News Clips from Goa
 

Goa’s Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat, urges Goans to refrain from selling land to outsiders http://www.navhindtimes.com/story.php?story=2009061934 NT NETWORK | Posted on 2009-06-19 He also urged that every Goan should start the work of preservation of the Goan identity from him or her, and refrain from selling the land and property to the outsiders. One cannot sell his land and property to the foreigners and speak about protecting the Goan identity, at the same time, he maintained. PANAJI- Stating that the government, in collaboration with various freedom fighters associations as well as like-minded NGOs, would play an active role in organising different programmes to commemorate the ongoing birth centenary year of the socialist leader, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, the Chief Minister, Mr Digambar Kamat said that an under construction hall at the old secretariat building dedicated to the region?s Liberation struggle, would have a special section in honour of Dr Lohia. The government is currently renovating the historic building into a centre for art and culture,? he informed, adding that the government, based on the public suggestions, has decided to set up a hall in the centre, displaying Goa?s fight against the colonial rule through pictures, including portraits. Addressing the gathering of politicians, bureaucrats, freedom fighters and citizens, in the presence of the Governor, Dr S S Sidhu, during the state Revolution Day, at Azad Maidan on Thursday, the Chief Minister appealed to all those people, in possession of various items including rare pictures of Dr Lohia during his visit to Goa in 1946 and personal belongings of the socialist leader, to hand over the same to the government, so that they could be displayed at the centre. Speaking further, Mr Kamat lamented that people in Goa were adopting attacking stand on each and every issue. He also urged that every Goan should start the work of preservation of the Goan identity from him or her, and refrain from selling the land and property to the outsiders. One cannot sell his land and property to the foreigners and speak about protecting the Goan identity, at the same time, he maintained. The Governor, in his speech said that Goa is a unique state, but this should not make Goans complacent. The state also needs an inclusive growth, as it is the key to everything,? he pointed out. The president of the Goa, Daman and Diu Freedom Fighters Association, Mr Nagesh Karmali, in his speech said that Goa should maintain relations with Portugal, just like with any other country. ?However, Portugal should not be provided with any special status just because it had once ruled Goa,? he added. The GDDFFA chief alleged that a team of the Portuguese television channel - RTP is constantly visiting Goa and seeking opinion from the rural public as to whether Goa was better placed during the Portuguese rule or not. The president of the Goa Freedom Fighters Association, Mr Chandrakant Kenkre, speaking on the occasion said that the state government loses much of its time in making efforts to stay in power, and hence has no time for planning the development. He also appealed to the government to solve the problem faced by those in government service under the Pre-Employment Training Scheme, by issuing a notification similar to the one that saved Hotel Cidade de Goa from demolition. The Governor and the Chief Minister felicitated 36 freedom fighters, nearly half of them posthumously, on the occasion. Later they laid a wreath at the Martyrs Memorial at Azad Maidan, paying tributes to all known and unknown persons who made the supreme sacrifice for liberating Goa from the erstwhile Portuguese rule. The city Mayor, Ms Carolina Po, the Minister for Transport, Mr Ramkrishna Dhavalikar, the South Goa MP, Mr Francisco Sardinha and the Development Commissioner, Mr Sanjay Srivastava were also present at the function.

Panaji Faces Severe Garbage Crisis http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=61189&n_tit=Panaji+Faces By: Special Correspondent | Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji | Saturday, June 13, 2009 6:58:20 PM (IST) Panaji, Jun 13: Goa’s capital city of Panaji faces a garbage crisis as increasing volume of rubbish has kept on accumulating after the local civic body refused to lift it. The city is filled with stink and the corporation of city of Panaji has stopped collecting garbage from the city streets after they lost the dumping site to a protest by locals. The CCP was accommodating the untreated garbage at Campal, a residential area within the city. The local residents protested after the first monsoon shower created filth around their houses. Corporation Mayor Caroline Po said that they will not lift the waste till they get the alternate dumping site. The rapid growth of the city over the years has left the local civic body to mend with around 40 tonne of rubbish generated from various households, market and hotels. “We manage to dispose off certain quantity of garbage through the composting units set up in wards. But the major portion remains to be managed,” Po said. As the garbage crisis continued haunting the city, the main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today gunned for the head of CCP commissioner Melwyn Vaz terming him `inefficient, incompetent and corrupt’. “We demand that the commissioner should be changed and replaced with efficient IAS officer who can handle the crisis. The commissioner has failed to resolve the crisis and sitting cool,” Leader of Opposition and local legislator Manohar Parrikar told reporters this afternoon. Parrikar, former Chief Minister, said that he has given all the possible help to the CCP to solve the crisis but the corporation lacks follow up. “The Commissioner either has to solve the problem or quit,” Parrikar added.

Confusion in Goa over status of swine flu suspect http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?a=jgmvkfbgfbd&title=_Confusion_in_Goa_over_status Panaji: Confusion prevailed in Goa over the status of a suspected swine flu patient, with senior bureaucrats switching their versions four times in a matter of two days. After confirming Goa's first swine flu patient on Thursday morning, state Health Secretary Sanjay Srivastava Friday said that the state government was still awaiting confirmation from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in Delhi. "We will receive the confirmation on Saturday," he said.

Sesa Goa to acquire Dempo's Goan mining assets for $350M http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/cnbc-tv18-comments/sesa-goa-to-acquire Vedanta Group company Sesa Goa is shopping in Goa. The company is set to acquire Goa’s largest industrial group Dempo’s mining assets in Goa for nearly USD 350 million. CNBC-TV18’s Bureau Chief Sajeet Manghat reports that Dempo has 19 mining leases spread over 1,800 hectares in Goa and that it plans to use the sale proceeds to infuse capital into Goa Carbon and other group companies. Here is a verbatim transcript of Sajeet Manghat’s comments on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video. Goa’s largest industrial group Dempo is selling its Goan mining assets to Sesa Goa, which is a subsidiary of Vedanta group and Sterlite. Dempo has nearly 65-75 million tonnes of minable iron ore reserves in Goa spread over 1,800 hectares and 19 mining leases licenses there. All of this would be acquired by Sesa Goa for a value close to USD 350 million. The entire transaction would take some time to be completed. Sesa Goa will benefit from this transaction because it has reserves of nearly 240 million tonnes that will increase by nearly 65-75 million tonnes and that would be 30% accretion to its reserves and from that perspective it would be a good buying opportunity for Sesa Goa. Dempo is a much diversified group based out of Goa, it has interest in sports and mining industry and also in publishing industry. It also runs an English news paper. The deal which is worth Rs 1,700-1,800 crore, this entire amount would be used to fuse various group companies, which includes Goa Carbon a listed company on the BSE. It also plans to infuse funds into mining assets, which it has in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. It will also infuse funds in its newspaper venture and also the Dempo Sports Club, which is into football —all these ventures would be requiring a lot of cash and the money would be used to infuse in these operations.

St Anthony, A Testimony Of Strong Faith http://www.navhindtimes.com/story.php?story=200906121 NT NETWORK | Posted on 2009-06-12 PANAJI- Come June 13 and we have the feast of the glorious St Anthony, all over the world, more especially in Portugal where he is a popular saint and in Goa, a testimony of strong faith of the people in the saint though sanctuaries. The festivities are held on a grand scale at Siolim where he is the Patron Saint of the main Church at Deussua, a hamlet of Chinchinim village, where a Chapel of St Anthony stands for last four centuries, and at Goa Velha located at the historic Raj Biddi below the Pilar hillock.The following churches dedicated to St Anthony also celebrate the feast: Vagator, Tiracol, Cabo de Rama, Galgi-bags, Pachvaddi and Veroda and so do the chapels at Praias (Anjuna), Cavorim (Chandor), Durgavaddo (Chinchinim), Simoesvaddo (Guirim) and Monte (Benaulim) where St Anthony is the Patron. At Siolim Church, the statue of St Anthony holds a serpent tied to a cord. Legend has it that during the construction of the Church, a serpent?s frightful dimension and strange form harassed the Parish Priest and the labourers who could not kill the cobra and being desperate decide to choose another place. But before doing so they pray to the Saint whose statue was placed in the Capela Mor, half built. The next morning, to their astonishment, they saw the snake hanging in the snare of the cord, in the Saint?s hand, half dead. In 1752, a Portuguese nobleman Dom Joao Antonio de Melo, who had lost his eyesight, was being taken by a machila (palanquin) from Agassaim to Ribandar. When his bearers needing rest at Goa Velha below the Pilar hillock, they made a stop beneath the mango tree and told the nobleman that a statue of St Anthony was placed in a niche carved at the wayside log of a coconut tree at Goa Velha. Immediately, the nobleman prayed to St Anthony, ?You are known as the Saint of miracles, you are here in the open, in the sun or rain; if you restore my eyesight, I will build a beautiful chapel to keep your statue in.? On return journey, Dom Joao again was lowered in the same place and there the miracle is reported to have taken place. And Dom Joao could see the statue of the Saint. When the nobleman was back home, without help he climbed the steps to the palace. As his wife could not believe, he came out in the veranda and counted the vessels he could see in the bay. Faithful to the vow, he brought the copies of best altars from Portugal, built the Chapel, placed the life-size statue of St Anthony, which still exists in the Chapel. Anguished people who have lost something, frightened ones who have been robbed, lonely feeling ones needing a partner to settle in life and so on flock the roads lead to the Churches and Chapels of St Anthony, seeking a miracle, more so on June 13.

Goa scraps SEZ policy, at last Finally, the controversial Special Economic Zone (SEZ) policy 2006 is scrapped.lnterestingly, the Cabinet decision on this comes one¬and-a-half year after the Goa Government officially said 'No' to SEZs in Goa. "The Cabinet today has decided to withdraw SEZ policy 2006", Clief Minister Digambar Kamat announced at a post-Cabinet press conference here. Kamat, who was accompanied by Home Minister Ravi Naik, claimed that his Govemment would continue its opposition to setting up SEZs in the State as they were opposed by the public at large. He said that the State has not given any thought for compensating the SEZ developers although the money paid by them in purchasing land would be reimbursed. [H]

Israelis mistake Goan's 'teeka' for bomb button! A Goan couple on a tour of Jordan, Egypt and Israel had a very unpleasant time entering Israel, as Israeli soldiers at the border crossing mistakenly thought that the vermillion mark on the woman's forehead - a symbol for married Hindu women - was a button to set off a suicide bomb! They also made her untie her large, typically Goan hair bun, suspecting it might contain explosives, says an IANS report by Mayabhushan Nagvenkar. Shrirang Narvekar, a popular humour playwright and former President of the United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP), and his wife S S Narvekar had gone on the tour in May. AIl went well till they reached the Jordan-Israel border on May 14. [H]

Goa beat Bengal, win Santosh Trophy CHENNAI: Captain, Felix D'Souza may have failed to equal the 25-year-old record set by his state-mate and legendary goalkeeper, Brahamanand Sancoalkar .. winning Santosh Trophy without conceding a goal. But the pony-tailed 'keeper had more than a lion's share as he led Goa from the front to pull off a 4-2 victory against nemesis Bengal to win the National Football Championship. Felix, with his heroics under the bar, saved two penalty kicks to ensure Goa won the final via the penalty shootout after 120 minutes of goalless play on Sunday. It was Goa's first win against Bengal in six meetings in the final and their fifth title triumph and fourth outright (they were joint-winners once). In the penalty shootout, Climax Lawrence, Beevan D'Mello, John Charles Dias and Fulganco Cardozo converted for Goa. Felix brought off two grand saves as Bengal were successful with only two attempts by Snehashish Chakraborty and Pachau Lalam Puia. It was another heart break for Bengal who last won the trophy for the 29th time 10 years ago while Goa regained the cup after a lapse of three years. [GT]

Govt mulls tiger conservation project A wildlife conservation project for tigers in the state could be a possibility, the Forest Minister, Mr Filipe Neri Rodrigues said, but added that the final word on whether to have it or no was with the Centre. "We can explore the possibility to start something on the lines of the national tiger project" the Forest Minister told media during his trip to inspect beach conservation works at Candolim beach. His comments were sought on the regular sightings and pugmarks of tigers and even elephants and leopards in the state. [NT]

CCP begins mission garbage The Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) began lifting the garbage with the help of a private contractor after an escalation of the garbage crisis was feared. “We have employed a private contractor who has began lifting the garbage since last night,” CCP Commissioner Melwyn Vaz told reporters this morning. The nagging issue had crippled the city with stink and foul smell polluting few parts in the city like market and other city lanes. The CCP had caught itself in a tricky situation after Campal residents refused to allow dumping of waste on the parade grounds. The corporation went through difficult moments for almost a week. “The garbage lifting will continue in the days to come,” Vaz stated. The CCP, which is being targeted for mismanagement by certain factions including the Bharatiya Janata Party, is now waiting for its meeting with Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao to find out a permanent solution. [H]

Tempers run high over mega project at Siolim The Oxel (Siolim) gram sabha on Sunday witnessed noisy scenes over panchayat’s decision to approve mega project in Visapur, Gobliwado. Speaking to reporters, Subhash Virnodkar of Siolim said that the panchayat has approved the mega project without obtaining the consent of gram sabha. “The project, which will be set up on an area of 22,000 sq mtrs of land at Visapur, Gobliwado, will create problems for the residents of the area,” he added. Digambar Sangelkar said even though all the 53 residents from the area had submitted their objections to the panchayat on November 28, 2008 stating that there was no proper road to the property and the project would create garbage and water problem for them, the housing project was approved by the panchayat. “In the panchayat meeting, ward members Deepak Dhargalker and Ranganath Agarwadekar have objected to the project,” said Sangelkar. [H]

When price rise is good news Horticulture Corpn makes Rs 44lakh profit selling vegetables When prices of essential commodities started increasing last year the state government took a decision to supply these commodities at controlled prices and the Horticulture Corporation was entrusted with the task of supplying the goods. Said Orlando Rodrigues, managing director of' the Corporation, "The government bore the transportation cost as we had to get vegetables from Belgaum. This helped reduce the selling price." Consequently the turnover of the Corporation increased from Rs 1 crore in the year 2007-08 to Rs 6.3 crore in the year 2008-09," explained Rodrigues. [GT]

Five state rivers interlinked The Goa government, with an aim to integrate the state water resource connectivity through overall planning of interlinking of rivers, has succeeded in connecting five rivers at the cost of Rs 24 crore. Highly placed officials at the department of water resources informed that presently Mhadei and Khandepar rivers at Ganje have been interlinked, as also Zuari and Khandepar rivers, at Kalay as well as Mandovi and Chapora rivers, at Assanora. These rivers have been linked through installation of pumps and gravity flow to ensure availability of drinking water in the region. [NT]