates atleast by 8 days, but the Registrarcited that the
whole schedule ofthe admission would be disturbedas the entrance
exams to the var-ious departments is scheduled tobe held on June
21.
The issue came to light as thefinal year graduation students
havenot received the statement ofmarks and other certificates
fromthe university and the last datefor submission of the
applicationforms was announced on June 15.Acting on the request of
SIO, theregistrar called a meeting of theexamination section of the
uni-versity and assured the delegationthat the statements of marks
andother certificates would be dis-patched by the university on
June14 and would be made availableto the students on June 15.
The delegation consisted ofShaikh Shoaib, Member ZAC,SIO Goa
Zone and Zeeshan Khanof St Xaviers College, Mapusa,representing the
affected stu-dents, adds the press release.
Advocacy workshop held
Dr Nandini Korgoankar, State Entomologist from Directorate
ofHealth Service speaking on the occasion.
PANJIM(HND): Advocacy workshop on vector borne diseaseswas
conducted by Primary Health Centre, Curtorim at DavorlimPanchayat
hall recently. The work shop was inaugurated atthe hands of the
chief guest Maria Miranda, ZP member ofDavorlim and Atul Verlekar,
ex ZP member was the guest ofhonour.
Subhash Zore, health worker shared his experience in thefield
work of prevention and eradication of Malaria. JoseAntao, sanitary
inspector urged people to maintain hygienicsurroundings while the
Health Officer, Dr Shashi Parkar in herpresentation explained in
details about vector borne diseases.She stressed that the
construction sites were the main breedingplaces and urged upon the
builders to make health cards oflabourers. She also promoted the
use of insecticide treatedbed nets and said rapid diagnostic kits
were available at thesub-centre and PHC.
Dr Nandini Korgoankar, State Entomologist from Directorateof
Health Service briefed the gathering. There was an
interactivesession with audience, where in sarpanchas from nearby
villagewere present. Krishna Pagui proposed the vote of thanks.
Theprogramme was compered and managed by Rajesh Arlekar.
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, JUNE 14
Acting Chief Secretary NarendraKumar said blood saves life as
aresult there is urgent need tocreate awareness on voluntaryblood
donation to the commonman as the requirement of bloodis high in the
State.
Mr Kumar was speaking asthe chief guest on the occasionof World
Blood Donor Day ata function jointly organized byGoa State AIDS
Control Societyand Goa State Blood TransfusionCouncil at Seminar
hall, Secre-tariat, Porvorim, on Monday.
Rajiv Verma, Secretary, Healthwas the guest of honour. Dr C PDas
Acting Dean, Goa MedicalCollage and Dr Rajnanda Desai,Director of
Health Services werealso present on the occasion.
World Blood Donor Day is ob-served as the birthday of
KarlLandsteiner who discovered theblood groups which helps tosave
life of million of people inthe world. Slogan of the day isnew
blood for the world.
Speaking further, Kumar said,blood donation is for a noblecause
and asserted the need tofocus on young generation andmotivate them
for voluntaryblood donation. Private blood
donors should also be encour-aged, Kumar asserted.
He also handed over keys ofBlood Transportation Vans to DrC P
Das, Dean, GMC and Dr Ra-jnanda Desai, Director of HealthServices
on the occasion.
Rajeev Verma, SecretaryHealth stressed the need to mo-tivate
women and studentsabove 18 years for voluntaryblood donation. More
blood do-nation camps are being organ-ized to achieve targets, he
added.
Dr R G W Pinto, Prof andHead, Department of Pathology,GMC in his
key note address re-viewed the scenario of voluntaryblood donation
and said thatthe first Blood Bank was set upin Goa in 1952.
Necessary meas-ures are being taken for safetyof blood donors and
the pa-tients.
Dr Pradeep Padwal, ProjectDirector, Goa State AIDs
ControlSociety briefed about blood do-nation programme and
stressedthe need to promote voluntaryblood donation programme
toincrease blood donation unitsto cope up the blood require-ment in
the state.
Supriya Dinesh Sinari, a reg-ular blood donor was also hon-oured
on the occasion.
Dr N V Markande proposedthe vote of thanks while AshaVernekar
compered the function.
Recruitment in Indian Navy
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, JUNE 14
Indian Navy has invited appli-cations from unmarried
malecandidates for recruitment asstewards, cooks and topassesfor
MR/NMR 01/2011 batch inthe Indian Navy. Last date forreceipt of
application is June 18.
Also, the Indian Navy has in-vited applications from
unmarriedmale candidates for enrolmentas sailors for Senior
SecondaryRecruits (SSR) - 01/2011 batch inthe Indian Navy. Last
date for re-ceipt of application by them isJune 16 for this
post.
Further, applications are in-vited from unmarried male
can-didates for enrolment as sailorsfor Artificer Apprentice -
129(01/2011) batch in the IndianNavy. Last date for receipt of
ap-plication is June 18.
For details, interested personnelshould download the
advertise-ment from the Indian Navy websitei.e.
www.nausena-bharti.nic.in orcontact Secretary, Department ofSainik
Welfare, Panjim.
Need to create awareness on blood donation: Kumar
Statistics Day celebration
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, JUNE 14
The Department of Planning,Statistics and Evaluation is gear-ing
up to celebrate StatisticsDay on June 29 to commemo-rate the
birthday of the greatStatistician Professor, P C Mo-halanobis.
The main highlight of the cel-ebration will be a cultural
pro-gramme at Kala Academy. Theoccasion will be graced by
ChiefMinister Digambar Kamat as thechief guest and other
importantdignitaries.
Besides this a quiz competi-tion on socio-economic per-spec t i
ve o f Goa w i l l beconducted at Directorate ofPlanning,
Statistics and Evalua-tion, Junta House, 4th lift onJune 24.
All the Departments in Goaare requested to send a teamof 2
officers/officials and confirmtheir participation by June 16.
The Department will also or-ganize a blood donation campon June
25 and the general pub-lic is requested to come forwardat DPSE,
Junta House and donateblood for a social cause.
Names of the blood donorsshould be confirmed latest byJune 20.
For details contact V BSaxena on 9850685080 or SupriyaHenriques on
9822166669, saysa press release.
Restricted water supply
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, JUNE 14
There will be restricted water supply to the entire
Porvorim,Calangute, Saligao and Candolim areas on June 15 due to
anaccident at Assonora Water Supply line near Mapusa by-pass,which
has caused damages to the pipeline which needs repair,says a press
release.
POWER SHUTDOWN
JUNE 15MAPUSA: Between 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are
Greenpark,
Bastora Paliem, St Anthony Waddo, Monte Guirim, entire
Guirim,Bodgini and surrounding areas.
JUNE 16PANJIM: Between 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are EDC
house
opposite Talaulikar Hospital, Amina building, Bullet
showroom,Maratha Bhavan building, Lar Milrock, Premevera Building,
PanjimHotel, Sindurg building, Syaz complex, Mahalaxmi building,
Vi-jayalakshmi apartment, Mayfair hotel building and
surroundingareas.
Page 4 - 1:Layout 1 6/14/2010 9:33 PM Page 1
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HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MAYEM, JUNE 14
Bicholim Deputy CollectorNarayan Gaad on Monday ex-pressed
strong concern overthe PWDs failure to fully re-move the mud near
the Bi-cholim River.
Gaad also expressed concernover the Water Resource De-partments
(WRD) reluctance toremove the de-silted mud fromthe rivulet near
ShantadurgaHigh School, Bicholim, despitearrival of the monsoon.
Thedeputy collector feared of pos-sible floods if the mud is
notcleared at the earliest.
The deputy collector onMonday inspected flood pre-cautionary
work undertaken byWRD and PWD to avoid likelyfloods in
Bicholim.
After inspecting, Gaad foundthat the PWD had not clearedthe mud
completely from thebasin of the Bicholim River,while WRD has not
removedthe de-silted mud from Bi-cholim rivulet near Shan-tadurga
High School, which is
the main spot for the possiblefloods.
Bicholim MLA Rajesh Pat-nekar, Bicholim MunicipalCouncil
Chairperson SatishGaonkar, WRD Engineer As-sagaonkar were also
present
during the visit.Due to a cold war between
the WRD and PWD, innocentvillagers will suffer despitespending
Rs 8 crore on theworks, they stated.
Meanwhile, former BMC
councilor Shashimkant NaikHalarkar has also expressedconcern
over the work and hasaccused the concerned author-ities of
undertaking desiltationwork without taking into con-sideration
people views.
Failure to remove mud could lead to floods: Bicholim Dy
Collector
POWER-PLAY: The digging of roads for laying of underground
electricity cables which continues even after the onset of monsoons
put mo-torists at Adaovaddo-Majorda out of gear. Incessant rains
saw the mud of the open drains being washed along the narrow roads
posing gravedanger to the lives of motorists.
Bicholim Deputy Collector Narayan Gaad inspects Bicholim Bridge
and other areas. Photo by Vishant Vaze
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CANACONA, JUNE 14
After raising hue and cry intothe mysterious death of
NadiaTorrado, Savera President TaraKerkar has now turned her
at-tention to the death of a 28-year-old woman from Cotigao.
Savera President Tara Kerkarhas suspected that the woman,who was
reported missing inmid-February and found deadseven days ago, may
have beenmurdered.
On Monday, Kerkar submit-ted a memorandum to Cana-cona Deputy
Collector in thepresence of the womansbrother, Padi-Barcem
SarpanchDattaram Gaonkar and SouthGoa ZP Deputy ChairmanKhushali
Velip alleging suspi-cion in the death of ShubhangiSubhash
Gaonkar.
We demand that the policeshould change the case
earlierregistered by them as unnatu-ral death to murder and
inves-tigate it accordingly, statedKerkar.
Kerkar stated that thewoman, originally fromQuepem, was married
some-where in 2003-04 and had nochildren out of the wedlock.
Her husband used to as-sault her with blows, kicks andsticks,
thereby torturing herphysically and mentally, whileshe was also
harassed by otherfamily members as she did notconceive.
Even though she had re-portedly gone missing since
February 16, 2010, neither herhusband nor anyone from
herhusbands family made any ef-forts to look for her or evenfiled a
missing report with po-lice, stated Kerkar in thememorandum.
It was by sheer chance thatone of the nieces, who inciden-tally
visited Cotigao, told herher brother that the womanwas not seen at
her husbandshouse. The brother then filed amissing complaint of his
sisteron February 18, states thememorandum.
Incidentally on the sameday, the womans husband re-ported sick
and was admittedin a government hospital for afew days.
However, her husbanddidnt think fit to file a policecomplaint or
go in search of hismissing wife. As soon as bodywas handed over by
police, hecremated the body withouteven informing her mothersfamily
members.
How did he perform her lastrites without informing her ma-ternal
family or even herbrother, when he did not madea single attempt to
look out forher or even file a missing policereport, which
incidentally wasfiled by her brother, askedKerkar, who met Canacona
PIRaju Raut Dessai on Monday.
Giving other details of thecircumstances and the suspi-cious
manner in which her hus-band and his other familybehaved in the
entire episode,
NGO sniffs murder in Cotigao womans death Kerkar demanded that
thewomans husband, his motherand other siblings should bequestioned
by the police tobring out actual facts.
While speaking to scribes,Kerkar compared this case tothat of
Nadias death presentlyrocking the State.
According to Kerkar, policedo not take cognizance of com-plaints
lodged by the commonman seriously and simply close
investigations into such myste-rious deaths as suicide
cases.
Meanwhile, according toCanacona police, the autopsyreport
conducted on the re-mains of the woman remainedinconclusive, as the
body wasfound in highly decomposedstate.
However, her right arm hasbeen preserved and will besent for
forensic analysis atChennai, informed the police.
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JUNE 14
Twenty-six Thats the totalnumber of stop work orders is-sued by
the flying squad inSouth Goa since Chief MinisterDigambar Kamat
announcedconstitution of the squads tocheck illegal hill cutting
andland filling.
Thanks to the Village Groupsof Goa, the flying squads
werestreamlined by the authoritiesto meet the requirements,even
though sources in theknow say the action initiatedby the Town and
Country Plan-ning department is left muchto be desired.
Deputy Collector, MargaoJohnson Fernandes says thesquad has so
far issued a totalof 26 stop work orders sincethe constitution of
the squad.In Salcete alone, the squadhad issued around 6-8 stopwork
orders either to stop hillcutting or illegal land filling. Acouple
of cases were also re-
ported from Mormugao Talukaas well.
Sources in the know say itsnow left for the Town andCountry
Planning departmentto initiate action against the vi-olators under
section 17-A ofthe Town Planning Act.
Incidentally, representativesof the Village Groups of Goahad
last week bitterly com-plaint to Senior Town PlannerPuttaraju over
the inordinatedelays by the Margao Townplanner to lodge FIRs
againstthe violators of the TCP Act.
Puttaraju, however, soughtto assuage ruffled feathers byasking
the Town Planner, Mar-gao to begin the process oflodging FIRs in
all the 18 caseswhere stop work orders wereissued by the flying
squads.
As per Puttarajus instruc-tions, the Town planners aremandated
to complete theprocess of lodging FIRs withthe police by coming
Wednes-day.
Since inception, S Goaflying squad has issued
26 stop work orders
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MARCEL, JUNE 14
Residents of Bandora-Pondahave stopped an ongoinghill-cutting
activity, which isallegedly undertaken toconstruct a road for a
pro-posed residential project atNavato Wado, Bandora.
According to the resi-dents, the hill-cutting activ-ities were
undertakenduring weekends and withina day shovel vehemently
ex-cavated earth and almostreached to the peak. How-ever, the
activity wasstopped only after the resi-dents contacted TCPs
flyingsquad, which visited the siteand asked the contractor tostop
the work immediately.
The residents have nowdemanded a stern actionagainst the
contractor andproprietor, who is learnt tobe a local. The
hill-cutting
work also allegedly axedmany fruit-bearing trees.
Our valuable fruit-bear-ing trees, including sandalwood trees,
have been felledand I do not understandhow such things are
al-lowed, as the contractorfreely destroyed our nature.Authorities
need to act onsuch cases or else what willremain is only a
barrenland, said Shashi Nageshkarof Bandora.
In protest, about hundredof villagers, including Ban-dora
Sarpanch DamodarNaik, gathered at the site.
Sarpanch Damodar Naikclaimed that the panchayatdid not give
permission forhill cutting and assured theresidents that he will
notallow such illegality. How-ever, Naik said the file per-taining
to developing ofplots in the area was ap-
proved by the TCP.The file pertaining to
plots was cleared few yearsago, after the developer hadacquired
permissions fromthe Town and Country Plan-ning Department. I
dontunderstand how the buildercarried out such a massivehill
cutting. We wont allowsuch things in our pan-chayat jurisdiction,
saidNaik.
Former Bandora sarpanchShekhar Naik has urged theresidents to
stay united andnot allow any more hill-cut-ting activity in the
area.
If people are united,then such activities can benailed down and
I urge thepeople not get carried awaywith political pressure.
Wemust stand united to fightagainst such forces who aredestroying
our motherearth, said Shekhar Naik.
Residents stop hill-cuttingactivity at Bandora
Bandora villagers gathered in protest over hill-cutting
activity. Photo by Amresh Parab
Speaker toget ex-NCC Achievers
AwardHERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JUNE 14
Speaker of Goa Legislature As-sembly Pratapsing Rane will
beawarded The Navhind TimesEx-NCC Achievers Award,which will be
presented onJune 30, at International Cen-tre, Dona Paula, at 4.45
pm.
The President of State Ex-cadets NCC Association Goa(SENA-GOA),
Adv Avinash Bhosleaddressing a press conferenceat the International
Centre,Dona Paula said that Chief Min-ister Digambar Kamat who
wasalso Ex-NCC Cadet will be thechief guest for the function.
Commissioner for NRI Af-fairs, Eduardo Faleiro will bethe
Special Guest.
Chief Minister Kamat washonoured last year as Ex-NCCAchiever
with The
The selection committeeformed under the chairman-ship of Dr
Edward DLima hasselected seven names for theseachiever awards such
asSpeaker of Goa Legislative As-sembly and former Chief Minis-ter
Pratapsing Rane (Politics),Superintendent of Police JoseAllan de Sa
(Goa Police Service),Director Sports Authority ofIndia Roque Dias
(Sports), Di-rector Women & Child, SanjeevGadkar (Goa Civil
Service), Adv.Ajitsingh Rane (Law), FormerSuperintendent of Police,
Fin-ton DSouza (For his efforts toimprove Civil Defence set up
inthe State), John Aguiar of De-partment of Information &
Pub-licity ( Literature/Media).
Bhosle said that this was amotivational project whichhelps
motive the young boysand girls to join NCC. NCC hesaid, helps the
youths to makethem strong and develop theirpersonality. It brings
positivequalities in the individual, hesaid.
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JUNE 14
Fish and other vendors operat-ing from the old fish marketcalled
on the Margao MunicipalChairperson Savio Coutinhoand made a fervent
appeal tohim not to crack a whip againsttheir activity.
They maintained that ven-dors engaged in the activity atthe old
fish market and sur-rounding area are mostlyGoans and eke a living
on thesmall time business.
They feared immediatecrackdown by the Margao Mu-nicipal
authorities as the ven-dors were issued a warning byone of the
Market inspector tostop the activity or face action.
The vendors impressed uponthe Chairperson that they havenowhere
to go and appealedthat they be spared from theimminent action.
The chairperson gave the ven-dors a patient hearing and as-sured
to discuss the matter withthe Chief Officer Y B Tawde.
Sources in the know said themarket inspector issued thewarning
to the fish and othervendors to stop the activitywith immediate
effect. Whatsuddenly made the authoritiesto stop the activity
remains un-known, but sources in theknow said it comes against
thebackdrop of the similar actioninitiated by the Civic bodyagainst
illegal fish vending atthe pick-up stand.
Incidentally, the Chairpersonis believed to have questionedthe
Chief Officer over the deci-sion of the market inspector
toselectively target the fish ven-dors when the very same
in-spector has been found
Fish vendors urgeMMC to allow
activity at old market
wanting in his duties in clear-ing encroachments in the
Mu-nicipal markets.
Sources in the know said theCivic body had in the past
at-tempted to clear the fish ven-dors from the old fish market,but
in vain.
n They maintained thatvendors engaged inthe activity at the
oldfish market and sur-rounding area aremostly Goans and ekea
living on the smalltime business.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
OLD GOA, JUNE 14
A 31-year-old native of Indore(MP) but residing at Loutolimdied
in a road mishap alongthe highway at Santa Cruz onSunday
evening.
According to police re-
ports, Victor Francis, a sales-man for a mobile service
net-work, was riding his TVSVictor motorcycle (GA-OA-H-3112) from
Panjim to Margao,when he went off the roadand rammed into a tree
nearLuis and Co showroom at St
Cruz.Old Goa Police said the rider
sustained grievous head andspinal injuries and was shiftedto the
GMC hospital at Bam-boim, where he breathed hislast while
undergoing treat-ment.
One dies in Santa Cruz mishap
pg5 6/15/2010 12:34 AM Page 1
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HERALD BUREAU
NEW DELHI, JUNE 14
India on Monday called forevolving creative solutions tosettle
Kashmir problem, whileurging Pakistan to shed its in-security
psyche and not seeIndias growth in subjective ornegative terms.
Addressing a close door ses-sion on AfghanistanIndiaPakistan
trialogue organised byDelhi Policy Group (DPG), For-eign Secretary
Nirupama Raoadmitted that a progress onJammu and Kashmir was madeon
the basis of an understand-ing with Pakistan that bound-aries could
not be redrawn.
The text of Raos speechmade public here stated thatthe idea of
understanding wasto make boundaries irrelevantand people on both
sides ofthe LoC be able to move freelyand trade with one
another.
Towards this goal, a num-ber of cross-LoC CBMs wereput in place,
which includedthe opening of five crossingpoints on the LOC;
introduc-tion of triple entry permits; in-crease in frequency
ofSrinagar-Muzaffarabad andPoonch-Rawalkot bus services;starting of
cross-LOC trade onSrinagar-Muzaffarabad andPoonch-Rawalakote
routesthrough movement of trucks,etc, she said.
Ahead of the series of India-Pakistan engagements,
ForeignSecretary Rao called for reaf-firming the progress and
build-ing on achievements throughcomplex negotiations andshowing
patience at the same
time. On the way forward, wehave to build on these
achieve-ments. We also have to reaf-firm the progress madethrough
complex negotiationsand dialogue through patientand unsung effort
whether inthe composite dialogue orback channel diplomacy, dur-ing
this period. We must seekcreative solutions, she toldthe
conference.
Emphasising that as the twocountries commence the exer-cise of
overcoming the difficul-ties in the relationship, Raosaid India
seeks a stable,peaceful and economicallyprogressing Pakistan.
"Sec-ondly, we sincerely desirepeace with Pakistan. Thirdly,we have
to learn to live withthe asymmetries in our sizesand capabilities.
Such differ-ences of scale should not deterus from working with
eachother. Pakistan should shed itsinsecurity on these counts,"she
said, adding that India hasexhibited a true restraint, de-spite
"misguided and seriousprovocations".
She asked Pakistan to pre-vent the entry of radical ideol-ogy
into the domain ofreligion, and, the consequentimplications for
peace and se-curity between India and Pak-istan, making differences
overKashmir even more difficult."Radical, terrorist forces arealso
increasingly battling forlarger space in a deadly strug-gle that
seeks to overwhelmmoderate, democratic forces inPakistani civil
society," the For-eign Secretary said. "The writ-
ing on the wall must be seen,"she said.
Terrorism as a continuationof war by other means and theuse of
terrorist groups selec-tively as strategic assetsagainst India
cannot and mustnot continue, she said.
"As an intrinsic part of thelong-term vision of relations
itdesires with India, Pakistanmust act effectively againstthose
terrorist groups thatseek to nullify and, to destroythe prospects
of peace and co-operation between our twocountries," Rao said in
her ad-dress. She said the road aheadis a long and winding one.
Butas fellow travellers, India andPakistan must tackle the
chal-lenges of this rocky road withthe belief that a secure
andprosperous future vitally andcrucially depends on our abilityto
do so."
The remarks come ahead ofthe meetings between the For-eign
Secretaries this monthand Foreign Ministers nextmonth who have been
directedby their respective Prime Min-isters to work out the
modali-ties of restoring trust andconfidence in the
relationshipthus paving the way for a sub-stantive dialogue on all
issuesof mutual concern.
Noting that geographicalcontiguity and shared history,ethnic and
linguistic affinities,and similar developmentalchallenges have not
induced aninevitable congruity betweenthe interests of the two,
Raosaid "That is the tragedy of ourrelationship.
India asks Pak to shed sense of insecurity
HERALD BUREAU
NEW DELHI, JUNE 14
The Cabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) is understoodto have
cleared a proposal forthe Home Ministry to raise itsown
construction force alikethe Border Roads Organisa-tion (BRO) for
undertakingconstruction of roads andbridges in the
Maoist-affectedareas.
The Indian Army will provideits officers from the Corps
ofEngineers initially to build upthe new organisation, theHome
Ministry sources said.The Corps is the backbone ofBRO raised in
1960 to buildand maintain roads in the bor-der areas.
The initial proposal was toengage the BRO in the Maoist-affected
areas but it wasdropped after reviewing thebig workload entrusted
to it toconstruct a network roads onthe borders of China to
matchthe all-weather roads it has
built on the other side, sourcessaid.
They said the CCS notedvery poor road communicationnetwork in
the tribal areas inthe grip of the Maoist ultras.Responsibility of
buildingroads in the states rests withtheir public works
department(PWD) who mostly engage pri-vate contractors for the
job.
The CCS noted that theMaoists not only extractmoney from the
contractors toallow their machinery in theareas under their control
butalso prevent construction ofany roads in the sensitiveareas.
Since the state governmentsdo not provide the needed po-lice
protection to the contrac-tors to carry out works, theCCS felt the
Home Ministryshould have an organisationthat undertakes
constructionof roads and bridges on itsown, without engaging
thecontractors, sources said,
pointing out that such an or-ganisation will have own secu-rity
apparatus to take on theMaoists if they obstruct
theconstruction.
The budget for the organisa-tion will come from the
fundsallotted by the Home Ministryto the state governments
fordevelopment works in theMaoist-affected areas.
The organisation will beraised with the help of the of-ficers of
the Corps of Engineerswith the BRO and engineers ofthe Central
Public Works De-partment (CPWD). It will beheaded by an Army
General.
The Indian Army is opposedto take over the anti-Naxal
op-erations on the ground that itspersonnel are not trained
forcivilian duties of a police force.It is, however, not opposed
tospare a sizeable number of en-gineers, both civilian and
mili-tary, from BRO for theproposed organisations,sources
added.
Home Ministry to raise own BRO for naxal areas
PTI
GHAZIABAD, JUNE 14
Protesting Jat leaders, who hadstopped water supply fromhere to
Delhi demanding reser-vation in government jobs,today suspended
their agita-tion after talks with govern-ment officials.
The agitation by AkhilBharatiya Jat Sangarsh Samiti(ABJSS) in
Muradnagar in Ghazi-abad since last night had hitwater supply
across the na-tional capital from the UpperGanga Canal.
Almost all areas in South andEast Delhi faced cuts in
watersupply due to the agitation bylocal BKU and Lok Dal
leaders,Jal Board officials in Delhi said.
District Magistrate R RameshKumar said that full water sup-ply
to Delhi will be restored ina day or two as two keys at
thewaterworks have been dam-aged by the protestors.
He told PTI that ABJSS leaderChoudhary Yashpal Malikagreed to
suspend the agita-tion after talks with represen-tatives of the
Central and stategovernments.
Officials said that theprotesting leaders will hold de-tailed
talks with the govern-ment representatives on thedemand for
reservation in gov-ernment jobs and in higher ed-ucation as also
amendment tothe Hindu Marriage Act, 1955,to ban same gotra weddings
inthe Jat community.
Malik said that the agitationwould be resumed if the talksfailed
to find a way out in a dayor two.
Jat leaders suspend agitation, water supply to resume to
Delhi
The District Magistratemade it clear that securityforces would
remain deployedat the waterworks and nobodywould be allowed to take
thelaw into their hands.
Two major water treatmentplants, Sonia Vihar and Bhagi-rathi,
which get water from theUpper Ganga canal, could notfunction this
morning due tonon-supply of water. They caterto 40 per cent water
require-ments of Delhi.
Irrigation department saidthat water supply to Delhi mayremain
suspended for two daysas the waterworks would needsome repairs.
Water, once re-
leased, takes at least five hoursto reach Delhi.
Meanwhile, a burst in amajor pipeline in Haiderpuralso resulted
in water cut inPalam and other neighbouringareas.
The pipeline burst yesterdayand Delhi Jal Board engineerswere
working to restore thewater supply, a senior DJB offi-cial
said.
Meanwhile, Chief MinisterSheila Dikshit said she wasvery
"disturbed" over the watercrisis in the city and assuredthe people
that all steps will betaken to restore water supplyto the city.
PTI
NEW DELHI, JUNE 14
Taking a tough stand, the Cen-tre today decided to send
secu-rity forces to remove the65-day-old blockade by Nagagroups of
the two nationalhighways, which has created asevere shortage of
essentialcommodities in Manipur.
"We have decided to sendCentral forces to remove theblockade,"
Home Secretary G KPillai told PTI.
National Highways 39 (Im-phal-Dimapur) and 53 (Imphal-Silchar),
passing throughNagaland and connecting Ma-nipur, have been blocked
bydifferent Naga groups sinceApril 11 to protest
Manipurgovernment's refusal to allow
NSCN leaders T Muivah's entryinto Manipur to visit his
ances-tral home.
Pillai said that the chief sec-retaries of Nagaland and Ma-nipur
will meet on Wednesdayto review the situation there.
The economic blockadehas pushed Manipur on theverge of a
breakdown withstocks of all essentials com-modities, including
babyfood and life saving drugs, al-most drying up.
The All Naga Students' Asso-ciation had launched the block-ade
to protest holding ofelections to six autonomousdistrict councils
in the Hillswhich, it alleged, were givennot enough power to carry
outdevelopment works.
Centre to send forces to remove Manipur blockade
pg7 6/14/2010 9:41 PM Page 1
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Aletter to the editor appearing in one of thelocal dailies
correctly summed up the po-litical scenario that is prevalent in
the state
today. The part where the writer describes hisfoolish audacity
to stand for an assembly electionand the consequential snubbing by
a well meaningneighbour, who had the cheek to inform him thatin
spite of being a good man he would not dotheir work, should come as
an eye-opener tomany who want to plunge into the political arenaand
change the whole system.
The you scratch my back and I will scratchyours tone with which
every aspiring candidateis greeted and encouraged, leaves nothing
to theimagination. When the electorate itself has nocompunctions
about expecting their elected rep-resentatives to promote
corruption and nepotism,why should it cry foul when, in a sudden
flash,their leaders are caught with their pants down,literally?
The initial period, when a newly elected mem-ber learns the
ropes, is nothing less than an ini-tiation into the mannerisms of
flowing with thetide, graduating into devising flagrant ways
offlaunting and bending the law of the land. Thefirst stint in the
house goes into cementing onesplace in the order of things the
alliances andloyalties that will decide ones political future.The
growing power and the consequential richesgradually become
addictive.
There are a few who appear to be in a hurryand intent on scaling
the peaks in a jiffy. I wouldcall these contenders the by default
members.They are the dark horses in multi-cornered con-tests who
triumph due to splitting of v