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OHERALDOThe Voice of Goa Since 1900
Goas Heartbeat: Lindsay Lohan
turns fashion reporter Pg 12
Sports: Sania enters US
Open main draw Pg 16Goa: Churchill for merging
Karwar areas into Goa Pg 3
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(Continued on page 10)(Continued on page 10)
IN BRIEF
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, AUG 28
The Union Environment Ministryhas revoked the clearancegranted
to an iron ore projectat village Pirla in South Goawhich it found
to be based onwrong information.
The withdrawal came amonth after the National Envi-ronment
Appellate Authority re-jected the nod given by theMinistr y to a
private f irmCareamol Iron Ore Limited.
The NEAA order said that theproject proponent had submit-ted
false data and concealeddata in respect of distance ofriver,
archaeological sites from
the project site, forest cover inproposed mining lease area
inits Environment Impact Report.
The appeal against Jaisinh Ma-ganlal owned mining projectwas
filed by Gomantak ShetkariSanhatana through SupremeCourt lawyer
Ritwick Dutta.
Mr Dutta said that the miningproject was granted environ-mental
clearance in September2007 by the Environment Min-istry even though
the projectproponent had given wrong in-formation.
He claimed that the companymisled the government by de-claring
in its EIA that the river
Kushawati is at a distance of 2.6kilometres of the project
sitewhereas actually it is at a dis-tance of only 50 metres.
Simi-larly, the EIA document wasmade available only in Englishand
the public hearing venuewas nearly 40 kilometres awayfrom the
project site. There isalso an archaeological monu-ment within a
distance of 500metres which was never dis-closed to the NEAA.
The NEAA had directed theEnvironment Ministry to placethe
project before the StandingCommittee of the NationalBoard for
Wildlife as it is locatedwithin 10 km of Cotigao and
Netraval wildlife sanctuary a factallegedly hidden by the
firm.
After conducting a site visiton July 15 and 16 to ascertainthe
sites distance from the riveras well meeting the affectedpeople,
the NEAA rejected theenvironmental nod given to it.
Environment Ministry in itsorder said that in complianceof the
tribunals order and takingnote of the fact that the
projectproponent has concealed factualinformation which is
essentialfor appraisal of the project pro-posal in terms of
environmentalintegrity, the clearance is re-voked.
Centre revokes nod to mining
project at Pirla
H I D D E N FA C T S ?n The company declared in its EIA that the
River
Kushawati is at a distance of 2.6 kilometres of theproject site
whereas actually it is at a distance ofonly 50 metres.
n The EIA document was made available only inEnglish and the
public hearing venue was nearly 40kilometres away from the project
site.
n There is also an archaeological monument within adistance of
500 metres which was never disclosedto the NEAA.
Colourfully dressed youngsters dance through the streets of
Piedade-Divar as part of the Bonderam 2010 celebrations on
Saturday. (Report and more photos on Page 2) Photo by Rozario
Estibeiro
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, AUG 28
The private buses in the Statehave threatened to remain offthe
road on September 6, if theirdemand to have a coordinationcommittee
to stop harassmentby Kadamba Transport Corpo-ration Limited (KTCL)
is not fulfilled.
All Goa Private Bus OwnersAssociation, general secretarySudip
Tamankar told a press con-ference that the government hasbeen
dragging its feet over the issue.
We had submitted the mem-orandum to State Transport Min-istry
way back in Februaryseeking to have a coordinationcommittee to fix
the issue boil-ing between the KTCL and pri-vate bus operators,
Tamankar said.
Transport department hasfailed to form the committee,which was
supposed to haverepresentatives from KTCL, thedepartment and
private bus op-
erators.The private bus operators
rued that they have been at thereceiving end due to unduefavours
granted to KTCL by theState government.
KTCL claims to be facing
loses every month although ithas its own infrastructure whichwas
built by the State govern-ment. All the bus stands are con-s t ruc
ted by the S ta tegovernment for them but theState does not earn a
singlepaisa from it, Tamankar pointedout.
KTCL is not spending a singlepaisa on maintenance of thesebus
stands, still they earn therevenue in a form of parkingfees at the
stand, he alleged.
However, as per the statisticsavailable from KTCL it is
beenstated that since last three yearsKTCL has spend nearly Rs 8
croreon the maintenance of all tenbus stands in the State.
Tamankar said that KTCL hasbeen receiving undue favoursfrom the
government. In 2001,Parrikar-led government hadformed a subsidy
scheme forthe private buses. Till date 150
private buses have received thesubsidy but simultaneously,
90KTCL buses too have been ben-efited by it, the bus
operatorssaid.
The Corporation is the winnerof Kilometer Per Litre Fuel
Con-sumption Efficiency awardwhich is constituted by Maha-rashtra,
Karnataka and Goa gov-ernments.
If they are having such highfuel efficiency than there is
noreason for them to have revenueloses, he claimed.
The private bus operatorswho had appealed the State totake over
their business as itruns in losses, today said thatthey are ready
to take over theKTCL.
Give us KTCL for two monthswithout any liability like Chair-man
or Managing Director. Wewill bring it in the profit,Tamankar
said.
Bus owners threaten stir on Sept 6
PTI
NEW YORK, AUG 28
In a quiet move, Pakistan ishanding over de-facto controlof the
strategic Gilgit-Baltistanregion in the Occupied Kashmirto China in
an area witnessinga simmering rebellion againstIslamabad.
The New York Times said thatthere were two important
newdevelopments in Gilgit-Baltistan;a simmering rebellion
againstthe Pakistani rule and the influxof an estimated 7,000 to
11,000soldiers of the Chinese PeoplesLiberation Army in the
area,which is closed to the world.
China wants a grip on thestrategic area to assure unfet-tered
road and rail access to theGulf through Pakistan, thepaper said,
and for this purposeis building high-speed rail androad link.
The link up would enable Bei-jing to transport cargo and oil
tankers from eastern China tothe new Chinese built
PakistaniNaval base at Gawadar, Pasniand Ormara in Balochistan,
justeast of the Gulf in 48 hours.
Many of the PLA soldiers en-tering Gilgit-Baltistan are
ex-pected to work on the railroad.Some are extending the Karako-ram
Highway, built to linkChinas Xinjiang province withPakistan. Others
are working ondams, expressways and otherproject, the paper
said.
It said that mystery surroundsthe construction of 22 tunnelsin
secret locations, where evenPakistanis are barred. Tunnelswould be
necessary for a pro-jected gas pipeline from Iran toChina that
would cross theKarakorams through Gilgit.
But they could be also usedfor missiles storage sites, theTimes
said.
So far, the paper quoting for-eign intelligence sources,
Pak-
istani media and PakistaniHuman Rights groups, said thePLA
construction crews hadbeen living in temporary en-campments and
went homeafter completing their assign-ments.
But now they are building abig residential complex,
clearlydesigned for a long term pres-ence, and the New York
Timessaid what is happening in the
region is a matter of concernfor Washington.
Coupled with support for Tal-iban, Islamabads collusion
infacilitating Chinas access to theGulf makes it clear that
Pakistanis not a US ally, the New YorkTimes said.
The paper said that there waswidespread brutally-suppressedlocal
movements for democraticrights and regional autonomy
in both Gilgit and Baltistan,where Sunni Jihadi groups
alliedwith the Pakistani army havesystematically terrorised
thelocal Shia Muslims.
Gilgit and Baltistan are infact under military rule, thepaper
said, pointing out thatthe local people are aspiring forlegislature
and other institutionswithout restrictions like thoseimposed in
other parts of PoK.
The Times said in PoK theelected legislature control onlyfour
out of 56 subjects, coveredin the state constitution, therest are
under the jurisdictionof a Kashmir Council, ap-pointed by the
President of Pak-istan.
In comparison, the paper said,India gives more power to thestate
government in Kashmir;elections there are widely re-garded as fair,
and open discus-sion of demands for autonomyis permitted.
Pak giving China de-facto control of area in PoK?
Talasha firstGoan in
CWG team HERALD SPORTS REPORTER
PANJIM, AUG 28
Goas swimming sensation,Talasha S Prabhu created his-tory as she
became the firstState sportsperson to clincha place in India
swimmingteam for the forthcomingCommonwealth Games tobe held in New
Delhi.
Talasha bagged yet an-other gold, her second, inhe r pe t even t
, 100mfreestyle (0:59.23) on theconcluding day at 64th Sen-ior
National Aquatic Meet inJaipur on Saturday. Winnerof silver medal
in 2008 andbronze in 2009, she stayedahead of Maharashtras
Jy-otsana Pansare and Kar-natakas T Sneha in a close finish.
Talasha, who is DempoBrand Ambassador, provedher mettle in the
champi-onship winning a medal ineach event she participated.Her
tally stands at two gold,two silver and a bronze.
The talented swimmerwas in the race for the indi-vidual title,
but with Richasetting a new record, Talashawas pushed to the second
spot.
The Swimming Federationof India (SFI) has finalised alist of 13
boys and 7 girls forthe National aquatic team.
The final preparatorycamp is due to start atShyama Prasad
Mukherjeepool on September 1.
PTI
MUMBAI, AUG 28
The crew, including two pilots,of a Chennai-bound Jet
Airwaysplane Friday night were sus-pended on Saturday after aprobe
indicated serious proce-dural lapses in an emergencyevacuation
carried out by themsuspecting fire that was not there.
14 passengers sustained in-juries in the evacuation when141
passengers, including an in-fant, were deplaned using emer-gency
chutes and services afterthe pilot reported fire in one ofthe
aircrafts engines when itwas on the taxiway for take-off.
The handling of the situationby the crew came under attackfrom
passengers some of whomsaid they were virtually thrownout of the
aircraft. Proper evac-uation procedures were not fol-lowed and in
the sudden surgeof passengers, many of them re-ceived injuries.
After a preliminary probe, theDirectorate General of Civil
Avi-ation (DGCA) found serious
procedural lapses in the emer-gency procedures carried outFriday
night by the cockpit andcabin crew, took them off dutyand later
suspended them.
Those suspended are boththe pilots, including the com-mander,
four cabin crew mem-bers and four additional cabincrew members.
The preliminary fact-findingby the DGCA has indicated se-rious
procedural lapses in deal-ing with the emergency andevacuation
situation as per ex-isting procedures laid down inaircraft rules
and regulations,by the operating aircraft crewmembers of the Jet
Airwaysflight 9W2302, an official state-ment said here.
The DGCA has removed theCockpit Voice Recorder and theDigital
Flight Data Recorder toanalyse recordings of voices andother
parameters of the Boeing737 aircraft.
Jet Airways, however, main-tained that the crew of the
Mum-bai-Chennai flight initiated aprecautionary evacuation on
thetaxiway due to a suspected firearound the left engine.
The precautionary evacua-tion was carried out in the in-terest
of safety of the guestsand the crew. The crew carriedout the
evacuation in accor-dance with standard operatingprocedures.
Subsequent inspec-tion of the engine has indicatedthat there was no
fire, the air-line said.
The DGCA said it was treatingthe incident as serious andadded
that a formal investiga-tion would be carried out by ateam
comprising Director Airsafety Mumbai, Flight OperationInspector and
Cabin Safety In-charge of DGCA.
2 pilots, 8 crew of Jet flightsuspended for serious lapses
Mining firm raidedA mining firm owned byCongress Rajya Sabha
mem-ber Anil Lad and his brotherSanthosh Lad, MLA wasraided by
officials of the For-est and Mines and Geologydepartments on
Saturday, of-ficial sources said. Accordingto sources, a
50-memberteam, including survey offi-cials led by Sandur
RangeForest Officer Mahesh Patilconducted a raid on the min-ing
areas of V S Lad & Sonsin Bellary District and alsoquestioned
some employeesof the firm. (PTI)
Union minister escapes unhurtUnion Minister of State forPower
Bharat Solanki es-caped unhurt when his carcollided with the pilot
vehi-cle leading his convoy nearBorsad town in Gujarat, po-lice
officials said. The acci-dent took place when theminister was on
his way toattend a programme in Um-reth town, they said. A cowcame
in way of Solankisspeeding convoy due towhich the pilot
vehiclesdriver applied suddenbrakes, leading to the colli-sion, the
officials said. (PTI)
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MARCEL, AUG 28
A huge number of people fromdifferent walks of life bade
atearful farewell to veteranKonkani writer Ravindra Kelekar(85), as
his mortal remains werecremated with full honours nearhis residence
at Priol on Satur-day.
Those who visited the resi-dence to offer condolences tothe
bereaved family includednumerous politicians, writers,freedom
fighters, activists andacademicians.
They included Chief MinisterDigambar Kamat, OppositionLeader
Manohar Parrikar, min-isters Jose Philip DSouza,Joaquim Alemao,
Churchill Ale-mao and Aleixo Sequeira, MLAsDeepak Dhavlikar, Babu
Kavlekar,Victoria Fernandes, LaxmikantParsekar, Damu Naik and
Ma-hadev Naik, former chief minis-ter Shashi ka l a K a ko d ka
r,former ministers NirmalaSawant and Matanhy Sal -danha, Goa
University Vice-Chancellor Prof Dilip Deobagkarand Registrar Prof
Sangodkar,
Ravindrabab cremated
Girish Kelekar lights the pyre and consigns the body of his
father,Ravindra Kelekar, to flames. Photo by Amresh Parab
MARCEL: It was an embarrass-ing situation for the Goa Po-lice,
as one rifle malfunctionedwhile other rifles misfired dur-ing the
guard of honour cer-e m o n y f o r d e p a r t e dveteran writer
RavindraKelekar.
There were, in all, four riflesbeing handled by the police-men.
One rifle began to mal-function and the policemanhandling the rifle
quickly with-drew from the guard of honour
ceremony.To make matters worse, the
three other rifles were misfir-ing on at least four
occasions.
The policemen handling therifles were seen changing
thecartridges in a desperate at-tempt to complete firingrounds
outside the Kelekarresidence.
According to sources, therifles are from the Portugueseera and
are often in need ofrepairs.
Rifles misfire during guard of honour
Man arrested for killing
receptionistHERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, AUG 28
Panjim police on Saturday ar-rested a former manager of aguest
house at Dona Paula forkilling a male receptionist andcritically
injuring his wife in afit of rage.
Shamsunder Anchan, 27, whotried to flee after killing Sid-dharam
Alure, 30 and Alureswife, Rajashree, was appre-hended at Kadamba
bus standSaturday morning, few hoursafter the crime.
Police said that Anchanwanted to avenge Alure, forsacking him
from the job at theguest house. He doubted thatSiddharam and his
wife werebehind his suspension, police said.
According to police, Anchancame to the guest house thismorning
and killed Alure by slit-ting his throat, on the secondfloor of the
guest house. He alsocalled Rajashree upstairs andstabbed her in the
stomach andran away.
The private busoperators claim theyhave submitted amemorandum to
StateTransport Ministry inFebruary last seekingto have a
coordinationcommittee to fix theissue boiling betweenthe KTCL and
privatebus operators. But tilldate, the Transportdepartment has
failedto form the committee.
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GOA, SUNDAY, 29 AUGUST, 2010
GOA Pg 2OHERALDO
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, AUG 28
Carmona villagers battle againstmega housing projects in
thevillage has reached a decisivestage with Mumbai-based Ms KRaheja
International seekingpermission for construction ofbungalows
without the manda-tory 10-meter approach road inplace.
The 10-meter wide road normhas assumed significance giventhat
the Town and Country Plan-ning Department had made itcategorically
clear to the Ra-hejas at the time of issuing pro-
visional NOC for sub-division ofplots that secondary
develop-ment of the property would bepermitted only after
acquiringand developing a 10-meter wideroad.
In fact, while issuing provi-sional NOC to the Real
EstateDeveloper for sub-division ofthe property, Town Planner Ra-j
e sh J Na ik had imposedamongst other conditions thatany secondary
developmentwill be permitted only after ac-quiring and development
of a10-mts road R/W and shall begoverned as per rules in force.
Based on the TCPs provi-sional NOC, Raheja has com-p le ted work
on thesub-division of the propertyand has approached the Car-mona
panchayat for construc-tion licence for the bungalows.Sarpanch
Estaquio DCosta saidthe panchayat has carried outinspection of the
property onFriday, adding that the pan-chayat would now forward
Ra-hejas plan to the Town andCountry Planning Departmentfor further
action. We havecarried out the inspection. Itis for the TCP to take
a final
decision, now, the sarpanchadded.
The ball now lies in the TCPdepartment, having
permittedsub-division of plots sans a 10-meter wide approach road
afterPWD Minister Churchill Alemaoput up a note directing PWD
of-ficials to acquire land for widen-ing of the existing road to
a10-meter wide road.
Sources in the TCP admittedin private that the provisionalNOC
for sub-division of land wasgranted to Rahejas based onAlemaos note
issuing directionsto PWD officials. It is not clear
whether the PWD has put foracquisition of land for wideningof
the approach road as theresno change in the road width onground
since the PWD Ministerput up the note on November30, 2009.
Anti-mega housing activistsfrom the village are gearing upfor
yet another round of battle,with the activists reminding theTCP to
ensure that all conditionsimposed on the builder at thetime of
granting provisionalNOC for property sub-divisionare honoured.
Says Panch Orlando Da Silva:
The existing approach road isnot even five meter wide whenthe
building norms mandate a10-meter wide road. The vil-lagers will now
approach theTCP demanding it not to enter-tain the construction
plan as thecondition on the road width hasnot been fulfilled till
date.
Rahejas had initially mootedconstruction of around 612
res-idential apartments on the80,000-odd property facingRiver Sal
at Carmona, but thefile was withdrawn followingagitation from the
local popu-lace.
Carmonas battle against mega housing at decisive stage
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CANACONA, AUG 28
The State government mayhave declared Saturday a publicholiday
due to the death ofveteran Konkani writer Ravin-dra Kelekar, but an
aided schoolin Canacona made it compul-sory for its students to
attenda school programme on Satur-day.
Some angry parents saidthat the decision to hold a pro-gramme on
a public holidayamounted to disrespect to therenowned Konkani
writer.
Parents at Loliem were sur-prised to learn that childrenwere ca
l l ed to the Sh r iDamodar Vidyalaya at Loliemon Saturday,
although the Stategovernment had declared Sat-urday a public
holiday and amourning day as a mark of re-spect to veteran Konkani
writerKelekar.
"When parents confrontedthe headmaster, he said it wasfully his
responsibility that hehad called the students for a
cultural programme on the dayand said he was aware
thatgovernment had declared theday as a public holiday," saidAjay
Lolienkar, a PTA memberof the school.
When contac ted , Shr iDamodar Vidyalaya Headmas-ter Shambu
Prabhudessai triedto justify his decision, claimingthat the
programme had beenfixed in advance.
"The chief guest was comingfrom a distance. This was nota
cultural programme but anobservation of 'Sanskrit Day'by the
school, which is part ofcelebrations of 'Narali Poorn-ima' held
earlier," said Prab-hudessai.
"We did nothing wrong. In-stead, we paid homage to thegreat
personality, RavindraKelekar, dur ing the pro -gramme," he
added.
The headmaster claimedthat he and the school hadgreat respect to
the departedsoul.
"We are part of the govern-
ment's observation of statemourning for the veteranKonkani
writer and philanthro-pist Kelekar," added Prabhudes-sai.
"No classes were taken norwere other activities held.
Thestudents were sent back homeimmediately after the
pro-gramme."
"During the programme, weall paid homage to the greatwriter,
Ravindra Kelekar. Wehad no intention either to hurtanyone's
feelings or to disobeythe government's directives,"he said.
"We could not cancel theprogramme nor inform thechief guest who
travelled froma distant place at the last mo-ment. So we decided to
goahead and complete the pro-gramme as soon as possible."
However, the headmasterevaded commenting on thefact that Chief
Minister Digam-bar Kamat had on Friday de-c lared Saturday as
statemourning day.
Loliem school holds cultural event on a day of mourning
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, AUG 28
Margao Municipal Councilsgarbage collection system hashit a
block, with overflowingbins literally the order of theday in the
Commercial capital.
Chief Minister DigambarKamats Friday morning tour ofthe city and
his directions toChief Officer Y B Tawde is apointer that things
are not rosyon the garbage collection front.
Even as Fomento to gearingup to install the waste treatmentplant
and machinery at Sonsodoafter the monsoons, MMCgarbage collection
system seemsto have gone haywire.
Inquiries only revealed thatnearly half the fleet of
garbagecollection trucks are down inthe garage with major
technicalsnags. The proposal to buy fournew garbage compactors
havejust been okayed by the Civicbody and the Chief Minister, andit
would take some time before
the new vehicles take the placeof the worn out vehicles.
Secondly, reports suggest adivide between the sanitary sec-tion
and the garbage truck driv-ers for quite some time. Thesanitary
section, sources say,has no control over the drivers,and this has
had a bearing ongarbage collection.
That the MMC chief officerfinally issued a memo to agarbage
truck driver indicatesundercurrents in the civic body.
Sources in the know said thatthe civic body also falls short
ofmanpower requirements. It islearnt that the civic body is
help-less to attend to any emergencywork in the evenings as
thereare no workers to work in theevening session.
A Civic official admitted thatthe question of men and ma-chinery
was overlooked by theCity Fathers and the powers thatbe for a long
time, resulting inthe present state of affairs.
Margao garbagecollection in disarray
An overflowing garbage bin in the commercial capital. Photo by
Savio Dias
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, AUG 28
Residents of Calvim on Fridaythwarted attempts by the staffof
the River Navigation Depart-ment (RND) to tow away a ferryto the
workshop for repairs byusing a ferry plying along theCalvim-Aldona
route.
According to reports, the Ferry'Vagaor' plying along the
Calvim-Aldona route suffered a break-down on Friday at about
4.30pm, when water began to seepinto the ferry due to a hole.
The RND later dispatched an-other ferry 'Bandora' in
replace-ment of the 'Vagator' ferry thatevening. However, the staff
on'Bandora' was directed by someRND officials to tow away theferry
'Vagator' on Saturday morn-ing to the workshop at Brittonato carry
out repairs.
When commuters learnt onSaturday morning that the staffwas
planning to use the ferry'Bandora ' to tow away thestranded ferry
'Vagator', they re-fused to alight from the 'Bandora'ferry in
protest.
RND staff informed the agi-
tated commuters that they hadbeen instructed by their
superiorsto tow away the 'Vagator' ferrybut the commuters did
notbudge.
The news spread like wildfireas other residents also gatheredat
the site.
Some locals then contacted Al-dona MLA Dayanand Narvekarand
narrated the events to him,stating that ferry services alongthe
route would be paralysed ifthe lone ferry 'Bandora' was
tem-porarily withdrawn from theroute.
Narvekar then spoke to Min-ister for River Navigation
SudinDhavliker and requested him notto take away the 'Bandora'
ferry.
Accordingly, Dhavaliker di-rected the RND not to disruptthe
ferry service at Calvim.
"This is the second time thatsuch incident has taken place
atCalvim. The Ferry is the onlyquickest and convenient meansof
transport for villagers to travelout of village. If the ferry
serviceis disrupted, the office goers suf-fer the most," said
Calvim PanchFreddy Pontes.
Calvim locals thwartferry diversion
Merces youth drowns off Baga beach
Traffic cops crack down at Bicholim
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
BICHOLIM AUG 29
A number of motorcycle riderswere penalised following
swiftaction by the Mapusa Traffic cellat Bicholim on Saturday
evening.
The Mapusa Traffic Cell per-sonnel, who cover Bicholimtaluka,
were seen at about 4 pmnear the Shantadurga HighSchool Bicholim,
catching a num-ber of motorcycle riders by sur-prise.
Such was the panic that manytwo-wheeler riders parked
theirvehicles away from the highschool and preferred to walkrather
than being caught andfined.
Several of them who did notcarry their driving licenses
werefined upto Rs 500. There weresome who neither had a licencenor
any money, prompting thetraffic police to confiscate
theirvehicles.
The drive lasted til l lateevening and even relatives ofsome
prominent persons fromBicholim were fined. MapusaTraffic Cell PI
Uday Parab carriedout the drive.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
OLD GOA, AUG 28
Thousands of revellers wit-nessed the annual Bonderamfestival
organised by the PiedadeYouth Association at Divar onSaturday.
Bonderam derives its namefrom the Portuguese word 'Bon-dera'
signifying flags and is cel-ebrated every year on the
fourthSaturday of August.
The Bonderam festival beganwith the march past which con-sisted
of a number of flags, in-cluding the Indian tri-colour,Portugal
flag and the PiedadeYouth Association flag.
The march past was accom-panied by a brass band and thiswas
followed by the all-GoaFancy Dress competition.
Though Tourism MinisterNilkhant Halarnkar was to bethe chief
guest for the festivaland Cumbarjua MLA PandurangMadkaikar the
guest of honour,both Halarnkar and Madkaikardid not attend the
function dueto the state mourning over thedemise of veteran writer
Ravin-dra Kelekar.
The other guest of honour,former minister Nirmala Sawant,said
the Bonderam had keptalive Goa's rich traditional cul-
ture, even though the State hadchanged over the years.
Later, the floats were pre-sented by the five groups ofDivar.
The 'Stars and Goan Arti-facts' float by Romantic won thefirst
prize, followed by 'AmcheaPurvozacho Dondo' by Vitojem(second),
'Gavan Gauia Vazoia Nachuia'by Maddant (third), 'African
Cul-ture, the Rhythm of Unity' byPremeiro (fourth) and 'Sportsand
Youth Power' by Divar Cen-tre (fifth).
As the floats wended theirway through the main road, thecrowds
lined on both sides of
the street cheered the partici-pants by chanting "Viva
Bon-deram" and dancing on thetunes of the music.
Said Goltim-Navelim SarpanchMario Pinto: "The Bonderam fes-tival
is a festival of joy, happinesswhich has been kept alive tilldate
by the Piedade Youth As-sociation. I appreciate the peo-ple of
Divar for supporting thePYA to make the Bonderam Fes-tival a great
success."
Old Goa police and the trafficpolice had made
elaboratedarrangements to maintain dis-ciple and traffic order
duringthe Bonderam festival.
Thousands throng Divar for Bonderam
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, AUG 28
The State has completed the de-marcation of High Tide Line(HTL),
200 mts line and 500mtsline along the coast onto theCadastral
Survey Plan.
A press release issued by thePress Information Bureau statesthat
the HTL has been demar-cated by the State Directorateof Settlement
and Land Recordswith the technical assistancefrom National
Institute ofOceanography (NIO), Dona Paulaand Goa Coastal Zone
Manage-ment Authority (GCZMA).
The methodology adopted isin conformity with the guide-lines
framed under the CoastalRegulation Zone Notification,1991, the
release says.
Further, it says, the CoastalRegulation Zone maps are avail-
able to the public which are withthe Directorate of
Settlementand Land Records.
The village-wise CadastralSurvey Plans are also providedto the
coastal panchayats, whichare available on request andpayment of
requisite fees, itsays.
The State has already initiatedsteps to put up the maps on
thewebsite of the Department ofScience, Technology &
Environ-ment, and Government of Goa.
When contacted, Director ofScience, Technology &
Environ-ment told Herald that it wouldtake some more time to
updatethe website.
We will need at least twomore months, he said addinghowever, the
maps are read-ily available on payment of req-uisite fees, he
said.
HTL demarcated on Cadastral Plan
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, AUG 28
Elections to decide the fate of11 candidates, including twosets
of brothers, contesting theby-polls in three wards of
threepanchayats in Bardez taluka willtake place from 8 am to 5 pmon
August 29.
All three wards are reservedfor OBC candidates.
In Verla-Canca panchayat, twobrothers are among the
fourcandidates contesting in Ward3. They are Amita
Korgaonker,Atmaram Bhagat, Umakant Ko-rgaonker and his
brotherRatikant.
This seat had fallen vacant
due the resignation of Panch Va-sudev Korgaonker who gotelected
as ZP Member. Thereare 580 voters in this ward, ofwhich 299 are
males and 281females.
In Oxel-Siolim, the four can-didates in the fray to the Ward4
seat are Raju Banauliker,Gokuldas Dhargalker, SrikantDhargalker and
Madhuker Dhar-galker.
This seat fell vacant due toresignation of Deepak Dhar-galker
who got elected as ZPmember.
In Revora panchayat, threecandidates namely RajeshTemkar, Dinesh
Temkar and Ra-
jaram Mandrekar are contestingthe elections to the Ward 7
seat.
Rajesh and Dinesh Temker arebrothers and this seat fell
vacantwhen the earlier panch of thisward resigned after he got a
jobin the government.
When contacted, BardezMamla tda r Gaur i shShankhwalker told
Herald thatnecessary arrangements havebeen made for the smooth
con-duct of the elections.
"One executive Magistrate hasappointed for this task and hewill
supervise the elections.Counting will take place onMonday in the
office of Mam-latdar," said Shankhwalker.
Panchayat by-polls today
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, AUG 28
After breaking into a residentialcomplex barely a day ago,
bur-glars continued to torment theport town when they brokeinto two
shops on Friday night.
Cash and mobile phonesworth Rs 1.6 lakh were stolenfrom two
commercial estab-lishments in Vasco, while prop-erty worth nearly
Rs 1.3 lakhwas damaged on Friday night.
In the first incident, burglarsentered a ship repair office
nearMPT Institute hall, barely 200metres from the Vasco
policestation.
They ransacked the entireoffice and damaged the safelocker, two
cupboards, drawersand door, before decampingwith cash of Rs
65,000.
The proprietor, ShaikhAshraf, mentioned that prop-erty worth
nearly Rs 1.3 lakh
Burglars strike rich at Vasco again was damaged in the
office.
In the second incident, bur-glars broke into the office of
aprivate mobile service providerand stole cash of Rs 86,000
andthree mobile phones worthabout Rs 8,500.
The proprietor, Shamshun-dar Nayak, informed that bur-glars had
ransacked his officeas well.
Burglars also damaged theshutter of a shop located atRose
Mathias Chamber buildingalongside the F L Gomes Roadin the heart of
the town.
Vasco police pressed a policedog squad and fingerprint ex-perts
into service, but were un-able to obtain further clues intothe two
burglaries. Investiga-tions are in progress.
The broken door of the ship repair office in Vasco that was
burgledon Friday night. Photo by M Prabhav
Children perform at the Bonderam festival on Saturday.
A boy is dressed up as a coconut plucker. People play potters at
the festival. Photos by Rozario Estibeiro
3 arrested for cheating,
forgery HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CALANGUTE, AUG 28
Anjuna police on Saturday ar-rested a man from Anjuna oncharges
of cheating and forgery.
According to Anjuna Police,three persons, Sarjie S
(Russian),Gurudas Govekar (Anjuna) andAlexandr M (Russian) came
to-gether to form a real estate com-pany under name 'CosmicResorts
Pvt Ltd' in 2004 and itwas subsequently registeredunder the
Companies Act.
Thereafter, Sarjie left for Rus-sia while Govekar and
Alexandramanaged the business in Goa.
However in 2008, AnastatiyaTripeka replaced Sarjie S as
di-rector of the company and whenSarjie tried to call the other
twodirectors to enquire about thebusiness in the State, they didnot
respond to his calls.
Accordingly, Sarjie deputedAnna Rojavskaya (Russian) toGoa with
his Power of Attorney,where it was learnt that Sarjiehad allegedly
resigned as thedirector of the company and theother directors had
allegedlymisappropriated an amount ofRs 1.64 crore from the
com-pany's account with a privatebank in Mapusa. The balance ofthe
company account nowstands at Rs 5,898.
After investigations, Anna Ro-javskaya lodged a complaint atthe
Anjuna police station, claim-ing that Sarjie's signature hadbeen
forged on the alleged res-ignation and misappropriationof
funds.
Anjuna Police arrested Gov-ekar, while the others are
ab-sconding. Further investigationsare in progress.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CALANGUTE, AUG 28
A 25-year-old man from Mer-ces Vaddy drowned in the seaoff Baga
on Saturday.
According to Calangute Po-lice, Succorro Blacio D'Saalong with
his Brother Savioand two cousins had gone toBaga for a picnic on
Saturdaynoon.
After their lunch, Saviowent for a swim but began tostruggle in
the sea.
Drishti lifeguards laterbrought him to the shore andhe was
rushed to the Can-dolim Primary Health Centre,where he was declared
dead.The body has been preservedat the GMC mortuary in Bam-bolim
and PSI Gaurish Parabis investigating the case.
SUNDAY MAIL ON PAGE 8
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GOA, SUNDAY, 29 AUGUST, 2010
GOA Pg 3OHERALD
O
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, AUG 28
After abandoned by transportdepartment, the tourist taxi
op-erators fear that they would losetheir business, as their all
Goapermits await renewal.
Addressing a press conferencetoday evening, North GoaTourist
Taxi Owners Association,Vice President Ravindra Ven-gurlekar
claimed that since lastthree months, the transport de-
partment has not renewed theirAll Goa Tourist Taxi permits
de-spite categorical assurance bythe government.
There are nearly 2000 reg-istered vehicles whose permitsare
supposed to be renewed bythe department. The numberwill increase by
November, hesaid.
Vengurlekar stated that a taxioperator is issued with All
IndiaTourist taxi permit for nine years
and on expiry, they are renewedfor another five years but
onlygiven All Goa Tourist Taxi per-mit.
But now, the departmentsays that the permits would beissued to
only those vehicleswhich are above 1000cc. Theyhave asked us to
change our ve-hicles from 800cc to 1000cc ifwe want the permits, he
added.
The taxi operators say thatthey have loan liabilities
running
for nine years, which makes itimpossible for them to buy
an-other car.
Our livelihood depends onthis business. If the governmentdoesnt
issue us permit, thenhow will we survive? ques-tioned a taxi
operator.
The association has also al-leged that the department
hasincreased the permit fees by 200times.
Information obtained under
Tourist taxis fear losing biz after delay in renewing permits
RTI by the Association revealsthat the permit fees have
beenincreased from Rs 150 to Rs2000 for 800cc vehicles andfrom Rs
300 to Rs 5000 for1000cc vehicles.
Vengurlekar said that theissue was raised before Chief
Minister Digamber Kamat, Trans-port Minister
RamkrishnaDhawalikar, Transport SecretaryNarendra Kumar and
Directorof Transport Arun Desai.
It was assured to us that thepermits for all the union mem-bers
would be renewed after
August 15, Vengurlekar said.The association has also
urged South Goa Tourist TaxiOwners association as well asMapusa
Tourist Taxi Owners As-sociation to submit the list ofnames of
their members to thedepartment for the renewal.
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, AUG 28
Claiming that Jnanpith awardeeRavindra Kelekar had
supportedinclusion of Konkani speakingareas into Goa, PWD
Minister,Churchill Alemao has calledupon the leading lights of
theKonkani movement to fulfilKelekars dream by merging theareas of
Karwar, Supa into theState.
I am opposed to Vishal Go-mantak. But, I agree withKelekars
thought of includingKonkani speaking areas of Kar-war, Supa etc in
Karnataka tohelp form a bigger Goa, Alemaotold newsmen on
Saturday.
Incidentally, Alemaos similarstatement made at Karwar overa year
ago had kicked off a bittercontroversy in the State ,prompting the
Navelim MLA toissue a clarification, blaming themedia for
misquoting him onthe sensitive issue.
Asked in what way a biggerGoa with Karwar and Supa willhelp
Goans when the inhabitantsof these areas have different tra-
ditions and culture, Alemao shotback people of these areas
hadmigrated from Goa centuriesago. The people there speakKonkani.
Bringing these areasinto Goa will help the futuregenerations.
Reminding that prestigiousprojects such as Kaiga nuclearpower
plant and the SeabirdNavy centre are located in Kar-war, Alemao
said Goans can getpower from the Kaiga nuclearplant, adding that
the naval baseat Dabolim can be shifted to theSeabird if Karwar is
includedinto Goa.
Today, Goas total area is putat 3750 sq kms, while Karwarstotal
area is 3600 sq kms. Kar-war and the other Konkanispeaking areas in
Karnatakahave around three lakh popula-tion. If these areas are
includedinto Goa, we will get the landas well as the facilities,
headded.
Goans cannot fo rge tKelekars thought on this issue.Konkani
lovers and the KonkaniAcademic should help to realizehis dream. It
now depends onGoans to fu l f i l Ke lekar sdreams, Alemao
added.
Incidentally, the PWD ministerwas silent on the inclusion
ofKonkan speaking areas border-ing Maharashtra and only spokeof the
merger of Karwar andother Konkani speaking areasfrom Karnataka into
Goa.
Churchill calls formerging areas ofKarwar into Goa
House burgledMARGAO: Unknown culprits
barged into a residential houseat Novangully-Varca last nightand
decamped with a laptopand other items all worth Rs52,000. The
miscreants effectedentry into the house throughthe veranda door and
decampedwith a laptop, a mobile phone,besides and other items, all
val-ued at Rs 52,000.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
PERNEM, AUG 28
A 70-year-old woman died ofburn injuries at her residencein
Varchawaddo-Morjim on Sat-urday morning.
According to reports, akerosene lamp fell on Sita BabloKhot
while she was preparingtea at about 8 am. The flamesquickly
engulfed the hut, trap-ping her inside the place. Shedied on the
spot.
Pernem fire services rushedto the site and extinguishedthe fire.
The body was later re-covered from the destroyedhut.
Pernem police has ruled outany foul play in the incident asshe
was alone at home when
Woman dies in firethe incident took place.
The body was later sent foran autopsy to the GMC mortu-ary at
Bambolim, before beinghanded over to relatives forfinal rites.
Pg 3:Layout 1 8/28/2010 11:49 PM Page 1
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GOA Pg 4GOA, SUNDAY, 29 AUGUST, 2010
upcoming eventsOHE
RALD
O
WEATHER REPORTMax Temp: 29.90C Min Temp: 23.50C
Humidity: 89%
Rainfall past 24 hrs: 022.0 mm
Seasonal Total: 2864.1 mm
Forecast: Occassional spells of rain or thundershower would
occur in some areas.
Duo wounded inSarvan accident
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
BICHOLIM, AUG 28
Two persons were seriously injured in anaccident involving three
vehicles at Kara-pur-Sarvan, Bicholim, recently at about12.10
pm.
According to reports, the incident oc-curred when the Sumo
(GA-01-R-4520),which was proceeding from Sanquelim to-wards
Bicholim, collided against an on-coming truck (GA-04-T-2288) on the
rearside. Later, the Sumo driver lost controland dashed against the
bus (GA-01-U-3009).
In the accident, Sumo driver Dilip Gawasfrom Pilgao and Shadaf
Yakab Jaddi fromKudal were seriously injured and were shiftedto GMC
Hospital in Bambolim. Head Con-stable Ganesh Joshi is investigating
the case.
shoRt taKesArt of Living course
PANJIM(HND): Art of Living course will be held at Mapusafrom
August 31 to September 4, between 6:30 pm to 9:30 pmat Saldhana
complex, Opp Old Marys High School, Mapusa.Those above 18 years can
register for the course. For regis-tration and details contact
Ganesh Zantye on 9326123654and 9421194343.
Dine and dance at SheelasPANJIM (HND): Dine and dance at Sheelas
Restaurant and
Bar, near St Jacinto Island on the occasion of its silver
jubileecelebrations on August 29. Live music by A&F Band (a
2-manband) will be in attendance for the first time, besides
dinnerbuffet the real Goan way and lots of games for the young
andold. Established in 1985, proprietor of Sheelas Nicolau
DSouzastarted this bistro along with his wife Luiza DSouza on
August29 and since then they have been serving the people of
andaround Vasco, the most appetising food.
Medical camp at MargaoPANJIM(HND): A specialized medical camp
for the patients
suffering from knee camp due to osteo-arthritis has been
or-ganized at Gujarati Samaj Hall, Near Maruti Mandir, Aquem-Margao
from August 29 to 31. The camp timings will be from9 am to 1 pm and
3 pm to 6 pm.
This camp is organized by PNR Society for relief and
reha-bilitation of the disabled, a well-known organization in
theservice of disabled people from Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Thepatients
will be examined by Dr Vijay G Naik, renowned Pros-thetist and
Orthotist of India, who has developed a polycentricknee brace to be
used by the patients externally over the af-fected leg. The
patients will be examined on first come-firstserve basis. No prior
appointment is required. Each brace issubsidized and will be
available at the rate of Rs 2,600 at thecamp. For details, patients
can contact 9823030900 or9890188459.
Book releasePANJIM(HND): Selma Carvalho's book 'Into The
Diaspora
Wilderness' will be released on August 29 at 11 am at
theRavindra Bhavan, Margao. The London-based author will bedown for
the launch, which is open to the public. Decadesafter impoverished
Goans first scoured the world, a newbook traces some of the most
fascinating stories from thediaspora that saw thousands from here
get scattered acrossthe continents, says a press release.
Felicitation function PANJIM(HNB):Tiswadi Taluka Gomantak
Bhandari Samaj
Committee will felicitate 25 students from the Bhandaricommunity
students in Tiswadi taluka who have excelled atthe recent SSC, HSSC
and graduation levels.
The felicitation programme will take place on Sunday, Au-gust 29
at 9 am at Mahalaxmi Temple, Panjim.
Director of Civil Supplies Gurudas Pilarnkar will be thechief
guest, while Tiswadi Mamlatdar Mahadev Arondekarwill be the guest
of honour. Other guests include Presidentof Gomantak Bhandari Samaj
Madhukar Poku Naik and GeneralSecretary Advocate Jaiprakash
Naik.
Scholarship presentationMAYEM(HC): Gomantak Maratha Samaj
Bicholim will or-
ganize scholarship distribution programme for the
beneficiarystudents at Rotary Hall, Bicholim, on August 29 at 9.30
am.
The programme will be followed by election of new com-mittee
members for the next two years. Exhibition of differentimages of
Bhausaheb Bandokar will be also held on the dayto mark the birth
centenary celebration.
Taluka secretary Somnath Pilgaonkar has called upon theselected
students and committee members to remain presentat the venue.
TBZ Jewellery expo
Asha D Kamat seen going around after inaugurating the jew-ellery
exhibition of Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri & Sons at
HotelNanutel, Margao in the presence of Managing Director
PratapZaveri, Director Chaitanya Zaveri and Manager Rohit
Kapadia.
PANJIM(HND): Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri and Sons, OperaHouse,
the name which is synonymous with exquisite goldand diamond
jewellery, recently inaugurated their exhibitionat Hotel Nanutel,
Margao, at the hands of Asha D Kamat in thepresence of Managing
Director of TBZ & Sons, Pratap Zaveri,Director Chaitanya Zaveri
and Manager Rohit Kapadia of TBZ& Sons from Mumbai.
The 2 day exhibition coinciding with the coming GaneshChaturthi
festival, will be open until Sunday, and has showcasedhandcrafted
and designer jewellery. The exhibition is openbetween 10.30 am to
7.30 pm. The exhibition will later moveto Panjim at Hotel Fidalgo
for 3 days beginning from August31 to September 2 .
TBZ carries on the tradition of adding immaculate shine ofbeauty
and class. Their pioneering range of artistic and trendsetting
jewellery specially crafted for this festive season isskillfully
juxtaposed with various precious stones like diamonds,rubies,
emerald and pearls. The dexterously designed uniquearray of long
earrings by TBZ & Sons, Opera House has trulybecome the city
style icon. These designs, also studded withprecious stones just
give the ears a sheer gleam of glamourthat one always fancied, says
a press release.
HERALD NEWS DESK
PANJIM, AUG 28
Ever since the English commodehas replaced the Indian com-mode,
it has only added to peo-ples woes. It is practicallyimpossible to
maintain a 100per cent sanitized toilet seat allthe while. The
biggest challengeis mainly faced by hotels, re-sorts, airports,
hospitals, spas,health clubs, nursing homes, of-fices or any
general public toiletblocks where the English com-mode is in
use.
Each use of the toilet bringsin millions of bacteria that
thriveon the moist seat. Dependingon the persons using the
toiletand the diseases they suffer from,makes it impossible to
sanitizethe seat after every use. Everwondered why many of us
sufferfrom urinary tract infection, dis-comfort near the groins,
eczema,venereal diseases? It is becauseof the humble toilet seat.
Andwe suffer this in silence.
People try various methodsto safeguard themselves beforeusing
the toilet seat by eitherwiping the seat with a tissuepaper or
spraying water onto itor simply sitting with theirhaunches, Indian
style on thiscommode. Through all thesemethods they have
merelywiped the seat of any residuefrom the previous user, but
thebacteria are still very muchthere. What is worse is
everyBacterium divides three times
every hour. One can just imaginethe millions of Bacteria
invadinga Toilet Seat and sadly, nobodybothers.
Even after the Janitorial teamcleans the toilet seat, the
nextmoment the seat is subjectedto attack by bacteria. Thus,
asanitized toilet seat seemed tobe the biggest challenge for
theHousekeeping and HospitalityIndustry.
Fortunately with the advance-ment of technology this chal-lenge
has been overcome withthe introduction of Eyegiene,the automatic
revolving selfcleaning and sanitizing toiletseat developed in the
Nether-lands and brought to India byM/s Only The Best Hygiene
Prod-ucts and Consumables.
Now with just a wave of yourhand over the sensor you cansay
goodbye to contaminationand rest assured. The good newsis that this
wonder product ismade rugged for everyday useand does not cost the
moon. Itis easy to install and practicallyfits every commode which
doesnot have a cistern tank. It takesjust 30 minutes to set it
up.Once installed regular use costsjust Rs 1 per use.
The product is used exten-sively all over the world it hasbeen
recently introduced inMumbai. You can see the prod-uct in action at
the India Hospi-tality Expo being held at Panjimfrom September 3 to
5.
eyegiene, a solution to contaminated
toilet seats
CFL bulbs launchedPANJIM(HND): Forest Anion, a Singapore based
company is
introducing their range of CFL bulbs and Tubes which is alsoa
negative ion generator. Besides the savings on electricity,these
bulbs emit negative ions when switched on. These neg-ative ions
have a multitude of benefits which is good for con-sumers, says a
press release.
The generation of negative ions continues till the bulbfuses.
The average life span of these bulbs and tubes is 25per cent more
than the average CFL bulbs. The product isbeing launched in India
and distributed through M/s Only TheBest Hygiene Products and
Consumables. The bulbs, tubes are available in varioustypes
depending on the many application of use.
Lawry Travassos New Love Album (Vol 64) released at thehands of
PI Santosh Desai.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
SANGUEM, AUG 28
Former Sanguem municipalcouncil chairman Sanjay Raikar,who was
instrumental in high-lighting the condition of theGovernment High
School atBhati-Sanguem, has lauded theeducation department for
de-ciding to urgently repair theschool building.
Raikar has, however, disputedthe clarifications issued by
theeducation department in theHerald and has stated that ed-ucation
department officialswere unaware of ground reali-ties at the
school.
Raikar complimented ChiefMinister Digambar Kamat andEducation
Minister Babush Mon-serratte for taking necessarysteps in the
matter and directingthe officials to repair the schoolbuilding.
"However, mere preparationof the budget and sanction is
notenough. The government shouldact at the earliest to allocate
workorder for the repair and mainte-nance work," said Raikar.
Raikar also expressed surpriseover the clarifications issued
bythe Education Department,claiming that they were notbased on
facts.
"A close-up of the room,where classes are conducted forhigh
school students, revealsthat classes are indeed held inthe bathroom
and not in thestoreroom as cited by the Edu-cation Department,"
said Raikar.
"In fact, a tap connection isnow dismantled in the room.Ceramic
tiles solely used in bath-
Sanguem ex-mayor disputesclaims of education dept
Two different classes are conducted in the same room, even
thoughthe education department claims it is partitioned with
cupboards.
Photo by Alfred Fernandes
rooms and latrines are still seenin the room. Why would a
storeroom have ceramic wall tiles,"asked Raikar.
The room has a width ofabout one-and-half metre andlength of
about 3 mtrs and canonly accommodate five-sixbenches.
Speaking to Herald, schoolHeadmaster Tonke said sincehis taking
charge of the school,the room was used as a store-room. I am not
aware as towhether it was used as a bath-room or latrine earlier,
addedTonke.
Raikar also rejected the edu-cation department's denial that
students of different classeswere made to sit in the
sameplace.
Though the departmentclaims the room to have beenpartitioned
with cupboards, thereality is quite different. Stu-dents of two
different classescan see each other while classesare going on.
Where is the ques-tion of partitioning the roomwith cupboards,
asked Raikar.
Before issuing clarifications,the department should haveseen the
ground realities andshould not have blindly issuedthe
clarifications, claimedRaikar.
Instead, the departmentshould penalize the concernedofficials
for giving false infor-mation to the media, statedRaikar.
bhati
school woes
Felicitation function heldMAYEM(HC): Goa Medical College and
Hospital Dean Dr
Jindal called upon the students to retain cultural heritage
ofGuru-Shishya (teacher-disciple) tradition, which has gone
intooblivion, as it is overpowered by money.
He was addressing the gathering during the felicitationfunction
of the students of Shri Shantadurga Higher SecondarySchool
Bicholim, who have sought admissions at GMC.
The function was organized by Bicholim unit of Indian Med-ical
Association (IMA) at Hirabai Zantye Memorial Hall Bicholimon
Sunday.
Dr Jindal also advised the new comers to serve the peopleby
accepting this noble profession.
Dr Medha Salkar, Dr Shekhar Salkar, Dr Suresh Mandrekar,Dr
Shubhangi Bandekar, Dr Kalpana Chodankar and Dr ArchanaKamat were
present on the occasion.
A rare 6 inches Rock Crab which is blue in colour was spottedat
Pilerne by Shashi Kumar. Photo by Rozario Estibeiro
Pre-Ganeshotsav programmes at Sanguem,
QuepemHERALD CORRESPONDENT
CURCHOREM, AUG 28
Fomento Resources CuddegalMine will organise an
eight-daypre-Ganeshotsav programmesin different parts of Sanguemand
Quepem talukas.
Addressing the media, Cud-degal Mine Deputy General Man-ager D R
Vaze said this is theseventh year of Fomento Re-sources Ganeshutsav
celebra-tion, which was started with anaim of providing services to
thecommunity, including education,health, self dependence,
coun-seling, personal developmentand entertainment.
Deputy General Manager (en-gineering services)
RaghuvirDhaimodkar, Sanjay Gupta (com-munication) and Indira Pai
werepresent during the press brief-ing.
During the pre-Ganeshutsav,a one-day workshop for teacherswill
be held at Sarvodaya HighSchool, Curchorem. The directorof the
school managementDeepak Apte will deliver a talkon Secrets of
Guru.
Apte will also deliver a lectureon Awakening Inner Giant
forhigher secondary students at Sar-vodaya High School Hall,
Cur-chorem. Lectures facing the examchallenge and building
smartteam for executives will be or-ganized for Hirabai
TalaulikarHigh School students and officersof Fomento,
respectively.
Educationalist Dilip Bhatikarwill deliver a lecture on Learnto
Learn for the students ofSharda High School, Sanvordem,New English
High School, Panch-wadi and Government HighSchool, Shigao.
Dr Mithun Bondre will give atalk on Benefits of OrganicFood for
the people of Capxem,Savargal and other villages atSomnath High
School, Savargal.Dr Prakash Prabhu Dessai willalso talk on Diabetic
Care.
A culinary competition forMahila Mandals and self helpgroups
will be organized at Som-nath High School, Savargal.Aruna Satish
Naik will give a talkon the occasion.
An inter-school Spelling Beecontest for high school studentswill
be organized at SomnathHigh School.
A programme of Bool group-ing for high school studentswill be
organized at SomnathHigh School, Savargal, under thesupervision of
Dr Joshi and DrParesh Kamat.
A counseling programme forstudents will be held at Govern-ment
High School, Kavrem, andNhavelin High School, Sanque-lim, by
educationist PrabhakarTimble.
Passport applications clearedPANJIM(HND): The Passport Office at
Panjim, during the
week ended on August 20 has cleared all the applications
forfresh passports received up to July 26 (F011602/10), whichwere
found complete in all respects and police clearance re-ceived.
During the same period, all the applications for renewalof
passports received up to August 13 (R003703/10) and forMinors
passports received up to August 3 (C002881/10)have also been
processed and ready passports have been dis-patched to the
applicants concerned.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CALANGUTE, AUG 28
The third annual event ApnaCir-cle-APREE 2010 organised
bySpotlight Event and Entertain-ment Pvt Ltd got underway atHotel
Riveira de Goa, Arpora,with its agenda Tools in a Surg-ing
Economy.
The APREE Interactive Mar-keting Seminar is an experimen-tal and
innovative platformaimed at advertising, public re-lations,
entertainment and eventmanagement companies for dis-cussions and
exchange of ideasfor a wider range of participants.
APREE is also a learning ex-perience, imparting essentialtools
and techniques lookingahead at key challenges and op-portunities in
the related field.
The third edition of APREE2010 has its association withonline
business and career net-working site ApnaCircle.com.
A host of prominent speakersfor the seminar includes
HarishBijoor (CEO Harish Bijoor Con-sults Inc), Maniv Arcot (Exe
Cre-ative Director Leo Burnett),Anand Nair (Audience
Matters),Vineet Gupta (22feet Commu-nications Pvt Ltd), Kapil
Gupta(Myway IPTV), Subhomoy Sen-gupta (Digital at
RediffusionY&R), Abhinav Dhawan (Staffingfunction for Manpower
in India),Charles P Carneiro (WatsonWyatt Worldwide), Piyush
(DishTV India Ltd) among others.
Addressing a press confer-ence, Salama Yamini, operationhead,
APREE organizing com-mittee, outlined the aims andobjective of
holding such a sem-
ApnaCircle-APREE 2010gets underway in Arpora
Sanjay Suri, Yogesh Bansal and Salama Yamini address the
pressconference. Photo by Thomas Fernandes
inar for over 100 participants.APREE is an industry forum
aimed at bringing different pro-fessionals under one roof to
shareand exchange through learningfrom their particular
industry.This year, the focus of APREE isto concentrate on tools in
thesurging economy, said Yamini,who hoped for better yields atthe
APREE 2010 seminar.
Yogesh Bansal, Founder andCEO of ApnaCircle.com said: Ibelieve
in networking, sharingand evolving through experi-ences. We are
engaged in net-working events and by being apart of the offline
networkingAPREE, we are trying to utilizethe platform for business
andprofessional networking and ac-tivities.
I consider online and offlinenetworking a great way to reachout
to people, said Bansal.
Actor and producer SanjaySuri said: I have raised fundsand
sourced talent using socialnetworking sites for our film IAM
produced by me and Onirand presented it at the APREE2009.
At the APREE 2010, I am hereto share the success of our
filmthrough the medium of socialmedia. The association of
Ap-naCircle.com and APREE 2010is a great example of online
andoffline networks to create op-portunities, he said.
The three-day ApnaCircle-APREE 2010, which commencedon August 26
at Hotel Riveirade Goa, Arpora, is being at-tended by film
personalities likeHiten Pantal, TV actors SumeetSachdev, Sandeep
Baswana,Aslesha Sawant, Eijaz Khanamong others and it will
con-clude on August 29.
RCCF meetPANJIM(HND): The Raia Civic
and Consumer Forum (RCCF) willhave its monthly general meet-ing
of consumers on August 29at 4 pm at Our Lady of SnowsHigh School,
Raia.
The meeting will focus on var-ious civic and consumer issuessuch
as rights of LPG con-sumers, prevention of vectorborne diseases,
road safety andtraffic management, health andsanitation,
environment protec-tion and consumer literacy andparticipation.
Various service related issuesof the post office,
electricity,BSNL telephones and PWDwater supply will also be
dis-cussed.
BY JAGDEEP POKLE
PANAJI, AUG 28
There should be more exchanges withinthe literature and
languages from differentstates for the mutual growth of
literatures,stated renowned Malayalam film maker andwriter M T
Vasudevan Nair.
Nair was in Goa to present the awards ofKendriya Sahitya
Akademi. Speaking exclu-sively to HCNs Jagdeep Pokle, PadmaBhushan
recipient Nair said that with lesserexchanges, people from the
literary worldfrom across the country were not beingable to relate
to one another.
Ironically, we know what is happeningin UK, American and Latin
American litera-ture, but due to fewer exchanges, we haveno
knowledge about what is happening toliterature from other states of
the country,or to the languages, Nair said. Translatorsare now
getting importance and due recog-nition after the initiatives taken
by theKendriya Sahitya Akademi of institutingtranslation awards.
Agreeing, Nair says thatnow with increased awareness,
translatorsare getting respect and proper compensa-tion as compared
to olden days when theyused to be neglected.
In this regard though, Nair says that Keralawas an exception.
Fortunately, both thereaders as well as publishers from Kerala
have from long being receiving works fromother languages very
warmly.
Translators from Kerala have been indi-vidually doing the good
work, he said.
Nair, who has won the National Film Awardten times, and the
Kerala State Film Awardtwenty five times, for direction as well
asscreenplay, however says his first love is lit-erature. While
making films, most of thetimes you have to consider the
commercialviability of the project, since the producerhas invested
crores of rupees in it. I took along gap of seven years when I
stayed awayfrom films, until 2008. I had got fed up ofthe gambling
sense of films, Nair said. Iget more satisfaction in writing
novels. I amalso contented with the royalty I get paidfrom my
books, says Nair. The acclaimedwriter says that his novels clicked
with thereaders from Kerala as they touched theissues of the
present day and were basedon human sensibilities. With books, I
hadthe liberty to write about the issues I believedin and they gave
me an opportunity to ad-dress the realities of life, Nair said. At
thesame time, writing for readers from Keralais not simple, asserts
Nair.
Readership is exceptional in Kerala, butthe readers are very
sensitive. Novels andeven poetry books are selling, but the
issuesand the theme should appeal the readers.
You cant fool them cautions the celebratedwriter. Nair, the
recipient of the prestigiousJnanpith Award, the highest literary
awardin India, has penned numerous novels andshort stories, and is
known to be one ofthe most prolific and versatile writers inmodern
Malayalam literature. His booksspeak of the pain and anguish of the
Keralasociety in the post-independence India.
Need for more exchange between literature, languages from other
states
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HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, AUG 28
Legal Coordinator of the Savethe Child India, Adv NandiniThakker
has said that politicalwill together with implementa-tion of the
Code by the stake-holders in the Tourism industrywill help to
combat humantrafficking in the country.
Delivering a talk on humantrafficking organized by theSouth Goa
Journalists Associ-ation, Nandini said thathuman trafficking for
com-mercial sexual exploitation isthe second largest illegaltrade
in the world and addedthe country should put inmore efforts to
address theburning issue.
Only recently, the Uniongovernment has approved acode for the
various stakeholders of the tourism indus-
try. Once implemented, thecode will help spread aware-ness
amongst the stake hold-ers, including hotel owners,tour and taxi
operators, shackowners on illegal human traf-ficking for sexual
exploitation,Thakker added.
Saying that India falls in TierII in illegal trafficking,
Thakkersaid the country is not doingenough to arrest human
traf-ficking in the country. Wehave to put in more efforts
toaddress the burning issue ofhuman trafficking. , she
as-serted.
She said that the situation inprogressive looking Goa is
rel-atively well as compared toother states, where genderbias is
still prevalent. Stressingon the need for awareness inthe society
on human traffick-ing, she said that people
should be aware that humantrafficking is existing in
society.
Saying that migration per seis not bad, she, however,sounded
caution and laidstress on safeguards to avoidinnocent women forced
intotrafficking.
Disagreeing for the need forempowering the agencies withmore
powers to arrest traffick-ing, Thakker, however, calledfor meting
out exemplary pun-ishment to the accused asagainst nominal
punishment todiscuss
Terming it as a myth thatsome of the victims are
intoprostitution because of money,Thakker said the syndicatesmake
lot of money and not thevictims. The victims are re-duced as mere
commercial sexworkers in the hands of thesyndicate.
Political will needed to combat human trafficking: advocate
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, AUG 28
The Voice of Villagers (VoV) hasurged the government to holda
power point presentation in-dicating the exact and precisealignment
of the NH-17 in eachaffected village detailing thehouses, property
and struc-tured that will be affected, tobring clarity in the minds
of theaffected people.
The NGO suggested that thepresentation could perhaps beheld at
the Ravindra bhavan tofacilitate the affected people ofSouth Goa to
get their griev-ances redressed.
Spokesman Edwin Pinto ex-pressed deep distress at thefailure of
the government, theMinisters and MLAs in protect-ing the interests
of their peopleagainst the acquisition of landfor this proposed
expansion,which undoubtedly goesagainst the interests of the
verypeople that the government isobligated to protect.
He said the people do not
Clarity needed on NH17 alignment: VoVunderstand the reason
behinddiverting the alignment tospare institutions by goingthrough
a cluster of homes,thus displacing so many of theaam aadmi, who
have theirlongstanding roots in the placeand will be put through
muchtrauma and upheaval.
Pinto said while the Commit-tee constituted by the Govern-ment
of Goa to examine theissues thrown up by the align-ment of this
proposed expan-sion, publicly declared that thewidth of the highway
would be45 metres and in congestedareas 35 metres, the plan thathas
been subsequently shown
to various people who were in-vited for hearings in the SouthGoa
Land Acquisition office inMargao, show 60 metres widthand in many
places like nearHotel Maharaja, the width is asmuch as 120
metres.
On July 12, a delegation in-teracted with the PWD Minis-ter at
Nanutel, when heassured us that no homeswould be affected by this
pro-posed expansion of NH 17. Thenext day, he sent his team
toMatol, near the Agnel Ashramin Verna, who showed us an
al-together different alignmentplan from what we are nowshown,
Pinto added.
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, AUG 28
Discord among ruling council-lors in the Mormugao Munici-pal
Council (MMC) over thealleged misuse of the chairper-son's official
car has opened upa can of worms.
MMC Vice ChairpersonKashinath Yadav has allegednumber of
illegalities in thecouncil and claimed that MMCchairperson Shekhar
Khadap-kar's car is being misused.
Accusing fellow councillorArnold Rego of using abusivelanguage
on Friday, Yadavspoke to reporters on Fridayand narrated a number
of ille-galities in the council.
"The present council is in-volved in many illegalities, butmost
annoying is the blatantmisuse of the chairperson's of-ficial
vehicle by most council-lors," said Yadav.
"If the chairperson refuses toaccede to their request, theyeven
go to the extent of threat-ening to dislodge the chairper-son and
such pressure tactics
have been going on for sometime," he added.
Yadav alleged that except forfive councillors, the other
14councillors use the chairperson'sofficial vehicle for personal
useto travel to Panjim, Margao,Canacona and other places.
Yadav informed that on Fri-day morning, he had soughtKhadapkar's
permission to usethe chairperson's car alongwith driver since he
was unwellto drive his own car.
"Besides, I wanted the car tomonitor some developmentwork in my
ward," said Yadav.
"Councillor Rego abused mein front of Khadapkar in his of-fice
and in the presence of for-mer Vasco Block Congresspresident Vaman
Chodankar,who was present in office," saidYadav.
MMC sources informed Her-ald that the vehicle registerbook is
not maintained andthat the chairperson's car in-curs more fuel
expenses thanother cars in the council.
Rego reportedly alleged that
Yadav along with his twogroups of supporters werebusy collecting
money fromtraders during recently con-cluded Saptah festival.
He claimed that he couldprove that Yadav was involvedin illegal
activities during therecent Saptah.
When contacted, Rego re-futed Yadav's allegations. "Idon't
require the council car asI have two cars for my personaluse," said
Rego.
"Yadav must be annoyedwith me because I have askedhim to vacate
the vice-chair-man's post since he waselected after a mutual
under-standing that he would stepdown in 15 days," he added.
Meanwhile, Khadapkardownplayed the rift betweensome councillors,
claiming thatboth, Yadav and Rego weremaking baseless
allegations.
"The chairperson's car is notbeing misused and no moneywas
extracted from tradersduring the recent Saptah festi-val," said
Khadapkar.
Mormugao council chiefs official car misused: councillor
Kelekars deathis loss to literary
world: NCPHERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, AUG 28
The Nationalist Congress Partyhailed noted writer
RavindraKelekars contribution to theKonkani language as immenseand
termed his demise as amajor loss to the literary worldthat has left
behind a big vac-uum in Goan society.
NCP Spokesperson TrajanoDMello, who attended the finalrites of
Kelekar on Saturday,called upon the youth to pickup his qualities
and imbibe hisvalues. They may not be able toachieve his great
virtues, but atleast they could try to follow inhis footsteps, he
said.
DMello said Ravindrababsmemories would live in everyheart and
mind forever.Words, however great, wouldfall short of praise for
this greatman who upheld Konkani till hedied, the NCP
Spokespersonextolled.
Hearing on Cotigao Sanctuary
as CWHPANJIM (HND): A public hear-
ing of the State level expertcommittee will be held at
theCotigao Panchayat hall on Sep-tember 30 at 11.30 am to dis-cuss
the proposal to declareCotigao Wildlife Sanctuary ascritical
wildlife habitat (CWH) forthe purpose of Scheduled Tribeand other
Traditional ForestDwellers (Recognition of ForestsRights) Act,
2006. All personswhose rights are affected bydeclaration of CWH are
re-quested to attend the hearingalong with relevant documents.
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muRAD KAROL, NAvELim
I fully agree with the letter 'What doMPs really get?' by John
Eric Gomes (Her-ald, 25 August). MPs lead a luxurious life,while
the common man struggles to sur-vive, as prices of essential
commoditiesare going up day by day.
MPs and other politicians behave des-picably, and do nothing for
the benefit ofthe common man. Most are corrupt andhave hidden
assets. They should be ex-posed and made accountable. Themoney that
the government spends ontheir luxuries should be used for the
de-velopment of the country.
MP-inspired!RODNEy DSOuzA, ASSAgAO
Inspired by the demand of MPs for ahuge increase in salary and
perks, Pan-chayat members in Goa have demandedan increase in their
stipend from Rs1,500to Rs 10,000 per month. There was atime when
villagers worked as Panchayatmembers sincerely, without
expectingany remuneration or compensation. Buttimes have changed
and, in view of infla-tion, their demand is justified, since
theirpresent stipend is peanuts.
But Panchayat members should im-prove their performance. In
villages, ille-gal construction, garbage disposal,maintenance of
roadside drains, non-payment of house tax dues, etc, are is-sues
that Panchayat members shouldtake the initiative to address.
Theyshould also attend the Gram Sabha meet-ings regularly.
One rupee moreAiRES RODRiguES, RiBANDAR
Politics was meant to be a mission, butit has sadly become worse
than the old-est profession. The manner in which ourMPs have
wrangled their own astronom-ical pay hike, says it all. If only the
MPshad known that the Goa governmentpays its Advocate General
Subodh KantakRs5 lakh a month plus perks, they wouldhave demanded
Rs500,001!
Selfish MPsTuLSiDAS mALKARNEKAR, mARgAO
Great parliamentarians like PanditJawaharlal Nehru, Kamalnayan
Bajaj,Chintamanrao Deshmukh, and evenGoas first CM Dayanand
Bandodkar, didnot take any pay except for a tokenamount of Re1.
Even today, Navin Jindalis in that category.
Unfortunately, Lalu Prasad and Mu-layam Singh Yadav allegedly
followersof Jayprakash Narayan are in forefrontto seek a pay
hike.
More than two thirds of MPs arecrorepatis. Yet, they were not
contentwith the rise given. Worker gets in-creases of just 30 per
cent after five to
ten years. But our great MPs get a three-fold hike in one go.
Have they gotelected to serve themselves?
Grossly overpaidWiLLiE SEvERES, mAjORDA
The Union Cabinet has agreed to raisemonthly allowances of MPs
by Rs10,000,just after a three-fold hike in theirsalaries last
week. This is an absolutewaste, as they really do nothing for
thecountry, except looting the nations mea-gre resources. I cannot
think of any pro-fession in India other than politics,
where peoplelike Lalu Prasadand MulayamSingh Yadavwould be
ableto earnRs50,000 a
month!
Govt employeesorphaned?STEPHEN DiAS, DONA PAuLA
Just because MPs have powers tomake and change laws, it is not
appropri-ate for them to raise their own salariesthree times. This
is loot of the public ex-chequer.
Strangely, the government has no sym-pathy for government
employees:
(1) There is a ban on filling up the postsof those who retire,
resign or take volun-tary retirement. There is also a ban
oncreation of new posts. The governmentsaves a lot of money by
putting increasedburden on the available staff. These jobsare not
only difficult to complete in time,but mistakes are noticeable,
especially inaccounts and administration.
(2) Old rules, especially medical rules,are still in force with
no revision. Medicalreimbursement rules do not favour em-ployees.
After spending their ownmoney, there are always deductions.
Before hiking MPs salaries, the gov-ernment should revise the
service rulesand lift the ban on creation of posts, sothat young
Goans get jobs.
Now for performance!DOmiNgOS S DE SOuzA, CALANguTE
The massive rise in their salariesshould finally instil honesty
and disci-pline in MPs, as well as responsibility to-wards their
constituents. Also, the hugehike in allotments to Village
Panchayatsand Zilla Panchayats is the right boost fordevelopmental
projects at village level.
However, it is necessary to monitor, andmake these incentives
strictly performancebased, so that performers are rewardedand vice
versa. How about performance-
based incentives and promotions to thepolice force, so that they
remain robust,incentive-conscious and transparent?
Why pay MPs? CAPT EDDiE viEgAS, CANACONA
In the old days, we had Regidors andAdministradors in Goa, who
did wonder-ful service to their communities; very ef-ficiently and
with no corruption. Eventoday we have social workers,
religiousworkers, priests and nuns, and even pro-fessionals such as
teachers and doctors,who render selfless service without anydemands
or pressure tactics.
Instead of tackling the numerousproblems in their
constituencies, MPs arehaggling over their own salaries. Do
wereally need such netas, who cannot lookafter themselves without
milking thepublic? Workers who genuinely deserveincrements have to
wait years for deci-sions of pay commissions, so how cannetas
decide their own pay rise?
Elected members should not get anysalaries at all. Only actual
expensesshould be reimbursed.
Pampering MPsmARCOS ALEmAO, vARCA
The three fold increase in MPs salariesis not justified by
squeezing the commonman. During Congress rule, the cost ofpetrol
and diesel has peaked, and thecommon man is struggling to
survive.But MPs, MLAs and ministers enjoy lifeat the cost of the
common man.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukher-jee refused to roll back
petrol and dieselprices, in spite of protests all over thecountry,
because he said the oil companiesare losing money. And now the
FinanceMinister wants to empty government cof-fers for the lavish
life of MPs? Is the Con-gress government more concerned aboutMPs
than about the common man?
Cheers 4 em,tears 4 usROHiT ANAND, CuRCHOREm
How far it is justified that MPs them-selves decide how much
salary theyshould draw, and then pass a resolutionapproving a huge
300 per cent rise? As ifthat was not enough, they increased
an-other Rs10,000 in allowances.
This is daylight robbery of taxpayersmoney. God save this
country, where onelot works hard day and night, but ishardly able
to get a complete meal, whilethe rulers of the country, whose
pocketsare full, lockers are full, and propertiesabundant, do not
feel ashamed of sayingthat they are under-paid. It is enough tomake
a normal taxpayers blood boil.
Do MPs deserve a pay hike?
SUNDAYMAIL
By SAmiR KELEKAR
Ravindra Kelekar, who happensto be my uncle, used to say: Iam
first a fighter; that is why Ibecame a writer. He passedaway at the
age of 85 on Fridayat 11.30am in Goa.
Ravindrakaka was more of aLohia-ite than a Nehruvian. Atage 21,
he decided to dedicatehis life to Konkani, Goa and thenation. And
he did so till hislast moment.
He was decorated with aPadma Bhushan, and was a fel-low of the
Sahitya Academy, be-sides winning the GnanpeethAward, the highest
literary ho-nour in the country.
Always frank and straightfor-ward, and someone who neverminced
any words, politicalcorrectness was simply not inhis vocabulary.
But he didnthate anyone.
He told me in one conversa-tion: Dont blame the Por-tuguese,
even though theyruled Goa for over 450 years.Even they had a
dictator rulingover them, so the position of
A tribute to Ravindra Kelekar
First a fighter, then a writertheir citizens was no
differentthan ours.
As his nephew (Ravindrababwas my father's second cousin),I was
completely in awe of thisman. In his last speech, madewhile
accepting the GnanpeethAward for which he wastaken in an ambulance
andbrought onto the stage in awheel chair he made a fer-vent appeal
to people to writein Indian languages, saying thatEnglish has only
given us bon-sai intellectuals. Bonsai plantsare short, and cant
reproduce.
Most loved by Goans, Ravin-drababs influence made manyof my
uncles, and even my fa-ther plunge into the freedommovement.
Indeed, the Kelekarfamily today is associated withsocial work in
Goa, and Ravin-drabab was the tallest of themall. He fought for
Konkani whenit wasnt even recognised as alanguage, and people
wereashamed to speak it.
From one and two people es-pousing its cause, today,Konkani is
the official languageof Goa, and is in the EighthSchedule of the
Indian consti-tution. Every currency note ofRs10 and up bears its
denomi-nation in Konkani, among thecountrys 18 recognised
lan-guages. It puts the countryssmallest state firmly on the
In-dian map. And I am proud tosay that Ravindrabab played
asignificant role in this achieve-ment.
Special meet at Canacona on disaster
managementHERALD CORRESPONDENT
POINGUINIM, AUG 28
Considering the constant disas-ters confronting Canaconataluka
due to its topography,Canacona Deputy Collector andChairman of
Disaster Manage-ment Committee of CanaconaDipak Desai has convened
aspecial meeting at the Cana-cona Municipal Hall on Sundayat 3
pm.
This meeting of all villagecommittee members will be ad-dressed
by a member of Na-tional Disaster ManagementAuthority, Delhi J K
Jha.
Those attending the meetinginclude Canacona MLA Vijay PaiKhot,
Poinguinim MLA RameshTawadkar, South Goa CollectorG P Naik,
Editor-in-Chief of Pru-dent Media Sandesh Prabhude-sai.
All residents of Canaconahave been invited to attendthis
'Orientation and Installa-tion' programme, where the vil-lagers are
most affected andare witnessing damage to theirproperties and also
loss tohuman lives.
On August 10, a meeting wasconvened at Mashem-Loliem,which was
organized by Prab-hudesai and the orientation tothe gathering was
given by Di-rector of National Institute ofOceanography Dr
SatishShetye, Director of Departmentof Science, Technology and
En-vironment Michael D'Souza andother personalities.
The topography of this placeis such that there are
dwellingplaces over 700 metres fromthe sea level and the worst
af-fected are those living from thesea level to 50 meters abovethe
sea level.
This was revealed by thecommittee formed by the gov-ernment and
NGO's to studywhy Canacona taluka isplagued by natural
disasters.
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CORTALIM, AUG 28
Elected representatives of various com-munidades in South Goa
have ex-pressed their dismay to Chief MinisterDigambar Kamat over
non-inclusion ofthe communidades' representative inthe "High-Level
Committee" constitutedby the government.
The "High-Level Committee" compris-ing Finance Secretary,
Revenue Secre-tary and Administrator ofCommunidades South Zone has
beenconstituted by the government to studythe issue of payment of
salaries of theadministration office and their absorp-tion as
government employees.
In an e-mail to the chief minister,they observed that the 90-odd
commu-nidades of South Zone have a majorstake in the affairs and
business of thesaid Administration and as a matter offact that
comnunidades have fully andentirely funded the said
AdministrationOffice of Comunidades for the lastmany decades.
"In fact, the root cause of the currentcrises and mess in the
AdministrationOffice of communidades of South Zone
has been the failure and neglect of thegovernment to take the
commu-nidades into confidence on importantissues.
Non-representation to the com-munidades in the "High-Level
Commit-tee" constituted by your goodself willonly perpetuate the
problem andwould invariably end in further litiga-tion and
problems," they said in the e-mail.
They gave instances of "mal-adminis-tration, financial
irregularities and ille-galities" committed by theAdministration
Office as follows: Non-audit of accounts of the
AdministrationOffice from 1982 to 2002; consequentlyno
accountability for the Rs 2.35 crorepaid by communidades as
"derrama"during the period. Sham audits beingconducted from 2003
onwards. TheUDC looking after cash and financialmatters of the
Administration Office forthe last several years has been
chargedwith offences involving moral turpitudein course of
discharging official dutiesby Vasco court.
26 persons were appointed illegallyas LDCs & peons on
regular basis during2000-2006 in total contravention of
statutory procedures. Services of persons employed on
`daily-wages' were surreptitiously reg-ularised without
ascertaining their com-petence and requirement. Nocompliance of
"Employment Exchange(Compulsory Notification of Vacancies)Rules
1960". No examinations con-ducted as required under the rules.
Noreservations for SC/ST/OBCs mandatoryunder the government's
reservationpolicy.
Appointments of said 26 personsmade without ascertaining the
work-load of the office. The affairs of the Ad-ministration Office
can be managedwith 17 UDCs/LDCs/ Peons; thus render-ing about half
of the current employeessurplus and redundant. The DemandsRelated
Ad-Hoc Committee on Financehas suggested in its first report
submit-ted to the State Legislature on03.08.2010 that the
Government mustexamine the issue of downsizing thenumber of
employees of the Adminis-tration Office of communidades ofSouth
Zone.
Salaries of the employees of the Ad-ministration Office of
communidades of
South Zone have been raised and paidas per Pay Commission
recommenda-tions without prior consultation withthe communidades as
expressly man-dated under Art 643/644 of the Code ofComunidades in
force. Consequently,the Comunidades are unable to bearthe
burgeoning salary bill (currently Rs50 lakh a year) leading to the
currentfiscal crises and non-payment ofsalaries.
They also brought to the notice ofthe chief minister that the
issue of func-tioning and re-organization of Adminis-tration
Offices of Comunidades andtheir staffing pattern considering
thepresent workload as well as implemen-tation of provisions of Art
643/644 re-garding payment of salaries toemployees is `sub-judice'
being underconsideration of the High Court ofBombay at Goa in WP No
406/2009 (Ce-lestino Noronha & ors VS State of Goa&
ors).
On this backdrop, they hoped thatthe government would have to
considerthe views of the Comunidades of Southby giving due
representation in the said'High-Level committee'.
Communidades demand representation in panel
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CALANGUTE, AUG 28
Though the tourism sea-son is yet to take-off inthe coastal belt
ofCalangute, the Calangutebeach has been fre-quented by thousands
ofIndian tourists.
There are loads oftourists frequenting thebeach, while the
Drishtilifeguards are having atough time controllingthem.
The tourists, mostlystudents of colleges, etc,are eager to
venture intothe rough seas despiterepeated requests fromthe Drishti
team not todo so to avoid any unto-ward incident, but theirrequests
frequently fallon deaf ears.
With the new tourismseason hardly days away,the high light mast
is yetto become functional.
If concerned authori-ties are to be believed,the high light mast
will
hopefully become func-tional before the GaneshChaturthi
festival.
Speaking to Herald,Calangute Electricity De-partment Assistant
Engi-neer Aras Chari informedthat the contract for re-pair of the
high lightmast has been awardedto a contractor.
Hopefully, the highmast will see the lightsbefore the
GaneshChaturthi festival, hesaid.
The tourists and localswho have been frequent-ing Calangute
beachhave been facing hard-ship due to non-func-tional of the high
lightmast for more than ayear despite the matterbeing highlighted
timeand again.
Few untoward inci-dents were also reportedon the beach, forcing
thetourists to abandon theirplans of staying late onthe beach due
to fear.
This high mast yet to glow!
The non-functional high mast at CalanguteBeach. Photo by Thomas
Fernandes
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GOA,SUNDAY, 29 AUGUST, 2010
Pg 9
APPOINTMENTS
OHE
RALD
O
OPinionatEDA Message to All on National Sports Day
By GUsTAvo sTEPHEn GoDInHo,
Every year, India celebrates August 29 as National Sports Day.On
this day, the President of the country presents awards likethe
Arjuna Award (sportspersons), Dronacharya Award (sportscoaches) and
the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award (for outstandingachievement) to
those sportspersons of the country who haveachieved success at the
highest levels in their chosen sport.
This particular day is the birth anniversary of legendary
Indianhockey player Major Dhyan Chand. A passionate, skilful
playerand one of hockeys greatest, he won three Olympic gold
medalsfor the country in this sport in 1928, 1932 and 1936. He
scoredmore than 1,000 international goals for the country. He
remainsthe only Indian hockey player to receive the Padma
Bhushan.This day is dedicated to him and his achievements for
thecountry in Hockey.
On this day, we also pay tribute to all those who work hardto
keep the National Flag flying up high in the sky in the fieldof
sports; when we salute those Indians who prove to the worldthat our
country still has the power to rule the world throughsports. They
truly deserve to be felicitated on this day, whichis dedicated to
them only once a year.
Today I salute all sportspersons who have given an identityto
this country with their hard work and dedication. I want tosalute
all sports legends of our country, past and present, whohave
brought great laurels to India with their talent and hardwork.
Sports stars like Vijender Kumar, Leander Paes, Mahesh
Bhu-pathi, Saina Nehwal and Sachin Tendulkar need to be honouredfor
their untiring efforts to show the world that the nation hastalent.
There are hundreds of others who work hard to bringsuccess to the
nation in the field of sports, and I want to salutethem all on this
day. You need not be a someone to pay tributeto legends. All you
need is a mind and a heart that appreciatestheir efforts,
right?