-
OHERALDOThe Voice of Goa Since 1900
PTI
NEW DELHI, NOV 16
In a scathing criticism of formerTelecom Minister A Raja
forfavouring industrial houses in-cluding Anil Ambani group,
gov-ernment auditor CAG today saidhe allotted spectrum ignoringthe
Prime Ministers advice and-caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakhcrore.
Among the other industrialhouses that benefited fromRajas 2G
spectrum policy wereUnitech, Datacom (now Video-con), S-Tel, Swan
and Loop Tele-com, who were given licencesin January 2008.
CAG said that the entireprocess of allocation of UnifiedAccess
Service licences lackedtransparency and was under-taken in an
arbitrary, unfair andinequitable manner, in theprocess flouting
every canonof financial propriety, rules andprocedures.
On the issue of spectrum al-location to existing operatorsbeyond
the contracted quantityof 6.2 Mhz, CAG has found SunilMittal-led
Bharti to be thebiggest beneficiary, among pri-vate players, with
32.4 Mhz in13 circles, followed by Voda-fone-Essar with 19.6
Mhz.
The auditor has pegged rev-enue loss on account of new li-cences
at up to Rs 1.40 lakhcrore and that on account of ad-ditional
spectrum allotment tothe existing operators at Rs36,993 crore.
The 77-page report of CAG,tabled in Parliament, said that
due diligence was not followedand even the recommendationsof the
telecom regulator TRAIwere not followed in spirit.
The report said the presump-tive loss caused to the excheq-uer
through spectrum allocationto 122 licensees and 35 dualtechnology
licences in 2007-08
was Rs 1,76,645 crore. It arrivedat the figure on the basis of
3Gauction held earlier this year inwhich the government moppedup
over Rs 67,000 crore.
It said there was an impera-tive need to fix responsibilityand
enforce accountability forthe lapses highlighted in the
audit report.Elaborating on the lapses and
irregularities, the governmentauditor said Prime Minister
Man-mohan Singh had stressed onthe need for a fair and transpar-ent
allocation of spectrumwhile the Ministry of Financehad sought for
the decision re-garding spectrum pricing to beconsidered by an
EGoM.
Brushing aside their concernsand advices, the DoT, in
2008,proceeded to issue 122 new li-cences for 2G spectrum at
2001prices, by flouting every canonof financial propriety, rules
andprocedures, the CAG said.
The DoT also did not do therequisite due diligence in
theexamination of the applicationssubmitted for the licences,
lead-ing to the grant of 85 out of122 licences to the
ineligibleapplicants as all these firms didnot have stipulated
paid-up cap-ital at the time of application.
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, NOV 16
About 401 passengers including134 crew on board the
Mum-bai-Goa-Mumbai cruise liner MVOcean Life had a lucky
escapeafter the vessel developed acrack in the sea on its
returnfrom a maiden voyage in thewee hours of Tuesday.
What began as a dream cruiseended up in a nightmare whenwater
began to enter into thehull and the vessel tilted by thetime rescue
teams could reachthe distressed ship.
According to sources in Mor-mugao Port, timely action bythe MPT,
Navy and Coast Guardaverted a major tragedy and theship along with
its passengersreturned safely to the Mormu-gao Port in the wee
hours ofTuesday.
The MV Ocean Life had ar-rived from Mumbai on itsmaiden voyage
on Monday atabout 1.20 pm, as part of itsregular
Mumbai-Goa-Mumbaiservice.
During its return journeyfrom Goa to Mumbai on Mondayevening,
the vessel had to returnto the Mormugao Port in thewee hours of
Tuesday from the17 nautical miles in the deep
sea, after the hull developed acrack, informed Deputy
Con-servator of Mormugao Port Trust(MPT) Karan Vaswani.
The vessel had sailed atabout 10.15 pm from the portfor Mumbai
and at about 12.35am, the ship captain alerted thePort Signal
Station that the ves-sel would return to the port, asa crack had
developed on theleft side and water had enteredthe ship, said
Vaswani.
The port authority, IndianNavy and Coast Guard swiftlyswung into
action to carry outthe rescue operation, as threetugs along with
pilot boats of
the port, as well as ships of theIndian Navy and the Coast
Guardleft for rescue operations, saidVaswani.
Vaswani said pilot boats ofthe port were in regular
com-munication with the distressedvessel to know the position ofthe
vessel, as the vessel beganto tilt by the time rescue teamcould
reach the site.
Three tugs that were sailedfor rescue operations helped
inkeeping the ship in its actualposition, while two ships ofNavy
and Coast Guard broughtback the ship to the port at
Visit us at:www.oheraldo.in panjim, wednesday, noVember 17, 2010
postal reg. no. Goa 101 priCe rs. 3.00 (air surcharge rs 2.00)
pages 16+4
Answer this! Which one is thebiggest scam of 2010. Option a-CWG
Scam, b-IPL Scam, c- AdarshScam and d - 2G Spectrum...
Goa: Project reports cost
CCP Rs 50 lakh Pg 3
Sports: McCullum
salvages draw Pg 16
Goas Heartbeat: Akshay in
spat with Katrina Pg 4
FROM OUR BUREAU
NEW DELHI, NOV 16
The Ministry of Environmentand Forests came out with
thechecklist before undertakingprojects attracting the
CoastalRegulation Zone Notification,1991.
It says prior clearance is tobe obtained for the projectslisted
in the CRZ Notification asamended from time-to-time andfall within
the approved CoastalZone Management Plan (CZMP)of the respective
State/Unionterritory.
The following check-list willbe referred to when any pro-posal
for such clearance is con-sidered by all State/Unionterritory
Coastal Zone Manage-ment Authorities and should beenclosed when the
recommen-
dations of these authorities aresent to the ministry or the
StateGovernment, says a notificationon the ministry website.
1. Application by project pro-ponent
(i) Has the map been preparedby anyone of the authorisedagencies
as per the guidelinesissued by Ministry of Environ-ment and Forests
vide letterNo.J-17011/8/92, dated Decem-ber 29, 1999 for
demarcatingHigh Tide Line and Low TideLine in 1:4000 scale
(cadastralscale map)?
YES/NO(ii) Has the CRZ area been de-
marcated on the above map (i)above, in accordance with theCRZ
Notification, 1991 and theapproved CZMP?
Checklist for CRZarea projects
Nightmare for 401 onboard Ocean Life
The stranded MV Ocean Life anchored at Mormugao Port.
l Lucky escape for passengers as hull cracks
Photo by M Prabhav
CAG REPORT FLOORS RAJASays he flouted rules, caused Rs 1.76 lakh
cr loss
l Raja allotted spectrum ignoring PMs advice,caused a Rs 1.76
lakh crore loss.
l Unitech, Datacom (now Videocon), S-Tel, Swanand Loop Telecom,
benefited.
l Entire process to allocate UAS licences
lackedtransparency.
l Sunil Mittal-led Bharti biggest beneficiary with32.4 Mhz in 13
circles.
l Revenue loss on new licences pegged at up to Rs1.40 lakh cr
and on additional spectrum allotmentto existing operators put at Rs
36,993 cr.
l In 2008, DoT proceeded to issue 122 new licences at 2001
prices. l DoT granted 85 out of 122 licences to ineligible
applicants.l 45 out of 85 licensees issued to companies which
failed to satisfy
conditions.l Dual tech licence process to Reliance
Communications lacked
transparency.
W H A T T H E R E P O R T S A Y S
PTI
NEW DELHI, NOV 16
The Supreme Court todayasked some embarrassingquestions about
the lengthydelay on the part of Prime Min-ister Manmohan Singh in
tak-ing a decision on a plea forsanction of prosecution of for-mer
Telecom Minister A Rajain the controversial 2G Spec-trum allocation
issue.
Can the sanctioning author-ity (Prime Minister in this case)
sit on the complaint, a benchof Justices G S Singhvi and A
KGanguly asked during a hear-ing on a petition filed by JanataParty
President and former LawMinister Subramaniam Swamy,
SC questions PMs delay
66 killed, Delhi building collapse fuels blame game
PTI
NEW DELHI, NOV 16
The collapse of a four-storeybuilding in a congested localityin
East Delhi in which 66 peoplewere killed fuelled a blame gametoday
between the Delhi Gov-ernment and the MCD on whatled to the worst
such disasterin recent times here.
A case of culpable homicidenot amounting to murder hasbeen
registered against theowner of the building AmritSingh, who is
absconding andhas not been traced yet, policesaid.
Let no guilty man escape, if it can be avoided.
No personal considerationshould stand in theway of
performing
a public duty.
Ulysses S Grant
Facebooklaunches
e-mail serviceFacebook, a popular social net-working site, has
come out withan improved messaging plat-form which aims to
provideusers with more than just an e-mail application.
The new messaging systemenvelopes e-mail, instant mes-sages,
Facebook messages andSMS to help users communicatefaster and more
seamlessly withtheir friends.
(Continued on page 10)
(Continued on page 10)
(Continued on page 10)
(Continued on page 10)
pg1_Layout 1 11/17/2010 1:04 AM Page 1
-
GOA, WEDNESDAY, 17 NOVEMBER, 2010
GOA Pg2OHERALD
O
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, NOV 16
The fishing community fromKhariwado-Vasco on Tuesdaygave a
send-off to the Por-tuguese tallest ship NRP Sagresat Mormugao
Port.
Decorated fishing trawlersand canoes accompanied by tra-ditional
brass band ferried largenumber of revelers towards theship from
Khariwado fishingjetty. Later, some youth carriedout a rally in
Vasco on their mo-
torcycles holding Portugal andIndian flags.
Dancing to the beats of tra-ditional brass band and Goanmusic,
the revelers exchangedflowers with Sagres ship captainProenca
Mendes in the presenceof Consul General de PortugalAntonio Sabido
Costa and othersailors.
As a part of goodwill gesture,ship captain Mendes
distributedgifts to the fishermen, while fewsailors handed over
T-shirts.
Mendes handed over the Por-tugal flag to fishermen, whilein
return fishermen handed overthe Indian flag to the captain.
Speaking to media persons,Mendes said it was a
wonderfulatmosphere and they arepleased to receive such an
over-whelming send-off.
We felt pleased arriving inGoa, though there was someopposition
by freedom fighters,said Mendes.
Councilors Fiola Rego and
Lavina DSouza and former coun-cilor Arnold Rego were
present.
It was our goodwill gestureto show them hospitality, as In-dians
treats their guests as god,said Simon Pereira, a fisherman.
We dont want to commenton the people who opposed thearrival of
the ship, but the func-tion was just a goodwill gestureto
strengthen Indo-Portugal tiesand to show them about Incred-ible
India and its people, addedPereira.
Despite protests, Portuguese crew leave Goan shores happy
Fishermen from Vasco in their decorated canoes and fishing
trawlers give send-off to Portuguese ship NRP Sagres. Photo by M
Prabhav
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, NOV 16
Mind blowing acts by Indian de-fense personnels, Royal Bandand
media boycott marked cen-tenary celebration of Corps ofSignals,
today.
The function held at 2 SignalTraining Centre, Headquarter
inBambolim to mark the 100 glo-rious years of Corps of Signals,saw
media boycotting the offi-cial press conference supposedto be
addressed by Signal Officerin Chief Lt Gen P Mohapatra.
The delay by the officials toaddress the press conferenceforced
media persons to walkout.
Not just this, the media wasupset after they alleged
ill-treat-
ment at the venue by the de-fense officials.
Media people claimed thatthey were given backseats fromwhere
they could hardly see anyactivity. The photographers andthe
cameraman from the elec-tronic media were forced tojump from one
place to other,in the lack of proper mediaarrangements.
Earlier, the Centenary Cele-brations had mind-blowing ad-venture
with shows by variousteams including Army Skydivingteam, Corps of
Signals DisplayTeams, Military Band and oth-ers.
The show, which began withthe silent drill, the only team ofthe
Indian Army formed by
Corps of Signals in December2009, had breathtaking se-quence by
Corps of SignalsDaredevil team, who have thecredit of ten world
records since1991.
The performances were ho-noured by giving away theawards at the
hands of ChiefMinister Digamber Kamat.
Apart from this, Kalaripayattu,an ancient martial art of
south-ern India, Taekwando, a Koreanmartial art was also
performedfor the two hour long show.
The function concluded withBand Display by Corps of Signalsband
and Corps of Engineersband, who played songs likeSare Jaha Se Achha
and KadamKadam badaye ja.
Media boycotts Signals centenary celebrations
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, NOV 16
There is complete disconnectbetween body and soul,
statedNarendra Kumar, DevelopmentCommissioner and Secretary
In-formation while referring toFourth Estate -- watchdog
ofdemocracy and freedom.
He was speaking at NationalPress Day function jointly or-ganized
by Goa Editors Guildand Goa Union of Journalistalong with
Department of In-formation and Publicity on Tues-day here.
Referring to the changes thatare fast engulfing the
fourthestate
Kumar said media is a bodyand journalist is its soul butthere is
complete disconnectbetween the two.
There has been completetransformation in media now -- newspapers
offer glossy page,so many sections devoted to allaspects other than
news, hepointed out while talking on Media in globalization &
com-petition: challenges and oppor-tunities.
Earlier senior journalist from
Mumbai Swati Deshpande in herkey note address, said
journalistshould not compromise onquality of work and irrespec-t
ive o f who contro ls themedia the good work willget its due.
Emphasized the role of mediaas watch dog she said if voiceof the
journalist is breached thenyou cant expect society tochange.
The Chief Minister DigambarKamat speaking on this occasionsaid
transformation in mediashould benefit all sections ofsociety.
On this occasion two seniorjournalists Arun Bhatkhande andSharad
Tednulkar were felici-tated at the hands of chief min-i s t e r fo
r the i r v a luab lecontribution in the field.
Media transformation should benefit all sections: CM
Lifeguards save 3 lives
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CALANGUTE, NOV 16
Three persons, including a 14-year-old boy, were saved
fromdrowning by Drishti Surf LifeTeam of lifeguards at Candolimand
Palolem beaches.
According to Drishti reports,a boy was rescued from drown-ing by
Dristhi lifeguard SanjayYadav, who noticed him in thedeep sea and
was in distress.
Informing the tower, the life-guard swam across with his res-cue
tube and brought the boysafely to the shores.
A t Pa lo l em beach , twotourists from Bangalore andNagpur were
saved in two sep-arate incidents.
Ranganath Nagraj (28) fromBangalore was rescued while hetried to
cross the river from thebeach end and was swept awaywith the
waves.
Lifeguards Pandurang Padkarand Ajay Velip realizing the dan-ger,
swam across and rescuedthe tourist.
In another incident, PriyankaModekar (21) from a group of
5tourists from Nagpur, who wereswimming in no swim zone, wasrescued
while she struggled indeep waters.
On noticing the tourist in dis-tress, lifeguard Venkatesh
Velipswam across and brought hersafely ashore.
No hukasmoking
on Canacona beaches: PI
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CANACONA, NOV 16
Canacona Police Inspector RajuRaut Dessai has claimed that
nohuka smoking activities takeplace along the Canaconacoast.
After leading a day-longcombing operations and affect-ing a few
arrests at Palolembeach, PI Dessai confidentlyclaimed that there is
no huka-s m o k i n g o n C a n a c o n abeaches.
In a combing operation thatcould bring out far-reaching af-fects
on few visiting tourists atPalolem and other talukasbeaches like
Agonda, Galgibaga,Canacona Police arrested fourlamani women in
connectionwith illegal trafficking of fakegoods.
Police also arrested four road-side vendors for allegedly
block-ing free flow of traffic on thePalolem main beach road
andbooked about 10 persons oncharges of smoking/spitting atpublic
places.
Contrary to what others feel,there is no huka-smoking at allat
Canacona, PI Dessai told Her-ald.
Tuesdays combing opera-tions is just the beginning andit will be
continued in followingdays and months, he added,sending a stern
warning tovisitors to think twice beforeengaging in any such
activi-ties.
Such combing operationswill be a regular feature and anylaw
breaker will be taken to taskto make Canacona ta lukabeaches more
visitors friendlyand enjoyable, added PI Des-sai.
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, NOV 16
Goa Legis lat ive AssemblySpeaker Pratapsingh Rane todaysaid
that jealousy and worriesof few politicians and bureau-crats have
inordinately delayedthe actual execution of LokAyukta Bill.
At least two bills tabled byme are pending although theywere
passed by the House. Thereason is that some people in-cluding
bureaucrats and somepoliticians are jealous, Ranesaid in the
function held to mark150 years of Comptroller andAuditor General of
India (CAG).
Speaking to Herald on thesidelines of the function, theSpeaker
elaborated that thoughthe Lok Ayukta Bill was passedin 2007, some
people are tryingto kill it delaying its actual for-mation.
Right from chief minister tospeaker, ministers, legislatorsand
bureaucrats will come underthe scrutiny after the Bill is en-forced
as one has to declare fi-nances or assets, he said adding
that we are using public fundsand utmost transparency is
re-quired.
But till date nobody has beenappointed to execute the duty.They
are trying to kill it, hecommented.
Rane said that some Goa Po-lice Service and Indian PoliceService
officials are also reluc-tant to get the Bill in place,which is one
of the reasons whythe formation is not ensuing.
Earlier, during the function,the senior legislator expressedhis
opinion that the CentralCommittee should appoint aqualified CAG who
has thoroughexperience of auditing and ac-counting functions.
A committee of Prime Min-ister, Finance Minister, Leader
of Opposition and Chairman ofPAC should together appoint
aqualified CAG, he said.
CAG in present scene is ap-pointed by the President. Hestated
that a new Bill in the Par-liament is being introduced andif it is
kept for public suggestion,he would give his opinion.
The functioning should betransparentWe need to seegovernance at
the optimumlevel and funds being properlyutilised, he said.
Rane urged that the depart-ment has several backlogs to
becompleted even as the perform-ance is improving in the pastcouple
of years.
There should be regularmeetings. Backlogs should becleared.
There is too much work,therefore, a sub-committeeshould be created
so that re-spective legislators can pay sur-prise visits to
departments, heopined.
He further expressed that hewill present his views for thenew
parliament bill when itcomes for public suggestion.
Jealous politicos to blame for Lok Ayukta bill delay: Rane
MMC chief has no immediate plans to solve parking woes
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
Newly-elected Margao MunicipalChairperson Sushila Naik hasno
immediate plans to ad-dress the acute parking prob-lem plaguing the
CommercialCapital.
But, that has not stopped thenew Chairperson or the ChiefOfficer
from parking their officialvehicles right at the entranceor inside
the municipal garden.Even most of the newly-electedcity fathers,
who attended theMunicipal meeting on Mondayto discuss on the
constitutionof the statutory committees,had no hesitation in
parkingtheir vehicles inside the munic-ipal garden.
Incidentally, the new civicchairperson has accorded topmost
priority to work out a per-manent solution to the garbagemenace
facing the city.
And, the chairperson says thatthe parking problem would
beaddressed only after puttingthe acute garbage mess inplace.
Sadly, while the city fathershave no hesitation to park
theirvehicles in the sprawling gar-den, neither the civic body
northe government has displayedany initiative to address theissue,
notwithstanding arounda dozen resolutions adopted bythe Civic body
over the yearson the issue.
If the Municipal records is anyindication, it was only duringthe
tenure of Ganashyam Shi-rodkar as civic chairpersonnearly 10 years
ago and last yearwhen Savio Coutinho presidedover the reigns of the
civic bodythat the an attempt was madeto solve the burning
problem,but in vain.
While the civic body dur-ing Shirodkars tenure hadinvited
pre-qualification ten-ders from companies to setup a multi-storey
parking lotat the old bus stand, the Mu-nicipality during
Coutinhostwo-year old tenure had in-vited Expression of Interestto
shortlist consultants tobuild the parking lot.
CM intervenes to solvegarbage menace
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
In a bid to put a garbage management system in place for
thecommercial capital, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat had a
meetingwith Margao municipal officials and civic chairperson
Sushila Naikon Tuesday.
The Chief Minister sought a status report on the garbage
col-lection system from the concerned officials and sought details
onthe manpower and machinery employed by the civic body for
thegarbage collection.
While offering his full support to the Civic body to get the
cityrid of the garbage, the chief minister called for immediately
meas-ures in that directions with the popular dindi festival
underway inthe city. In fact, the Chief Minister is believed to
have issued strictdirections to the officials to clear the city of
the waste before themain dindi festival on November 19.
Against the backdrop of the Chief Ministers directives,
theChairperson Sushila Naik visited various places in the city,
includingthe Comba area, which will play host to the Dindi
procession atthe Vithal Mandir. The Municipal Chairperson is also
believed tohave taken note of the areas which have no illumination
city asthe Chief Minister has insisted on the illumination of the
Dindiprocession route on November 19.
The newly-elected Chairperson had a first hand experience
withthe garbage problem a day after taking over the reigns of
officewhen she found mounds of waste in her Comba ward andno
responsible officer around to take quick decision toclear the
waste.
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
In a symbolic protest againstthe long delay in four-laning
theNavelim Church-Margao flyoverroad at the entrance to the
Com-mercial capital, residents of Col-morod placed a placard at
thesite of road works wishing thepeople a safe Our Lady ofRosary
feast on Wednesday.
Led by outgoing Margao Mu-nicipal Chairperson SavioCoutinho, the
protestors de-manded early completing com-pletion of the four lane
road by
the Goa State Infrastructure De-velopment Corporation headedby
Chief Minister DigambarKamat.
This is just a message to theauthorities over the plight ofthe
road users on a daily basis.We had been demanding widen-ing of the
road since 1995 andhad managed to get the worktendered by GSIDC in
2008, hesaid.
Coutinho, however, said thatthough the contractor was seta
15-month deadline by theGSIDC to complete the work,
theres little progress in thework so far.
Even work on the footpathsare not completed, he said,adding that
though the ChiefMinister had set a deadline ofApril 24 last year to
shift hotmix at least one lane and shiftthe electric poles,
nothinghas changed on the groundtill date.
Demanding that work on theproject be expedited by theAgency,
Coutinho said that thedeep trench right in the middleof the road
has posed dangerto motorists.
Colmorod locals demand earlyfour-laning of flyover road
The Placard erected at the site of the long-delayed four-laning
work at Colmorodo-Navelim. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
The Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG)on Tuesday celebrated the
birthanniversary of Regina Fernandes the first lady on tiatr
stage.To commemorate the occasion,a workshop on womens role inart
and culture conducted by Dr
Meenaxi Martins was held atthe Ravindra Bhavan, Margaothis
morning, followed by a ladiesmusical show staged at the PaiTiatrist
auditorium.Konkan i s tage a r t i s t An -tonet te Mendes was
thechief guest at the functionwhich was organized by the
Tiatr Academy.Addressing the gathering, Pres-ident of Tiatr
Academy Tomaz-inho Cardozo said the objectiveof remembering Regina
Fernan-des was to given an encour-agement to the youngergeneration
of her contribu-tion to tiatr.
TAG remembers firstwoman tiatrist
Versatile singer and Konkani stage artist Antonette Mendes at
the ladies musical show at the RavindraBhavan. Photo by Savio
Dias
My son will notcontest next
Assemblypolls: Joaquim
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
With rumours rife that he is allset to introduce his pilot
sonYuri into electoral politics, Cun-colim MLA and Urban
Develop-ment Minister Joaquim Alemaoscotched all such reports,
sayinghis son may succeed him onlyafter his retirement.
Theres no way Yuri will contestthe next Assembly polls from
Cun-colim or anywhere else when I willstand for re-election from
the con-stituency, Joaquim asserted.
The Minister, however, has-tened to add that Yuri has
beenactively involved in social worknot only in Cuncolim
con-stituency, but elsewhere.
The rumour mill was activethroughout Tuesday with Yurisbirthday
being the talk of theTown on account of the con-gratulatory
messages in themedia, followed by a freeKonkani Tiatr near the
busstand. Incidentally, the vernac-ular media had reported a
fort-night ago that the Urb a nDevelopment Minister mayshift to
Sanguem and fieldhis son in Cuncolim.
Addressing a Tiatr function,Joaquim said that he will have
totake permission of the people ofCuncolim to contest from
Sanguem.But, I would prefer to retire frompolitics instead of
contesting fromSanguem, he said.
60 slaughterbulls rescued
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
Acting on a tip off, the MainaCurtorim police conducted araid on
late Tuesday night at Da-vorlim and rescued around 60bulls which
were brought forslaughtering on the eve of Id onWednesday.
Maina curtorim PI Sidhant Shi-rodkar informed that the policehas
arrested three personsunder section 429 and 511 ofthe IPC for
bringing the cattlefor the purpose of slaughteringthem near the
railway gate atDavorlim. He provided thenames of the arrested
personsas Shaik Abdul, a resident of Da-vorim, Vijay Varde and
SureshVarde, both residents of Kudal,Maharashtra.
The police received specificinformation that some personswould
bring the cattle near therailway gate for the purpose
ofslaughtering on the occasion ofId festival, he said.
PI Shirodkar informed thatthe police has been deployednear the
Davorlim railway gateto ensure that the cattle isguarded and not
lifted away bythe owners.
South SP, Allan de Sa and Mar-gao DySP Umesh Gaonkar werenot
available for comments.
-
GOA, WEDNESDAY, 17 NOVEMBER, 2010
GOAOHERALD
OPg3
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, NOV 16
With no action forthcoming from the State Gov-ernment against
alleged illegalities of the Cor-poration of the City of Panjim
(CCP) and its rulingcorporators, BJP supported corporators have
de-cided to file Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
Rupesh Haldankar along with other corporatorstold a press
conference on Tuesday here thatthey will now file a PIL seeking
directions to thegovernment to order investigation into
variousscams that CCP remained mired in during lastfour years.
He said, several scams such as pay parking,security guard ,
house tax scam, casino office
permission scam, ghost worker scam andthe biggest of all Panjim
market shop allot-ment scam. However, there has been no tan-gible
action in any of the scams what soever, he said.
Of the total 1424 shops about 70 per centshops are illegally
occupied with corportors UdayMadkaikar and Daya Karapurkar are the
main cul-prits, he charged.
He also named Mayor Carolina Po and AccountsTaxation Officer
(ATO) Joaquim Colasso being re-sponsible for this mess in CCP and
demandedthat CCP should re-tender shops which are illegallyoccupied
after retrieving ownership of those il-legally occupied shops.
BJP-backed corporatorsto file PIL on CCP scams
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, NOV 16
While fund starved Corporationof the City of Panjim (CCP) hasnot
yet received a single paisaunder Jawaharlal Nehru NationalUrban
Development Mission (JN-NURM), it has ended up spend-ing over Rs 50
lakh in preparingdetailed project reports (DPRs)of projects, alone,
it wants inthe city.
The CCP paid Rs 9.61 lakh toWater & Power
ConsultancyServices (India) Ltd, Gurgaon forpreparation of DPR for
the sec-tor water body preservation andhill slope protection.
Groupe SEC India Pvt Ltd, Ban-galore which was hired for
preparing DPR for four differ-ent projects was paid Rs37.24
lakh.
It was engaged for preparingDPR for basic services to urbanpoor
that included 226 apart-ments at Kamrabhat and waspaid Rs 11.31
lakh.
For preparation of DPR forComprehensive Mobility Plan(CMP) for
it received Rs 11.35lakh and Rs 9.24 lakh for prepa-ration of DPR
for the Sector Her-itage Conservation for the city.Whereas it
received Rs 14.58lakh for preparation of DPRfor development of
park,gardens and open spaces forthe CCP.
This include Bonca De Vaca
precint and Swami VivekanandRoad, development of DonaPaula park
and market, devel-opment of Miramar beach,Charao Jetty &
redevelopmentof entry to Viscounts House,Divar Jetty and provision
of toi-lets.
Whereas for preparationof DPR for municipal e-gov-ernance design
it paid Rs10.96 lakh to M/s UpasaniJain & Kshirsagar and G
SMathur & Co Pune.
Some of these projects arepending with directoratemiss ion in
Delh i even asmany other States alreadygot funds from JNNURM
andalso started work.
Project reports cost CCP Rs 50 lakh
2 arrested for killing wild boarHERALD CORRESPONDENT
SANGUEM, NOV 16
Wild Life Division, Kurdi-Ne-travali, Range Forest Officer ND
Prabhudessai on Sunday ar-rested two persons from
Ne-travali-Sanguem for allegedlykilling a wild boar from
theprecincts of Netravali Wild LifeSanctuary.
The accused have been iden-tified as Francisco Mascarenhasand
Sukdo Velip. The forest of-ficials have also attached a TataIndica
car belonging to one ofthe accused and a motorcycleallegedly used
in the commis-sioning of the offence.
Later, Judicial Magistrate FirstClass Sanguem released the duoon
bail on the condition to re-port to the Range Forest
Office,Netravali, in the morning andevening sessions everyday
forone month.
Sources informed that the for-est officials while on round tothe
Netravali Wild Life Sanctuarynoticed the vehicle within
theprecincts of the Wild Life Sanctuaryand directed the car driver
to stopthe vehicle for inspection.
The officials found a dead wildboar on the back seat of the car
andaccordingly arrested the vehicledriver for the offence.
The officials also stopped amotorcycle, which was followingthe
car and arrested the motor-cycle rider, after a gun was foundtied
to the motorcycle andwhich the officials alleged wasused in killing
the seized wildboar.
Inquiries revealed that Mas-carenhas was allegedly calledby the
killer of the wild boar tocollect the wild boar after pay-ment of a
certain price at a spec-ified location.
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, NOV 16
Sanjay Leela Bhansalis film,Guzaarish has hit a controversyafter
posters of Bollywood iconAishwarya Rai Bachchan smok-ing cigarette
displayed all acrossMumbai.
The anti-tobacco NGO, Na-tional Organisation for
TobaccoEradication (NOTE), has threat-ened to issue legal
noticeagainst Bachchan and the film-maker by Wednesday.
The NGO has asked filmmakerto withdraw the posters show-ing
smoking scenes.
The innumerable postersand banners of the film Guzaar-ish
displayed all over Mumbaishows Aishwarya smoking a cig-arette. We
will make sure thatthe notice is issued by Wednes-day, NOTE General
SecretaryDr Shekhar Salkar said heretoday.
Guzaarish, casting Aishwaryaand Hrithik Roshan is set for
therelease on Friday-November 19.
NOTE , i n the pas t haddragged Amitabh Bachchan tohigh court
for similar offenceduring promotion of film Fam-ily.
The display of the postersshowing Aishwarya smokingraises
worries in our mind thatsuch depictions could be trend-setter, Dr
Salkar said.
He stated that NOTE Indiafirmly believes that there is inlarge
use of film stars to prop-agate smoking, who are consid-ered as
icons and even deitiesby their millions of fans.
Anti-tobacco NGOwants Guzaarish
posters withdrawn
Margao bomb
blast accused
applies for bailHERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
An accused in the Margao bombblast case has moved the SouthGoa
Sessions court for bail.
Accused Prashant Juvekar hasmoved the court on grounds thatthe
National Investigating Agencyhas not yet filed a chargesheetagainst
him in the court.
The bail application will comeup for hearing on November 19.
Sources in the know that theNIA has prepared a supplemen-tary
chargesheet against the twoaccused persons PrashantAshtekar and
Prashant Juvekarand others.
It is learnt that the copy ofthe chargesheet has been
dis-patched to Delhi for final ap-proval from the NIA sleuths.
The charge sheet is likely tobe filed early next week,
NIAsources said.
Once the fans find theirfavourite celebrate consumingcigarette,
they automaticallymove closer to it, he added.
NOTE India had in the pastknocked every door to preventthe
clandestine proliferation oftobacco by using Bollywoodstars.
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
The Chief Inspector of Facto-ries and Boilers have asked
theMormugao Steel Ltd Curtorimto submit a report on the
main-tenance of the furnace whichwitnessed a blast late
Mondaynight.
The direction was issued tothe management of MSL factoryon
Tuesday as the Chief Inspec-tor of Factories and Boilers S
MParanjape inspected the factorythis morning to assess the rea-son
behind the furnace blast.
I think theres somethingwrong with the furnace causing
the blast. The Management hasclaimed that the furnace
wasmaintained on a regular basis.But, I have asked for the
main-tenance report as part of theprobe into the incident,
Paran-jape said.
According to Paranjape, theblast in the electric furnacemight
have occurred when wa-ters from the electric coil camein contact
with molten metal.We have to investigate howthe water from the coil
came incontact with the molten metal,he added.
Fortunately, the workers whowere rushed to Hospicio hospi-
Curtorim blast: Firm told to submit report on furnace
The MSL factory at Curtorim. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar
tal stands discharged after beingtreated for the injuries
sustainedafter the blast. Though the blastshook the neighbourhood,
therewas no major damage causedto the factory premises, unlikethe
furnace blast in the Cun-colim Industrial estate.
Meanwhile, the Maina Cur-torim police has said that
actionagainst the management of theMSL will be initiated only
afterreceiving a report form the ChiefInspector of Factories and
Boil-ers. We have recorded thestatements of the workers work-ing in
the factory at the time ofthe blast. A case of accident hasbeen
registered so far, PI Sid-hant Shirodkar said, adding thatthe
course of further investiga-tions into the furnace blast willbe
based on the report from theFactories and boilers.
PI Shidodkar along with Mar-gao Sub-divisional police
officer,DySP Umesh Gaonkar visitedMSL on Tuesday noon to assessthe
situation.
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, NOV 16
Farmers from Ponda and Bi-cholim talukas have objected tothe
proposed natural gaspipeline by the Gas Authority ofIndia Ltd
(GAIL), during a public hear-ing at the Collectorate Office
today.
The project, according tosources, will bar villagers
fromerecting any structures althoughthe cultivation of crops will
bepossible. A batch of 50 farmersand householders expressedtheir
resentment in the secondmeeting with the Deputy Col-lector of Land
Acquisition An-thony DSouza.
The pipeline will passthrough vast acres of fields andhouses,
which will cause onlydamages, a farmer said. Theauthorities had
issued noticesto villagers of Mormugao, Pondaand Bicholim for
public hearing,as the pipeline will pass throughthe three talukas
starting fromGokak in Karnataka.
Beginning at Virdi, the under-ground pipel ine wil l passthrough
Maulingem, Curchirem,Carapur, Amona, Tivrem, Khan-dola, Vargao,
Adcon, Boma,Kundaim and Madkai before mov-ing to Mormugaos villages
of San-coale, Pale, Cortalim and Quelossim,sources stated. The end
point willbe near Zuari Industries.
Speaking to Herald, DSouzasaid that the project is not
anacquisition. The land will con-tinue to remain with the
owners.GAIL will lay undergroundpipeline after which the landwill
be returned back to respec-tive owners, he said.
The officer, who has been ap-pointed as the competent
au-thority, said he will compile areport to be furnished to
theMinistry of Petroleum after hear-
Ponda, Bicholim farmers object to gas pipeline
ing the locals . S ince, thepipelines would also cross
res-idential areas, the departmentwil l suggest i ts
diversionthrough agricultural land.
It is learnt that two gas sta-tions will be set up one each
at
Curchirem (Bicholim) and Mad-kai for which 2,500 sq mtrs eachof
land would be acquired. Forlaying the spur line, authoritieshave
already identified the landand compensation will be paidto owners,
said the source.
nBeginning at Virdi, the pipeline will passthrough Maulingem,
Curchirem, Carapur,Amona, Tivrem, Khandola, Vargao, Adcon,Boma,
Kundaim and Madkai before movingto Mormugaos villages of Sancoale,
Pale,Cortalim and Quelossim.
pg3:Layout 1 11/17/2010 12:54 AM Page 1
-
GOAOHerALd
O
Pg4short tAkes
GOA, wedneSdAy, 17 nOVember, 2010
==
Blood donation camp heldPANJIM (HND): Max New York Life
Insurance in association
with Thalassemics - India conducted 6 blood donation campsin the
state as a part of the 29 city blood donation drive acrosswestern
India. Max New York Life employees and agent advi-sors donated 125
units of blood; in all 300 units were col-lected. The camp at
Margao was inaugurated by Chief MinisterDigambar Kamat who was
delighted with enthusiasm of MaxNew York Life employees and agents
in conducting the blooddonation camp and the impact they have made
on the lives ofThalassemia patients.
Tailoring classes opened
Calangute MLA Agnelo Fernandes along with the women trainees.
Photo by Anil Shankhwalker
PORVORIM (HC): Calangute MLA Agnelo Fernandes inaugu-rated the
cutting and tailoring class started by Reis MagosSarpanch Sushma
Pednekar in association with JanashikshanSanstha at Verem.
Speaking on the occasion, Fernandes complimented thesarpanch for
taking an initiative to conduct the cutting and tai-loring class
for the benefit of the poor women in her village.
Sarpanch Sushma Pednekar informed that in Reis Magos,there are
several unemployed women, who are interested tostand on their own
feet, but do not have necessary resources.
It is for the benefit of these women, I have started this
classwith the assistance of the Janashikshan Sanstha,
Porvorim.Teacher Rajasree Korjuenkar of Jana Shikshan Sanstha will
pro-vide training to the women, she added.
The sarpanch further informed that she plans to approachthe
Rural Development Agency or EDC or Bank for providingfinancial
assistance at confessional rate of interest to thetrainees for
purchasing sewing machines to enable them toearn their
livelihood.
Panch members of Reis Magos and Nerul panchayats werepresent for
the programme.
Our Lady of Piety feastCOLLEM (HC): Parishioners of Collem
celebrated the feast of
Our Lady of Piety with great enthusiasm and religious fervourat
Our Lady of Piety Church, Collem, on Sunday.
Fr Orlando Lopes and Fr Pio Furtardo were the main cele-brants
for the mass. People from Collem, Mollem, Shigao,Kasavalim and
Kajumal participated in the procession.
Speaking to Herald, Fr Orlando Lopes said this year, theChurch
is celebrating its 55 years of services.
Kefira rewarded
Kefira Rodrigues receives the National Child Award 2010
fromPresident Pratibha Patil at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan,
NewDelhi.
VASCO (HR): Kefira Rodrigues from Vasco was awarded theNational
Child Award 2010 by President Pratibha Patil on Chil-drens Day
function at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
Rodrigues, a Std 8 student of Deepvihar Secondary School,Sada,
was selected for the National Child Award 2010 for ex-ceptional
achievements, which she received from the President.
The Award is in recognition of her diverse achievements inthe
field of sports, dance and music. The award carries a cashprize of
Rs 10,000, a Silver medal and a certificate.
Among the notable achievements to her credit, Kefira Ro-drigues
was adjudged the best Taluka level Bharat Natyamdancer by the
Directorate of Arts and Culture, Government ofGoa.
She has also participated in Ethnic and Western Dance
per-formances in Ahmedabad, Delhi and Malwan-Maharashtra.
Kefira was the recipient of the Monginis Puraskar for mul-tiple
intelligence. She was also awarded the first place in Tal-ented
Girls Contest held among seven schools from differentStates
organised by St Xaviers Girls College, Mumbai.
Fatima Bi to be honouredVALPOI (HC): Fatima Bi Khan of
Nanus-
Valpoi, who recently completed 101 years,will be honoured by her
family membersand villagers next week.
According to some close relatives, thefamily has decided to
offer special prayersfor the good health and stability of Fatimaand
will also felicitate her in the presenceof well wishers and
villagers.
Like other responsible citizens, mygrandmother also exercised
her franchiseduring recent municipal council elections,
said Fatimas grandson Sharafat, who was recently
electedcouncillor of Valpoi Municipal Council.
Everybody in the family is happy to receive the blessingsof our
eldest member of the family, he added.
uPCoMInG eVents
uPCoMInG eVents
Cultural evening at TelaulimPANJIM (HND): YMCT Entertainment in
Association with Di-
rectorate of Art and Culture will present a Goan culturalevening
Nachum-ia Kumpasar featuring Goas NightingaleLorna on November 18
in Telaulim. Lorna will be accompaniedby Seby Fernandes, Travasso,
Lulu Fortes, Sidhanath Buyao,Sonia Shirsat and Cyril Ferrao.
Music will be provided by Guinness record holder NormanCardozo
with his seven piece orchestra.
Chief Minister Digamber Kamat will be the chief guest whilelocal
MLA and PWD and RDA Minister Churchill Alemao willbe the guest of
honour.
Indiras birth remembrancePANJIM (HND): Goa Pradesh Congress
Committee (GPCC)
will observe the Birth Anniversary of former Prime Minister
ofIndia, late Indira Gandhi, on November 19 at Congress
House,Panjim at 10 am.
GPCC President Subhash Shirodkar, Chief Minister DigambarKamat,
MPs, MLAs and other party leaders will attend thefunction.
Childrens book fair PANJIM (HND): As part of Silver Jubilee
celebrations, Bal Bha-
van will organise childrens book fair cum sale on November18, 19
and 20 at Bal Bhavan campus, Campal, Panjim, from9.30 am to 6
pm.
Various childrens books and other educational relatedbooks in
English, Hindi, Marathi and Konkani will be for saleat discounted
rates.
Broadway Book Centre, GKA, Marathi Academy, Varsha BookStall and
Narvekar Book Agency, Marcela and others will par-ticipate in this
book fair.
The book sellers who wish to participate may contact BalBhavans
programme section.
Inauguration of libraryPANJIM (HND): The state-of-the-art, Dr
Francisco Luis
Gomes Library, will be inaugurated on November 21 at thelibrary
premises, behind Rosary Church, Navelim, Salcette,at 5 pm by Chief
Minister Digambar Kamat, in presence ofPWD Minster Churchill
Alemao, who will preside over thefunction.
Various facilities have been created in the library such
asspacious reading room, lecture hall, newspaper section,
workstation for public, children's section, multipurpose hall,
cafe-teria, administrative block, conference hall to create ideal
at-mosphere of learning and gaining knowledge.
Goa Book Fair - 2010PANJIM (HND): Directorate of Art and Culture
in collabora-
tion with Institute Menezes Braganza, Panjim and RavindraBhavan,
Margao will organise Goa Book Fair 2010 from No-vember 20 to 26 at
Ravindra Bhavan, Margao from 9.30 am to9.30 pm.
The fair will be inaugurated on November 20 at 10.30 amby noted
writer Damodar (Bhai) Mauzo in the presence of ViceChairman of IMB,
Mohandas Surlakar, and Vice Chairman ofRavindra Bhavan, Shridhar
Kamat.
Book vendors from of Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra andUttar
Pradesh will participate in the Fair.
Dandiya-Raas competitionPANJIM (HND): United Cultural
Association, Paleim, Ucca-
saim will organise 8th All Goa Dandiya Raas competition
onNovember 20 at Sateri Devsthan Hall, Paleim, Uccasaim at 8pm. All
Goa Hindi film songs dance competition will be heldon November 21
at 8 pm at the same venue. Cash prizes andtrophies will be awarded
to the winners. For registration call9850247721.
Get together for seniors PANJIM (HND): A get-together for the
senior citizens will be
organised at Recreation Center, Pedda, Margao to celebrateDiwali
on November 20 at 5.30 pm. Chief minister DigamberKamat will grace
the occasion and chat with the senior citizenswho will display
their virtuosity in music. Margao MunicipalCouncil Chairman Sushila
Naik will also be present for thefunction.
Corlim gram sabhaPANJIM (HND: The ordinary gram sabha of Corlim
will be
held on November 21 in the community hall of the panchayatat 10
am. Proposals on developmental works for the meetingmay be
forwarded to the Sarpanch in the panchayat office onor before
November 17.
Bike rally in the ghatsPANJIM (HND): Wildtrek Adventures, Bizz
and Buzz, and
HCN will organise 1st ever The Bike SSScape 2010, a
bikerally/trek on November 21 from Panjim to Mangeli andback. The
highlights of this rally will be waterfall views,valley views,
visit to Sada fort and dip in Mangeli falls.Over 100 participants
are expected to take part in thistrek.
The Bike SSScape rally, from sea level to the highest
pointsfeatures challenging roads, rough terrain for tough guys
andgals with enduring bikes. This first formal Western Ghat
spe-cial, covering about 120 kms in 3 states will end within
12hours.
Route:
PanjimAssonoraBicholimSanquelimKeriChorlaSadaMangeliBedshiDodamargSalAssonoraPanjim.
The organisers will provide the participants with special
T-Shirts printed for the rally, lunch, water, snacks, first aid,
doc-tors in case of any emergency, participation certificates
anddiscounted petrol vouchers.
For rules and entries call Dr Prithvi (9822123458),
Savio(9822155805) or Sameer (9158911999). Rally will be limitedto
only 50 bikes.
Mando festival at KAPANJIM (HND): The Goa Cultural and Social
Centre, Panjim,
will organise its 44th all Goa state level Mando festival on
De-cember 9 and 10, at Kala Academy A/C Auditorium, Panjim.
Duly filled entry forms should be submitted on or beforeNovember
25 to Octavio Rodrigues. For further details, con-tact 9881737479,
2229548 or 9823053546.
Crib competitionPANJIM (HND): Directorate of Art and Culture
will organ-
ise Crib Competition at district level in North and SouthGoa
from December 28 to 30. Cash prizes for each districtwill be Rs
10000, Rs 7000, Rs 5000 for the first three placesand five
consolation prizes of Rs 2000 each. Interested par-ties may collect
the application forms from the office of theDirectorate of Art and
Culture, 5th floor, Shrama ShaktiBhavan, Patto, Panjim, by December
2 and submit the filledforms by December 13.
Power shutdownNOVEMBER 18
NEURA: From 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are Neura Churchand
surrounding areas.
NOVEMBER 19
NEURA: From 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are Neura-O-Pequeno,
Deubhat and surrounding areas.
NOVEMBER 20
NEURA: From 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are Neura
Panchayat,Dayanand Arya HS, Alvares Saw Mill, Gudiwada and
surroundingareas.
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, NOV 16
Fr Antonio Rosario Pegado wasborn on March 6, 1933 at Goa-Velha.
He studied in Rachol Pa-triarchal Seminary and wasordained a priest
at RacholSeminary on September 13,1959 by then Patriach D
VieiraAlvernaj.
As a deacon, he had a shortstint as a librarian in
SaligaoSeminary, then as prefect at StJoseph High School
boardingand assistant Parish Priest ofCalangute Church.
On request of the Bishop, hewent to Mozambique to workas a
missionary where heworked in various missions asSuperior in Nampula
Diocesefrom 1961- 1975. Back in Goain 1975, he was associatedwith
the parish of Goa-Velhaand did his BA at Shivaji Uni-
versity- Kolapur. In 1978, he left for Los Ange-
les, USA at the request of theBishop of Los Angeles to workin
the Holy Family Church inArtesia, where there was largecongregation
of Portuguesespeaking people. He servedthis diocese from 1978 to
1985.
While in USA, he attendedKensington University, Califor-
nia, where he was awarded thedegree of Master of Arts in
So-ciology in 1977 and PhD de-gree in Philosophy andSociology in
1985.
From 1985 to 2002, heserved in the Archdiocese ofSingapore and
Macau. Fr Anto-nio Rosario Pegado made it hiscalling to help poor
and needystudents in Goa by instituting
St Andrews Trust. Parishioners and friends,
present and past, attended theMass at St Andrew's
Church,Goa-Velha on October 17 to cel-ebrate the Golden Jubilee of
theOrdination to the priesthood ofFr Antonio Rosario Pegado.
Archbishop Gonsalves werethe main celebrant for the Eu-charistic
celebration. Fr Anto-nio expressed his gratitude forhis vocational
guidance to hisparents, seminarians, parish-ioners and family.
Parish PriestFr Raul Colaco along with DrCarmo Pegado earlier
wel-comed Archbishop EmeritusPatriach Raul Gonsalves.
Fr Lordinho Pereira, ParishPriest of St Anna's Church, Ta-laulim
concluded with anoverview of Fr Antonio's life,paying tribute to
his commit-ment, dedication and charity.
Fr Antonio celebrates 50 years of priesthood
By FR MANuEL GOMES
Today, November 17 is one of the mostpopular feasts of Salcete:
the feast of OurLady of the Rosary in Navelim. Also today,Muslims
celebrate Id and Hindus celebrateDiwali. It shows that true
religion wants usto work in peace and harmony, and live
insolidarity with one another. For centuries,Goans are well known
for this tolerance,which should never be disturbed.
How do we become holy? Catholics andother Christians agree that
we cannot saveourselves; rather, we are saved by grace Gods
merciful aid, which enables us to be-come holy as he is holy. It is
an unmerited,free gift of God, made possible throughJesus Christ,
who died on the cross for us.
The Church accepts Christs declaration:I am the way and the
truth and the life.No one comes to the Father, exceptthrough me.
(Jn. 14:6) Also, his words thatwarn those who would turn away:
Who-ever rejects you rejects me and whoeverrejects me, rejects the
one who sent me.(Lk. 10:16)
But does this mean that only Catholicscan be saved? The Second
Vatican Council,in Lumen Gentium and Ad Gentes speaksabout other
people who can be saved andachieve eternal salvation.
The Church honours Mary as Mother ofGod, Mother of the Church
and ourMother. She is invoked under variousnames: Our Lady of
Fatima, Our Lady ofLourdes; or as people sought her interces-sion
in time of need Our Lady of BomParto (good delivery).
Why Our Lady of Rosary? On October 7,1571, the great naval
battle of Lepantoended. The victory of Europe in the battlesaved
Christian civilisation, and Pope St PiusV instituted the day as the
feast of Our Ladyof Victory. Since the victory was basicallythe
fruit of the rosary, later popes named itthe Feast of Our Lady of
the Rosary.
The origin of the Rosary dates to a rev-elation in a vision by
Our Lady to St Dom-nic, founder of the Order of Preachers, inthe
13th Century. The 20 mysteries of theRosary are virtually a summary
of the
Churchs Liturgical year, presenting Chris-tian truth
comprehensively and graphically.
The roots of the Christian rosary lie in anancient prayer
devotion of reciting 150times Our Father, later simplified to
HailMary. Mostly illiterate Christians in themiddle ages used
strings of beads to keepcount. The Rosary we use today is a
simpli-fied version of the Dominican Rosary,which consisted of 15
decades of Hail Maryto the accompaniment of a meditation on15
mysteries pertaining to the life, suffer-ing, death and
glorification of Jesus andMary, based on scripture. These
mysterieshave three divisions, called chaplets, offive mysteries
each Joyful Mysteries, Sor-rowful Mysteries and Glorious
Mysteries.
On October 16, 2002, Pope John Paul IIadded a set of five new
mysteries Lumi-nous Mysteries. The rosary is a perfectform of
prayerful tribute to the Holy Trin-ity. May the Triune God through
the inter-cession of the Blessed Virgin Mary blessus, guide us and
protect us, now and al-ways!
Feast of Our Lady of Rosary
Fatima Bi Khan
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MAYEM, NOV 16
Speaker Pratapsing Rane hascalled upon the ruling body
ofBicholim Municipal Council(BMC) to undertake develop-ment works,
taking into con-sideration the provision for thenext 25 years.
Rane was addressing the rul-ing councillors of BMC onMonday at
his residence atKulan-Sanquelim.
BMC Chairperson AnishaVernekar, Deputy ChairpersonShashikant
Naik Halarnkar,Kamla Teli, Kamlesh Teli,Karuna Govekar,
BicholimBlock President Naresh Sawaland Vishwanath Dhawaskarwere
present on the occasion.
Rane also advised the coun-cilors to undertake develop-ment
works unitedly, therebygiving priority to roads, water
and electricity, which are basicnecessities.
Meanwhile, BMC convenedits first meeting on Monday.
Government officials werepresent for the meeting in con-nection
with the town develop-ment.
The discussion focused oncleanliness in the town, indis-ciplined
parking, increasingnumber of stray cattle andother several
issues.
The council put forward de-mands like shifting of Bi-cholim
Police station andBicholim bus stand to someother place and use
that placefor parking.
Cleanliness of gutters, draft-ing new plan for beautificationof
Bicholim town, proper park-ing arrangements to bring dis-cipline,
etc, were alsodiscussed.
Bicholim council advised to undertake long-term development
The newly elected councilors of Bicholim Municipal Council
alongwith Speaker Pratapsingh Rane and Congress Block President
NareshSawal. Photo by Vishant Vaze
Id-ul-Zuha greetingsextended
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, NOV 16
Chief Minister Digambar Kamathas extended warm greetingsto
people on the occasion ofId-ul-Zuha.
In his message, Kamat hassaid that Id-ul-Zuha symboliseslove and
sacrifice. The Id-ul-Zuha celebrations will promotepeace and unity
among thepeople from different faiths,he said and added that all
reli-gions preach basic principles oflove, compassion and
sincerity.
CM has further stated thatGoa is known for its nature,peace
loving people and com-munal harmony. He hoped thatthe celebrations
will further en-rich this legacy of the land.
Governor Dr S S Sidhu hasalso extended warm greetingsto people
of the state, espe-cially the Muslim brethren onthe auspicious
occasion.
Dr Sidhu also underscoredthat all religions preach
love,compassion, charity and peaceand that it should be our
en-deavour to promote theseideals and make human societya happy
home for everyone.
President of Association An-juman Nurul Islam, Panjim,
HajiMustufa S Kader has conveyedBakri Idd greetings to all,
onbehalf of the committee mem-bers and on a personal note, onthe
occasion of Bakri Idd.
Goa Pradesh Congress Com-mittee president Subhash Shi-rodkar has
wished Muslimbrothers and sisters a veryhappy Id-ul-Zuha (Bakri
Id).May Allah bless all on this dayof sacrifice and also on the
an-niversary of the day whenKoran was declared complete,he has
wished further in a pressrelease issued here.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CALANGUTE, NOV 16
Residents of Laxmi Apart-ments, Candolim, have com-plained to
the healthauthorities and panchayat ofunhygienic conditions
prevail-ing at the residential buildingat Candolim market.
According to the residents,the matter has been taken up
onregular basis by one of the shopowners with the concerned
au-thorities, but to no avail.
I had brought the matter tothe notice of the health author-ities
and Candolim Panchayatand both the authorities hadpromised to look
into the mat-
ter on priority basis, but thereis no concrete action
forthcom-ing from the concerned author-ities, Zezito Fernandes
toldHerald.
The local panchayat prom-ised to initiate action, but tilldate
the waste water over-flows, while the health author-ities have
served a notice ofdisconnection of power andwater supplies, but the
author-ities are yet to act on it, addedFernandes.
The overflow of wastewater is killing the business ofthe shop
owners like me, whileputting the residents in thearea at health
risks. The chil-
dren and the teacher, whowere undergoing tuitions atmy rented
shop, have beenasked to move to a safer andhygiene place to avoid
healthhazards, said Fernandes.
When contacted, PrimaryHealth Centre, Candolim, HealthOfficer Dr
Sachin Govekar said:We served an order on October29 for
disconnection of electric-ity and water supplies and thematter is
in process.
When contacted, CandolimSarpanch Anand Shettigar said:We have
not taken any actionin the matter, but the residentshave approached
the health au-thorities for needful action.
Candolim residents complain of unhygienic surroundings
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MAYEM, NOV 16
Pale MLA Pratap Gawas has un-dertaken a programme ofbringing the
infertile miningland under cultivation, whichwould benefit about
500 farm-ers from Pale constituency.
According to Gawas, farmersfrom Pale constituency arecompelled
to keep their vasthectares of land without culti-vation since the
last 20 yearsdue to hectic mining activities,which has severely
affectedtheir sustenance.
By undertaking this activity,land admeasuring about 6
lakhhectares will come under culti-vation, informed Gawas.
It is pertinent to note thatthe natural heritage and farm-ing
tradition of villages likePale, Navelim, Kudne, Amona,
Surla, Velgem and other sur-rounding areas is likely to gointo
oblivion.
It may also be noted thatthere are huge paddy fields ex-isting
at Pale constituency,known by different names like
Sastacho Aag, Nawar, Path,Kamar Shet, Kunge, Namas,etc,
especially in the areas likeDurikwada, Perwada, Bharoni-wada and
Kothawada, whichare not at all cultivated byfarmers since the last
20 years.
Sastacho Aag was famousfor different species of fishesdue to
salty and sweet water.However, the production of allkinds of fish
was destroyed.
MLA Gawas has called uponthe farmers to work unitedlyfor the
upliftment of theirpaddy fields by advising themnot to run after
jobs of meagerearnings, thereby keeping thetradition of farming
running.
He also said that he will takedue efforts to compensate
thefarmers and also keeping awatch on hectic mining
activi-ties.
Pale MLA on mission to cultivate infertile mining land
nMLA Gawas hascalled upon thefarmers to workunitedly for
theupliftment of theirpaddy fields byadvising them not torun after
jobs ofmeager earnings,thereby keeping thetradition of
farmingrunning.
pg4 11/16/2010 10:28 PM Page 1
-
GOAOHerALd
O
Pg5==
GOA, wedneSdAy, 17 nOvember, 2010
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, NOV 16
Mapusa Municipal Council(MMC) has handed over thepossession of
the old fish mar-ket to Goa State Urban Devel-opment Agency (GSUDA)
forthe construction of new fishmarket.
GSUDA Project Officer Mar-cia DCosta, engineers Vijayku-mar
Sawant, Prashant Narvekaralong with MMC ChairpersonSudhir Kandolkar
and Munici-pal Engineer Mohan Naik vis-ited the old fish market
andinspected the site.
Fish Vendors AssociationPresident Shashikala Govekarwas also
present during theirvisit. The fish vendors havebeen requested to
vacate thefish market and shift to the ad-jacent temporary shelter,
builtfor them till the new fish mar-ket is constructed.
Speaking to Herald, MMCChairperson Kandolkar saidGSUDA will
demolish the oldfish market and the foundationstone for the new
market willbe laid shortly.
GSUDA has awarded thetender of the new fish marketto N B
Kinalekar ConstructionCo, who has assured to com-plete the project
within 15months, said Kandolkar.
Kandolkar further informedthat the project cost of thenew fish
market complex is Rs7.77 crore. This one storeyfish market building
will be
constructed on an area of2,488 sq mtrs, he added.
On the ground floor, it willhouse about 240 fish vendors,cold
storage room, toilets androoms for municipal inspectorsand the
linesmen of electricitydepartment, informed Kan-dolkar.
On the first floor, provisionfor about 44 chicken and Mut-ton
stalls, toilets and canteenhas been made, added Kan-dolkar.
It may be recalled that theold fish market was built in1991 at
the cost of about Rs 25lakh. Since water proofing ofthe roof was
not done, thewater seeped through the roofof the fish market and
over theyears, its condition became pa-thetic. Hence, technical
depart-
ment of the MMC declared thebuilding unsafe in 2007.
In April, 2009, MMC demol-ished the roof top of the oldfish
market and shifted thefisherwomen in the temporar-ily shelter,
built in the openspace adjacent to the fish mar-ket.
The then MMC chairpersonRoopa Bhakta had assured thefisherwomen
that the newmarket will be built within sixmonths. As MMC failed to
ho-nour its commitment, fisher-women shifted back to the oldfish
market on March 16,2010.
The fisherwomen staged aprotest rallies on March 17 andJune 18,
2010, demanding con-struction of the new fish mar-ket urgently.
Mapusa council hands over fish market to GSUDA
The old Mapusa fish market. Photo by Anil Shankhwalker
Public happy with traffic changes in
MargaoHERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
A week after the RTA, Margaoeffected changes in the citystraffic
pattern, the changeshave evoked support frommembers of the public
for de-congesting the city.
President of the Jai DamodarAssociation, Mahesh Nayak
hascomplimented Chief MinisterDigambar Kamat for the diver-sion of
mini buses and solvingnearly 60 per cent of the trafficcongestion
in the CommercialCapital.
On the threat call given bythe bus operators, Nayak saidthe
Panjim leaders of the busoperators should first put thesituation in
Panjim in order andthen come to Margao.
Enough is enough. The busoperators should think beforethey act,
Nayak said, and re-minded the bus operators thatthe schools are
reopening onNovember 22.
Making an appeal to the busoperators not to take the stu-dent
community for a ride onNovember 22, he suggested tothe operators to
cancel the pro-posed strike or threatened tohighlight the
illegalities and ir-regularities of the operators tothe notice of
the government.
He pointed out that that busdrivers and conductors doesnot wear
the service badge anduniform and that tickets arenot issued even
after repeatedrequests. Overloading, over-crowding and overspeeding
isthe order of the day. The emer-gency door is not functioningin
many buses while theres noprovision for senior citizensand ladies
in the buses, Nayakadded.
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, NOV 16
Lightning struck a building atMangor-Vasco on Sundayevening,
damaging a car, elec-tricity appliances and a wall.
The lightning damaged theperiphery wall on the terraceof Prime
Royal Apartmentbuilding, bringing down a partof the wall.
Residents of the building didnot report the matter to
au-thorities, but disclosed the in-cident to the media
onTuesday.
The magnitude is such thatthe wall was damaged and
bricks of the wall fell on thecar, which was parked at
thebasement of the building.
The residents were trauma-tized with the incident thatmost of
them remained in-doors on Sunday evening whenlightning struck the
building.
In few flats, the electricityappliances were also damaged,but
not a single resident hascome forward to file a com-plaint about
the incident.
"When lightning struck thebuilding, the structure shookfor a
moment," said SantoshKumar, the security guard ofthe building.
Lightning strikes in Mangor, causes damage
Carpenterdies after fall from
ladderHERALD CORRESPONDENT
CANACONA, NOV 16
A 32-year-old carpenter fromYellapur-Karnataka succumbedto
injuries, after he fell off aladder at Agonda on Monday.
According to Canacona Po-lice, Nagraj Marathe, residingat
Agonda, accidentally slippedand fell off the ladder and sus-tained
serious head injuries.Marathe soon succumbed tohis injuries.
Police further informed thatafter carrying necessary
post-mortem, Marathes body washanded over to relatives.
HERALD NEWS BUREAU
PANJIM, NOV 16
Thousands of sick and infirmpeople will throng to Pilar tobe
anointed with holy oil dur-ing the 4 pm novena mass ofVenerable Fr
Agnelo on Novem-ber 17.
Fr Hilario Fernandes, VicePostulator for the cause of theprocess
of Canonization of Ven-erable Fr Agnelo, will offer spe-cial prayer
to speed the processof healing during the mass.
Over 40 priests and eightdeacons will be present for
theanointing service. Specialcoupons are provided for thesick to
attend the service.Coupons can be collected fromPilar.
Confessors will walk towardsthe sick to offer them the
op-portunity to celebrate thesacrament of
reconciliation(confession) from 3.30 pm.There will be no mass at
5.15pm on November 17.
Archbishop-Patriarch FilipeNeri Ferro will preside over
Sick, infirm people to be prayed upon at Pilar
the Solemn High mass on No-vember 20 at 9.30 am.
Novena masses whichstarted on November 11 will beheld daily at
5.30 am, 6.45 am,8 am, 9.15 am, 10.30 am, 4 pm,5.15 pm and 6.15 pm
(English).At the end of every Mass, therewill be special prayers
over thesick.
There will be a mass inMalayalam at 11.30 am on No-vember 17. Rt
Rev LawrencePius Dorairaj, Auxiliary Bishopof the Archdiocese of
Madras-Mylapore, Chennai, will cele-brate a mass in Tamil
onNovember 20 at 12.15 pm.
Areal woman commits suicideHERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
A 51-year old woman from SaoJose de Areal ended her life
byjumping in a well.
Maina Curtorim police saidthe incident occurred aroundnoon on
Tuesday when thewoman jumped inside the well.
The body of the deceased waslater fished out by the personnelof
the fire services. The MainaCurtorim police has registered acase of
unnatural death. Furtherinvestigations are on.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CALANGUTE, NOV 16
Though there have been im-provements in the technologybringing
in new machines inthe agriculture sector for har-vesting or
cultivating the crop,farmers of Calangute seems tobe in favour of
old hand-heldharvester machines.
The old harvester machinemade of wooden material andnails can be
used either manu-ally or through an electricmotor. The machine can
beused singly by a farmer reduc-ing its costs and expenses onmanual
labour.
Speaking to Herald, afarmer, Anthony Luis of GauraVaddo (East),
Calangute, whohas been involved in harvest-ing his crop through the
oldgeneration harvester, said: Ihave been reading on papersabout
government giving sub-sidies to the farmers throughthe harvester
machine, but Idid the same job using a hand-held machine, which can
becalled a single hand harvester.
The machine is not an ex-pensive one, but can do won-ders for
the farmers like mesaving a lot of money on har-vesting the crop
for a good
yield without any wastage,said Luis.
Through the hand-held har-vester, there is absolutely nowastage
of any grass or yieldlike the harvester machines,where the grass
becomes re-dundant, he said.
The job can be accom-plished at ease and withoutany stress to
body, but it takesa considerable time to do thejob. About 2,000 sq
mtrs canbe covered in two days times,added Luis.
The government should se-riously consider providing
suchhand-held machines for thefarmers instead of harvestermachines
at subsidized rates.The machine will come handyto the farmers and
they willnot be required to depend onothers for favours, said
Luis.
According to sources, thereare many farmers in Calanguteusing
such hand-held har-vesters rather than dependingon the harvester
machines pro-vided by the agriculture de-partment.
The hand-held harvester wasinitially put in practice by
lateDamian Costa of Calanguteusing a leg paddle, which
wasimprovised for a motors job bythe Carmen DSouza family.
Since then, the harvester hasbeen worked on motor savingenergy
of the farmers and pro-viding relief, making good theshortage
manpower require-ments. It also saves a lot formoney for the
farmers.
Calangute farmers prefer hand harvester machines
Anthony Luis with a novel harvesting machine at Calangute. Photo
by Thomas Fernandes
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
Colva Panch Calvert Gon-salves has urged PWD Minis-ter, Churchil
Alemao toensure that the villagers ofColva are not
discriminatedagainst at the cost of thehoteliers vis--vis water
pres-sure.
In a letter, Gonsalves drewattention of the PWD Minis-ter to the
fact that the resi-dents of Sernabatim inparticular and Colva
villagersin general are facing lowwater pressure for the lastfew
months.
He, however, said thatwhile the villagers are under-going the
trauma of lowwater pressure, most of thehotels enjoy normal
waterpressure and demanded thediscrimination against the
vil-lagers. The hotel ownerscannot be allowed to makemerry at the
cost of the localresidents, he added.
Meanwhile, Gonsalves hascomplimented the Goa gov-ernment for the
decision tolease certain grounds in Goafor the practices of the
pro-fessional football clubs.
Reacting to the statementof Dr Hubert Gomes warningof protests
if SAG ground isleased out to a South Goa I-league football club,
Gon-salves said Gone are the dayswhen people used to cele-brate a
rare victory againstBengal clubs. The introduc-tion of African and
other play-ers into our system has onlyraised the standard of
foot-ball in Goa and India. No onehas a right to criticize themand
specially who have noteven probably held a football.Apart from
practice, its toughcompetition thats requiredto make a good player,
who isthen taken by the top clubs.Its for everyone to see as towho
promotes football com-petition all over Goa by spon-soring various
tournamentsthroughout the year.
The Panch member saidthat the persons that DrGomes is
criticizing havedone wondered to Goan andIndian football because
theypersonally love football.Whereas others are doing itto win
hearts since peoplelove football, he said, addingthat Dr Gomes
should know
that its not wrong to preventmischievous elements fromdisrupting
entertainmentprograms organized for thepeople.
On claims by Dr Gomesthat there has been no devel-opment done
since liberationin Benaulim constituency,Gonsalves said even a
blindman will deny this becausethe development is there foreveryone
to see. One is freeto contest as its their demo-cratic right but
surely not byportraying themselves as sav-iours and Gods gift to
Be-naulim constituency, headded.
Release equal water pressure to locals, demands Colva panch
House robbed at Khareband
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, NOV 16
Unknown culprits broke into aresidential house at Kharebandlast
night and decamped withhousehold items.
Margao PI Santosh Desaisaid the miscreants effectedentry into
the old housethrough the door and de-camped with the items,
valuedaround Rs 40,000. The Margaopolice are investigating.
GOACAN toremember
road victimsMARGAO (HR): As part of its
road safety and traffic manage-ment campaign, GOACAN willobserve
the World Day of Re-membrance for Road TrafficVictims in Panjim
& Margao onNovember 20-21.
GOACAN CoordinatorRoland Martins said that almost4000 people are
killed andmany hundreds of thousandsinjured everyday on the
roadworldwide.
These figures are predictedto grow. The price in terms ofhuman
loss, grief and care isimmeasurable. Road crashesare the leading
cause of violentdeaths and injuries worldwideand the World Day of
Remem-brance is drawing attention tothe scale of this global
disas-ter, he said adding that theWorld Day of Remembrance forRoad
Traffic Victims was initi-ated by RoadPeace in 1993 inthe United
Kingdom. Sincethen it has been observed andpromoted worldwide by
sev-eral NGOs and this is now glob-ally recognised.
Martins said that over 300deaths takes place every year inGoa
due to road accidents, im-plying theres one death almostevery 28
hours.
pg5 11/17/2010 12:58 AM Page 1
-
Advice to freedom fightersAnthony J Simoes, Dona Paula
I appeal to the freedom fighters of Goa tolearn the lessons of
history so that we arenot condemned to relive it. History shouldnot
be repeated.
After the Portuguese were defeated andwere reduced to licking
their wounds, an-other lot of Goans enabled the Portuguesere-group
and take Goa at their next attempt.We paid for it with 451 years of
colonialism.
Now colonialism is history. It, however,comes in other avatars
like globalisation,MNCs, etc.
The evils of tourism like casinos andprostitution, the gradual
plunder of thewestern ghats through mining, demolitionof our hills
and forests and reducing ourbio diversity into shambles are
exampleswhich stare at us. Today, our freedom fight-ers are old,
but they can use their experi-
ence, knowledge and wisdom to educateour youth, who can take up
Goas burningissues.
Highway alignmentEdward Fonseca, Porvorim
With reference to the highways proposedby the Centre for Goa,
this is not a gift,but a headache. I have never heard of ahighway
passing through densely populatedareas. So, Goa will be the first
in setting anexample for other states. This would meanlonger trips
to get home and more fuelconsumption. There is a lot of money
atstake and therefore the haste to thrust itupon Goa.
Goans are not ready for the burden inthe form of higher inflow
of outstation traf-fic and the proposed tolls. The idea ofmonthly
passes at Rs 500 should be re-jected. Goans need free access while
out-station vehicles should be billed at theentry points.
Farming woesAyres Sequeira, Salvador do Mundo
Farmers in Salvador do Mundo are a happylot this year, because
the harvest is good.But unusual rains in late October has ruinedthe
crop thus incurring losses to the farm-ers. The government
assurance to supplyseed, fertilizer and machine has remaineda mere
promise, said a farmer critically.Labour too has gone up and many
farmershave neglected their fields. Despite all odds,some still
continue to harvest in memoryof their ancestors and to preserve
tradition.They fear that the government may acquiretheir fertile
land.
Portuguese bashingP L Fernandes, Old Goa
Portuguese bashing has grabbed the lime-light in recent news. No
doubt everyoneendured the repression under AntonioSalazar. But I am
not a Portuguese lover.Ironically, it was a Portuguese governor,who
saved us from destruction, earningthe wrath of his government back
home.The freedom struggle in Goa continuedwhile the Portuguese
found a few allies.
History cannot be undone. The arrival
of the vessel Sagres is symbolic of seafarersor explorers and is
in commemoration ofevents of yore when they traversed the searoute
from Europe.
While the Govt. of India mends ties andcooperation, we in Goa
seek to banish thePortuguese Consulate from here. In thiscontext, I
am reminded of a few words bya former British PM. It simply says
that weeither put up or shut up and let the em-powered do their
job.
Tiatrists of yorePeter Pereira, Quepem
Tiatrists of olden times did not involve them-selves in
politics. Nowadays, tiatrists sticktheir noses into politics and
have becomevote banks to misguide people. These tal-ented men and
women should praise the au-diences who are the real promoters of
Tiatr.
Prevent bus overcrowdingAugustus Alphonso, Vasco
Transport Director Arun Desai has empha-sised on the overloading
of buses, and hasappealed to people not to overload buses.As he
said In most of the cases, peoplethemselves are responsible for
overloadingas everyone is in a hurry. I appeal to people
not to board overloaded buses. He alsoadded that if required,
additional buseswill be made available on the said routesand that a
task force on transport has re-cently appointed a committee under
histutelage to keep a check on unauthorisedbus stops along the
NHs.
It may be mentioned here that lack ofavailable buses is going to
compound theproblem and commuters simply cannotavoid boarding an
overcrowded bus.
Another metaphor, please!Orlando Sa da Silva, Carmona
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru once remarked thatGoa ke log ajeeb hai.
This phrase is oftenquoted by our present day politicians.
Thecontext in which Nehru uttered this phrase,is unknown. Was it
because our forefatherschose Goa to remain with the Indian
Unionduring liberation struggle or was it becauseGoa preferred to
remain as a Union territoryagainst merger through the opinion
poll?
Issues such as mining, mega projects andcorruption in government
severely affectsGoa. Through liberation, we are now free.That has
not deterred us to be slavesof a political dynastic rule. What
anirony? Goans, please choose whatmetaphor suits us.
Bribery shameJayesh Rane, Mumbai
Industrialist Ratan Tata of the Tata Groupmade a rare mention on
the bribery issuewhich confounded him when he wished toforge an
alliance with a prominent airline.Corrupt politicians and officers
are thebiggest stumbling block in Indias rapidprogress. The nation
has tremendous po-tential but the corrupt will never understandthe
meaning of development. Personal de-velopment tops their agenda.
They craveto earn black money. Many industrialistsare eager to
invest in various types of busi-nesses. But the vicious circle of
bribery willthwart many an effort. Can the CentralGovernment wake
up and kill this briberycycle?
Dwarfed road signsAdelmo Fernandes, Vasco
As one drives along the road, one sees sev-eral sign boards
which are supposed tohelp the road user. On the contrary, thesesign
boards are in such vast numbers thatit only manages to confuse
drivers. Worststill, most of these boards have the nameof the
company, which sponsor them. Theactual road sign looks secondary
and is over-shadowed by the sponsored company logo.It lends
credence to be more of an adver-tisement than anything else. Road
signsshould not have the name of the companysponsoring them.
Super commission neededJoaquim Pacheco, Divar
Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat is a prodi-gious commissioner of
reports, reviews, stud-ies and consultations. Perhaps its time
forone big super commission to investigate asto what happened to
all those Kamat-commissioned studies which are, aban-doned?
Love is ........
The numerous scams, the fall of bridges, themosquitoes and the
illnesses they spread,missing the deadlines, lack of hygiene,
the
Commonwealth Games and the joys and prideassociated with it is
mingled with an aura ofbeing typically Indian in nature.
Everythingfell into place at the last minute, and the na-tion
pulled it off spectacularly. My bestwishes and hurrahs go out to
all the Indianathletes.
Now with the fires of wild celebration havingslowly died down,
the scavengers are being putto sift over the remnants. It is,
indeed, good toknow that all the investigating agencies are
in-volved in investigation along with the ShungluCommittee. We are
all aware of how far and howhigh the conduits of corruption have
reached.This surely isnt easy. Will the obdurate andcorrupt
government machinery allow the inves-tigation to move smoothly
while putting theirown necks in the noose? The chances areminimal,
but I do hope this investigationdoes not die a premature death like
thoseof the past.
Peoples fury on the massive corruption scandalof the CWG had
hardly died, when another infa-mous scam in the form of Adarsh
CooperativeHousing Society was unearthed. Purportedlymeant for the
widows of Kargils martyrs, theprime land ended up being a
discretionary largesseof our ever charming Netas and their
stooges,with a veritable whos who in politics, defenceand
bureaucratic establishments, from ex-ser-vice chiefs to top
politicians, babus and theirkin.
Corruption is a monstrous evil thats embeddedin our political
and eco-social sphere, where aplethora of procedures and laws are
violated andtransgressed with very little thought or no thoughtat
all. In the past, no action has been taken andthe guilty have been
vindicated and allowed toabuse their political power and patronage.
Therot has been systematic and the remedy must bemore than just
finding a scapegoat.
The nexus between the politicians, servicemen,promoters and
builders is very much evident. Se-curity aspects were apparently
not adhered to.The scale of corruption and the involvement ofsenior
services personnel are frightening. Thelacunae in laws should be
plugged and the guiltypunished. Those responsible should be
invariablytaken to task and made an example of, to detera repeat of
such fiascos.
We all know that scams in India and more soin Goa, are nothing
new. I wont be wrong insaying that they are fast becoming a way of
life.Needless to say, it now is part of the corruptsdaily life.
Land scams in Goa have become dailyoccurrences in every part of
Goa, examples likethe security number plate, the earlier and
thenot-so-long ago ticket gate scams, automaticallycomes to mind.
One wonders what happened tothe earlier ticket gate fiasco? Its
beyond anyones imagination why such scamsters arestill holding such
elite posts. Its a real pitythat sports and development has been
leftin the hands of such unworthy and corruptpeople.
SEZs and CRZs are the other big scams, theresurrected RP 2021 is
still in hibernation evenafter a good number of assurances by Ali
Babaand the Forty thieves. Even then, we do nothing
but elect the same rotten, incompetent, shame-less, corrupt and
distorted politicians over andover again, even while they have been
sellingGoa to the highest bidder.
Now on to the scam called Municipal elections. Our corrupt
politicians continue to amass and
increase their already inflated personal fortunesand try to
assert their power in municipal andpanchayat elections. The
Panchayati Raj and themunicipal governance was established for
theparticipation at grass-root level as independentbodies without
any interference or involvementof the local and the central
government, but thegood old doctrine of self governance has
beenhijacked by our Neta babus who made it theirown play cum
parking ground, for their own po-litical and financial gains. These
elections onlyserve to reinforce the money power of the en-trenched
corrupt elites. There has been an en-
demic corruption in political and bureaucraticcircles in Goa
Political parties should not be bickering overthe panchayats and
the municipalities and castingtheir corrupt ideologies over them,
these grass-root civic bodies should be run the way theywere meant
to be run, independent of politicalmanipulators. The involvement of
politicians atgrass-root politics raises more questions
thananswers. We are, indeed, an indifferent electorate,and thats
why our politicians foist their litter onus.
Even the municipal and panchayat electionsare getting
increasingly delinquent and dangerous,with some of our ministers
and ex-ministers re-sorting to goondagiri. The soaring eagles
offame can so easily turn into vultures, and whilestrong arm
tactics were used, money and goodieswere distributed like sweets
during a festive sea-son. Looking at the very strong security
presenceon a high alert, it looked like there was a com-munal
flare-up all over Goa. We have been havingelections in Goa for
nearly forty years, apart fromthe opinion polls and there was no
problem. Nowfor the municipality elections, we have top
notchsecurity. Where is Goa heading to? Is it a dawnof a new
era?
Greed for power and money can bring theworst out into the open.
Reading about the powersharing amalgamation formed in the
differentmunicipalities has bemused me no end. The Ale-mao brothers
seem to have become conductorsof the symphonies called Sanguem and
Cuncolimmunicipalities.
Hold on to power by all means is the mantraof the day. It doesnt
matter how idiotic it looks.Every Tom, Dick and Harry, working
through acoterie, is looking and hoping for the chief s ed-ifice,
behaving like petulant kids, typifying therot within and making
loyalty an imbeciles beg-ging bowl. Troubled by past dalliances,
trust hasbeen abandoned with impunity, there will alwaysbe
inconsistency and incessant squabbling, butthey are willing to
cohabit with anybody andeverybody, as long as it suits them and
with thelure of future extramarital romances, it is advisableto
negotiate divorce terms well in advance, with-out the door being
shut on the option of a re-marriage. This impasse would be suicidal
forall. Thats why it is called prudent politics.
All this only goes to show, just how greedyour politicians are
for power and money. Ohgreed, thy name is folly!
OPINIONwww.oheraldo.in
Pg6Vol No CX No: 287
Goa, Wednesday 17 November, 2010
Letters to the EditorLetter of the Day
Unwarranted protestDr Shiv Prabhu Naik, by email
This is with reference to the arrival of the Portuguese naval
ship Sagres on a goodwillvisit to Goa. I am very sad to know that
the so called literate people of Goa, alsoknown as freedom
fighters, members of the BJP and other outfits have protested
thearrival. They should concentrate more on issues affecting Goa
such as mountinggarbage, unemployment and corruption.
Those who have voiced their senseless opposition are not aware
of what realdemocracy is. If it is not the Portuguese consulate,
then it is the issue of SoniaGandhis origin.
I would recommend that those who raise up such issues, pay a
visit to Mumbai orPondicherry and see for themselves how the past
is preserved and glorified. Richcultural ties between nations have
been maintained in this fashion. In addition, theGovernment of
Portugal has helped the large Indian community in Lisbon in
manyways. One of Lisbons main roads is named as Avenida Mahatma
Gandhi. The protest,therefore, is without any reason and lacks
professionalism.
Printed and published by Vinayak Pai Bir for and on behalf of
Herald Publications Pvt Ltd. Printed at Herald Publications Pvt
Ltd, Plot No: L-135, Phase II, Verna Industrial Estate, Verna,
Salcete, Goa. Published at PO Box 160, Rua Sao Tome, Panjim, Goa -
403001. Editor-in-chief: Mr R F Fernandes. Editor: Ashwin
Tombat(Responsible under PRB Act). Regd Office: St Tome Road,
Panjim, Goa. Tel: 2224202, 2228083, Fax: 2222475 (all Editorial);
2230535, Fax: 2225622 (Advertising); Margao: 2737689. Mumbai
Office: 16-A, Bell Building, 2nd Floor, 19 Sir PM Road, Fort,
Mumbai - 400001 (Tel: 22840702/22844908). RNI No: 43667/83. HOW TO
CONTACT US: [email protected] For press notes, general queries.
[email protected] Junior Herald & Careers.
[email protected] Sunday Mirror. [email protected]
For Reporters. [email protected] For Business news.
[email protected] For Letters to the Editor.
[email protected] For Spo