-
OHERALDOThe Voice of Goa Since 1900
HEERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
Green cess of more than Rs 200crore has not been collected bythe
government, a legislativepanel has said.
The estimates committee of2009-10 on mines department,chaired by
Aldona legislatorDayanand Narvekar, has saidthat it is pained to
hear aboutthe lack of revenue accrued tothe government from the
mining
industry.The
c o m -mitteed i dn o tg e t
figures of transportation orgreen cess for movement of min-erals
to Goa and could not as-sess revenue collected as perthe decision
of the governmentin 2008-09 to levy green cess,the report says
adding butofficially it was stated that thegovernment has not
collectedgreen cess of more than Rs 200crores the in last two
years.
However, it adds, the mineralore imported in Goa has at-tracted
transportation cess ofaround 25 to 30 crore every year.
It is highly objectionable thatthe government has failed
tocollect cess for transportationfrom miners to loading point
toexport.
Further, the committee ob-
served that there are no detailsavailable as yet of the iron
oreof non-Goan origin which ismoved into Goa sector andthereafter
exported through.
The committee also statedthat the figure published by theGoa
Mineral Ore Exporters As-sociation (GMOEA) for 2008-09cannot be
totally relied upon.
The committee recommendsthe government to speed up onbringing up
a streamlined min-ing policy by taking into accountall parameters
like road safety,environmental concern, revenuecollection etc, the
report said.
The committee has also de-manded stringent action to con-trol
illegal mining in the State.
Business: Cashless facility row
to be resolved soon Pg 13
Visit us at:www.oheraldo.in panjim, saturday, july 31, 2010
priCE rs. 3.00 (air surcharge rs. 1.50) pages 18
Stupid Architect!! With all the de-tails I gave him, I was
expectinga simple design of Dona Paula -Vasco Sea Link...
(Continued on page 10)
(Continued on page 10)
(Continued on page 10)Barge fraternity shocked
There can be noreal individual free-
dom in the pres-ence of economic
insecurity. Chester Bowles
World: Jennifer Lopez to judge
American Idol Pg 11
IN BRIEF
Sports: Khel Ratna for
Saina Nehwal Pg 18
PTI
MUMBAI, JULY 30
Amid high drama, Kolkata-basedmodel Dimpy Ganguly walkedout of
her four-month-old TVmarriage with Rahul Mahajan,accusing him of
punching, kick-ing and dragging her by haironly to return home
after an ap-parent patch-up.
Dimpy (22) married Rahul (36)son of late BJP leader
PramodMahajan, with much fanfare onthe Imagine TV reality showRahul
Dulhaniya Le Jayega inMarch this year.
Rahul beat me up early onThursday morning after wakingme up to
know the contents ofa message that had beeped onmy phone. When I
asked himto go back to sleep, he flew intoa rage and began hitting
me. Hepunched, kicked and draggedme by the hair, Dimpy said.
Dimpy showed bruises on hershin and right and left hands.Her
left cheek was also swollenand she had a lump on her head.
The model, who left home
vowing never to return, told re-porters that she had had a
con-versation with Rahul, whoexpressed regret. Dimpy re-turned to
the Mahajan residencein Worli in the afternoon today.
Rahul has apologised. He re-grets his action sincerely. I amsad
at what happened, Dimpysaid, adding I havent recoveredfrom what
happened.
I am extremely upset andhurt, Dimpy said, adding, Ineed some
time alone to re-cover.
Asked about the future of hermarriage, the model said shedid not
want to comment fur-ther and needed time to thinkthings over.
Mahajans wife alleges abuse
Goa to havegateway!
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
Scarlets mother, Fiona Macke-own, today told court that
herdaughters Israeli friend, Shanti,was a nuisance but harmless,
al-though she suspected him tobe behind her murder initially.
When I learnt about passing
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
The Goa legislative assemblytoday resolved building a Gate-way
of Goa at three majorcheck-posts of the state.
In an attempt to promoteawareness on Goas history, Con-gress
legislator Victoria Fernan-des had tab led a p r i va temembers
resolution on buildinga Gateway of Goa.
Citing that Gateway of Indiain Mumbai was constructed
byBritishers for their own glory,the only lady legislator said
thismove in Goa would promote pa-triotism and nationalism. Thiswill
depict Goas freedomsstruggle, satyagrahas and a trib-ute to all the
soldiers and satya-
grahis who sacrificed their livesfor freedomIt is not aboutmoney
or expenditure but pa-triotism, she said.
She elaborated that the plan,its design in unique
architecturalset up with necessary facilitiescan showcase episodes
of free-dom struggle and post liberationprogress prominently at
Polem,Molem and Patradevi checkposts. It can be educationaland
tourist attraction as wellwith a garden and other appeal-ing assets
in the premise, shesaid.
The resolution was passedafter unanimous consent in theAssembly
and Chief MinisterDigambar Kamat supporting itas a good
concept.
Fiona absolvesIsraeli suspect
FIONA SPEAKSl Scarlets Israeli friend, Shanti,was a nuisance but
harmless. Hedidnt threaten, misbehave.l Scarlet occasionally drank
beer,but to my knowledge never con-sumed drugs.l She had wide
social life withfriends inside & outside school.l PSI Nerlon
initially tried to coverup case.l The police officer told me
firstthat she drowned. Scarlet wasvery good in swimming.
away of my daughter, my firstsuspect was Shanti. But he
washarmless, Mackeown said.
Two-and-half years after herdaughter was found dead, theBritish
mother today deposedbefore the Goa ChildrensCourt, where she
refuted the
Six Goa unitshit hard byKtaka ban
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
The Karnataka governments de-cision to ban iron ore exportshas
already adversely affectedthe running of six pig andsponge iron
manufacturing unitsin Goa.
According to a GCCI commu-niqu, six units Aparant Ironand Steel
Pvt Limited, Sesa In-dustries Ltd , Shradha Ispat PvtLtd, Ambey
Metallic Ltd, GoaSponge & Power Limited andShritik Ispat
Limited, which areusing high grade iron ore avail-able in Karnataka
as their rawmaterial, face prospects of shut-ting down if the ban
is not lifted.
Banning of movement ofheavy vehicles through theKarwar district
highway andthe subsequent complete banon export of ore outside
the
ESTIMATE PANEL PROPOSALSl The government should work on a
streamlined mining
policy by taking into account all parameters like roadsafety,
environmental concern, revenue collection etc
l Stringent action to control illegal mining in the State.
l Proper data should be maintained by inspecting mines l Reports
should be submitted on mining leases.
l All mining companies be compulsorily be made to put upboards
at the mining site clearly providing details.
Govt failed to collectRs 200 cr green cess
ON PAGE 5
Obama to address joint
session PTI
NEW DELHI, JULY 30
United States President BarackObama, who will undertake hisfirst
State visit to India in No-vember, is expected to addressa joint
session of parliament, anhonour that his predecessorGeorge W Bush
could not have.
Obama is expected to addressthe joint session on November9,
government sources said heretoday.
In view of this plan, the wintersession of parliament, that
usu-ally starts in the second weekof November, will be
advanced,they said.
Obama, who took over as theUS President in January last
year,will be undertaking his first Statevisit to India with an aim
ofpushing the bilateral ties to newheights.
SC rejects Sobhrajs
appealPTI
KATHMANDU, JUL 30
Dashing his hopes of freedom,Nepals Supreme Court todayrejected
bikini killer CharlesSobhrajs appeal against convic-tion in a
sensational 1975 mur-der case of an American womanhere and upheld
the life termawarded to the wily Indian-ori-gin criminal by the
lower courts.
66-year-old Sobhraj was alsofound guilty by the apex courtof
possessing a fake passport.
Rejecting the appeal of theinternational criminal
againstconviction in the murder ofAmerican tourist Connie
JoBronzich, a two-judge benchcomprising Ram Kumar PrasadShaha and
Gauri Dhakal upheldthe 20-year life term awardedby the Kathmandu
district courtand Patan appellate court.
Landslide atAmboli Ghat Hundreds of vehicles proceed-ing between
Goa and Belgaumwere stranded for over threehours due to a major
landslideat the Amboli Ghat late Fridayevening.According to
sources, thelandslide occurred at about7.30 pm and about
3-kmstretch of road was blocked inthe difficult Ghat section,about
5 kms from Amboli inSindhudurg district. However,no casualty was
reported.Sindhudurg police immedi-ately got into the rescue
act,while cranes were alsopressed into service. Heavyrains and fog
made the rescueoperations difficult. (HC)
Five CRPFmen killed At least five CRPF personnelwere killed and
44 others in-jured, 15 of them seriously,when militants triggered
apowerful IED blast at Bhaluk-budi in the district today, thesecond
major attack onsecurity forces in Assam thisweek.The IED was placed
under astaff bus carrying personnel ofthe CRPFs 12th battalion
`ECompany to Goalpara townfrom their Agiya Balijana campthrough
dense forest ataround eight am, District Su-perintendent of Police
LouitAind said. Four of the victimsdied on the spot. (PTI)
Two killed in Valley clashes Security forces opened fire toquell
stone-pelting protestersas fresh violence todayerupted in the
Kashmir Valleyafter days of relative calm,leaving two persons dead
and50 others injured.Authorities imposed strict re-strictions on
the movement ofpeople following a call by theseparatists to march
toMaisuma in the heart of thecity in protest against thekilling of
youths allegedly infiring by security forces. (PTI)
Fiona Mackeown accompanied by legal counsel Vikram Varma
arrivesat the Goa Childrens Court on Friday. Photo by Rozario
Estibeiro
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GOA, SATURDAY, 31 JULY, 2010
GOA Pg 2OHERALD
O
HERALD REPRTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
The Opposition on Friday scored some morebrownie points against
Home Minister, RaviNaik who also holds Co-operation portfolioby
effectively demonstrating inaction ofRegistrar of Co-operatives
office and policedepartment against fraudulent directors ofcertain
Urban Co-operative Credit Societies(UCCS).
Pernem MLA, Dayanand Sopte highlightedthe issue of eleven UCCS
that are facingthe risk of losing public deposits totallingRs 12.95
crore due to financial manipulationof the directors.
During Question Hour on Friday, PernemMLA demanded to know what
has beendone to protect interest of the depositorsof eleven
UCCS.
Referring to the case of Curti KhandeparUrban Co-operative
Credit Society Ltd, Shi-roda MLA, Mahadev Naik pointed out
thatpolice have not taken any action againstthree senior office
bearers of the Society.
The directors of the society, Netaji Sam-bary and Audhoot Kamat
whereas manager,Neelima Panandikar are still at large evenas FIR
was filed against three.
The Chief Minister in its reply statedthat administrator has
been appointedand police complaint has been filed. ButNaik demanded
to know what action wastaken to get back documents attachedwhen the
premises of Kurti KhandeparUrban Co-operative Society Ltd,
weresealed on orders of the civil court in2007 after wife of the
ex-chairman filedsuit.
Currently, committee of administratorshas not been able to
conduct day-to-daybusiness due to non-availability of books.
Leader of the Opposition Manohar Par-rikar charged that there
has been no actionfrom either Registrars office nor policesince
last three years thanks to politicalprotection three accused are
enjoying.
Shiroda MLA revealed more embarrassinginformation when he
pointed out that one
of the accused, Audhoot Kamat managedto get loan of Rs 5 lakh
from Shiroda UrbanCo-operative Society even as he faced crim-inal
charges. See the links, Parrikar re-torted further adding that
police have beenseating tight on the case due to
politicalpressure.
Doing damage control exercise, ChiefMinister Digambar Kamat said
nobody willbe allowed to get away with money of smallinvestors and
he would initiate action. Healso the assured the House to hold
imme-diate meeting with the registrar of co-op-erative societies
and police to check intoallegations levelled by the Opposition
mem-bers with respect to Kurti-Khandepar UrbanCo-operative Credit
Society.
The Chief Minister also informed theHouse that he would look
into why registrarof co-operatives who enjoys power to su-percede
directors of the society in casethere is financial mismanagement
not ex-ercised powers vested in him when suchcases were referred to
him.
BJP flays Ravi for inactionagainst corrupt co-op directors
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
A legislative panel has con-demned the sluggish and
irre-sponsible behaviour of the GoaUniversity over the
implemen-tation of the Sports Policy.
The sports policy was notifiedin October 2009 and the samewas
put before the standing com-mittee of the academic council.
but from the approach ofthe University it is obvious thatit has
scant regards for sports,the adhoc committee on Edu-
cation, chaired by DayanandNarvekar, said in its reporttabled in
the Goa legislative as-sembly today.
The report says that no prom-ising action has been made bythe
university except delibera-tions on the issue.
The students in the universitywill be denied whole
heartedparticipation in sports as theywill not be able to avail
relax-ation on their attendance as wellas the sports merit marks in
ac-cordance with the sports policy,
the committee observed addingthis attitude demoralises
theenthusiasm of the sportspersonto further his potential.
The committee has con-demned the high handed atti-tude of the
university, whichreceives grants from the gov-ernment but fails to
uphold thedecision of the cabinet.
The report says the commit-tee at no point of time desiresto
intervene in the academicprocedures of the university butobserves
that after a period of
nine months of issuance of thenotification nothing has
comeforth, speaks volumes of thescant respect of the
universitytowards sports, it says.
The committee desires thatthe university adheres to thecabinet
decision on sports policyso that students are allowed toparticipate
in sports.
The committee requests thegovernment to take up the issuefor
quick implementation duringthis academic year before Oc-tober
2010.
GU flayed for sluggish behaviouron sports policy
implementation
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
A report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Fi-nance has observed the
Goa University inspite of funds available had made no effortsto
complete a project on plant and fungusbiodiversities inventory and
conservationefforts for the western region of Goa.
The report notes the committee waspained to note in spite of
funds availableunder the Western Ghats Development Pro-gramme
(WGDP) till date only preliminaryreport has been submitted. The
varsityhas made no serious efforts to submit the
final report, it mentioned and added, Tak-ing into consideration
the importance ofthe project it should have been completedwithin
the scheduled time.
The committee strongly recommendedto the university to come out
with the finalreport and intimate it on the progressachieved in the
matter.
Further, as specified in the ad hoc com-mittee report, GU has
submitted terminalreport of phase I of the project.
It noted that Phase II of the project hadbeen approved by the
Planning Commissionand the same was in progress. The work of
terminal consolidated project report (TCRP)of Phase II is in
initial stage, the committeeinformed.
The coordination of implementing theWatershed Development
Programmeschemes under WGDP has been entrustedto the State Level
Watershed Committeeunder chairmanship of the Chief Secretary.
The ad hoc committee in its report men-tioned the actual
expenditure incurredunder hill area (Western Ghats) has beennil for
the years 2008-09 and 2009-10. Theactual total plan allocation
during theseyears was Rs 20 lakh.
GU asked to complete project on Western region
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
The post mortem on Raveena Rodrigues, a 16-year-old girl who
died in Goa Medical College(GMC) on July 29, a fortnight after she
was ad-mitted, was conducted on Friday.
The girl was admitted in GMC after she un-derwent appendisectomy
at a private hospitalin Vasco earlier this month.
The girl was apparently brought to GMCwhen she developed
complications while shewas undergoing treatment at Vasco
hospitalbut her case was not registered as medico legalcase when
she was admitted in GMC.
The girls family had filed a police complaintat Vasco police
station yesterday alleging neg-ligence by doctors.
A senior doctor who did not wish to benamed, said when any
patient is brought toGMC in unconscious state or in critical
conditionfrom other hospital, the case has to be regis-tered as
medico legal case.
But it was not done in this case because oneof the senior most
surgeon attached to GMC
who also has "thriving" private practice hadoperated the girl at
the private hospital and asa result, when she was brought to GMC it
wasnot reported as medico legal case, said thesource.
After she was shifted to the GMC, her familywas informed that
she would have to be oper-ated again. When contacted Dr Rajesh
Patil,Unit IV head, Associate Professor, Departmentof Surgery, GMC
said patient was brought toGMC as her condition deteriorated.
Patient was admitted in GMC and was ur-gently operated by
surgeons on duty withinone and half hour of admission, said Dr
Patil.
But three days after operation, patient starteddeveloping
respiratory complications of Arti-ficial Respiratory Distress
Syndrome (ARDS)and was shifted to ICU for the same.
Her renal and respiratory parameters startedworsening. There was
no negligence on thepart of GMC doctors at any stage.
Inspite of best intensive supportive caregiven to the patient in
the ICU, she expired onJuly 29, 2010, said Dr Patil.
Doctor rules out negligence at GMC
HERALD REPORTER
VASCO, JULY 30
Refuting the allegations thathis nursing home had beennegligent
in the operation ofthe 16-year-old girl from Verna,who subsequently
died at GMCHospital, Pai Nursing Home Di-rector Dr Shridhar Pai
claimedthat his nursing home merelyprovided facilities for
doctorsto operate on the girl.
It may be recalled that onThursday, Raveena Rodriguesdied under
mysterious circum-stances at the Goa Medical Col-lege Hospital in
Bambolim,prompting family members tolodge a complaint with Vasco
Po-lice.
Speaking to media on Fridaymorning at his office in
Vad-dem-Vasco, Dr Pai said his nurs-ing home is just a
serviceprovider to various doctors,
who seek to admit their pa-tients.
Similarly, Raveena Ro-drigues was admitted in mynursing home by
a doctor forappendicitis. We provided ouroperation theatre, bed
felici-ties, nurses, besides other fa-c i l i t i e s requ i red i
n thehospital, stated Dr Pai.
He denied that they weredirectly involved in the oper-ation of
the patient and reit-erated that his nursing homehad just provided
facilities tooperate the patient.
The patient was diagnosedand assisted in the operationby the
doctor, who had admit-ted her, while another doctorfrom outside had
operated onher, said Dr Pai.
He further informed thatRaveena was admitted in PaiNursing Home
on July 3 and
was there for six days.She was discharged after
satisfactory results. However,subsequently after one day,she
reported abdominal pain,vomiting and abdominal dis-tension and
after consideringher health status, she was re-ferred to GMC, he
said.
Vasco Po l i ce P I B razMenezes informed that au-topsy was
conducted, but thereport has been kept pending,as few reports are
still awaited.Doctors, who performed au-topsy, have claimed that
thereis evidence of septicemia.
As per the government no-tification, we have asked theGMC dean
to form a panel ofdoctors to conduct the post-mortem since
complainant hasalleged that this case is dueto medical negligence,
addedPI Menezes.
Nursing home just service provider to doctors, says Dr Pai
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MAYEM, JULY 30
With torrential rains lashing theState, the water level of
An-junem dam has increased to89.32 metres, with officials plan-ning
to release water if the levelstouch around 91 metres.
According to senior engineerof Anjunem dam M P Totagaddi,though
the maximum waterlevel of Anjunem dam is 92.20mtrs, the water will
be releasedany time, but during low tidewhen the level reaches up
to91 mtrs, to avoid further dan-ger.
All the municipal councils,panchayats and villagers havebeen
informed about it throughthe notices. At Nanora, thewater entered
into some houseswhich were situated at low-lyingareas, he said.
As far as destruction ofhouses is concerned, 36 houseshave
collapsed so far, addedTotagaddi.
While informing about thegravity of rainfall, Bicholim
Mam-latdar Pramod Bhat said onThursday itself, the rainfallrecorded
was 4 inches, howeverthere was no danger eventhough the water level
from therivers had increased.
There has also been increasein the water level from Wal-wanti,
Kashti and Bicholimrivers, which has led to destruc-tion of 36
houses so far, causinga loss of about Rs 6.19 lakh.
The low-lying areas like Ban-darwada, Gaonkarwada, Man-derkarwda
and some areasfrom Nanora have come underwater. The Disaster
Manage-ment Cell Bicholim is ready forany rescue operation.
Villagers, including womenwashing clothes in the rivers,cattle
owners, people crossing
rivers, from Bicholim and Sat-tari talukas and those residingon
the bank of the rivers havebeen alerted about the dan-ger.
Meanwhile, farmers from Bi-cholim and Sattari talukas arefacing
acute hardships to workin the fields, as their farms havebeen
inundated with water.
Meanwhile, a partially col-lapsed old house, which wasalong the
road at Sunder Peth,Bicholim, collapsed completely.Bicholim
Mamlatdar PramodBhat inspected the house.
The Anjunem Dam. Photo by Vishant Vaze
House witnesses
noisy scenes over
water shortage
in PorvorimHERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
The House witnessed noisyscenes over the acute watershortage
faced by the residentsof Porvorim plateau.
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leg-islator Dilip Parulerkar tabled
aPrivate Members Resolution inthe House demanding the Gov-ernment
to set up 50 MLD WaterTreatment Plant next to NationalHighway at
Guirim.
The setting up of water treat-ment plant will solve water
prob-lem in places of Porvorim, Siolim,Mapusa and Calangute, he
said.
Acknowledging the gravity ofthe i s sue , P WD Min i s te
rChurchill Alemao told the As-sembly that provision of total50 MLD
in Assnora would beready by 2010 December-end.
This, he said, will raise the ca-pacity to 110 MLD that will
caterto entire Bardez populace till 2025.
To improve the distribution,three overhead reservoirs havebeen
undertaken and is nearingcompletion, he said.
Former minister DayanandNarvekar blamed the non coor-dination
between the power de-partment and water supply forwater crisis.
Water cannot be pumpedout due to water failurethereis no
coordinationthis affectsthe water supply, he lamented.
The PWD minister ChurchillAlemao should give a concreteassurance
to the people of Por-vorim or face agitation, he saidadding the
minister should seta deadline and say that if he failsto meet that
he will not enterthe assembly again.
Leader o f Oppos i t ionManohar Parrikar too echoedthe said
problem.
Following this, the resolutionwas withdrawn even as the
min-ister said it will ask PWD De-partment for a detailed
projectreport.
Water level at Anjunem dam rising, poses threat!
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JULY 30
Uproar marked the meeting of the SouthGoa Zilla Panchayat on
Friday over whoshould head the three-member committeeconstituted to
look out for land towardsthe construction of a Zilla Bhavan.
The meeting witnessed verbal duel andnoisy scenes between the
ruling and oppo-sition members after Chairperson Maria Re-bello
suggested that the panel should beheaded by Member Dayanand Pagi.
Thisevoked sharp reaction from members NellyRodrigues and Domnic
Gaonkar.
At one stage, the Chairperson said thatthe matter should be left
for Nelly to decideas the members claimed she has been fight-ing
for the Zilla member for 10 years.
On the other hand, Nelly suggested thatthe three member
committee should com-prise of Dayanand Pagi, Domnic Gaonkar
and Edwin (Cipru) Cardozo.Nelly said that Domnic should be on
the
committee as the land in question has beenidentified by him at
Raia and will be in abetter position to monitor the works.
During the verbal duel, Domnic chargedthe ruling group for doing
the setting onwho would form part of the committee.
Incidentally, confusion prevailed as towho was finally appointed
as Chairman ofthe Committee. When the ZP Chief ExecutiveOfficer N S
Navti was contacted by newsmencovering the meeting, he initially
said thatthe meeting decided to appoint DomnicGaonkar as the
Chairman since he will bein a better position to coordinate with
thedonor of the land.
Navti, however, later said that since Chair-person Maria had
suggested the name ofDaya Pagi, the ZP member from Poinguinimwill
head the three-member panel.
The panel is expected to submit the reportto the Chairperson
within a period of 45 days.
Earlier, the CEO told the members thatthe ZP has funds to the
tune of Rs 1.15crore and can be utilised for building a ZPbhavan or
outright purchase of office space.He, however, informed the members
thatthe ZP is not empowered to acquire land,but can use the fund if
the land is donatedto the district Panchayat body.
Meanwhile, the meeting discussed theissue of grass cutting
machines not beingreturned by the former ZP members backto the
office. In this connection, the CEOsaid he would be compelled to
lodge anFIR against the former members if the ma-chines are not
returned back immediately.
The meeting thanked Panchayat MinisterBabu Azgaonkar, leader of
the OppositionManohar Parrikar and other MLAs for sup-porting the
demand of the Zilla panchayats.
Zilla Bhavan construction
Scarlets agequestioned
in courtHERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
A question over the age of Scarletwas raised in the court on
Friday,when her mother Fiona Macke-owns deposition was going
on.
The issue was raised by JosePeter DSouza, a lawyer defend-ing
accused Placido Carvalho.
He said that whether passportissued by a foreign nation canbe a
valid proof in the criminalmatter, which is going on inIndia or
Goa.
Her age is in dispute. Theage given on her passport andcertified
by forensic doctor isdifferent, the lawyer said.
While British passport andScarlets mother indicates herage as
15, forensic expert DrSilvano Sapeco, who conductedfirst postmortem
on Scarletsbody had certified her as be-tween 16 to 18 years of
age.
Doctors statement is an ap-proximation. Under Geneva
con-vention, documents issued bysovereign governments are
ad-missible not only in civil but crim-inal matters too, Vikram
Varma,told reporters outside the court.
He said that the conventionadopted in Geneva is an
inter-national law. How does anyonedoubt passport of another
sov-ereign government, Varma, said.
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JULY 30
The South Goa Sessions courton Friday literally pulled up
theCrime branch while granting an-
HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JULY 30
Maintaining that the High Court obser-vations are binding on the
court, theSouth Goa Sessions Court on Friday re-jected the bail
application of Russianwoman rape accused John Fernandes say-ing his
bail plea could be considered onlyafter the main prosecution
witnesses areexamined in the trial, but not before it.
The High Court has observed that theaccused will be at liberty
to apply for bailto the Sessions court after the main pros-ecution
witnesses are examined in the trialof the accused. These wordings
are veryimportant and binding on the court. Thebail plea could be
considered only afterthe main prosecution witnesses are exam-ined
in the trial but not before it, observedAdditional Sessions Judge B
P Deshpande.
Judge Deshpande did not agree withthe contention of defense
lawyer, AdvAnacleto Viegas that there is no questionof tampering
since the victim is now inRussia. This contention is not correct
astampering could be done even by anyother means and not required
the physical
presence of victim in India, he added.The judge said such a bail
application
could be entertained only when the mainprosecution witnesses are
examined andnot prior to it once it has been observedby the High
Court that no case is madeout for bail even after filing of
chargesheetand liberty is granted only after examina-tion of the
main prosecution witnesses.
Saying that efforts are made by theprosecution and the court to
examinethe main witnesses as early as possible,Judge Deshpande said
the muddemalproperty is still not received from CFSL,Hyderabad
along with the report. Suchmuddemal is essential piece of
evidencein connection with the offense of rapeand identification of
it is necessary atthe time of trial, he added.
The victims presence could be securedas early as possible
together with otherwitnesses. Therefore, only because someof the
witnesses are examined during thetrial, the accused cannot invoke
the libertygranted to him by the HC since the mainwitnesses, the
victim and others are yetto be examined, observed the judge.
Court pulls up Crime branch, grants bail to Nadias brother
ticipatory bail to Nadia Torradosbrother Konrad in the
Nadiadeath case.
It seems that the entire in-vestigation was revolvingaround the
main accused andno effort was made to arrestKonrad even though he
was reg-ularly attending the police sta-tion during about two
monthsnor the recovery was made dur-ing interrogations at the in-s
tance of the appl icant ,Additional Sessions Judge B MDeshpande
observed.
Asserting that the need forcustodial interrogation of
NadiaTorrados brother Konrad is notgenuine, Judge Deshpande
di-rected the police to release Kon-rad on bail of Rs 10,000
withone surety in the like amountin the event of his arrest.
The Court also directed theapplicant to attend the policestation
as and when called bythe investigating officer andshould not tamper
with theprosecution witnesses.
Konrad was also told not toleave the State without the
priorpermission of the court.
In his observation, JudgeDeshpande said there is no
ap-prehension that Konrad will ab-scond and granted him bailsaying
the need for custodial in-terrogation is not genuine.
The prosecution reply clearlyshows that Konrad had attendedthe
police station and was in-terrogated on different occasionsand thus
there is no justification
given by the Investigating agencyas to why suddenly they felt
itproper to arrest him when otheraccused persons have been
re-leased on bail, Judge Desh-pande observed.
The main accused as well asthe mother were also arrestedand
remanded for the purposeof recovery of the same itemsand now they
are enlarged onbail. Therefore, the focus is nowshifted on the
applicant who wasvery much available with the IAand was
interrogated on variousoccasions, the Judge said,adding there is no
reason com-ing forward in the prosecutionreply as to why the
applicant wasnot taken into custody on earlieroccasions when he was
interro-gated on various occasions.
Bicholim man
held for
molesting
minor girlHERALD CORRESPONDENT
BICHOLIM, JULY 30
Bicholim police on Wednesdayarrested a 22-year-old man
fromVathadev-Bicholim in connectionwith the molestation of a
minorgirl.
According to Bicholim Police,one Jainur Shafikul Khan was
ar-rested on Wednesday night andwas remanded to police
cus-tody.
According to reports, theeight-year-old victim had goneto answer
natures call at about10.30 am in the bushes near herhouse. Khan,
who was herneighbour, seized the opportu-nity and went after
her.
He allegedly kissed the girland also fondled with her pri-vate
parts. Later, the accusedgave her a 10 rupee note to buysome
chocolate and asked hernot to disclose about the inci-dent to
anyone.
However, after the girl wenthome, she narrated the incidentto
her mother, who was startledto hear about the incident.
The victims mother waited forher husband to return back inthe
evening and later registereda case with Bicholim police.
We immediately arrested theaccused and remanded him topolice
custody. We have regis-tered a molestation case aftergoing through
the medical re-port, said PSI Ditendra Naik.
Bicholim Police have registereda case under Section 354 IPC
andSection 8 of Childrens Act.
Uproar marks South ZP meet over panelconstitution to look out
for land
1,64,405 students covered
under Mid-Day meals HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
A total of 1,64,405 students from primary (Std I toIV) and upper
primary (Std V to VIII) have beencovered under the Mid-Day Meal
Scheme in 11talukas of the State as on June 30, 2010, revealeda
reply tabled in the Monsoon Session of the GoaLegislative Assembly
revealed.
The maximum number 13,915 (primary) and17,744 (upper primary) of
these students, whohave availed of this scheme, hail from
Salcetetaluka, followed by Bardez with figures of 12,723(primary)
and 15,487 (upper primary) students.
The lowest number of students who haveavailed of this scheme are
from Canacona taluka 2,503 (primary) and 2,860 (upper primary).
Atotal of 83 self-help groups (SHGs) were ropedin by the Government
to supply the meals.
To a question on whether there were any casesof food poisoning
reported during the last aca-demic year, the written reply reported
one caseof food poisoning in which 18 students of YuvakSangh High
School, Sada, Vasco, developed symp-toms of illness after consuming
the Mid-Daymeals.
The contract of the supplier, Saraswati SHG, fromVasco was
terminated with effect from August 8,2009, and the Food and Drugs
Administration alsosuspended its license.
Russian woman rape caseaccused bail plea rejected
Aluminium wires stolenHERALD CORRESPONDENT
PORVORIM, JULY 30
Underground aluminium con-ductor wire worth Rs 40,000has been
stolen from Guirim.
According to Mapusa Police,the Mapusa Electricity depart-ment in
its complaint stated thatsome persons have stolen un-derground
aluminum conductorwire of length 1.95 km, whichwas laid at
Guirim.
Police further informed thatthe incident occurred betweenJuly 21
and 28. Mapusa Policehave registered the case underSection 379 of
Indian Penal Code.ASI S Yeram is investigating.
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GOA, SATURDAY, 31 JULY, 2010
GOA Pg 3OHERALD
O
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
The Opposition on Fridaycharged that the governmenthas not done
enough to takeback land allotted to seven SEZseven as SEZ policy
was scrappedtwo years ago while Chief Min-ister Digambar Kamat
main-tained that the three SEZs willbe de-notified.
Indicating that the governmentis serious about de-notifying
threeSEZs, he said, matter will bethrashed out with Union
Ministerfor Commerce and Industries,Anand Sharma post monsoon
ses-sion of the Parliament.
The seven SEZ were approvedby the Central Government
in2006-2007, of which, M/s K Ra-he ja Corporat ion Pvt L td(KRCPL),
M/s Meditab Speciali-ties Pvt Ltd (MSPL), and M/sPeninsula Pharma
Research Cen-tre Pvt Ltd (PPRC), were notifiedand have started work
such asconstruction of buildings, roads,utility building,
fencing.
However, it was stopped afterthe government issued them no-tices
following change in its policy.
Raising the issue during Ques-tion Hour on Friday, FatordaMLA,
Damu Naik queried whythe government has been hesi-
Govt has not done enough to take back land allotted to SEZs:
Oppn
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
Chief Minister Digambar Kamaton Friday told Goa Assemblythat the
government has takensteps to curb illegal export ofmineral ore.
The Captain of Ports (CoP)has been issued direction toallow a
vessel carrying ore tosail only on submission of NOCfrom the
Department of Minesvis-a-vis ore it wants to export.Similarly,
chairman of Mormu-gao Port Trust (MPT) has alsobeen asked to insist
on NOCfrom ore exporters using Mor-mugao Port, Kamat told
whilereplying to a question tabledduring Question Hour by Ma-pusa
MLA, Francis DSouza.Also, Ministry of Shipping hasbeen requested to
grant per-mission to intervene, Kamatadded.
DSouza had pointed out dis-parities in royalty earned on
oreexported as against ore ex-
CM claims govt has taken steps to curb illegal mineral ore
export
tracted for a period between2007 and 2009.
Leader of the Opposition,Manohar Parrikar suggested thatthe
government needs to taketough stand against MPT chair-man who has
been hostile to-wards the state government onport expansion
issue.
Summon him to the policestation and make him wait foreight
hours, and you will getyour work done and wholeHouse will support
chief minis-
ter in this endeavour againstMPT chairman, he said as helooked
around the House seek-ing support from other mem-bers.
Perplexed Kamat though didnot commit to Parrikar on thispoint
said he will consider hissuggestion.
The Chief Minister also toldthat they have already
startedchecking movement of ore. In-structions have been given
toidentify all mining dumps within
fifteen days and to take actionagainst unauthenticated
dumps.Directions have been issued totake over such dumps and
auc-tion them, he said.
He further said exercise ofverification of lease holders hasalso
been started 60 per centof the work completed and Rs1 crore has
been recovered. Alsodocuments received from Cus-toms department are
verifiedto check if ore was been illegallyexported.
tant in taking back land fromfour SEZs that were not
notified.
The Industrial DevelopmentCorporation (IDC) had allotted M/s
RCPL 10,59,118 sq mts ofland in Verna Industrial Estate(VIE)
PhaseIV on lease, M/sMSPL was granted 12,32,000 sqmts of land at
Kerim in Pondain November, 2006 whereasPPRCPL was allotted an area
of2,03,650 sq mts at Sancoale inMormugao taluka on lease.
Remaining four SEZs were al-lotted land in VIE Phase-IV.
Thisinclude M/s Paradigm LogisticDistribution Pvt Ltd, (PLDPL)which
has in its possession3,86,665 sq mts, M/s Inox Mer-cantile Co Pvt
Ltd (IMCOL) wasallotted 5,19,832 sq mts, M/sPlanetview Mercantile
Co PvtLtd, (PMCPL) was allotted2,36,176 sq mts and M/s Max-grow
Finlease Pvt Ltd, was given2,03445 sq mts.
Naik said area allotted to sevenSEZs in the industrial estates
hasbeen blocked which could havebeen allotted to other
industries
interested in investing in Goaand land to four SEZs could
havebeen easily taken back.
Kamat said, he has been con-sistently following up the
matterwith the Centre even as theLeader of the Opposit ionManohar
Parrikar chided himsaying the chief minister has notbeen able to
get Centre to de-notify three SEZs even thoughSEZ policy was done
away with,in January 2008.
Currently, matter has been sub-judice as all seven SEZs are
beforeHigh Court wherein they havechallenged show cause
noticesissued to them by IDC for revert-ing land allotted to them.
Hearingon SEZ petitions is likely to becompleted next week, he
said.
Parrikar pointed out that allpetitions could not have
beenclubbed together as four SEZswere not notified and the
gov-ernment counsel should haveinformed the Court about this,he
said further adding the mat-ter was not properly monitoredin the
High Court.
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
A legislative panel has asked thegovernment to demand a shareof
revenue from the Central gov-ernment from the exports ofiron
ore.
The committee is of theopinion that a dialogue beinitiated by
the governmentwith the Centre to enable itto receive a share of
exportduty collection from exportof iron ore out of Goa in viewof
the degradation of envi-ronment and its impact onthe local
populace, due tomining activities, the esti-mates committee of
2009-10on Mines department, chaired
Ore exports: govt urged to demand share of
revenue from Centreby Aldona legislator DayanandNarvekar, has
said in its reporttabled in the House on Fri-day.
Further, it says, in this regardgrater efforts be made to get
aspecial status for Goa.
Further the committee rec-ommends the government topursue the
matter with the Fi-nance commission and otherbodies to obtain more
per-centage o export duty for thestate.
As regards the environmentalhazards due to mining activity,the
committee is of the opinionthat the government has neithertaken
serious steps to curtailenvironment hazards nor hastaken positive
measures to re-verse the damage done to theenvironment due to these
min-ing activities.
The committee recommendstaking measures to increaseforest cover
to offset defor-estation in mining areas andavoid the impact on
local pop-ulation.
The committee further rec-ommends that the govern-ment entrust
job of assessingdamages once again to knowthe impact of
environmentdegradation till March 2010t o N E E R I o r s o m e o t
h e ragency.
Highways:
minister urges
to put on hold
land acquisition HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
The Environment MinisterAleixo Sequeira has writtento the Chief
Minister Digam-bar Kamat and Revenue Min-is ter Jose Phi l ip
DSouzaasking them to put on holdland acquisition
proceedingsinitiated for expansion of NH-17 and NH-4 for want of
clar-ity on alignments.
Sequeira informed the GoaAssembly on Friday that hehas asked the
government tokeep in abeyance land acqui-sition proceedings for
expan-sion of both highways asthere was no clarity on thealignments
when the issuewas ra i sed dur ing ZeroHour by the Leader of
theOpposition, Manohar Parrikara long with Mapusa ML A,Francis
DSouza and CurtorimM L A , A l e i x o R e g i n a l dLourenco.
The Minister further toldthe House that Goa StatePo l l u t i o
n C o n t ro l B o a rd(GSPCB) has also been di-rected to keep in
abeyancefurther proceedings of Envi-ronmental Public Hearing(EPH)
until al l details areclarified.
He said he has received nu-m e ro u s re p re s e n t a t i o n
swhich indicated that therewas no clarity on the pro-posed project,
besides vitalinformation on the width ofthe proposed highway
includ-ing service roads was notavailable.
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GOAOHErAld
O
Pg4SHorT TakeS
GOA, SAturdAy, 31 july, 2010=
=
Rajesh elevatedPANJIM (HND): The Tiswadi Taluka Goa
Government Employees Association in itsmeeting held recently has
unanimously ele-vated Rajesh V Kamat from Commercial Taxdepartment
to the post of vice-Chairman ofTiswadi taluka committee from his
earlierpost of Secretary. The meeting was presidedover by chairman
Dhananjay Kerkar and othermembers of the committee from various
de-partments. Rajesh is also the vice-chairman
of Sales Tax department staff co-op credit society.
Cleanliness drive cancelled PANJIM (HND): The plastic
cleanliness drive to be held in the
constituencies of Cortalim and Dabolim by the Cortalim MLAon
July 31 has been cancelled due to heavy rains that havebeen lashing
the State for the last couples of days. The newdate will be
announced later.
NSS unit installedBICHOLIM (HC): The NSS unit of Walawalkar
Higher Secondary
School, Khorlim-Mapusa, was recently installed by Sarva
ShikshaAbhiyaan Assistant Director Narendra Kamat.
Speaking on the occasion, Kamat asked the cadets to workfor the
upliftment of the society and solve the problems of thepeople.
In todays world, education plays a key role in everyoneslife.
Every cadet should see that no one remains illiterate andshould
educate every person. They should also help othersand keep the
surrounding clean, stressed Kamat.
Citing the example of Mahatma Gandhi, Kamat urged thecadets not
to shy from cleaning the surrounding, which is animportant duty of
NSS.
Walawalkar HSS Principal Prof Subhash Nayak urged the stu-dents
to keep the flag of the school flying high.
Science students presented the welcome song, ProgrammeOfficer
Bina Churi gave details about the programme, whileLaxman Gaonkar
read the annual report.
Daniel installed president
Deputy Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise Tony
Diasaddresses the gathering during the 12th Charternite
celebrationsby the Lions Club of Mormugao.
VASCO (HR): Noted poet Daniel F de Souza was installedpresident
of the Lions Club of Mormugao BOD for the year2010-11 at the 12th
Charternite celebrations at Hotel La PazGardens, Vasco.
Chief guest Deputy Commissioner of Customs and CentralExcise
Tony Dias lauded Lions Club of Mormugao for the servicesthey render
to the society.
He was all praise for its adoption of Asha Sadan, a school
forthe poor and destitute children. He congratulated the newBOD and
wished them well in all their future projects.
Celso Dias of Lions Club of Loutolim was the installationand
induction officer. Three new members were inducted bythe Club.
Region Chairman Abhijeet Salkar and Zone ChairpersonNelly Rodrigues
were also present at the function.
The new BOD for 2010-11 are Adolph Dalgado (secretary),Valente
DCosta (treasurer), Subash Kamat and Cdr P J Augustine(vice
president), Francis Gurjao (tail twister), Cristine DCosta(lion
lady), Carmin Augustine and Dr Nimish Pillai (directors),John
Fernandes (membership chairman) and Titus Moraes (liontamer).
Newly installed president de Souza while emphasizing onthe
projects undertaken by his predecessor, assured to continuethe
projects. He also disclosed the new projects he wishes
toundertake.
GU convocationPANJIM (HND): The twenty third annual convocation
of the
Goa University will be held in the month of October or
November.Candidates who have qualified for conferment of
degrees/awardof diplomas, are requested to submit their
applications withthe prescribed fee for admission to the
convocation. Applicationforms can be obtained from State Bank of
India, UniversityBranch or can be downloaded from the Goa
University websitewww.unigoa.ac.in from August 2. Candidates are
required tosubmit the application form before August 31 along with
acopy of the statement of marks of the qualifying exam, twopassport
size photographs and a copy of the banks challan/de-mand
draft/Indian postal order.
Chorao forums meet heldPANJIM (HND): The meeting of the Chorao
Civic and Consumer
Forum discussed on various topics including Choro motorcycletaxi
stand, crowding of buses, price and delivery procedure ofgas
cylinders, electricity supply and billing grievances, etc
Girl cadets attend campMAYEM (HC): The NCC girls cadets of Shri
Shantadurga High
School, Bicholim, (1 Goa girls bn NCC unit, Panjim) recently
at-tended national integration camp at Mysore and Thal SenaCamp at
Belgaum.
The cadets were accompanied by School Headmaster SureshGhatwal
and ANO (third officer) Yasmin D Shetye. Cdt SamliGirkar and Cdt
Neha Abbasi attended the Mysore camp, whileCdt Anagha
Kumbharjuvekar, Cdt Mamata Parab and Cdt TanviSawant attended the
Belgaum camp.
Supervisory committee electedOLD GOA (HC): The Corlim gram sabha
members on Sunday
elected an overall supervising committee to look into all
aspectsof panchayat works.
The committee will be headed by Corlim Panchayat
SecretaryBasilio Pires, under whom the committee would have the
rightto assess the overall development works undertaken in
Corlimjurisdiction.
The seven members elected are Rohidas Naik (Ward No 1),Anand
Shirvoikar (Ward No 2), Kanzil Rodrigues (Ward No 3),Kashinath
Dhulapkar (Ward No 4), Purshottam Dhulapkar (WardNo 5), Baptist
Pereira (Ward No 6) and Goraknath Kerkar (WardNo 7).
The supervising committee was formed after the gram sabhamembers
were annoyed with the sarpanch and panchas fornot providing proper
answers to their queries pertaining todevelopmental works carried
out by the concerned panch mem-ber.
Gurupoornima celebrationPANJIM (HND): Rose Garden Primary
School, Porvorim will
celebrate Gurupoornima on July 31 at 4 pm with music anddance
(Kathak) at Rose Garden premises.
Dr Vinay Prabhu Desai will be the chief guest for the
function.Other dignitaries present will be Gurudas Redkar,
NishikantAsnodkar and Krishna Hadfadkar.
CM to lay corner stonesPANJIM (HND): Chief Minister Digambar
Kamat will lay the
foundation stone for developmental projects at Queeny Nagarnear
pale junction Sancoale on August 2.
The projects include construction of second phase of
Cortalimmarket complex at Thana for Cortalim Quelossim
Panchayat,construction of Panchayat Ghar cum market complex for
SancolePanchayat and construction of Panchayat complex at
Chicalim.The work of all these projects will be taken up under
GSIDC.
Fado evening at Cidade PANJIM (HND): Ever wondered what Goa was
culturally in
the bygone era? Ever wondered what Goans did for entertain-ment?
Ever wondered about their music? Ever wondered whattheir cuisine is
like? Cidade de Goa has encompassed all thesefacets at a special
traditional live Fado evening at Alfama onAugust 3 from 8 pm
onwards.
Fado evening pays tribute to the music of Portugal, withsongs
filled with passion, sorrow, jealousy, grief and satire.Well-known
Fado singers specially invited for the evening areSonia Shirsat,
Miguel Cotta, Chantalle Cotta Viegas and Danicada Silva Pereira.
Musicians accompanying them will be FranzSchubert Cotta -
Portuguese Guitar (Guitarra Portuguesa) andCarlos Meneses - Guitar
(Viola).
To add to the soul stirring live music performed in the
cosyambience at Alfama, enjoy the varied menu, consisting of
veg-etarian and non vegetarian dishes ranging from Carabineirosde
Pprica, Lulas de Alho, Bolo de Caranguejo (platter of
paprikaprawns, garlic squid and crab cake) or Ameixa Seca
EncheuGalinha com Molho de Tomate Queijoso (prune stuffed
chickenwith cheesy tomato sauce) or Rosbife com Molho em Forma
deCogumelo Preto (roast beef with black mushroom sauce) andmany
more.
And the menu will be complete with assorted desserts likeBolo de
Cajueiro, Barra de Chocolate Escura, Sorvete de Coco(cashew cake,
dark chocolate bar and coconut ice cream).
Rs 650 plus taxes will per charged per person. For moredetails
please contact 2454545.
GGEA panels to meetPANJIM (HND): The joint meeting of the
various taluka com-
mittees and the working committee of Goa Government Em-ployees
Association will be held on July 31at its Patto office at3.30 pm.
At the meeting strategies will be adopted to organizethe proposed
indefinite pen-down-tool-down strike from August2.
NCP meetPANJIM (HND): The first meeting of the newly appointed
Goa
State NCP has been conveyed by State President Jose Philip
D-Souza on July 31 at NCP office, MG Road, Panjim at 3.30 pm.All
the office bearers and executive members are requested toattend the
same.
Homage to Lokmanya TilakPANJIM (HND): Chief Minister Digambar
Kamat will lead the
people of Goa in paying homage to Bal Gangadhar Tilak on
theoccasion of his death anniversary on August 1. Chief
Ministerwill garland the portrait of late Lokmanya Tilak at 11 am
in theopen space at new secretariat, Porvorim to mark the
occasion.
Kamat will also attend a function organized by Goa Union
ofJournalist at 10 am at Goa Union of Journalist premises atShrama
Shakti Bhavan, Patto, Panjim. Navprabha Editor PareshPrabhu,
Director of Information and Publicity Menino Peresand GUJ president
Prakash Kamat will attend the function.
Similarly, a seminar on rural journalism is organized
atInstitute Menezes Braganza at 11 am.
uPCoMInG eVenTS
JULY 31MAPUSA: From 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are Mapusa
Industrial
Estate, Alto Duler and nearby surrounding areas.
PoWer SHuTDoWn
HERALD CORRESPONDENTPORVORIM, JULY 30
The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti(HJS) has demanded the with-drawal
of five more paintingsdisplayed at the exhibitionEpiphanies of the
Hindu Godsby Sanskrit scholar Dr JosePereira at Xavier Centre of
His-torical Research (XCHR).
The HJS delegation called onXCHR late Wednesday eveningand met
Dr Jose Pereira to de-mand that five more paintingsdisplayed in the
exhibitionshould be withdrawn immedi-ately, as they were
objection-able.
In reply, Dr Pereira recitedthe Sanskrit Slokas and ex-plained
to the members thateach painting is based directlyon the
descriptive passages inthe original Sanskrit texts.
My paintings are not the fig-ments of my imagination, buttheir
imagery is derived entirelyfrom the most characteristiciconography
of ancient India,explained Dr Pereira.
However, HJS members didnot accept his interpretationsof the
Sanskrit slokas nor hisexplanations and insisted that
the five paintings should be re-moved, as it had hurt the
reli-gious feeling of the Hindus.
XCHR Superior Fr Delio Men-donca told the delegation tosubmit
their objections to en-able them to take necessary ac-tion.
Speaking to Herald, Dr Pereirasaid he had absolutely no
inten-tion to hurt the religious senti-ments of the Hindus.
My paintings are based onthe Hindu Shastra and hencethere should
not be any reason
to object it. The exhibition ofthe paintings was also held inNew
Delhi recently and the artlovers have appreciated it, saidDr
Pereira.
Goa University English ProfRafael Fernandes said that
anyliterary texts are liable for mul-tiple interpretations,
particularlywhen there is ambiguity.
There is nothing obscenityor vulgarity as such in the paint-ings
of Dr Jose Pereira. It all de-pends on the mindset of theviewers,
said Fernandes.
HJS demands withdrawal of five more paintings at expo
Dr Jose Pereira (right) explains to Hindu Janajagruti members
abouthis paintings. Photo by Anil Shankhwalker
HERALD CORRESPONDENTPORVORIM, JULY 30
Some residents from Porvorimhave decided to file a writ
peti-tion in the High Court prayingfor stay order on sale of
plotsin a land at Porvorim, where thePenha-de-Franca Panchayat
haddecided to construct an indoorstadium.
The land at Porvorim onwhich Penha-de-France Pan-chayat had
decided to constructan indoor stadium has been con-verted into
plots by Serula Com-munidade.
It may be recalled that sincethere were no recreational
fa-cilities on Porvorim plateau forthe youth, residents from
Por-vorim had requested Penha-de-France Panchayat in 1995 tobuild
an indoor stadium for play-ing games like badminton, tabletennis,
etc.
As there was an open spaceof about 3,000 sq mtrs at Por-vorim,
the Penha-de-Franca Pan-chayat adopted a resolution inits meeting
on October 1, 1995to request the Administrator ofCommunidade Bardez
to grantthe necessary No-objection Cer-tificate for the
construction ofindoor stadium in Communidadeland at Porvorim. The
resolutionwas passed unanimously.
The panchayat also made anapplication to the Town andCountry
Planning Department,Mapusa, with a request to grantpermission for
acquisition ofland for the construction of theindoor stadium.
The Town and Country Plan-ning Department granted per-mission to
Penha-de-FrancaPanchayat for the acquisition ofland in its letter
dated Novem-ber 1, 1995.
Later, the panchayat sent aletter to Block Development Of-ficer
Bardez on July 18, 1996,enclosing the documents suchas Panchayat
Resolution, copiesof site plan, letter from TownPlanner, letter
from Bardez Mam-latdar regarding valuation of
Locals to knock HC door for stay on plots sale in Porvorim
land, etc, as required by BDOfor the acquisition of the
land.
Since there was no furthermove on the part of the pan-chayat to
construct the indoorstadium and as it was a primeland in the heart
of Porvorim,the Serula Communidade ap-plied to the Town and
CountryPlanning Department in 2005requesting permission for
con-version of land into plots.
On receipt of approval fromTown Planner, the Serula Com-munidade
approached Penha-de-Franca Panchayat for grantof NOC for the
Provisional Sub-division of the land.
The panchayat without plac-ing the matter before gramsabha for
approval, adopted aresolution in the meeting onAugust 31, 2007, to
grant pro-visional NOC to the Serula Com-mundidade and
accordinglyissued a letter on September 7,2007 to this effect.
However, in the gram sabha
on July 25, 2010, R N Naik ofAlto Betim brought to the noticeof
the panchayat the file for ac-quisition of 3,000 sq mtrs ofland for
the construction of in-door stadium which was stillpending before
the Collector ofNorth Goa.
He requested the panchayatto pursue the matter and getthe filed
approved as early aspossible. However, to the sur-prise of the
villagers at the gramsabha, Panchayat Secretary RMardolkar informed
that Com-munidade of Serula has alreadyconverted the land into
plotsbased on the NOC for Provi-sional Sub-division of land givenby
Penha-de-France Panchayatin 2007.
Most of the residents of Por-vorim feel that they have
beencheated by the panchayat.
Some individuals have de-cided to file a writ petition inthe
High Court praying stayorder on sale of plots.
Deepika isMerces
SarpanchHERALD CORRESPONDENT
MERCES, JULY 30
Deepika Shirgaonkar was electedsarpanch of Merces Panchayatand
Yatin Palekar deputy sarpanchat a special meeting held in
thepanchayat office on Friday.
It may be recalled that theposts of sarpanch and deputysarpanch
had fallen vacant afterPrakash Naik and Yogita Kavlekarwere ousted
in a no-confidencemotion recently.
All the six panchas who came to-gether to form the panchayat
werepresent including Deepika Shir-gaonkar, Yatin Palekar, Venita
Gracias,Girish Uskaikar, Sandhya Hoble andSunil Kalangutkar while
the otherfive panchas remained absent.
When asked what would beher first priority on taking overas
sarpanch, Deepika Shirgaonkarsaid she would concentrate ontackling
the growing number ofillegal activities in the village.
At the same time, though, Iwould give top priority to takeup all
the pending developmen-tal activities, irrespective of
whorepresents the wards, sheadded quickly and opined thather aim is
to fulfil the wishes ofthe people.
UNITED WE STAND: Newly elected Merces Sarpanch Deepika
Shirgaonkar (3rd from right) along withother panchas (from left to
right) Venita Gracias, Deputy Sarpanch Yatin Palekar, Sunil
Kalangutkar,Sandhya Hoble and Girish Uskaikar. Photo by Manuel
Vaz
BY HERALD REPORTERMARGAO, JULY 30
With heavy rains submergingthe Comba subway during thelast few
days, the PWD has fi-nally started pumping opera-tions to flush out
water fromthe waterlogged road under thebridge.
The operation has given relieffor the motorists heading to-wards
the educational institu-tions. A water pump has beenpressed into
operation to pumpout water from the subwayevery day.
In fact, inquires have revealedthat a group of labourers
aremanning the water pump, withinstructions to begin the pump-ing
operations from 7 am in themorning and continue till theevening
depending upon thewater level situation in the sub-way.
This temporary measure isbelieved to have implementedafter the
government receivedall round flak following the
death of a XII std science stu-dent a week ago.
During the inspection of thesubway carried out last week,senior
PWD officials had mooteda foot bridge at the Comba levelcrossing
for students to cross
over when the level crossing isclosed for traffic.
The PWD officials were sched-uled to discuss the proposalwith
the KRC officials beforepreparing estimates for the footbridge.
PWD begins relief operation at Comba subway
PWD begins pumping operations at the Comba subway to flushout
water from the road under the bridge. Photo by Santosh Mi-
LS Speaker to visit State
PANJIM, JULY 30(HND)
Speaker of Lok Sabha MeiraKumar will visit the State on July31
with her arrival at Goa Airportat 7.30 am. Later, she will be
at-tending a function as chief guestto present the Jnanpith
Awardfor the year 2006 at DinanathMangeshkar Auditorium
KalaAcademy, Campal, Panjim.
BY HERALD REPORTERMARGAO, JULY 30
The indefinite hunger strike re-sorted by the Margao
Municipalworker has entered the thirdday on Friday, even as Civic
bodytoday offered to engage theworker on daily basis, which hadno
takers.
The worker W Silva receivedsupport from the Scheduled
Tribecommunity as well as from mem-bers on the public over his
demandfor reguarlisation of his servicesby the Civic body. ST
leaders in-cluding Anton Gauncar, Mama Car-dozo, Conceissao
Pixtore,Councilor Piedade Norohna on Fri-day inquired with Silva
and offeredtheir support to his just struggle.
Citizens Worker Centre Pres-ident Sriram Raiturkar, who hastaken
up the cause of the MMCworker, lambasted the Chief Of-ficer T B
Tawde for misguidingthe people on Silvas decisionto go on a hunger
strike.
Referring to Tawde commentsthat Silva has not completed240 days
in service, Raiturcarsaid the worker has worked inthe civic body
for 14 long yearsand pointed out that four work-ers who were
regularized by theCivic body did not complete 240days continuous
service.
In fact, the Civic body is put on
MMC worker gains support of STleaders, hunger strike
continues
MMC worker Silva undergoing hunger strike at the entrance ofthe
Municipal building. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar.
the defensive as documents ob-tained by the CWC under RTI
clearlystated that four workers who wereregularized by the Council
in 2006did not fulfill the criteria of com-pleting 240 days of
service.
MMC Chairperson SavioCoutinho told Herald that hewas the one of
the Councillorswho had protested in 2006when the Civic body had
regu-larized 39 workers without fol-lowing proper rules.
He said the Civic body willtake a positive decision in
Silvascase, but added that hungerstrike was not the right mode
to lodge protest against theCivic body.
Coutinho said the Civic bodywrote a letter to the worker thathis
demands will be positivelyaddressed by the Council, butadded that
the worker refusedto accept the letter.
Incidentally, while the Chairper-son has offered to engaged
Silvaon daily basis an offer rejectedby the worker questions are
raisedwhy Coutinho has not suggestedto the Chief Officer to
initiate actionagainst those workers who wereregularized without
completing240 days continuous service.
House collapses in Fatorda
HERALD REPORTERMARGAO, JULY 30
A residential house cum cattleshed caved in at Gouliwadda
inFatorda in the wee hours ofThursday.
The loss of property is put atRs five lakhs by the owner
RajeshSathe. No sooner, the inmatesrealized that the structure
iscrumbling down, they immedi-ately evacuated the cattlehoused in
the shed.
GPCC general secretary VijaySardessai visited the spot andtook
up the issue of compensa-tion with the disaster manage-ment
committee.
Meanwhile, the fire servicesrushed to Betalbatim and Colvaon
Thursday to remove trees thatcame crashing down on the road.
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GOAGOA, SATURDAY, 31 JULY, 2010
Pg 5OHERALD
O
HERALD REPORTERMARGAO, JULY 30
Theres good news for citizensof Margao vis--vis vector
bornediseases.
If Margao Urban Health Offi-cer, Dr Geeta Kakodkar is to
bebelieved, Malaria, Dengue,Chikungunya, Japanese En-cephalitis are
well under control,but the hea l th of f ice hassounded a word of
caution onthe H1N1 flu this season.
Delivering a talk on the sit-uation of vector borne diseasesin
the commercial Capital or-ganised by the South Goa Jour-n a l i s t
s A s s o c i a t i o n , D rKakodkar said that Malaria iswell
under control, with thenumber of cases reported inthe month of July
to a mere41. Four cases of dengue andsix cases of chikungunya
weredetected this year. There wason Japanese Encephalitis was
reported from Curtorim thisyear, she said.
Dr Kakodkar, however, saidthere is no room for compla-cency with
the Commercial Cap-ital playing host to nearly a lakhpopulation and
a large army offloating population employedin the construction
industry.The health office has evolveda mechanism wherein
workerstry to screen migrant workersworking in the city. Even
thecontract workers assembling be-hind the Margao Municipalbuilding
every day are notspared by our workers, sheadded.
Saying that areas such asKhareband are no more malariaprone
area, Dr Kakodkar saidthe Chandrawado area of Fa-torda and some of
the construc-tion sites are still a cause forconcern.
On H1N1, the Health Officer
said that not a single case fromthe city has been reported
sofar. But, she warned that thesecond phase of H1N1 alwayscomes
worst and called forspreading awareness amongstthe citizens on the
flu. Everycold persisting for more thantwo days should be reported
tothe doctor as a precautionarymeasure. The DHS has alreadyissued
circular to the educa-tional institutions to take pre-cautions on
H1N1 as theres aspurt in cases in Kerala, Pune,Belgaum and other
cities,
On Japanese Encephalitis, DrKakodkar said the health centrehad
vaccinated around 75 percent of the population beforethe
vaccination drive was hit bythe controversy. The health of-fice has
received new stock ofthe vaccines. Parents can bringtheir children
for vaccination,she added.
Malaria under control inMargao, Dr cautions on H1N1
HERALD REPORTERVASCO, JULY 30
Stall owners and traders fromvarious parts of the State
andelsewhere will have to bearsome burden on their profits,as
Mormugao Municipal Coun-cil (MMC) has resolved to raisethe present
rate fixed on spaceallotment for traders duringthe Saptah festival
fair inVasco.
The famous Lord DamodarSaptah, which will be cele-brated in
Vasco on August 15,is also known for its 10-day fairthat attracts
large number oftraders from Goa and neigh-bouring states,
generatinghuge business during the pe-riod.
In an ordinar y meetingconvened by MMC Chairper-son Shekhar
Khadapkar onFriday afternoon, it was re-solved to increase the
pres-ent rate of space allotted for
traders during the 10-day fairon the two parallel
roadsSwatantrapath and DattatrayDespande and other
interiorroads.
The four-by-four square metrearea rates have been doubledto Rs
600 for 10 days, whiletrade form rate has been in-creased to Rs
100, besides nom-inal trade license fees.
MMC has also directed thecontractor to obtain separatepermission
for banners that areerected in the pandal near thetemple.
Prior to the meeting, MMCchief officer said festival gener-ates
nearly Rs 6.5 lakh revenuefor the council and this year, thecouncil
hopes to increase it byRs 10 lakh.
The council earlier decidedto go for auction to collectamount
from traders to curbillegalities, as there are allega-tions that
some councilors and
council staff are involved to oc-cupy prime business space inthe
fair and later sublets it tot r ader s a t an exorb i t an
tamount.
There was a move to giveall earmarked trade spaceson auction,
but due to lackof time we could not materi-alise the idea, said
Khadap-kar.
He further said rates andspace allotment traders dif-fers from
nature of trades, asthey have kept very marginalrate on traditional
sweet martKhaje traders, while ratesfor restaurants,
furniturestalls, amusement park, etc,differs.
Meanwhile, MMC has decidedto donate Rs 50,000 to DamodarBhajani
Saptah Utsav Samiti onbehalf of the council, as earlierthe council
has also contributedfor Carnival and Sigmotsav fes-tivals.
Mormugao Council to raise stall allotment rate for Saptah
Govt pulled upfor not protecting IT industries at
Dona PaulaHERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, JULY 30
The government is not protectingthe interest of the IT
industries,who were allotted plots in theRajiv Gandhi IT Habitat at
DonaPaula, a legislative panel has said.
The project has been put onstandstill as the people of
Taleigaoprotested against the project.
The IT industries have ex-pressed fear that once they re-start
work on the project theviolence may re-occur, the adhoccommittee on
Information tech-nology headed by Aldona legis-lator Dayanand
Narvekar said.
The committee further saidthat if this is the state of
affairsthen Goa will lose on establish-ing itself as an IT hub.
The IT companies will be dis-couraged to set up industries inGoa
which will hamper employ-ment avenues and also result inloss of
revenue to governmenttreasury, the report says.
The committee desires thatthe government take stringentaction to
prevent violence anddeterrent steps against these vi-olent groups
and if necessaryprovide police protection.
The committee desires thatthe government provide themprotection
but take an under-taking from them that they willbegin construction
within aspecified time limit.
If this is not adhered to theyshould be asked to return the
landto the government, he stated.
HERALD REPORTERPANJIM, JULY 30
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) legis-lator Damodar Naik on
Fridaysaid that the importance of GoasLiberation Day annually
ob-served on December 19 was nottaught in certain schools of
Goa.
Speaking during the Private Mem-bers Resolution, Naik preferred
toconceal names of the schools thatskip teaching its students on
thesignificance of December 19.
Some schools do not cele-brate this day and grant
holidayswithout hoisting the flag. Theimportance is not taught to
thestudents, he said.
The Fatorda MLA suggestedthat Government issue directionsto all
schools in Goa to celebrateGolden Jubilee celebration ofGoas
Liberation including aware-ness among the students on Goanart,
heritage, culture, etc. Naikstated that even non-Goan stu-dents
studying here should alsobe educated on the Goan history.
The resolution was however
withdrawn after the Education Min-ister assured to form a
committeeto chalk out a plan to celebrate thegolden jubilee of Goas
liberation.
He informed the Assembly offorming a committee that willinclude
experts from variousfields for this activity.
Meanwhile, Ruling party legislatorPandurang Dhawalikar on
Fridayrecommended the Government toconstruct Goa Konkani and
MarathiNatya Academy to promote welfareand creative skills of Goan
artists.
Presenting his Private Mem-bers Resolution in the Assemblyon
Friday, he said, the academybesides generating employ-ment, will be
a boon to localartists to display their talents.
At the same time, it will dis-seminate Goas history,
culture,tradition, etc to huge masses,Dhavalikar said.
The resolution was withdrawnfollowing an assurance from thechief
minister that it was con-templating Ravindra Bhavan inevery taluka
and working to-wards that goal.
Importance of Liberation Daynot taught in some schools
HERALD REPORTERVASCO, JULY 30
The barge fraternity in Goa hasexpressed shock over
KarnatakaChief Minister B S Yeddyurappasdecision to ban export of
ironore from Karnataka, claimingthat the decision has been
takenwithout considering the busi-ness interest of various
stake-holders.
Speaking to reporters in hisoffice at Vasco on Friday, GoaBarge
Owners Association Pres-ident Atul Jadhav along withother officer
bearers WilliamDCosta and Prabhakar Naiksaid the Karnataka
governmenthas mixed politics into busi-ness, as it is evident
fromabrupt decision to ban iron oreexport.
If the ban is continued tillthe season commences onSeptember 15,
then it will cer-tainly have the worst impact
on the barge business, saidJadhav.
It is a wait-and-watch situ-ation for the barge industry, asit
all depends on reaction ofprime body Goa Mineral OreAssociation
which directly dealwith export of ore. Barge is anancillary unit
that is involved intransportation of cargo, addedJadhav.
From September 15, portsin Goa will resume its opera-tion for
the new season, whilesubsequently the barge busi-ness commence and
if the banis continued till October, itwill certainly have impact
onbarge business, both Goa andMormugao Port Trust and railtoo.
Since the ban has come dur-ing the off season, it will nothave
much impact, he said.
Nearly 7 million tonnes ofiron ore come to Goa from Kar-
nataka and even the barge fromGoa operates at Karwar portand
Belikary port, informedJadhav.
The worst affected will be thetransporters, as number oftrucks
and tippers which playin mineral regions are servingthe livelihood
of indirect busi-ness activities like tea stalls,garage, service
station, vulcan-ized centres, etc.
The ban will also have worstimpact on the livelihood of
thecommon people that are indi-rectly dependent on mine in-dustry,
added Jadhav.
He said ore export businessin Goa is two-generation-oldwhich is
carried out under var-ious guidelines and norms,while mine business
in Goa hassubstantially increased, that ismuch more regulated as
com-pared to any other states inIndia.
Ktakas ore export ban:Barge fraternity shocked
HERALD REPORTERPANJIM, JULY 30
Bombay High Court at Goa onFriday dismissed the petitionfiled by
National Organisationfor Tobacco Eradication (NOTE)against f i lm
star AmitabhBachchan and others under anti-tobacco law.
Justice N A Britto dismissedthe petition filed by the NGO.
Along with Bachchan, the casewas also filed with local
policeagainst Keshu Ramsay, producerof the film Family and M/s
DMSfilm private limited.
NOTE had objected to theroadside hoardings on Margao-Mapusa
route which showed theBig B smoking cigar.
The hoardings, displaying astill picture from the film
Family,were put up in from December25, 2005 to January 01,
2006.
Anti Tobacco NGO hadprotested against these hoardings.
The NGO had claimed thathoardings were violating ciga-rettes and
other tobacco products(prohibition of advertisement andregulations
of trade and com-merce, production supply anddistribution) act,
2003 and undersection 7 of Goa Prohibitory
smoking and spitting act, 1997.Reacting to the judgment,
NOTE general secretary DrShekhar Salkar said the organi-zation
will challenge the orderin the Supreme Court.
After sessions judge U V Bakrequashed the legal
proceedingagainst Bachchan and others inMarch 2008, the NGO
hadmoved to the High Court.
HC dismisses NOTEplea against Big B
Day lightburglary at
Chandor, cash,gold stolenBY HERALD REPORTER
MARGAO, JULY 30
In a major day light burglary,unknown miscreants bargedinto the
house of one LuelaAntao at Chandor and struckgold, besides cash and
US dol-lars besides gold ornaments.
The incident occurred thismorning between 7 am to 11 amwhen the
inmates of the househad gone out. Taking advantageof the absence of
the inmates,the Maina Curtorim police saidthe miscreants effected
entryinto the house by breaking themain door and lifted the
booty.
The stolen gold ornamentsincluded six pairs of gold ear-rings,
two gold necklace, fourfinger rings, three pendants, onebangle, two
watches, besidesother gold ornaments.
The police said cash of Rs10,000, besides 500 US Dollarswere
lifted away from the house.
The Chandor-Guirdolim areahad been in the news in recenttimes,
with burglars making haywith the police failing to laytheir hands
on the miscreants.
In fact, the rising house bur-glaries had figured at the
gramsabha meetings of the Chandorvillage Pancahayt.
CM, health minister, Mapusa
MLA inspect Asilo condition
HERALD CORRESPONDENTPORVORIM, JULY 30
Chief Minister Digambar Kamatalong with Health Minister
Vish-wajeet Rane and Mapusa MLA Fran-cis DSouza on Friday visited
theAsilo Hospital at Mapusa to inspectthe condition of the
hospital.
The chief minister interactedwith the hospital staff at
AsiloHospital. Later, Kamat visited thenew district hospital and
exam-ined the facilities available there.
It may be recalled that Heraldhad carried an extensive reporton
the poor facilities and infra-structure at the Asilo hospital,which
was once considered apremier medical centre for peo-ple of North
Goa.
Speaking informally, Kamatsaid the issue of starting theDistrict
Hospital had come upfor discussion in the ongoingAssembly
session.
Since Asilo Hospital is unableto handle rush of patients,
thegovernment is contemplating tostart the OPD Section in the
newDistrict Hospital and also makeavailable morgue facilities to
thepublic. Initially the OPD andMorgue will be shifted to
newpremises. This arrangement willease the burden on the
presentAsilo Hospital, informed Kamat.
Prior to taking a final deci-sion in this regard, I will
convenea meeting next week and discussthe matter with the health
min-ister and Mapusa MLA thread-bare, said Kamat.
Joint Secretary (Health) MrSardessai, Health Services Di-rector
Dr Rajnanda Desai andDr Sanjeev Dalvi, Medical Su-perintendent
accompanied thechief minister, health ministerand Mapusa MLA during
theirvisits to the two hospitals.
CM hailed for reservations in Municipal polls
HERALD REPORTERMARGAO, JULY 30
Former Minister Luis Alex Car-doso has thanked Chief
MinisterDigambar Kamat and Urban De-velopment Minister Joaquim
Ale-mao for declaring reservationsfor OBC/SC/ST in the coming
Mu-nicipal polls due in October 2010.
Your government has won thehearts of these communities andthey
will always have faith onyour government, Cardozo said.
He recalled that he had placedbefore the Cabinet in 1995 as
aMinister of State for Panchayatto reserve seats for the OBC inthe
Panchayat elections.
3 injured in Tivim mishap
PORVORIM, JULY 30(HC)
Three persons were injured aftera car dashed against a
motorcyclenear Tivim on Friday afternoon.
According to Mapusa Police,the accident occurred when thecar
(GA-06-A-0234), which wasproceeding from Mapusa to-wards Bicholim,
skidded off theroad and dashed against oncom-ing Hero Honda
Splendor mo-torcycle (MH-07-M-8161).Motorcycle rider Ragoba
AmrutShetkar (38), his wife Saraswati(30) and their daughter Dipti
(10)sustained injuries.
-
Why not close Khajuraho?Damodar Mauzo, Majorda
The objection to the paintings of Dr JosePereira raised by the
Hindu JanJagruti Samitiis highly deplorable. The organisation
doesnot represent the Hindu community as such,and has no right to
talk on behalf of Hindus.A professor of theology, Dr Jose Pereira
isa scholar, musicologist, researcher andpolyghot, besides being a
great painter.
He is a Sanskrit pundit who can speakchaste Sanskrit, putting
many a Sanskritscholar to shame. He is a philosopher whohas
digested the essence of the worlds re-ligions. Though he lives in
the US, he hasGoa and India at heart. This is evident fromhis
writings, which centre around Goa,Konkani and Goan traditions.
Dr Pereira is an icon whose artistic geniusis beyond question.
An intellectual of hiscalibre can never portray anything
conde-scending or derogatory. His recent seriesof paintings
Epiphanies of the Hindu Gods is the result of a deep study of
Hindu
Gods and the faith. It is a pity that the self-styled leaders
of
the so-called Hindu JanJagruti Samiti do nothave the
intellectual depth to assess or eval-uate the beautiful depiction
of our deitiesby this great son of the soil. If at all the
HJSobjects to nudity in religious art, let themfirst go to
Khajuraho and shut down thosetimeless temples, where nudity
andshringaaris the focus of the art. Let themdelete Raas-krida or
Raas-leela from theHindu religious scriptures before they
targetothers.
Save agricultural landP L Fernandes, Old Goa
The proposed amendment to the TCP Act(Amendment to TCP Act: GBA
says no, Her-ald, 26 July), will presumably allow the gov-ernment
to frame rules opening up hillslopes, khazan lands and cultivable
fieldsfor development.
If the government has unfettered accessto even prime
agricultural land for buildings,then we farmers might as well say
goodbyeto agriculture. I have seen khazan landsslowly but
systematically turning fallow andbeing used for lucrative-for-some
fish farm-ing, with the connivance of governmentagencies, but no
benefit to farmers.
I hope the government acts responsiblyand puts in place
scrupulously devised safeguardsto prevent destruction of cultivable
land.
Impose RTIFrancis A Soares, Santa Cruz
It is wise to impose the RTI Act on Churchauthorities, since we
have heard of manyscandals in the Church by a few corruptclergy. As
followers of Jesus Christ, what isthere for the Church to hide, if
they areclean? Most institutes run by Church au-thorities are
funded by the government insome way. Old Churches are renovated
withfunds from the government. One shouldhave the information to
question Churchauthorities when something is not right.
Ban ore entryS Kamat, Alto Betim
With Karnataka putting a ban of exports ofiron ore through its
ports, Goa should follow
suit and ban the entry of iron ore trucks ortrains from
adjoining Karnataka. With theassembly in session, it would be
opportuneto have an MLA raise this issue during ZeroHour.
No extensionAugusto Monteiro, Loutolim
Honble Deputy Speaker Mauvin Godinhosproposal to extend the
already fixed cut-off date for encroachments on comunidadeland
defeats the very purpose. Is our gov-ernment not firm on
legislation? If we allowa fresh cut-off date, it will be a never
endingstory, as some other member will again sug-gest extending the
cut-off date, to securehis vote bank.
The government cannot continuously os-cillate. Legislators
should stop creating votebanks at the cost of comunidades,
whichdeprives locals of their land. By regularisingillegal
encroachments and pampering mi-grants, I can foresee a future where
Goans
will be a minority and strangers will be ourlaw makers.
Discriminating MLAShamli Naik, Marcaim
Though Marcaim MLA Sudin Dhavalikarwishes to solve peoples
problems, only thebetter-off and rich get the benefit of
variousschemes. Needy people remain in theshadow and suffer. Only
one governmentjob should be given per family, but he hasbeen giving
jobs to two or even four personsfrom the same family. Needy
aspirants frompoor families get excuses instead of jobs.
Mr Dhavalikars chamchas from Kavlemand Marcaim get the maximum
benefits.These chamchas tell him bad things aboutthose they dont
like. The MLA believesthese stories, and therefore the really
needydont even get one government job in afamily. He should discard
such chamchasand help all his voters without discrim-ination.
LIC godbodYatin Pednekar, Mapusa
Some LIC employees from the Mapusabranch have been going round
making LICpolicies through bogus agents. Others sellpolicies to top
agents for a premium. This is notfair, as LIC has appointed
full-time agents.
Though the authorities are aware of this,they look the other way
as they are inter-ested only in the figures. In Mapusa, em-ployees
even leave the office to contactclients as the Branch Manager is
not in theoffice in the mornings. Will the Insuranceregulatory
authority please investigate this?
Bus bluesSoter DSouza, Socorro
The bus fare hike permitted by the govern-ment only makes public
transport more ex-pensive than using ones own vehicle. Ourroads are
getting jammed and our citiesovercrowded with vehicles. The
governmentshould be discouraging the use of privatevehicles by
putting in place an economical,decent and efficient public
transport system.
But instead, the public is made to travelin buses that would
have been scrapped inany other state. In spite of such
expensivepublic bus transport, commuters are treatedlike cattle and
subject to danger becauseof overcrowding and speeding. The plightof
women commuters is terrible. If one en-tirely depends on public
transport in a vil-lage, it is wise not to complain to
theauthorities, or one could be denied entryinto the bus!
Ministers or postmen?B V S Priolkar, Margao
The CM and other ministers answer ques-tions from the Opposition
in the Assembly,by just reading out data prepared by
theirdepartments. The minister is only doing apostmans job!
What happens after that? How many min-isters apply their minds
and take steps tocut expenditure? The issue is instantly for-gotten
and each one is free to spend withoutlimit. On to the next session
There is nofeeling of guilt, either from the departmentor the
minister. After all, whose fatherswhat goes?
A/c toilet for aam admi
Peregrinao, in 226 chapters, is a fascinatingEuropean account of
Asia of the age of Iberiandiscoveries. It is a sort of Portuguese
version
of Marco Polos Travels, and concentrates curiouslyin the same
region. While in Portugal the bookwas printed twice in the 17th
century (1614,1678), there were six Spanish, four English,
fourGerman, two French and two Dutch editionsissued during the same
period. Its popularity maybe gauged by the fact that even the
Lusiads sawonly six foreign editions in that century. Till date,the
number of editions in different world lan-guages certainly exceeds
170.
A new English-Portuguese edition in four vol-umes, a
collaborative work of a dozen-odd schol-ars, has been released a
couple of months ago inLisbon to mark the 400th birth anniversary
ofthe author: Ferno Mendes Pinto and the Peregri-nao, 4 vols. ed.
Jorge Santos Alves, Lisboa, Fun-dao Oriente / Imprensa
Nacional-Casa da Moeda,2010. Vol. 1: Studies - 375 pp. - Vol. 2:
RestoredText - 797 pp. - Vol. 3: Notes - 335 pp. - Vol. 4: In-dexes
- 107 pp. - ISBN 978-972-785-096-9 Price: 150 (Rs9,150).
Ferno Mendes Pinto left for India in his lateteens to find some
remedy for his miserable lifeconditions. He returned to Portugal in
September1558, after nearly 21 long years in Asia and de-cided to
leave a record of his memories beforehe died on 8 July 1583. He
claims that if he hadto record all he experienced, he would need
theoceans for ink and the skies for paper. His Pere-grinao is part
of the contemporary literature ofvoyages, and since much of it
circulated amongerudite persons, he draws from others and adaptsit
to his plan of work. Cames, the author of thePortuguese national
epic, was one of his contem-poraries. He seems to have drawn
informationfrom the writings of the Portuguese chroniclerJoo de
Barros and Bras de Albuquerque, the sonof Afonso de Albuquerque,
author of Comentrios.He also draws from the Dominican friar
Gasparda Cruz, author of Tratado das Coisas da China,published
recently, just like the voluminous workof the Jesuit Luis Fris;
that too had to wait tillthe very recent past to be published.
These workswere not likely to be best-sellers and could notfind
interested publishers. That was also one ofthe reasons why the
Peregrinao was publishedonly posthumously, but still in 1614.
The Peregrinao contains the earliest reference
to the introduction of guns into Japan throughthe mediation of
the Portuguese, a fact thatchanged the political organisation of
that country.Firearms gave the advantage to Nobunaga againsthis
feudal rivals. Ferno Mendes Pinto was oneof the first Portuguese to
have been in Japan atleast four times. He even assisted Francis
Xavier(later Goencho Saib) with funds to build a churchin
Japan.
The main personage in Peregrinao is AntnioFaria, a Portuguese
pirate in South East Asia, pre-sented as a fascinating hero. He was
his co-villagerfrom Montemor-o-Velho, and benefited from
hispatronage during his adventures. The other hero,of a
diametrically different type, is St FrancisXavier, whom Ferno
Mendes Pinto met in Japanin 1551. Possibly attracted by his zeal
and influ-
ence, he gained his vocation for the Society ofJesus. But the
habits of free life and adventureacquired during two decades of
wanderings acrossthe seas and lands of Asia, perhaps, did not
permithim to settle into a novitiate routine.
Peregrinao was looked upon till very recentlyas fiction, but