OHERALDOThe Voice of Goa Since 1900

India: Deepika in lip-lock

with Neil Mukesh Pg 9

Sports: Murali, Malinga absence

wont make task easy Pg 18Business: Let your party take

off - in a plane Pg 13

Visit us at:www.oheraldo.in panjim, monday, july 26, 2010 pRiCE Rs. 3.00 (air Surcharge Rs. 1.50) pages 18

IN BRIEF

Sir, you never told us that thisconstable is also part of the drugparty...(Continued on page 2)

(Continued on page 2)

(Continued on page 2)

Grief is itself a

medcine

William Cowper

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JULY 25

The Union Law Minister Dr MVeerappa Moily today said thatGoa would soon have a paper-less district court.

Moily disclosed this whilebriefing media persons afterchairing the Western Region Re-view meeting for improving jus-tice delivery and other matters,in a starred hotel at Panjim.

He said the Centre has de-cided to have at least one pa-perless court in every HighCourt and one court in everydistrict court.

This will help the aam admi.The 13th Finance Commissionhas sanctioned Rs 100 croresfor the computerisation ofcourts, he stated.

Further, he continued, ChiefMinister Digambar Kamat has

assured him that Goa wouldsoon have a paperless court.

He said the government ismaking all efforts to reduce pen-dency in courts by startingmorning and evening fast trackcourts.

The government is of theview that no cases should bepending in the court for over3 years , he sa id adding...we expect Goa to be oneof the foremost State in thecountry for being one of thesmallest State.

Goa should be one of thefirst arrear-free courts. I hopeit will be a reality, he said.

Moily also stated that Goacould become an internationalarbitration centre as the Stateis one of the most favouritetourism destinations.

Arbitration is one of the im-portant aspects of the Govern-ment of India as all our casesare right now being referred toSingapore and we are losing alot of revenue, he said.

We have many mediationcentres at Delhi, Ahmedabadand Bangalore and need to up-grade them, Moily said addingsince Goa is an internationaltourist destination it can makea good arbitration centre andwe will like to improve it as amoderate arbitration centre.

Goa to have paperlessdistrict court soon

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 25

The heavy rainfall that poundedthe Konkan region over the past24 hours, forced the KonkanRailway Corporation on Sundayto cancel train services on theMargao-Mumbai route followingthe sinking of railway tracks atthe Ratnagiri section.

The Mumbai-bound KonkanKanya train departing from Mar-gao on Sunday evening was can-celled, while the KRC authoritieshave cancelled other trains onthe Goa-Mumbai route till fur-ther notice.

KRC Sr Public Relations Offi-cer, Baban Ghatge, who headedto Ratnagiri along with KRCRegional Manager, told Her-ald that all train services be-tween Goa and Mumbai havebeen cancelled with immediateeffect.

He said the Mandovi Expressdeparting Margao on Mondaymorning has been cancelled. Hesaid the KRC is taking stock ofthe situation at Ratnagiri, addingthat the train services will beresumed only after the situationimproves in Maharashtra.

Ghatge said that other longdistance trains moving on theKonkan Railway route have beenrescheduled or diverted in viewof the situation.

Meanwhile, the KRC hasarranged transshipment of rail-way passengers stranded at theRatnagiri Railway Station.Ghatge said that passengersstranded at Ratnagiri will betransshipped by the Jodhpur Ex-press.

Meanwhile, south-bound pas-sengers stranded at the Mar-gao Ra i lway S ta t ion l a s tnight reached Mangalore bythe Mangala Express, informedGhatge.

Over three hundred passen-gers heading towards Mangaloreand Kerala were strandedlate last night following dis-ruption in railway services atRatnagiri.

Konkan Railways has beenbadly hit with many trains can-celled on several other routesafter the ground under thetracks caved in near the Nivsarstation in Maharashtra. Manylong distance trains have beencancelled too.

Rain stops KRCin its tracks

Margao-Mumbai trains cancelled

PTI

GANDHINAGAR, JULY 25

After eluding the CBI for fourdays, former Gujarat ministerand Narendra Modis close aideAmit Shah was today arrestedby the p robe agency i nSohrabuddin Sheikh fake en-counter case and sent to jailshortly after he made a dramaticappearance at a BJP briefing.

Forty-six-old Shah, who re-signed from the Modi govern-ment yesterday following acharge sheet b e i n g f i l e dagainst him, turned up at theBJP office in Ahmedabad, wherehe denied all the charges againsthim.

He then drove to the Gand-hinagar office of the CBI andsurrendered before the agencywhich arrested him and pro-duced him before AdditionalChief Metropolitan MagistrateA Y Dave.

CBI nets ShahThe elusive former Gujarat minister surfaced after four days and madea dramatic appearance at the BJP office in Ahmedabad. He later drovedown to the Gandhinagar office of the CBI and surrendered

Surprisingly, the CBI did notpress for custody of Shah, whohas been charged with murder,extortion, kidnapping and fiveother sections under IPC for thekilling of Sohrabuddin and hiswife Kausar Bi in 2005. He wasremanded by the magistrate injudicial custody for 13 days tillAugust 7 and taken to Sabarmatijail in Ahmedabad.

I have full faith in the judici-ary and I am sure the allegationsagainst me will be cleared bythe courts, Shah said after heappeared during a press confer-ence called by state BJP presi-dent R C Faldu at the BJPheadquarters in Ahmedabad,ending the suspense of hiswhereabouts since Thursdaywhen he was first summonedby the CBI.

Shah claimed that he was in-nocent and said that chargesagainst him were fabricated,

politically motivated and wereon the instruction of Congressgovernment and demandedthat his entire questioning bythe CBI should be v ideo -graphed.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

VALPOI, JULY 25

It was a bitter end to 16-year-old Utkarsha Parabs strugglefor life after she breathed herlast at GMC on Sunday morn-ing.

Utkarsha, a resident ofBrahma Karmali in Valpoi anda student of Bhumika HigherSecondary School, Poriem-Sattari, started vomiting pro-

From Sada toGMC: Mickky

complains of chest pain

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JULY 25

Former tourism minister MickkyPacheco, the main accused inthe mysterious death of his closefriend Nadia Torrado, has beenadmitted to the Goa MedicalCollege and Hospital, Bambolimafter he complained of chestpain.

He was brought from Sadasub jail to the hospital at about5 pm, as he complained of chestpain. He is admitted to CoronaryCare Unit and is under obser-vation, informed Medical Su-pe r in tendent Dr Ra j anKunkolienkar while talking toHerald.

He however did not cite anyhealth complications, at thisjuncture. Pachecos health sta-tus will be thoroughly moni-tored and further decisions willbe taken accordingly, he furthersaid.

This is the second time thatPacheco complained of chestpain. Ear l ier th is month,while in judicial custody,Pacheco was admitted toHospic io in Margao withcomplaints of hypertensionand chest pain.

LeT eyesCwealthGames

PTI

LONDON, JULY 25

India fears that Pakistan-basedLashkar-e-Taiba, blamed for theMumbai carnage, may attemptto strike during the OctoberCommonwealth Games in NewDelhi and has voiced its con-cerns to the US, according to amedia report.

The fears were conveyed bythe Indian Army leadership toAdmiral Mike Mullen, Chairmanof the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,who was in New Delhi on Fridayand Saturday, The Sunday Timessaid in a dispatch from Islamabad.

LeT carried out the Mumbaiattacks in November 2008 thatkilled 166 people and India fearsthat the group might target thecountry again.

After his arrival in Pakistan, Mullenhad yesterday said that the LeThas expanded its operations toAfghanistan and the West andhas become more active throughoutthe region.

The paper said the LeT hasjoined forces with the Talibanin a new alliance to kill westernsoldiers in Afghanistan.

In the past few weeks NATOcommanders are convinced thatLeT are behind a string of at-tacks and influx of fighters intoeastern Afghanistan.

Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah arrives at the CBI office in connection with his alleged involvements inSohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case in Gandhinagar on Sunday.

16-yr-old Valpoi girldies, locals cry foul

Agitators at Valpoi Police Station demanding the arrest of all thoseinvolved in the death of Utkarsha Parab. Photo by Ashraf Khan

Parliament SessionWith the plunge in Govern-ment-BJP relations, stage is setfor an acrimonious MonsoonSession of Parliament that be-gins on Monday as Oppositionprepares to corner the UPA onprice rise and other issues butthe treasury benches may takeheart from the fact that par-ties on the other side are di-vided on Hindu terror andGujarat events.The opposition will press foran adjournment motion onprice rise issue. (PTI)

A BITTER TURN OF EVENTSl 16-year-old Utkarsha Parab reportedly abducted by her aunt

Snehal from Bhoomika HSS, Poriem on July 16 l While enroute to Bicholim, she phones father Uday that shes

visiting aunt Snehall Smelling foul play, Uday files complaint with Bicholim police

who initially refuse l Police swing into action and unite the girl with her parents l The girl vomits and is later hospitalised, doctors suspect food

poisoning case l The 16-year-old girl dies in GMC on Sundayl Utkarsha stated in her dying declaration that her aunt abducted

her and forcibly fed prasad, sheera and soft drink

fusely a couple of days back.She was later shifted to GMCfor suspected case of food poi-soning. The girls health condi-tion began deteriorating onSaturday.

It is alleged that she wasforcibly fed sweets laced withrat poison by her aunt Snehal.

According to Valpoi police,Utkarsha in her dying declara-tion stated her aunt abducted

her and forcibly fed prasad,sheera and soft drink.

The news of Utkarshasdeath spread like wild fire.Tension rent the air in Valpoias villagers of Brahma Karmali,Nagargao-Valpoi, demandedstern and prompt actionagainst those involved in thecrime that led to her death.

A large number of villagers,

GMC doctors keep autopsy report on hold

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JULY 25

The doctors in Goa MedicalCollege and Hospital, Bam-bolim on Sunday conductedpost-mortem on UtkarshaParab after a delay of fewhours as victims familypressed for stern actionaga ins t a ccused SnehaGaonkar and her parents.

The cause of death is re-served by the doctors.

The post-mortem on the16-year-old girl, which wasscheduled at morning, finallywas conducted in the evening.Utkarshas family membershad refused the consent forautopsy pending actionagainst the accused.

Utkarsha died of suspectedrat poison which was al-legedly fed to her in the foodby her aunt Snehal on June 16.

The autopsy was sched-uled in the morning but was

Page 1_Layout 1 7/26/2010 1:34 AM Page 1

GOA, MONDAY, 26 JULY, 2010

GOAHERALD

Pg 2

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

CORTALIM, JULY 25

Sending a strong signal that theywill not allow a mega project intheir village, the Agassaim gramsabha on Sunday unanimouslyopposed a five-star hotel whichis to come up along Moita-Dandibelt.

The villagers stood up to sayNo when asked whether theywere interested in the project.

The villagers have also de-cided to take on the hotelier,who has challenged the pan-chayat resolution opposing theproposed hotel as per the deci-sion taken by the gram sabha.

The gram sabha expressedthe need that the panchayatlawyer be briefed properly and

Agassaim residents vow to oppose hotel

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 25

The South Goa session courtwill decide the fate of formerTour i sm Min is ter Mickk yPacheco as the court will pro-nounce its order on the bail pleain the Nadia Torrado death case.

The Benau l im ML A i spresently lodged in the SadaSub jail, Vasco after the JudicialMagistrate First Class, Margaoremanded him to 14 days Judi-cial custody after the expiry ofhis 14 days police custody.

This is the fourth time thatPacheco has approached SouthGoa sessions court for bail with his previous anticipatorybail plea and two regular bailapplications not finding favourwith the Court.

Additional sessions Judge BP Deshpande will pronounce hisorder on Pachecos bail plea onMonday morning, even as thelegal counsel for the former Min-ister, Adv Anacleto Viegas sub-mitted before the court onFriday that the MLA is entitledfor bail as the crime branch hasfailed to make any case outagainst his client.

Even as the Prosecution hasvehemently opposed the bailapplication, citing the high courtorder, stating theres prima faciecase against the former Minister,

Adv Viegas has drawn attentionof the court to the same highcourt order clearing stating thatthe order should not in any wayinfluence the presiding officerwhile deciding on Pachecos bailapplication.

Adv Viegas, while submittingthat Pacheco has become a vic-tim of those who are in power,said the former Minister is notin a position to influence or oth-erwise interfere with the inves-tigations of the case as he wieldsno power.

In his petition, Pacheco hadcontended that he had beenthoroughly interrogated by thepolice over a period of twoweeks, adding that his petitionfor anticipatory bail was rejectedon grounds that he was requiredfor custodial interrogations. Inthis respect, Adv Viegas submit-ted that no further custodial in-terrogations is now available forthe crime branch on the expiryof extended remand period onJuly 23.

Meanwhile, the anticipatorybail applications filed by Pachecowill come up for hearing beforethe Sessions Court on Tuesday.Pacheco had filed for anticipa-tory bail fearing arrest in crim-inal cases registered at theMargao, Quepem and Colva po-lice stations

Order on Mickkys bail plea today

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 25

Loutolim gram sabha memberson Sunday cried foul over theongoing exercise of verificationof voters list and demanded theverification drive should also as-certain the names of voterswrongly included in the electoralroll.

Terming the verification ex-ercise as faulty, as the drive takescare of inclusion, deletion andcorrection of names, agitatedgram sabha members demandedthat the Panchayat ver i f ywhether the names already in-cluded in the list are valid ornot.

Gram sabha members con-tended that large number of vot-ers have been wrongly includedin the electoral rolls in recenttimes following NOCs given by

the tenants. It is necessary toverify the names on the electoralrolls as landlords have givenNOCs for tenants, remarkedGram sabha member FrankyMonteiro.

He maintained that non resi-dents of the village have gottheir names included in the elec-

toral roll,Saying that the gram sabha

has resolved to ask the Pan-chayat to verify names on theelectoral rolls, Monteiro andother gram sabha members saidthat whichever names wronglyincluded in the roll should bedetected. They demanded thatthe Panchayat should compilethe list and submit the same tothe Salcete Mamlatdar for nec-essary changes.

Gram sabha members alsoquestioned the Sarpanch andsecretary on the alleged con-troversial Regional plan. Theyquest ioned the Sarpanchwhether the panchayat hasmade necessary correspondenceto the authorities not to giveeffect to the controversial RP

plan.Meanwhile, gram sabha

members demanded demolitionof what they termed as an illegalwall built in the middle of lowlying paddy fields by a shipyardowner. They pointed out that thestructure is not violating rules relatingto land filling in low lying fields, butis causing hazard to the neighbour-ing fields.

Members also objected to thepayment of fees to the lawyerfrom panchayat funds in matterrelating to RTI applications.

Loutolim meet demands deletionof non-resident names

ELECTORAL ROLLS

Paroda locals oppose mega

housingprojectHERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 25

The Paroda gram sabha on Sun-day strongly opposed a megahousing project proposed at Kar-alem area of the village.

At the Sunday gram sabha meet-ing, gram sabha members opposedthe mega housing project ongrounds that the village has nogarbage disposal facility and otherinfrastructure facilities.

Members of the gram sabhaalso objected to the open airhall proposed at Karalem ongrounds that the project woulddisturb the peaceful environ-ment in the area.

On the mega housing project,the gram sabha passed a reso-lution that the Panchayat shouldnot entertain any files for multi-dwelling units in view of thepoor infrastructure, especiallyrelating to garbage disposal.

Sarpanch Sharmila Vaz informedthat the Panchayat body would fullysupport the views expressed at thegram sabha meeting. She said thePanchayat would not approve anyfile pertaining to mega housing proj-ects. She pointed out that thePanchayat had returned the filefrom the builder, who has putin a plan to build 20 flats and16 shop.

given all the documentations sothat a fight can be put up in thecourt against the hotelier.

Leading the discussion, alawyer from the village Adv Es-perdiao Dias wanted to knowfrom the sarpanch and the sec-retary whether in the first placethey had inspected the placewhere the hotel is proposed tocome up.

However, both the sarpanchPiadade Fernandes and secretaryconfessed that they had notseen the place but gave their(panchayat) backing to the vil-lagers in opposing the project.

But a villager Shrish Lawandeexpressed doubts in the pan-chayat saying their mere lip serv-ice would not show their realintentions.

The words should be trans-formed into action, and it is onlythen the villagers will know thatthe panchayat is against theproject, Lawande said much tothe applause of the villagers.

Mr Dias claimed that he wasinformed that the hotelier hadmanaged to get CRZ clearance.He said that the panchayat hadnot given him the copy and won-dered as to how the hoteliercould get CRZ clearance whenthe area is full of mangroves andadded that if need be the CRZclearance would have to be chal-

lenged.Dias also informed that the

area proposed for the hotel wasearlier home to Kadamba portand said the area is a heritagesite with a rich history.

Dias also gave a grim pictureof the ill effects posed by bighotels and said these was evi-dent in Panjim and other coastalareas in Goa. He said that pros-titution, drugs are freely avail-able and wondered whether thevillagers wanted such type ofactivity to come up in their vil-lage.

Appealing to the villagers notto get carried away by the baitsthrown at them in the form ofjobs which are mostly low paid,Adv Dias said the dangers posedby the hotel are much more thanthe goodies it claims to offer.

Tony Fernandes social workeralso spoke at the gram sabha andcalled upon the villagers to uniteagainst the project without any fear.

The gram sabha also formeda committee called ` Save Agas-siam Village Environment underthe presidentship of Adv Esper-diao Dias. Some villagers werealso of the view that its MLAFrancisco Silveira be made amember of the committee.

Prominent among those pres-ent was Konkani writer DilipBorkar and panchas.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MERCES, JULY 25

Opposing the practice of theChimbel panchayat to placegram sabha proposals at thepanchayat meeting and not al-lowing these to be discussed atthe gram sabha, the villagersdemanded that proposals fromthe public should be discussedat the gram sabha itself, failingwhich the purpose of holdingthe meeting gets defeated.

Initiating the discussion, PaulFernandes cited the rejection ofhis proposal by the panchayatbody on flimsy grounds whichstates that he has made allega-tions and used abusive lan-guage.

He sought to know, where,in his entire proposal, he hasmade allegations or used abu-sive language and questionedwhether the panchayat has aright to reject public proposals.

Continuing with the subject,Govind Shirodkar opined thatproposals are meant to be dis-cussed at the gram sabha wherethe villagers can adopt necessaryresolutions.

He then lambasted the prac-tice adopted by the panchayatof discussing the proposal atthe body meeting and refusingto allow some proposals to bediscussed at the gram sabha,

and stated that such practicetramples on the fundamentalrights of the villagers.

Replying to the queries,Sa rpanch Chandrakan tKunkolkar informed that thepublic proposals are placed atthe panchayat meeting so thatthe members can discuss thesame and decide which propos-als can be allowed to be takenup for discussion at the gramsabha.

However, another villagerTukaram Kunkolkar felt that itis a wrong practice on the partof the panchayat, which takesaway a villagers right in a pan-chayat set up. If such practicecontinues, the very purpose ofholding a gram sabha will bedefeated, he added.

Earlier, a heated discussionensued between TukaramKunkolkar and the SarpanchChandrakant over the pendingproposals of the previous gramsabha as Tukaram sought toknow whether these proposalswill be accommodated at thismeeting.

When the sarpanch agreed totake up the proposals, Tukaramdemanded for an assurance fromthe Sarpanch that if any proposalstill remains pending he wouldadjourn the meeting for the nextSunday. However, Sarpanch

Chandrakant refused to accedeto the demand but assured thatall the proposals would be ac-commodated.

Later, Sarpanch Chandrakantoutlined the development worksthat have been completed in thevillage and also the developmentworks that would be undertakenin the near future, which waswell received by the villagerswho, in turn, assured thesarpanch that they would alwaysback him in the positive devel-opment of the village.

The issue of the need of a vil-lage school was also discussedat length with the villagers de-manding that the panchayatshould initiate the process ofsetting up a residential schoolfor ST students and urge theState government to fund thesame.

As the earlier gram sabhashad witnessed abrupt enddue to unruly behaviour bythe public, Old Goa PI FrancisCorte personally remainedpresent for the meeting toensure smooth functioningof the gram sabha.

He also saw to it that nobodyspoke out of turn and only withthe permission of the SarpanchChandrakant, which was prima-rily responsible for a peacefulgram sabha.

rejection of proposals on flimsygrounds irk Chimbel locals

Tree crashes on traffic

police tempo HERALD REPORTER

VASCO, JULY 25

A brand new tempo belongingto Vasco Traffic police was dam-aged, after a tree came crashingdown on it on Sunday.

It may be recalled that after re-peated requests and a patient wait,the Vasco traffic police had receiveda new tempo to utilise it for liftingtwo-wheelers, violating parkingnorms in the port town.

However, the vehicle wasdamaged, after a tree camecrashing on it even before itcould be utilised for the purposefor which it was bought. TheVasco Traffic police was sup-posed to put the tempo intoservice from Monday.

We got it recently after re-peated requests and it was tobe put into service from Mon-day, but prior to that, it got dam-aged on Sunday, said Traffic PIDarmesh Angle.

Earlier, the Vasco traffic policehad tied up with Mormugao Mu-nicipal Council (MMC) to utilizeits vehicle to lift the two wheel-ers. Since MMC had other obli-gations, they were not able toallot its vehicle full day for traf-fic.Traffic police felt that sincethey needed a full-fledgedtempo exclusively to be usedfor lifting two wheelers, the traf-fic police demanded to theirhigher ups and recently got itsanctioned.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

PORVORIM, JULY 25

The Penha-de-Franca Gram Sabhaon Sunday witnessed noisy scenesover the issue of indoor stadium inthe panchayat area.

Discussing on the issue, R NNaik said the panchayat had sentthe proposal to the Collector ofNorth Goa in 1995 pertainingto acquisition of 3,000 sq mtrsof land for construction of in-door stadium.

Since the matter has been pend-ing for long time, the panchayatshould pursue the matter and ac-quire the land, suggested Naik.

Panchayat Secretary M S Mar-dolkar informed Naik that theSerula Communidade has al-ready converted the land into13 plots and sold them.

Provisional NOC was issued forit by the panchayat in 2005. Thebuyers of these plots have appliedto the panchayat for grant of con-

struction licence, informed the pan-chayat secretary. With the reply ofthe panchayat secretary, there wasa heated discussion on the matter.

Naik sought to know howpanchayat can issue No Objec-tion Certificate to the SerulaCommunidade when they hadapplied to the Collectorate ofNorth Goa for acquisition of landfor the construction of indoorstadium. Further, no approvalwas obtained by the panchayatfrom the gram sabha prior toissuing NOC to the Serula Com-munidade, said Naik.

Rajesh Amonkar said sincethe Serula Communidade hasalready sold the plots, there isno point in arguing or pursuingthe matter with the Collectorateof North Goa and the panchayatshould issue construction li-censes to the people who haveapplied for it. The panchayatshould look out for another

open space for the constructionof indoor stadium, suggestedAmonkar.

Bhiku Sawant said the pan-chayat does not get revenuefrom the dealers of two- andfour-wheelers, who are operat-ing in Porvorim.

Few years ago, panchayat isto charge tax of Rs 25 per vehicleto the dealers of four-vehicles.The dealers were paying the tax,but later the panchayat stoppedcollecting it from the vehicledealers, said Sawant.

The panchayat should inves-tigate under whose instructiontax collection from four-wheelerdealers was stopped, addedSawant and suggested that the pan-chayat should charge Rs 500 per ve-hicle for four-wheeler dealers andRs 100 per vehicle for two-wheelerdealers.

Eknath Narvekar suggestedthat the panchayat should con-

duct the survey of kiosks oper-ating in the panchyat area andtake action against those whoare operating illegally.

Olavio Braganza said somehouse owners are not payinghouse taxes because the pan-chayat has not charged themhouse tax as per the governmentnotification and hence de-manded that the panchayatshould look into the matter atthe earliest.

Earlier on behalf of the pan-chayat, Vinod Kumbharjuvekarpresented the Statement of Ac-counts of Income and Expendi-ture for the period from April2010 to June 30 2010.

During the three months, thepanchayat has collected Rs 8.35lakh by way of House, Profes-sional and Hoarding taxes andRs 2.58 lakh through Construc-tion License and other fees.

Bedlam at Penha-de-Franca meet

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 25

Chinchinim villagers on Sundayunanimously opposed wideningof the NH-17 passing throughresidential areas and have de-manded a bypass a la Cuncolimand other villages.

At the Sunday gram sabhameeting, v i l lagers ra isedtheir apprehensions aboutthe widening of the existinghighway by demolition resi-dential houses in the Dan-deavaddo section.

After much discussions, thegram sabha members resolvedto opposed the widening of thehighway tooth and nail and havedemanded construction of a by-pass to avoid demolition of res-idential hosues.

The gram sabha resolutioncomes against the backdrop ofthe NHAI decision to reject thestate government contention torestrict the width of the highwaypassing through Chinchinim to35 meters. Earlier, the Panchayathad opposed the NH-17 if thewidening means destruction ofthe residential houses.

Sarpanch Allwyn Antao joinedthe villagers in opposing thehighway widening and has re-quested the state government

and the central government toconstruction a bypass in thefields. He pointed out that evena 6-lane highway can be buildingalong the bypass since no resi-dential house would go for de-moltion.

The gram sabha also wit-nessed discussion on the useof the public garden in themarket place for religiousfunctions.

The issue came to the forewhen it was pointed out thatorgansiers of the GaneshM a n d a l h a v e a g a i n a p -proached to the Panchayatbody for permission to havethe function in the garden.

After much discussions, thegram sabha resolved not to per-mit any religious function in thepublic garden.

Incidentally, the Panchayatbody had opposed granting ofpermission for use of the gardenfor religious purpose by 7-3votes.

Meanwhile, the gram sabhameeting also discussed otherpressing problems facing the vil-lage, including the old market,the proposal for a new marketcomplex, the dilapidated pri-mary health centre and otherissues.

Chinchinim locals opposeNH widening through

residential areas

FROM PaGE 1

Valpoi girl diesincluding Utkarshas father Uday Parab and the accusedshusband, marched to the Valpoi Police Station on Sundayand demanded immediate arrest of the accuseds parents,who abetted the crime.

Superintendent of Police Arvind Gawas, Deputy Superintendentof Police Bossuet Silva and Valpoi Police PI Shivram Vaigankarassured the agitating mob that they would arrest the culpritssoon.The mob, which had gathered at 11.30 am, began to disperseonly at about 6 pm, after police brought some relatives of the ac-cused allegedly involved in the case, including accuseds fatherand mother, to the police station for interrogations.

The mob dispersed after placing strong demands with the police.The mob demanded immediate arrest of the relatives of theaccused, who are involved in the crime.

They also demanded suspension of duty officer (PSI) ofBicholim Police Station, who they said according to de-ceaseds father Uday, did not co-operate when he went tolodge missing complaint of his daughter at Bicholim PoliceStation on July 16 afternoon.

The deceaseds relatives, who had refused to claim the bodyfrom GMC, finally agreed at about 6 pm, when SP Arvind Gawas,DySP Bousset, PI Vaigankar, Bicholim PI Harish Madkaikar assuredto arrest all persons involved in the crime and give justice to theaggrieved family.Earlier, the mob turned violent breaking flowerpots at Valpoi Police Station.

Meanwhile, Uday Parab, who was brought to Valpoi PoliceStation, was seen weeping and shouting for justice. I lost mydaughter, but now I must not lose justice. Punish all who areguilty, cried Uday.

Meanwhile, prime accused Snehal Gaonkar is cooling her heelsat Valpoi Police Station since Friday. Since the accused has 5-month-old baby, the baby was brought to the Valpoi Police Stationby her relatives on Sunday. Valpoi Police, who had earlier registeredthe case as kidnapping, have now registered it as kidnapping andmurder.

Meanwhile, the Nagargao Panchayat gram sabha on Sundayunanimously passed a resolution demanding thorough inquiryinto the death of Utkarsha and stern action against those involvedin the crime. Utkarsha Parabs struggle for life after she breathedher last at GMC on Sunday morning.

Utkarsha a resident of Brahma Karmali in Valpoi and a studentof Bhumika Higher Secondary School, Poriem-Sattari, startingvomiting profusely a couple of days back. She was later shiftedto GMC for suspected case of food poisoning. The girls healthcondition began deteriorating on Saturday.

It is alleged that she was forcibly fed sweets laced with ratpoison by her aunt Snehal.

According to Valpoi police, Utkarsha in her dying declarationstated her aunt abducted her and forcibly fed prasad, sheera andsoft drink.

The news of Utkarshas death spread like wild fire. Tension rentthe air in Valpoi as villagers of Brahma Karmali, Nagargao -Valpoi,demanded stern and prompt action against those involved in thecrime that led to her death.

A large number of villagers, including Utkarshas father UdayParab and the accuseds husband, marched to the Valpoi PoliceStation on Sunday and demanded immediate arrest of the accusedsparents, who abetted the crime.Superintendent of Police ArvindGawas, Deputy Superintendent of Police Bossuet Silva and ValpoiPolice PI Shivram Vaigankar assured the agitating mob that theywould arrest the culprits soon.

The mob, which had gathered at 11.30 am, began to dis-perse only at about 6 pm, after police brought some relativesof the accused allegedly involved in the case, including ac-cuseds father and mother, to the police station for inter-rogations.

The mob dispersed after placing strong demands with the police.The mob demanded immediate arrest of the relatives of theaccused, who are involved in the crime.

They also demanded suspension of duty officer (PSI) ofBicholim Police Station, who they said according to de-ceaseds father Uday, did not co-operate when he went tolodge missing complaint of his daughter at Bicholim PoliceStation on July 16 afternoon.

The deceaseds relatives, who had refused to claim the bodyfrom GMC, finally agreed at about 6 pm, when SP Arvind Gawas,DySP Bousset, PI Vaigankar, Bicholim PI Harish Madkaikar assuredto arrest all persons involved in the crime and give justice to theaggrieved family.

Earlier, the mob turned violent breaking flower pots at ValpoiPolice station.

Meanwhile, Uday Parab, who was brought to Valpoi PoliceStation, was seen weeping and shouting for justice. I lost mydaughter, but now I must not lose justice. Punish all who areguilty, cried Uday.

Meanwhile, prime accused Snehal Gaonkar is cooling her heelsat Valpoi Police Station since Friday. Since the accused has 5-month-old baby, the baby was brought to the Valpoi Police Stationby her relatives on Sunday. Valpoi Police, who had earlier registeredthe case as kidnapping, has now registered it kidnapping and mur-der.

Meanwhile, the Nagargao Panchayat gram sabha on Sundayunanimously passed a resolution demanding thorough inquiryinto the death of Utkarsha and stern action against those involvedin the crime.

autopsy report on holddelayed as the girls family demanded thorough action. They evenrefused to claim the body then, due to which we had to re-schedulethe autopsy, said the source.

Later in the evening, when senior police officials assured theparents of proper case investigation, the Parab family agreed toproceed with the medico-legal formalities.

The body was handed over to the family after an hour-longpost-mortem at about 7pm.

Social activist Tara Kerkar, who is supporting family sbattle for justice to Utkarsha, has demanded thorough in-quiry into the case. She insisted that the police should actagainst Snehas parents who were reportedly present athome when the girl was held hostage.Snehals parentsshould also be quizzed as they were allegedly present whentheir married daughter committed the crime, Kerkar de-manded talking to Herald.

Snehal was initially booked for attempt to murder when Utkarshawas alive and was being treated at GMC. But police slapped chargesof murder and arrested the aunt when the schoolgirl breathed herlast at 6.15 am on Sunday. The case is booked under Goa ChildrensAct 2003 against Snehal, who incidentally is a mother to fewweeks old baby.

Paperless district court LITIGATION POLICY: The Union Minister said that the Centre as

well as the States would have their own litigation policy. If you see major litigations across all courts in country are

from the States and the Centre. We need to vacate this space incourts through litigation policy, he said.

The litigations by States and Centre amounts to 30 percentcases which need to be reviewed and vacate the unnecessary lit-igations. This would also help the common man, the ministeropined.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 25

A joint delegation of all teachersassociations called on ChiefMinister Digambar Kamat at hisofficial residence and demandedthe implementation of Part-B ofVI Pay Scales.

The delegation brought tothe notice of the C.M. that VIPay Commission, under thechairmanship of Mr. Justice Kr-ishna, have merged several ear-lier scales and the number ofcorresponding scales in the VIPay have been reduced. Owingto the merger of scales, the pri-mary, the secondary and thehigher secondary teachers areplaced in a common scaleknown as PB-2 with a commongrade pay of ` 4200/-. In orderto do away with this anomalythe pay commission has speci-

fied relevant scales for differentcategories of teachers underPart-B of VI Pay Scales, theypointed out.

The Chief Minister was also in-formed that the Central Govt. con-trolled Schools like Navodaya & othercentral schools have already imple-mented Part-B Scales to their staffs.The Govt. of Goa have erroneouslyimplemented Part-A to the teacherswhereby only the replacement scalesare granted, the delegation added.

The delegation ferventlyasked the C.M. to implementPart-B and give solace to theteachers. The C.M. was con-vinced after discussion with thedelegation and immediately is-sued directions to the officersto expedite the matter, in-formed spokesperson of UnitedTeachers Association VithobaDesai.

Teachers demand Part-B scales

GOA, MONDAY, 26 JULY, 2010

GOAHERALD

Pg 3

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JULY 25

National Student Union of India(NSUI) today charged that thoseinvolved in the drug nexus werebehind the attack on their GoaUnit president Sunil Kawthankar.

We strongly feel that this isan attack carried out by ele-ments who are threatened byour signature campaign againstpolice-drug mafia nexus in Goa,NSUI national delegate GautamBhagat said in a press note.

Kawthankar was attacked on Fri-day night while he was enroute toAssnora village to meet activists foranti-drugs signature campaign. Hehas been instrumental in launchingthe campaign demanding a federalprobe into the nexus, which is cur-rently investigated by Crime Branch.

The state chief met the Con-gress General Secretary RahulGandhi, a couple of days ago toappraise him about the failureof Goa police in the nexus probe.Unfazed of the recent attack,the NSUI is determined to con-

tinue their campaign. Goa NSUIwill not stop our movement againstthe police-drug mafias. This attackhas not weakened us. We appeal toall students of Goa to join us in ourmovement against the Police-Drugmafias nexus, Bhagat said.

Kawthankar was attackedwhen some unidentified menon Bajaj Pulsar motorbike threwa huge stone on the windshieldof the car, which was driven bythe students leader himself. Thestone smashed the windshieldand hit his face leaving him se-verely injured. Along with himwere three other activists in thecar, who escaped unhurt.

The sensational nexus probeled to arrests of seven taintedpolice officials and an allegedIsraeli drug peddler Yaniv Be-naim aka Atala, all of whom arecurrently released on condi-tional bail. Meanwhile, CrimeBranch sleuths is yet to meetLucky Farmhouse Amori who al-leged she has complete evi-dence to prove the nexusbetween drug lords, policemenand politician in Goa.

amendment to TCP act: GBa says no

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JULY 25

Goa Bachao Abh i yan hasstrongly objected to the pro-posed introduction of a new Billto amend the Goa Town andCountry Planning Act in the cur-rent session of the Goa Legisla-tive Assembly.

In the press note issued here,this new Bill seeks to throwopen hill slopes, fields, khazanlands, low lying areas and waterbodies for construction whichare presently prohibited underSection 17A of Goa TCP Act1974, expressly to protect thehill slopes and fields against'conversion' for construction.

This Bill is totally opposite tothe demand made by GBA to freezeconstruction on eco-sensitive zones,the press note read.

It further says that the pro-posed Goa TCP [Amendment]Bill, 2010 is being hurriedly

pushed by the Goa Governmentto undo the safeguards addedto the Goa, Daman & Diu TCPAct, 1974 through the insertionof subsections 2 and 3 in Section17A. This Bill puts the slopesand fields at risk of "develop-ment" once again.

The three objectives of theproposed amendment are, needto specify Authorities to imple-ment provision regarding puni-t i ve measures , enab leGovernment to frame Rules andRegulations for implementation ofprovisions under 17A and to doaway with Undue control and scopefor ambiguity implied in the presentprovisions under 17A.

The proposed Bill is totallysilent on the first two objectives,whereas, under the third objec-tive, it has introduced two subsections, which removes thecondition of seeking permis-sions from TCP under Section17A, it said urging the MLAs

to object the proposed Bill.The GBA suspects the pro-

posed Goa TCP [Amendment]Bill, 2010 for it may allow illegalconstructions and constructions,which are prohibited while thefinalisation of RP 2021 is con-stantly delayed.

A similar amendment to sec-tion 16/ 16A was brought aboutto bring in projects through theback door to bypass the Re-gional Plan 2021 process for theGovernment's projects, manyof them outsourced to privateorganisations, the NGO alleges.

The GBA demanded that theproposed TCP Amendment Billbe junked, and instead the TCPAct review committee shouldbe asked to give its recommen-dations in a stipulated timeframe, through a consultativeprocess which includes a bot-tom-to-top planning process andrevocation of section 16/16A.

Rag pickerdrowns in

septic tankHERALD REPORTER

VASCO, JULY 25

A 45-year-old rag picker fromBagalkot-Karnataka, but residingat Baina-Vasco, drowned in aseptic tank at an under-construc-tion house at New-Vaddem,Vasco, on Sunday afternoon.

The incident occurred whenGangawa Madar along with hertwo partners, who were pickingrags along the railway lines atNew-Vaddem, had rushed forshelter from heavy showers inthe under-construction house.

Since Madar wanted to cover herbody with tarpaulin coat, she wentinside the house, while her otherpartners were outside.

Madar failed to notice the under-ground septic tank of a height ofabout 2.30 mtrs, which was filledwith water and partly covered withtarpaulin and fell inside.

As Madar failed to come out ofthe house, her partners, who wereoutside the house, went inside insearch of her. People then spottedMadars body inside the tank andsummoned Vasco fire brigade to fishout the body.

Elements involvedin drug nexus

behind attack: NSUI

Rains wreak havoc in Bicholim

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

BICHOLIM, JULY 25

Strong winds and rain causedhavoc in Bicholim taluka on Sun-day with loss of property worthlakhs of rupees. According toBicholim fire service, they at-tended over eight calls from dif-ferent parts of the taluka.

At about 1.20 pm, two Alto carsbelonging to one Sanjiv Karapurkarfrom Sasthiwada-Bordem were to-tally damaged when a jackfruit treefell on them.

Two houses at Narve and Vel-gaum Pale were also damaged.At Narve, a house belonging toone Sunil Mandrekar was dam-aged when a tree fell on thehouse, while at Velgaum-Pale, ahouse belonging to SatyawanHaldankar was damaged.

Several cases of tree fallingwere reported at Dhawaskar-wada-Karapur, Mayem and otherplaces. At Pale and Bordem-Bi-cholim, trees fell on electricitywires and disrupted electricitysupply in the area.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JULY 25Union Minister, for Law and

Justice Dr M Veerappa Moily hassought cooperation of Chief Jus-tice, Judges and legal luminariesof High courts, District Courtand other courts in reducing thelarge number of pending casesin various courts in the countryin next four to five years.

He said the Central Govern-ment has made a special provi-sion of fourteen thousand croresof which Rs five thousand crorehave already been released tostates and balance will be re-leased soon. He told the statesto prepare road map for fiveyears in this respect.

Moily was speaking at the Re-gional meeting on implementa-t ion o f 13 th F inanceCommission Recommendationsin improving justice delivery andother matters in the city today.

Chief Minister DigambarKamat, Law Minister of Chattis-garh Ramvichar Netam, ChiefJustice of Bombay High CourtJustice Mohit Shah, Chief Justiceof Gujarat High Court JusticeMokhopadhya, Chief Justice ofRajasthan High Court Justice Ja-gadish Bhalla, Chief Justice of

Madhya Pradesh Justice RafatAlam, Law Secretary Neela Gan-gadharan, Advisor TK Vish-wanathan, Judges of HighCourts, Law Secretaries andother legal luminaries attendedthe regional meeting.

Chief Secretary Sanjay Srivas-tava, Law Secretary PramodKamat, Secretaries in the stateadministration graced the oc-casion.

Speaking further Moily said,this is the fifth meeting in theseries being held in the country.Indian Judiciary is the largest,excellent judiciary in the world.However, Justice delivery needsto be improved.

Moily told the states to preparetheir own state Litigation policywithin a year. This he said will im-prove the pace of justice deliverysystem. He said there are 62 vacan-cies in the region and these vacancieswill be filled soon.

Union Minister dealt uponvarious issues like classificationof cases, fast track courts, E-courts projects, setting up ofmore CBI courts and FamilyCourts and related subjects.

The Union minister told thestates to improve the justice de-livery system through morning

and evening courts. Some of thestates like Gujarat has shownencouraging results he said. Re-garding Lok Adalats he said LawSecretaries of the states shouldmake efforts to hold more LokAdalats to dispose the cases. Hesaid guidelines of Central Gov-ernment to spend the amountallocated to states, make it clearthat the amount should be spenton improving justice deliverysystem through Lok Adalats, Me-diation centres, strengtheningof present legal system. Theamount should not be spent onconstruction of buildings.

Referring to Goa where about28000 cases are pending Moilysaid, with some efforts Goa canbecome arrear free State as faras pending cases are concerned.He also said, Goa can be devel-oped as Centre for InternationalArbitration.

Kamat said, efforts of thePrime Minister are to touch thehearts of common man. Law andJustice directly touch the heartsof common man. Kamat said,Goa has started video confer-encing to record the witnesses.He said, Goa is the only state inthe country to set up childrensCourt besides Juvenile courts.

Reduce pending cases in courts, says Moily

Moily speaking at the Regional meeting on implementation of 13th Finance Commission Recommenda-tions in improving justice delivery and other matters in the city today.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JULY 24

Henceforth, Regional Con-troller for Mines (RCM) will notable to reject applications seek-ing mining plans in respect ofmining leases.

Thanks to decision of theCentral Information Commission(CIC) of June 7, informationon mining plans for miningleases operating in Goa ap-proved by the RCM will now befreely available to the public.

Earlier , the RCM routinely re-jected applications for miningplans in respect of individualmining leases on the groundsthat the commercial interest ofthe lessees might be compro-mised if information in theseplans reached rival party.

Thus several applications forcopies of mining plans in theState had been rejected by theRCM on the grounds that thesecould not be disclosed underSections 11 (1), 8 (1) (d) and 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act. As a result,several appeals came to be filedbefore the CIC against such or-

ders.On February 5, this year, the

CIC sought assistance from theMinistry of Mines to settle thematter. The necessary clarifica-tions were provided to the In-formation Commission by theMinistry of Mines in March 2010.The Ministry of Mines held thatcertain parts of the mining planof any mining lease could bedisclosed by Public InformationOfficers under the Right to In-formation (RTI) Act.

It held the applicant can begiven information pertaining tolocation, and accessibility of themine as given by the mine op-erator in chapter 1 and chapter2 of the mining plan. Also, in-formation about mine drainage,mineral rejects and disposal ofwastes and other informationprovided in Chapters 6, 7, 8 and9 of part A of the mining planand the environment manage-ment plan provided in Chapter11 of Part B of the mining plan,can be given to the applicant.

The Ministry of Mines hasbeen advised by the Information

Commissioner to have all itspublic authorities put up thevarious parts of the mining plansthat can be disclosed, on theirrespective websites so that cit-izens do not have to file repeatedRTI queries in the matter. It hasbeen granted time of two monthsto carry out this decision.

The Goa Foundation (GF), anNGO keeping a watch on illegalmining has recommended thatall those who filed applicationsunder RTI for

information about miningplans should now file fresh ap-plications for the informationpermitted by the CIC.

The information that can bedisclosed would cover most in-formation about the mine, itsapproved dump managementplan and environment manage-ment plan.

The applicant should also re-quest for the relevant mapswhich are annexed to thesechapters and GF is willing to as-sist any person in this process,appealed Dr Claude Alvares, Di-rector, GF.

No more rejection of mining plans applications by RCM

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

CANACONA, JULY 25

Residents continue to objectthe presence of temporary struc-tures along the coast and protestthe partisan attitude of Cana-cona Municipal Council (CMC)in setting things right in viewof its own terms and conditionsimposed while issuing tempo-rary permits.

It may be recalled that re-cently, after a resident submitteda complaint to CMC over thelarge presence of temporarystructures on coastal belt de-manding action, another resi-dent of Palolem submitted yetanother complaint to act againstthe presence of temporary struc-tures permitted during lasttourism season at Palolem.

Displaying a copy of his complaintto the civic office, complainant

George Dinniz told Herald that ac-cording to municipal rules, not asingle temporary structure eitherfor storing materials or otherwiseis permissible after the permit periodexpires.

But there are several struc-tures untouched since thetourism season ended, keepingas it is at several places inPalolem, added the com-plainant.

I totally disagree with some civicofficials taking umbrage when suchstructures are pointed to them,mostly taking an excuse that peopleneed to store or protect from rains,their dismantled materials, saidDinniz.

To protect these materials,one need not keep the commer-cial huts intact, one can disman-tle all structures as per rulesand still preserve and protect it

from rains, like most others areforced to do, he reasoned.

I had complained that struc-tures continue to stand atPalolem and more importantlyeven electricity connection, sup-posed to be again a temporaryconnection is not discon-nected, Dinniz told Herald.

He also informed that theconcerned party has not re-moved the structures whichwere erected during last tourismseason and even electricity con-nection is not disconnected.

Dinniz other then submittinghis complaint to the chief officer,CMC, Canacona has markedcopies to the Electricity Depart-ment, Goa Tourism Develop-ment Corporation and Collector(South) praying for suitable ac-tion against the defaulting tem-porary license holders.

CMC flayed for allowingstructures along the coast

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

BICHOLIM, JULY 25

Merchants from Bicholim areupset over Bicholim MunicipalCouncils (BMC) negligence inkeeping a check over cow men-ace in the area.

Speaking to Herald, someshopkeepers from Bicholim mar-ket claimed that BMC nevercloses the gates of the marketand cows enter the building dur-ing the night.

The gates are never closedduring the night and this be-comes a safe place for stray an-imals including cows, dogs andother animals, especially duringheavy rains, informed a shop-keeper.

In the morning, when wecome we have to clean the en-tire area and drive them fromthe gates, added the shop-keeper.

It may be recalled that thesesgates were erected some yearsago, after similar problems were

encountered by shopkeepers inthe area.

It is surprising that the BMChas no control over cow menacein Bicholim and the problem isserious, especially during marketday, said aggrieved shopkeeper.

It may be noted that cowspose problem on the roads andeven in the market. Recently, arabies infested cow had injuredabout 15 persons in Bicholimon the market day, while earlieranother cow died while givingbirth to a calf on the road.

The deputy collector whenasked earlier had assured thathe would look into the matterof cow menace, but nothingfruitful has come out.

Cow menace upset Bicholim traders

nBMC never closesthe gates of themarket and cowsenter the buildingduring the night.

-- Shopkeepers

Selaulim Dam begins to overflow

Water overflowing the spillway at Selaulim Dam in Sanguem. Photo by Alfred FernandesHERALD CORRESPONDENT

SANGUEM, JULY 25

With monsoon in full swing, theSelaulim Dam in Sanguem beganto overflow since Saturday,thereby once again giving thev i s i t o r s t o t h e d a m t h ebreathtaking v iew of themonsoon water overflowingthe spillway.

While last year, the overflowhad commenced on July 15, this

year the overflow is delayed bynearly 10 days despite therebeing heavy monsoon showersin the State since the last manydays.

Ironically, despite Sundaybeing the first day of the wateroverflowing the spillway, a largenumber of visitors were seenthronging to the dam site sincemorning.

Incidentally, what surprises

the visitors is the continuationof Goa Forest Development Cor-poration charging the visitorsthe entry fee of Rs 10 and Rs 5for adult and children below 12years respectively.

In the last budget Assemblysession, it was addressed thatthe entry fee at the SelaulimDam would be scrapped, butthe GFDC continues collectionof entry fee unabated.

Says Bill seeks to allow development

on hill slope, fields, khazan lands etc

GOAOHERAld

O

Pg4ShoRt takeS

GOA, mOndAy, 26 july, 2010

==

Malaria awareness heldCURCHOREM (HC): A malaria awareness programme was re-

cently organised by NSS unit of Smt Chandrabhaga TukobaNaik Higher Secondary School, Curchorem, Cacora CurchoremMunicipal Council and upgraded Primary Health Centre Cur-chorem.

The students from CTN Higher Secondary School took partin the rally, which was organized on the occasion.

CCMC Chairperson Maruti Naik flagged off the rally near rail-way station and after covering major part of the town, the rallywas concluded near Municipal Council building.

The rally was addressed by Curchorem Health Centre ChiefMedical Officer Dr Ganpati Kakodkar. He appealed to the stu-dents to take care of the surroundings, especially during mon-soon so that malaria can be controlled.

CCMC Chairperson Maruti Naik appealed to the students tohelp the municipal council while carrying out various aware-ness programme.

The staff of Primary Health Centre and the municipal councilwere present for the rally.

Shripad Modak compered the function, Principal Vaman Bhadri welcomed the gathering and ex-

pressed sincere thanks to the municipal council for supportingthe activity.

Temple beautification work

Mayem MLA Anant Shet inaugurates the beautification project atShyampurush temple at Sarvan-Bicholim. Photo by Vishant Vaze

MAYEM (HC): Mayem MLA Anant Shet has requested thepeople to maintain cleanliness in the Shyampurush temple andsurrounding areas.

He was addressing a gathering at the inaugural ceremony ofthe beautification work of Shyampurush temple at Sarvan Bi-cholim on Sunday.

The beautification of the temple is being taken up at a costof Rs10 lakh. Engineer S Y Naik, Rohidas Ghadi, Rama Kubal,Sanjay Narvekar, Ladko Kinalkar and others were present at thefunction.

Street children paid visit

PANJIM (HND): As part of community services banking activ-ity, Shyamal Acharya, Chief General Manager, State Bank ofIndia, Mumbai local head office, visited Hamara School, schoolfor street children, recently at St Inez and spent some timewith them. He distributed sweets to the children. He also do-nated a cheque amount of Rs 1,42,683 favoring KasturbaGandhi Memorial Trust. This assistance is towards meeting thecost of books, school uniforms, bags, rainwear and shoes ofall the students.

On this occasion, Acharya complimented the Trustees forthe wonderful work carried out by them towards upliftmentof the weaker section of the society and guiding them towardsbecoming responsible citizens.

Meritorious students fetedCANACONA (HC): The Canacona branch of State Bank of

India (SBI) recently felicitated 11 meritorious students and aschool from Canacona taluka at a function in St Tereza of Jesushigh School, Chaudi.

The honored students are from last years SSC, Higher sec-ondary and college section, while the Government High Schoolat Khola was felicitated for securing 100% results in SSC exam-inations during that year.

Shri Mallikarjun College of Arts and Commerce, Canaconaprincipal Dr Jagmohan Singh was the chief guest.

In his speech, Dr Singh advised students to emulate thegreat leaders of yesteryears and of the present generation.

Hard work does pay, but at the same time also try to influ-ence yourself with the extraordinary deed in your lives pre-ceded by the likes of those great leaders, Dr Singh said.

The felicitated students are Sahil Dilkush Naik Dessai of ShriKatyani Baneshwar Vidyalaya, Kindlem for topping the talukain the SSC exams last year, Swapnil Subhash Kalekar (X), TejaMolu Velip (XII-Com) and Kavita Khushali Namshikar (XII-com)for standing first in Canacona in the CBSE conducted examina-tion answered through Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (Canacona).

Arpan Warik (XII-Com) of S S Angle HS School, Maxem,Tereza Tina Fernandes (XII-Arts) ,Cherry Sonia A Pereira (XII-Sc),Venisha Fernandes XII (Vocation CGDM) and Prajoth Prem-anad Pagi XII (Voc-CRM) all of Govt Higher Secondary School,Mastimoll, Gaurav Satish Bhat (TYBA) and Arti Balkrishna Pagi(TYBCom) from Shri Mallikarjun College were also felicitated.

51st red ribbon club openedPANJIM (HND): Deputy Director (Surveillance) Goa State Aids

Control Society Dr Elmira Pereira inaugurated the NSS Unit and51st Red Ribbon Club at Fr Agnel College of Arts, Commerceand BCA, Pilar recently.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Pereira enlightened the stu-dents on HIV/AIDS, prevention, care and support and treat-ment services provided by GSACS. She also interacted with thestudents and staff and replied to their queries.

Jeunesse D Fernandes, Consultant - Youth Affairs spoke onthe importance of RRC, role of students as RRC members andactivities to be undertaken.

Principal Fr Fredrick Rodrigues, NSS Program Officer JayeshA Raut and Professor Anthony DSouza were also present.

During the function, a Konkani Book authored by Jayesh ARaut on Goan freedom struggle was released.

The students of the institute performed various dance pro-grammes including a special dance spreading awareness onHIV/AIDS prevention.

Retreats at Verna, ParraPANJIM (HND): Br Johnson Sequeira will conduct retreats at

Blueberry-Verna on July 27 and 28 and at Emerald Lawns Parraon July 29 and 30, from 10 am to 5 pm.

Rangoli competitionVASCO (HR): All Goa Bhausaheb Bandodkar Janmashatabdi

Samaroha Samiti (Mormugao Taluka) will organise Rangoli com-petition at Shri Maharudra Hanuman Sausthan Sabhagruha,New Vaddem, Vasco, on August 1 from 10 am to 12 pm.

The competition consist of powder Rangoli depicting a por-trait of late Dayanand Bandodkar of size one by one metre.

The competition will be restricted to the residents of Mor-mugao taluka only and winners would be awarded with cashprize Rs 1,500 (first), Rs 1,000 (second) and Rs 750 (third).

For further details, contact Liladhar Kumbharjuvekar on9822347838 or Yogesh Shet on 9764385055.

Lokmanya Tilak punyatithiPANJIM (HND): Lokmanya Tilak Punyatithi will be observed

on August 1 in the New Secretariat, Porvorim. On the occasion,Chief Minister Digambar Kamat will garland the portrait of lateLokmanya Tilak at 11 am.

All the officers and staff members of the Secretariat are re-quested to attend the function and be present in the openspace at New Secretariat, Porvorim at 10.50 am on August 1.

uPCoMInG eVentS

JULY 26MAPUSA: From 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are Sattadhar Ar-

cade Pedem, Pedem stadium, Kamat galaxy, Prudential paradiseand surrounding areas.

JULY 28MAPUSA: From 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are Hotel Preeti

International, Kamarkazan and nearby surrounding areas.

JULY 31MAPUSA: From 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are Mapusa Indus-

trial Estate, Alto Duler and nearby surrounding areas.

PoweR Shutdown

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

VALPOI, JULY 25

Residents of Ambeli-Sattarihave demanded action againstmining activities at Ambeli.

In a memorandum submit-ted to Sattari MamlatdarSatish Dessai on Tuesday,the residents have com-plained that the mining re-jects dumped at open areahave being washed away byrains and have entered their

fields and destroyed crops.The mining rejects have alsopolluted the rivulet, whichjoins Madei River, in the vil-lage.

Ambeli village, which comesunder Khotodem Panchayatand known for agriculture ac-tivities, is under threat ofwater pollution and destruc-tion of crops, claimed vil-lagers.

The villagers have requested

the concerned authority totake necessary action to savetheir crops from destructionand rivulet water from pollu-tion.

Copies of memorandumhave also been submitted toChief Minister DigambarKamat, health minister, opposi-tion leader, Director of Mines,Khotode sarpanch, Valpoi po-lice and zonal agriculture offi-cer Valpoi.

Sattari locals demand action against mining

Residents of Ambeli-Sattari hand over memorandum to Sattari Mamlatdar Satish Dessai. Photo by Ashraf Khan

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

CALANGUTE, JULY 25

Discussions on globalization,security and governancemarked the penultimate daysdiscussion at the IndependentPower Producers Associationof India (IPPAI) conference inFort Aguada Beach Resort, Sin-querim.

A session was held on thetopic Can Corporate Indiaplay a pivotal role in re-in-venting Bharat and have we inIndia missed the infrastruc-ture bus? Elaborating on thetopic and the concept of Indiaand Bharat, Piyush Pandey, ex-ecutive chairman and creativedirector of Ogilvy & Mather,felt that the India-Bharatshould not be an urban-ruraldivide.

Sunil Alagh, chairman of SKAAdvisors, opined that India isall about money and Bharat isall about votes, which shouldnot be in their concept of re-in-venting Bharat.

Supporting the India-Bharatconcept, Ela Bhatt, founder of

SEWA said: Business of mak-ing a profit in itself is not bad.However, there should beplenty of space for competi-tion and co-operation in acorporation. Bringing prod-ucts to Bharat today has be-come fundamental to makeprofits. A Chain is as strong asits weakest link, for whichBharat needs to be equal to

sustain development, saidBhatt.

IPPAI Director General HarryDhaul, CERC Chairman DrPramod Deo, NDTV Senior An-chor Siddharth V Patankar, au-thor Gurcharan Das and SREIInfrastructure & Finance Chair-man & MD Hemant Kanoriawere the other speakers at theconference.

IPPAI discusses globalisation, security and governance

Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and creative director of Ogilvy &Mather, addressing the IPPAI conference in Sinquerim.

Uprooted trees disrupt traffic

in AzzosimHERALD CORRESPONDENT

OLD GOA, JULY 25

Traffic along the Old Goa-Pilarhighway was disrupted forover three hours on Fridayevening, after two hugemango trees uprooted on theroad in Azzosim.

According to Old Goa FireStation Officer Michael Bra-ganza, two huge mango treesuprooted on the road, damag-ing electricity poles, besidescausing problems to the traf-fic along the road. The offi-cials rushed to the site andcleared the uprooted tree.

The wires of the electricitypoles were entangled into theuprooted tree, which werelater removed and the roadwas cleared for traffic at about6 pm.

A mango tree uprooted on the road at Azzosim, damaging electricitypoles and wires. Photo by Kanzil Rodrigues

GNA dismayed over delay in

renewal of notaries licences

HERALD REPORTER

VASCO, JULY 25

Newly elected Goa Notaries As-sociation (GNA) Chairman AdvS N N Karmali has expressedconcern at the abnormal delaymade by the Law Departmentin the matter of renewal of li-censes of notaries.

Karmali was recently ad-dressing the legal fraternityduring annual general bodymeeting of GNA at Club Tennisde Gaspar Dias, Miramar-Pan-jim, where he was elected GNAchairman.

He called upon the law min-ister to take steps to ensurethat renewal is granted beforethe expiry of license period.

The GNA also resolved tohold an All India Notaries Con-vention in Goa soon to press itsdemand of revision of notariesfees, which were prescribed ayear ago.

Other officer bearers electedare Gopal V Tamba (secretary),Santosh Sawkar (vice chairman),Subhash Sawant (treasurer),Meera N Medhekar (Panjim),Ashok G Naik (Vasco), G V Khan-deparkar (Ponda), T V Naik (Ma-pusa), A V Prabhudessai(Margao), Vithu Naik (Sanguem)and Prashant Rajadyaksha(Quepem) as members.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MAYEM, JULY 25

About 680 students of ShriShantadurga Higher SecondarySchool, Bicholim, availed ben-efit of the free medical camp,which was organised by Min-eral Foundation of Goa on Fri-day.

The medical camp was in-augurated by PTA PresidentNarayan Mashelkar in thepresence of Secretary Ma-hesh Sawaikar, Rupali Desaiof MFG, Principal Gerald

Delanay and Sanjay Ten-dulkar.

Dr Rajendra Sakhardande,Dr Dabhale, Dr Krishna Ma-hatme, Dr Munkekr, DrN.R.Patil and Dr S V Angadi ex-amined the patients. All thestudents were provided freemedicines.

Earlier, Delanay welcomedthe gathering, Sanjay Ten-dulkar compered the func-tion, while SanjeevAssagaonkar proposed thevote of thanks.

Bicholim school students benefit

from medical camp

A team of doctors treats students during a free medical camp at Bi-cholim. Photo by Vishant Vaze

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MAYEM, JULY 25

Rotary Club of Panjim RivieraPresident Nitin Kenkre hasstressed the need to providehelping hand to the schools forspecial children.

He was addressing the gath-ering while distributing uni-forms to the students of specialschool run by Keshav Sewa Sad-hana at Bicholim on Thursday.

School Headmistress KetkiKhanolkar, Pratibha Kenkre,Pallavi Salgaonkar, VeronicaVelho, Siddharth Zantye, RajeshSalgaonkar, Mahesh Pai andDeepa Jambhle were present.

On the occasion, 89 stu-dents were given uniforms bythe guests. Earlier, KetkiKhanolkar welcomed the gath-ering, while students pre-sented the welcome song andprayer.

Schools for special children needhelp: Panjim Rotary president

Rotary Club of Panjim Riviera members distributes uniforms to the students. Photo by Vishant Vaze

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JULY 25

Scholar, artist and musicol-ogist Dr Jose Pereira's book'Song of Goa' will be re-leased at a special functionin Hotel Mandovi on July30.

Dr Pereira has co-au-thored the book with theUS-based priest-psy-chotherapist and musicianDr Antonio da Costa, andthe late outstanding com-poser Michael Martins(1914-1999) of Orlim, wholed film orchestras in Bom-bay and did pioneeringwork in compiling Konkanisongs way back from 1954onwards.

The 497-page hardboundbook is priced at Rs 450, and isco-published by the Saligao-based Goa, 1556 and BroadwayPublishing House, an affiliateof Goa's largest bookstore.

This book contains an exhaus-tive section on the lyrics, scoreand translation of Goan mandos

-- a dance-song that conveys theemotions of love, and more. Themando has also commented oncontemporary events, mainlypolitical: such as the treaty be-tween Britain and Portugal, theAbkary Act, which gave Britaincontrol over Goa (1878).

This book by Pereira et algives an overview of Goansong, and then goes on to de-

scribe the Mando, its ro-mantic, political and socialworlds. It includes an an-thology of mandos -- cov-ering some 180 pages.There is also a commen-tary spanning some sev-enty pages on the differenttypes of mandos.

Included in this book isa bibliography of Konkanispelling, and a guide to therules of Saxtti (the Konkanispoken in the Salcete area)elision. There is a sectionfocussing on the lives ofthree major composers,and some "lesser" ones.

For the launch function,Dr Francisco Colaco of

Margao will speak on themando, while litterateur DrMaria Aurora Couto will focuson the intellectual contributionof Dr Pereira, who is currentlydown in Goa.

Curtorechim Sallkam, led bythe redoubtable Victor daCosta, will perform at the func-tion, to be held at 4.30 pm.

Book on mando to be released

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MAYEM, JULY 25

The Students Council of Gov-ernment College of Arts, Sci-ence & Commerce, Sanquelim,was recently installed, withPrincipal Dr B A Gomes admin-istering the oath of office tothe Council members.

In his welcome address, DrGomes spoke of the CollegeStudents Council as a symbolof students empowerment andan extension of democracy.

N B Bhat, Associate Profes-sor in Physics who opted vol-untary retirement after 22

years of service in the college,was given a warm farewell bythe principal.

Chief guest Dr R Hajirnis,Principal of MES College, Zuar-inagar, cautioned the studentsagainst being too complacentand satisfied with just their col-lege courses and degrees.

He exhorted them to seri-ously consider adding value totheir personality by equippingthemselves with a wide varietyof art and skills, while con-stantly trying to be innovativein their approach.

Assistant Prof Avinash Patil,

convenor of Students WelfareCommittee, introduced themembers of the Students Wel-fare Committee.

Other office bearers are As-sistant Prof Nilesh Natekar,Assistant DrVaibhav Chin-darkar, Assistant Prof MandaParab and Assistant ProfShilpa Satoskar (joint con-venors), Bonita da Silva (gen-eral secretary), Sumedha Joshi(cultural secretary), PetrisanAndrade (sports secretary)and Sneha Gawas (ladies rep-resentative).

Class Representatives are

Amol Vaze (TY BCom), SwatiMorajkar (TYBA), BabajiGaonkar (TY BSc), Adam Khan(SY BCom), Mahendra Vaze (SYBA), Anushka Balo (SY BSc), JibyJohn (FY BCom), ShraddhaBhise(FY BA A), Ainal Shah (FYBA B) and Pronoy Baidya (FYBSc).

Steffi Quintal compered theprogramme, while SumedhaJoshi proposed the vote ofthanks.

The programme ended witha musical entertainment pro-gramme by Petrisan Andrade,George Nandiyala and Group.

Sanquelim colleges students council installed

Monday, 26 July, 2010

GOA, MONDAY, 26 JULY, 2010

Pg7OHERALD

O

PTI

LONDON, JULY 25

A 500 million-pound deal forBAE systems, Britain's biggestdefence contractor, to supplyHawk jet trainers is expectedto be among a string of high-profile contracts to be signedduring Prime Minister DavidCameron's two-day visit to Indiacommencing on Wednesday.

There is also likely to be amajor cultural agreement involv-ing museums, 'The Observer' re-ported today.

Cameron is taking with himseven Cabinet ministers and ahuge trade delegation, includingrepresentatives from BAE as wellas from Rolls-Royce, StandardChartered Bank, constructiongroup Balfour Beatty and theBritish Museum.

BAE has set up joint ventureswith the state-owned HindustanAeronautics in Bangalore. TheIndian group makes BAE's Hawktrainer aircraft under licence.

Dick Olver, BAE's Chairman,said British business needed tothink about India becoming asimportant a trading partner asAmerica. "We need to build asecond special relationship."

According to the Sunday Tele-

graph, BAE Systems will an-nounce a 500 million-pounddeal to build 57 Hawk trainerjets in collaboration with theirIndian partners HAL near Ban-galore, as a centrepiece ofCameron's visit.

Cameron, who will first fly toBangalore, the hub of "infotech"and innovation, will visit alongwith Business Secretary VinceCable and Climate Change Min-ister Greg Barker the headquar-ters of Infosys, the cutting edgeIT firm based in the city.

Cameron is expected to makea keynote speech there callingfor an "aspirational partnership"between Britain and India.

George Osborne, the Chan-cellor of Exchequer, will visitMumbai, the financial capital ofIndia, while David Willetts, theUniversities and Science Minis-ter, will travel to Chennai to pro-mote university tie-ups.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Hunt, theCulture and Sport Secretary, willgo to Delhi, which is hostingthe Commonwealth Games inOctober.

In Mumbai, Osborne will ringthe bell to open the day's tradingto the headquarters of top com-puter software companies.

On Thursday, Cameron will beaccorded a ceremonial receptionin the forecourt of the Rashtra-pati Bhavan in Delhi. Besidesholding talks with his Indiancounterpart Manmohan Singh,Cameron is scheduled to meetCongress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Discussions about the grow-ing threat of LeT, the Pakistan-based terrorist group behindthe Mumbai attacks in 2008, willbe on the agenda of meetingsbetween British Foreign Secre-tary William Hague and India'ssecurity chiefs.

Cameron and Singh will an-nounce a new forum of topBritish and Indian chief execu-tives to explore how to disman-tle regulatory barriers to tradeand make recommendations totheir governments.

"It will make a significant im-pact," Commerce MinisterAnand Sharma told the SundayTelegraph.

"When the captains of Indus-try meet in an institutionalisedforum, with the composition de-cided at the highest level, it'ssurely a major step forward. Wehave seen it can make a differ-ence with the United States,Russia and France," he said.

Hawk contract, cultural deal on anvil during UK PMs India trip

PTI

BANGALORE, JULY 25

Amid sounds of bugles, beatingof dums, bursting of crackersand slogan chanting "BellaryBacchao and BJP Hatao" op-position Congress on Sundaylaunched its campaign againsttwo-year-old BJP government inKarnataka with its Bangalore toBellary padayatra protestingagainst illegal mining and its ad-ministrative failures.

Veteran Congress leaders KSriramulu and K H Ranganath,putting aside their old-age andill-health, inaugurated the 320-km padayatra at the FreedomPark here in the presence of awell attended gathering of par-tymen.

Sriramulu, who was a ministerin the late D Devaraj Urs ministryand credited with launching abattle against hotel owners forcharging higher rates for fooditems served to customers andfixed prices for every eatables,symbolically handed over ahandful of soil to KPCC PresidentR V Deshpande urging upon theparty to save "Karnataka from

BJP rule".The ceremony was in tune

with Congress's campaign "walkfor saving the state".

Former minister K H Ran-ganath handed over a saplingto opposition Congress leaderSiddaramaiah, who is leadingthe "oust BJP" agitation to takeup the task for protecting re-sources of the state, in the back-drop of Congress stir accusingChief Minister B S Yeddyurappagovernment of its "failure" tocheck "loot of resources".

The principle oppositionparty, to ensure that its move-ment against saffron party gov-ernment enjoyed the supportof cross section of people andshorn of political barriers, ropedin freedom fighters like H SDoreswamy, Jnanapeethaawardee U R Ananthamurthy,noted writer Baragur

Ramachandrappa, B T LalithaNaik, Prof Ravivarma Kumar andC S Dwarakanath, former chair-man of Backward Classes Com-mission.

Doreswamy and Anantmurthyslammed the BJP rule and Srira-

mulu charged the governmentof focussing its attention to-wards mobilising resources tofund elections.

"The administration has goneastray. There is a need to bringit on track", Anantamurthy said.

Senior Congres leader OscarFernandes said "the padayatrais meant to send message tothe people about misrule of theBJP government".

The Lokayukta probe hadbrought forward the issue of ir-regularity in mining and theChief Minister himself has ad-mitted to illegal mining in thestate and demanded the gov-ernment to act.

Siddaramaiah charged thatgovernment betrayed peopleand allowed illegal mining andillegal export of iron ore.

"Yeddyurappa himself con-ceeded that during his regime1.5 crore tons of iron was ille-gally exported", he said, and de-clared the padayatra was notfor "political gains, but toawaken the people about themisrule by BJP government,which should quit".

Congress launches padayatra against BJP govt in Karnataka

People paying obense to their Guru's on the occassion of Guru Purnima in New Delhi on Sunday.

PTI

NEW DELHI, JULY 25

The much-delayed first unit ofKudankulam nuclear powerplant, being built with Russiancollaboration, will be opera-tional by December, setting inmotion the roadmap that thetwo countries are working onin the field of atomic energy co-operation.

The two countries will discussthe next steps in the roadmapbesides other issues when For-eign Secretary Nirupama Raotravels to Moscow on August 2for Foreign Office Consultations.

Under the roadmap, a numberof nuclear reactors would be setup by Russia in India, sourcessaid here.

Four of the reactors are en-visaged to be established in Ku-dankulam in Tamil Nadu and onein Haripur in West Bengal, withscope for more in future.

The 1000 MW Kudankulam-Iwill be commissioned by Decem-ber, nearly three years after workbegan on it, the sources said.

The plant will be made oper-ational irrespective of whether

the proposed nuclear liabilitylegislation is enacted.

The liability bill, which pro-vides for compensation in theevent of an accident, has gotcaught into a controversy withseveral political parties demand-ing its redrafting.

Russia, whose nuclear indus-try is state-controlled, is not toohung up on passage of the lia-bility bill unlike the US whichhas insisted on such a law beforeits companies could start busi-ness in India.

The second unit of Kudanku-lam power plant will be madeoperational within six monthsof commissioning of the Unit-I.

The proposal to set up a Russ-ian nuclear plant in Haripur isfacing resistance from local peo-ple but the government is hopefulof convincing them about its util-ity and allay their apprehensions.

During her visit, Rao will alsodiscuss issues related to defencecooperation under which Russiais upgrading Sukhoi fighters.The two countries are also work-ing to develop 5th generationstealth fighters.

Kudankulam-I to start functioning by Dec

Water level rises in Ganga

PTI

GHAZIABAD, JULY 25

The water level of the Gangesin Bijnore district has increasedin the last 24 hours and is flow-ing only six inches below thedanger mark, officials said.

The water level has increaseddue to the discharge of addi-tional water from a barrage onthe river. The danger mark isset at 193.8 metre from sea leveland water in Ganga is now flow-ing at 193.2 metre, they added.

The district administrationhas informed villagers that theywill shifted from villages to saferplaces if water level crosses thedanger mark.

Flood water inundated thefields and the irrigation depart-ment is monitoring the situa-tion, they said.

Ghaziabad district magistrateHredesh Kumar said the admin-istration is keeping an eye overthe rising water levels and floodrelief materials have been putin place.

Incessant rains have floodedmany parts of Uttar Pradesh andthe state government has re-leased Rs 6 crore as relief foraffected.

pg7:Layout 1 7/25/2010 9:33 PM Page 1

Poor jokeFloriano Lobo, Goa Su-Raj Party

With due respect, Dr Oscar Rebello (Re-working the Script, Herald, 23 July) is anovice on Goas politics. He should refrainfrom making an apolitical joker of himself.If he wants a political super script, it isavailable in our partys programme atwww.goasu-raj.org.

Goa Su-Raj is offended by his likening itto the BJP or UGDP. We do not associatewith the likes of G7. In 2005, Goa Su-Rajforced the electoral process to go ahead inTaleigao. We did not allow the King of LoanSharks to become unopposed King ofTaleigao and make a travesty of democracy.

GSRP will never give an entry to this breedof politician. Ten solid years is proof enough.If Dr Oscar must poke fun at us, it is besthe does his homework well.

Mouths of babesGeraldine Patel, Miramar

My grandson was extremely upset whenthe CBI refused Gujarat Minister Amit Shahhis demand for the list of questions theywere going to ask him. He said if the ministerhad been given the questions, students in

his school were thinking of hiring a lawyerto insist that the school also give them thequestion paper before the next exam!

Sub-standard buildingsMarcos Alemao, Varca

The Chief Ministers statement that the newCollectorate building constructed in steel-reinforced cement concrete will last onlyfor 25 years (Herald, 18 July), is unbelievable.Buildings constructed during the Portugueseera with only bricks and chunna stand erectafter over 400 years.

This proves that the government puts upbad buildings. The condition of the Collec-torate building, constructed a few yearsback, is shaky. The building adjacent to Hos-picio, constructed not many years back, hasbeen repaired several times, whereas theold Hospicio hospital building still standserect. Obviously, the material used is sub-standard, in order to loot public money.

Regional Plan? P L Fernandes, Old Goa

We are eagerly waiting for the Regional Plan2021 to know whether our observationsand suggestions are taken into account.

When the Goa Bachao Abhiyan (GBA) andvillage groups questioned the delay, the ex-cuse was shortage of qualified personnel.

When Town and Country Planning is aportfolio in the hands of the Honble ChiefMinister, we expect it will get priority, toavoid people coming out on the streets.We are eager to know whether the much-publicised participatory process has worked.

VendettaAugusto Monteiro, Loutolim

I do not know Mickky Pacheco personally,but I am told that as a person, he was gentle,caring and helpful to the needy. What hap-pened between Nadia and Mickky is of noconcern to the public. It was with consentof Nadia and her elders, who benefited fromassociation with Mickky.

What surprises me is the intense effortsby the police to implicate Mickky; to converta suicide into a murder. Surprisingly, agreater crime the infamous drugs nexuswith the police and politicians is pushedunder the doormat. To those who are script-ing this political vendetta, I need to ask have you never sinned?

Tiatr traumaCaetano Mascarenhas, Raia

I was appalled to learn from an advertise-

ment (Herald, 18 July) that a tiatrist intendsto stage a tiatr under the name Nadia, pre-sumably about the unnatural death of youngNadia Torrado.

It is public knowledge that the tragicdeath is being investigated by the police,who have so far arrested two individuals.Since the death is the subject-matter of acriminal investigation, how can the con-cerned authorities permit this issue to be-come a matter of public entertainment?

It not only infringes on the privacy of thedeceased Nadia Torrado and her family, butcould influence an ongoing police investi-gation. The tiatrists should avoid puttingup stage performances commenting onevents relating to the death of Nadia Torradotill the conclusion of the criminal process.

Stop stale fishAdelmo Fernandes, Vasco

St Cruz Congress MLA Victoria Fernandeshas raised a valid point about stale fishbeing sold in the Panjim Municipal Market.Actually, this problem is all over the state.Putrid and rotten fish, often unfit for humanconsumption, is sold at the Vasco fish mar-ket, that too at an exorbitant price. Thishappens more during the monsoon, whenfish is in short supply.

The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA)should keep a close watch on the sale of

stale fish in the market. Fish is a perishablecommodity, and it should have a prescribedtime limit for its sale. Keeping it in ice doesnot prevent its decomposition; regularchecks and confiscation of stale fish is theonly solution. The FDA should act in thesame way it moved against the sale of arti-ficially ripened fruits.

Joaquim at seaMelson F M Louis, Margao

It is ridiculous that Fisheries MinisterJoaquim Alemao has served a 15-day dead-line on fishing boat owners to give consentfor the proposed fishmeal plant project atCutbona jetty (Joaquim serves ultimatumover fish plant, Herald, 17 July). Or, he says,the plant will be shifted to North Goa.

The proposed fish meal project site isunder the Village Panchayat of Velim. Boatowners have got no authority to give consentfor the project. Neither can the FisheriesMinister impose the project against thewishes of the villagers.

Fisheries Minister Joaquim Alemao isaware that the Velim village panchayat andGram Sabha are completely opposed to theproposed project, which requires 1.20 lakhsq metres of precious khazan farming land.

Myth and realityArwin Mesquita, Abu Dhabi

Michael DSouzas letter (Golden Goa Myth,Herald, 16 July) lacks the correct perspective.Migrant Goans in other parts of India andother countries, even along with migrantsfrom other areas, are not large enough tochange the local state or countrys identity,culture or language.

We all appreciate that migration happens,but this should not be to the destruction ofthe adopted state or countrys own identity.Goans migrated overseas have quickly in-tegrated into the local identities, cultureand languages. Is this happening in Goatoday, or is it vice versa?

you are High on life!

In India, for the most part, an aura of awe sur-rounds Bollywood stars, as fans admire thereel heroes as real ones. Bollywood movies

depict supermen and superwomen, with heroicstance and spirit, ultimately victorious over evil.Nevertheless, the injustice in our society, corrup-tion in our government institution, violence onour streets, violation of human rights, unimagin-able scale of poverty, illiteracy, and other socialevils compel people to search for a champion tocleanse the system. It is an enormous, almostimpossible task for one hero to accomplish.These movies entice us with an unrealistic utopia,but in a way they beckon us to challenge thestatus quo in society, and explore new horizonsto create a better situation in our own small way.Everyone needs a hero in life to bring about apositive change. Ironically, most people seek,the hero they long for, outside their being, notrealizing that the hero lies within oneself.

In the recent past, Goa has become the laughingstock of our Nation, and the world at large. Witheach passing day, Goa and Goans seemingly enacta tragic scene for what could be a new Bollywoodmovie; and it is a movie without a hero. Theirony of this enactment by our people is that itis tragic to our beloved State, but comical to therest of the world. Even more heartbreaking isthat nobody seems capable of deciphering theevil that has infected every strata of our society.This drama could be headed for a perfect melan-choly, unless society is ready for true introspectionand the transition back to the values that hadsustained us for so long . The change will notcome from outside, it should spring forth fromwithin each citizen, to cause an unrelentingmovement to fight the evil which has drainedour society to its lowest ebb. Inner reflectionshould lead us to selflessness, and empty us ofour greed, for greater good of the society.

Should someone ask why we have no hero, Iwould truthfully say I do not have the correct an-swer, but intend to find one. I thought our policeforce might give us a