OHERALDOThe Voice of Goa Since 1900

PTI

NEW DELHI, NOV 16

In a scathing criticism of formerTelecom Minister A Raja forfavouring industrial houses in-cluding Anil Ambani group, gov-ernment auditor CAG today saidhe allotted spectrum ignoringthe Prime Ministers advice and-caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakhcrore.

Among the other industrialhouses that benefited fromRajas 2G spectrum policy wereUnitech, Datacom (now Video-con), S-Tel, Swan and Loop Tele-com, who were given licencesin January 2008.

CAG said that the entireprocess of allocation of UnifiedAccess Service licences lackedtransparency and was under-taken in an arbitrary, unfair andinequitable manner, in theprocess flouting every canonof financial propriety, rules andprocedures.

On the issue of spectrum al-location to existing operatorsbeyond the contracted quantityof 6.2 Mhz, CAG has found SunilMittal-led Bharti to be thebiggest beneficiary, among pri-vate players, with 32.4 Mhz in13 circles, followed by Voda-fone-Essar with 19.6 Mhz.

The auditor has pegged rev-enue loss on account of new li-cences at up to Rs 1.40 lakhcrore and that on account of ad-ditional spectrum allotment tothe existing operators at Rs36,993 crore.

The 77-page report of CAG,tabled in Parliament, said that

due diligence was not followedand even the recommendationsof the telecom regulator TRAIwere not followed in spirit.

The report said the presump-tive loss caused to the excheq-uer through spectrum allocationto 122 licensees and 35 dualtechnology licences in 2007-08

was Rs 1,76,645 crore. It arrivedat the figure on the basis of 3Gauction held earlier this year inwhich the government moppedup over Rs 67,000 crore.

It said there was an impera-tive need to fix responsibilityand enforce accountability forthe lapses highlighted in the

audit report.Elaborating on the lapses and

irregularities, the governmentauditor said Prime Minister Man-mohan Singh had stressed onthe need for a fair and transpar-ent allocation of spectrumwhile the Ministry of Financehad sought for the decision re-garding spectrum pricing to beconsidered by an EGoM.

Brushing aside their concernsand advices, the DoT, in 2008,proceeded to issue 122 new li-cences for 2G spectrum at 2001prices, by flouting every canonof financial propriety, rules andprocedures, the CAG said.

The DoT also did not do therequisite due diligence in theexamination of the applicationssubmitted for the licences, lead-ing to the grant of 85 out of122 licences to the ineligibleapplicants as all these firms didnot have stipulated paid-up cap-ital at the time of application.

HERALD REPORTER

VASCO, NOV 16

About 401 passengers including134 crew on board the Mum-bai-Goa-Mumbai cruise liner MVOcean Life had a lucky escapeafter the vessel developed acrack in the sea on its returnfrom a maiden voyage in thewee hours of Tuesday.

What began as a dream cruiseended up in a nightmare whenwater began to enter into thehull and the vessel tilted by thetime rescue teams could reachthe distressed ship.

According to sources in Mor-mugao Port, timely action bythe MPT, Navy and Coast Guardaverted a major tragedy and theship along with its passengersreturned safely to the Mormu-gao Port in the wee hours ofTuesday.

The MV Ocean Life had ar-rived from Mumbai on itsmaiden voyage on Monday atabout 1.20 pm, as part of itsregular Mumbai-Goa-Mumbaiservice.

During its return journeyfrom Goa to Mumbai on Mondayevening, the vessel had to returnto the Mormugao Port in thewee hours of Tuesday from the17 nautical miles in the deep

sea, after the hull developed acrack, informed Deputy Con-servator of Mormugao Port Trust(MPT) Karan Vaswani.

The vessel had sailed atabout 10.15 pm from the portfor Mumbai and at about 12.35am, the ship captain alerted thePort Signal Station that the ves-sel would return to the port, asa crack had developed on theleft side and water had enteredthe ship, said Vaswani.

The port authority, IndianNavy and Coast Guard swiftlyswung into action to carry outthe rescue operation, as threetugs along with pilot boats of

the port, as well as ships of theIndian Navy and the Coast Guardleft for rescue operations, saidVaswani.

Vaswani said pilot boats ofthe port were in regular com-munication with the distressedvessel to know the position ofthe vessel, as the vessel beganto tilt by the time rescue teamcould reach the site.

Three tugs that were sailedfor rescue operations helped inkeeping the ship in its actualposition, while two ships ofNavy and Coast Guard broughtback the ship to the port at

Visit us at:www.oheraldo.in panjim, wednesday, noVember 17, 2010 postal reg. no. Goa 101 priCe rs. 3.00 (air surcharge rs 2.00) pages 16+4

Answer this! Which one is thebiggest scam of 2010. Option a-CWG Scam, b-IPL Scam, c- AdarshScam and d - 2G Spectrum...

Goa: Project reports cost

CCP Rs 50 lakh Pg 3

Sports: McCullum

salvages draw Pg 16

Goas Heartbeat: Akshay in

spat with Katrina Pg 4

FROM OUR BUREAU

NEW DELHI, NOV 16

The Ministry of Environmentand Forests came out with thechecklist before undertakingprojects attracting the CoastalRegulation Zone Notification,1991.

It says prior clearance is tobe obtained for the projectslisted in the CRZ Notification asamended from time-to-time andfall within the approved CoastalZone Management Plan (CZMP)of the respective State/Unionterritory.

The following check-list willbe referred to when any pro-posal for such clearance is con-sidered by all State/Unionterritory Coastal Zone Manage-ment Authorities and should beenclosed when the recommen-

dations of these authorities aresent to the ministry or the StateGovernment, says a notificationon the ministry website.

1. Application by project pro-ponent

(i) Has the map been preparedby anyone of the authorisedagencies as per the guidelinesissued by Ministry of Environ-ment and Forests vide letterNo.J-17011/8/92, dated Decem-ber 29, 1999 for demarcatingHigh Tide Line and Low TideLine in 1:4000 scale (cadastralscale map)?

YES/NO(ii) Has the CRZ area been de-

marcated on the above map (i)above, in accordance with theCRZ Notification, 1991 and theapproved CZMP?

Checklist for CRZarea projects

Nightmare for 401 onboard Ocean Life

The stranded MV Ocean Life anchored at Mormugao Port.

l Lucky escape for passengers as hull cracks

Photo by M Prabhav

CAG REPORT FLOORS RAJASays he flouted rules, caused Rs 1.76 lakh cr loss

l Raja allotted spectrum ignoring PMs advice,caused a Rs 1.76 lakh crore loss.

l Unitech, Datacom (now Videocon), S-Tel, Swanand Loop Telecom, benefited.

l Entire process to allocate UAS licences lackedtransparency.

l Sunil Mittal-led Bharti biggest beneficiary with32.4 Mhz in 13 circles.

l Revenue loss on new licences pegged at up to Rs1.40 lakh cr and on additional spectrum allotmentto existing operators put at Rs 36,993 cr.

l In 2008, DoT proceeded to issue 122 new licences at 2001 prices. l DoT granted 85 out of 122 licences to ineligible applicants.l 45 out of 85 licensees issued to companies which failed to satisfy

conditions.l Dual tech licence process to Reliance Communications lacked

transparency.

W H A T T H E R E P O R T S A Y S

PTI

NEW DELHI, NOV 16

The Supreme Court todayasked some embarrassingquestions about the lengthydelay on the part of Prime Min-ister Manmohan Singh in tak-ing a decision on a plea forsanction of prosecution of for-mer Telecom Minister A Rajain the controversial 2G Spec-trum allocation issue.

Can the sanctioning author-ity (Prime Minister in this case)

sit on the complaint, a benchof Justices G S Singhvi and A KGanguly asked during a hear-ing on a petition filed by JanataParty President and former LawMinister Subramaniam Swamy,

SC questions PMs delay

66 killed, Delhi building collapse fuels blame game

PTI

NEW DELHI, NOV 16

The collapse of a four-storeybuilding in a congested localityin East Delhi in which 66 peoplewere killed fuelled a blame gametoday between the Delhi Gov-ernment and the MCD on whatled to the worst such disasterin recent times here.

A case of culpable homicidenot amounting to murder hasbeen registered against theowner of the building AmritSingh, who is absconding andhas not been traced yet, policesaid.

Let no guilty man escape, if it can be avoided.

No personal considerationshould stand in theway of performing

a public duty.

Ulysses S Grant

Facebooklaunches

e-mail serviceFacebook, a popular social net-working site, has come out withan improved messaging plat-form which aims to provideusers with more than just an e-mail application.

The new messaging systemenvelopes e-mail, instant mes-sages, Facebook messages andSMS to help users communicatefaster and more seamlessly withtheir friends.

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GOA, WEDNESDAY, 17 NOVEMBER, 2010

GOA Pg2OHERALD

O

HERALD REPORTER

VASCO, NOV 16

The fishing community fromKhariwado-Vasco on Tuesdaygave a send-off to the Por-tuguese tallest ship NRP Sagresat Mormugao Port.

Decorated fishing trawlersand canoes accompanied by tra-ditional brass band ferried largenumber of revelers towards theship from Khariwado fishingjetty. Later, some youth carriedout a rally in Vasco on their mo-

torcycles holding Portugal andIndian flags.

Dancing to the beats of tra-ditional brass band and Goanmusic, the revelers exchangedflowers with Sagres ship captainProenca Mendes in the presenceof Consul General de PortugalAntonio Sabido Costa and othersailors.

As a part of goodwill gesture,ship captain Mendes distributedgifts to the fishermen, while fewsailors handed over T-shirts.

Mendes handed over the Por-tugal flag to fishermen, whilein return fishermen handed overthe Indian flag to the captain.

Speaking to media persons,Mendes said it was a wonderfulatmosphere and they arepleased to receive such an over-whelming send-off.

We felt pleased arriving inGoa, though there was someopposition by freedom fighters,said Mendes.

Councilors Fiola Rego and

Lavina DSouza and former coun-cilor Arnold Rego were present.

It was our goodwill gestureto show them hospitality, as In-dians treats their guests as god,said Simon Pereira, a fisherman.

We dont want to commenton the people who opposed thearrival of the ship, but the func-tion was just a goodwill gestureto strengthen Indo-Portugal tiesand to show them about Incred-ible India and its people, addedPereira.

Despite protests, Portuguese crew leave Goan shores happy

Fishermen from Vasco in their decorated canoes and fishing trawlers give send-off to Portuguese ship NRP Sagres. Photo by M Prabhav

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, NOV 16

Mind blowing acts by Indian de-fense personnels, Royal Bandand media boycott marked cen-tenary celebration of Corps ofSignals, today.

The function held at 2 SignalTraining Centre, Headquarter inBambolim to mark the 100 glo-rious years of Corps of Signals,saw media boycotting the offi-cial press conference supposedto be addressed by Signal Officerin Chief Lt Gen P Mohapatra.

The delay by the officials toaddress the press conferenceforced media persons to walkout.

Not just this, the media wasupset after they alleged ill-treat-

ment at the venue by the de-fense officials.

Media people claimed thatthey were given backseats fromwhere they could hardly see anyactivity. The photographers andthe cameraman from the elec-tronic media were forced tojump from one place to other,in the lack of proper mediaarrangements.

Earlier, the Centenary Cele-brations had mind-blowing ad-venture with shows by variousteams including Army Skydivingteam, Corps of Signals DisplayTeams, Military Band and oth-ers.

The show, which began withthe silent drill, the only team ofthe Indian Army formed by

Corps of Signals in December2009, had breathtaking se-quence by Corps of SignalsDaredevil team, who have thecredit of ten world records since1991.

The performances were ho-noured by giving away theawards at the hands of ChiefMinister Digamber Kamat.

Apart from this, Kalaripayattu,an ancient martial art of south-ern India, Taekwando, a Koreanmartial art was also performedfor the two hour long show.

The function concluded withBand Display by Corps of Signalsband and Corps of Engineersband, who played songs likeSare Jaha Se Achha and KadamKadam badaye ja.

Media boycotts Signals centenary celebrations

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, NOV 16

There is complete disconnectbetween body and soul, statedNarendra Kumar, DevelopmentCommissioner and Secretary In-formation while referring toFourth Estate -- watchdog ofdemocracy and freedom.

He was speaking at NationalPress Day function jointly or-ganized by Goa Editors Guildand Goa Union of Journalistalong with Department of In-formation and Publicity on Tues-day here.

Referring to the changes thatare fast engulfing the fourthestate

Kumar said media is a bodyand journalist is its soul butthere is complete disconnectbetween the two.

There has been completetransformation in media now -- newspapers offer glossy page,so many sections devoted to allaspects other than news, hepointed out while talking on Media in globalization & com-petition: challenges and oppor-tunities.

Earlier senior journalist from

Mumbai Swati Deshpande in herkey note address, said journalistshould not compromise onquality of work and irrespec-t ive o f who contro ls themedia the good work willget its due.

Emphasized the role of mediaas watch dog she said if voiceof the journalist is breached thenyou cant expect society tochange.

The Chief Minister DigambarKamat speaking on this occasionsaid transformation in mediashould benefit all sections ofsociety.

On this occasion two seniorjournalists Arun Bhatkhande andSharad Tednulkar were felici-tated at the hands of chief min-i s t e r fo r the i r v a luab lecontribution in the field.

Media transformation should benefit all sections: CM

Lifeguards save 3 lives

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

CALANGUTE, NOV 16

Three persons, including a 14-year-old boy, were saved fromdrowning by Drishti Surf LifeTeam of lifeguards at Candolimand Palolem beaches.

According to Drishti reports,a boy was rescued from drown-ing by Dristhi lifeguard SanjayYadav, who noticed him in thedeep sea and was in distress.

Informing the tower, the life-guard swam across with his res-cue tube and brought the boysafely to the shores.

A t Pa lo l em beach , twotourists from Bangalore andNagpur were saved in two sep-arate incidents.

Ranganath Nagraj (28) fromBangalore was rescued while hetried to cross the river from thebeach end and was swept awaywith the waves.

Lifeguards Pandurang Padkarand Ajay Velip realizing the dan-ger, swam across and rescuedthe tourist.

In another incident, PriyankaModekar (21) from a group of 5tourists from Nagpur, who wereswimming in no swim zone, wasrescued while she struggled indeep waters.

On noticing the tourist in dis-tress, lifeguard Venkatesh Velipswam across and brought hersafely ashore.

No hukasmoking

on Canacona beaches: PI

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

CANACONA, NOV 16

Canacona Police Inspector RajuRaut Dessai has claimed that nohuka smoking activities takeplace along the Canaconacoast.

After leading a day-longcombing operations and affect-ing a few arrests at Palolembeach, PI Dessai confidentlyclaimed that there is no huka-s m o k i n g o n C a n a c o n abeaches.

In a combing operation thatcould bring out far-reaching af-fects on few visiting tourists atPalolem and other talukasbeaches like Agonda, Galgibaga,Canacona Police arrested fourlamani women in connectionwith illegal trafficking of fakegoods.

Police also arrested four road-side vendors for allegedly block-ing free flow of traffic on thePalolem main beach road andbooked about 10 persons oncharges of smoking/spitting atpublic places.

Contrary to what others feel,there is no huka-smoking at allat Canacona, PI Dessai told Her-ald.

Tuesdays combing opera-tions is just the beginning andit will be continued in followingdays and months, he added,sending a stern warning tovisitors to think twice beforeengaging in any such activi-ties.

Such combing operationswill be a regular feature and anylaw breaker will be taken to taskto make Canacona ta lukabeaches more visitors friendlyand enjoyable, added PI Des-sai.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, NOV 16

Goa Legis lat ive AssemblySpeaker Pratapsingh Rane todaysaid that jealousy and worriesof few politicians and bureau-crats have inordinately delayedthe actual execution of LokAyukta Bill.

At least two bills tabled byme are pending although theywere passed by the House. Thereason is that some people in-cluding bureaucrats and somepoliticians are jealous, Ranesaid in the function held to mark150 years of Comptroller andAuditor General of India (CAG).

Speaking to Herald on thesidelines of the function, theSpeaker elaborated that thoughthe Lok Ayukta Bill was passedin 2007, some people are tryingto kill it delaying its actual for-mation.

Right from chief minister tospeaker, ministers, legislatorsand bureaucrats will come underthe scrutiny after the Bill is en-forced as one has to declare fi-nances or assets, he said adding

that we are using public fundsand utmost transparency is re-quired.

But till date nobody has beenappointed to execute the duty.They are trying to kill it, hecommented.

Rane said that some Goa Po-lice Service and Indian PoliceService officials are also reluc-tant to get the Bill in place,which is one of the reasons whythe formation is not ensuing.

Earlier, during the function,the senior legislator expressedhis opinion that the CentralCommittee should appoint aqualified CAG who has thoroughexperience of auditing and ac-counting functions.

A committee of Prime Min-ister, Finance Minister, Leader

of Opposition and Chairman ofPAC should together appoint aqualified CAG, he said.

CAG in present scene is ap-pointed by the President. Hestated that a new Bill in the Par-liament is being introduced andif it is kept for public suggestion,he would give his opinion.

The functioning should betransparentWe need to seegovernance at the optimumlevel and funds being properlyutilised, he said.

Rane urged that the depart-ment has several backlogs to becompleted even as the perform-ance is improving in the pastcouple of years.

There should be regularmeetings. Backlogs should becleared. There is too much work,therefore, a sub-committeeshould be created so that re-spective legislators can pay sur-prise visits to departments, heopined.

He further expressed that hewill present his views for thenew parliament bill when itcomes for public suggestion.

Jealous politicos to blame for Lok Ayukta bill delay: Rane

MMC chief has no immediate plans to solve parking woes

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

Newly-elected Margao MunicipalChairperson Sushila Naik hasno immediate plans to ad-dress the acute parking prob-lem plaguing the CommercialCapital.

But, that has not stopped thenew Chairperson or the ChiefOfficer from parking their officialvehicles right at the entranceor inside the municipal garden.Even most of the newly-electedcity fathers, who attended theMunicipal meeting on Mondayto discuss on the constitutionof the statutory committees,had no hesitation in parkingtheir vehicles inside the munic-ipal garden.

Incidentally, the new civicchairperson has accorded topmost priority to work out a per-manent solution to the garbagemenace facing the city.

And, the chairperson says thatthe parking problem would beaddressed only after puttingthe acute garbage mess inplace.

Sadly, while the city fathershave no hesitation to park theirvehicles in the sprawling gar-den, neither the civic body northe government has displayedany initiative to address theissue, notwithstanding arounda dozen resolutions adopted bythe Civic body over the yearson the issue.

If the Municipal records is anyindication, it was only duringthe tenure of Ganashyam Shi-rodkar as civic chairpersonnearly 10 years ago and last yearwhen Savio Coutinho presidedover the reigns of the civic bodythat the an attempt was madeto solve the burning problem,but in vain.

While the civic body dur-ing Shirodkars tenure hadinvited pre-qualification ten-ders from companies to setup a multi-storey parking lotat the old bus stand, the Mu-nicipality during Coutinhostwo-year old tenure had in-vited Expression of Interestto shortlist consultants tobuild the parking lot.

CM intervenes to solvegarbage menace

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

In a bid to put a garbage management system in place for thecommercial capital, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat had a meetingwith Margao municipal officials and civic chairperson Sushila Naikon Tuesday.

The Chief Minister sought a status report on the garbage col-lection system from the concerned officials and sought details onthe manpower and machinery employed by the civic body for thegarbage collection.

While offering his full support to the Civic body to get the cityrid of the garbage, the chief minister called for immediately meas-ures in that directions with the popular dindi festival underway inthe city. In fact, the Chief Minister is believed to have issued strictdirections to the officials to clear the city of the waste before themain dindi festival on November 19.

Against the backdrop of the Chief Ministers directives, theChairperson Sushila Naik visited various places in the city, includingthe Comba area, which will play host to the Dindi procession atthe Vithal Mandir. The Municipal Chairperson is also believed tohave taken note of the areas which have no illumination city asthe Chief Minister has insisted on the illumination of the Dindiprocession route on November 19.

The newly-elected Chairperson had a first hand experience withthe garbage problem a day after taking over the reigns of officewhen she found mounds of waste in her Comba ward andno responsible officer around to take quick decision toclear the waste.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

In a symbolic protest againstthe long delay in four-laning theNavelim Church-Margao flyoverroad at the entrance to the Com-mercial capital, residents of Col-morod placed a placard at thesite of road works wishing thepeople a safe Our Lady ofRosary feast on Wednesday.

Led by outgoing Margao Mu-nicipal Chairperson SavioCoutinho, the protestors de-manded early completing com-pletion of the four lane road by

the Goa State Infrastructure De-velopment Corporation headedby Chief Minister DigambarKamat.

This is just a message to theauthorities over the plight ofthe road users on a daily basis.We had been demanding widen-ing of the road since 1995 andhad managed to get the worktendered by GSIDC in 2008, hesaid.

Coutinho, however, said thatthough the contractor was seta 15-month deadline by theGSIDC to complete the work,

theres little progress in thework so far.

Even work on the footpathsare not completed, he said,adding that though the ChiefMinister had set a deadline ofApril 24 last year to shift hotmix at least one lane and shiftthe electric poles, nothinghas changed on the groundtill date.

Demanding that work on theproject be expedited by theAgency, Coutinho said that thedeep trench right in the middleof the road has posed dangerto motorists.

Colmorod locals demand earlyfour-laning of flyover road

The Placard erected at the site of the long-delayed four-laning work at Colmorodo-Navelim. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

The Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG)on Tuesday celebrated the birthanniversary of Regina Fernandes the first lady on tiatr stage.To commemorate the occasion,a workshop on womens role inart and culture conducted by Dr

Meenaxi Martins was held atthe Ravindra Bhavan, Margaothis morning, followed by a ladiesmusical show staged at the PaiTiatrist auditorium.Konkan i s tage a r t i s t An -tonet te Mendes was thechief guest at the functionwhich was organized by the

Tiatr Academy.Addressing the gathering, Pres-ident of Tiatr Academy Tomaz-inho Cardozo said the objectiveof remembering Regina Fernan-des was to given an encour-agement to the youngergeneration of her contribu-tion to tiatr.

TAG remembers firstwoman tiatrist

Versatile singer and Konkani stage artist Antonette Mendes at the ladies musical show at the RavindraBhavan. Photo by Savio Dias

My son will notcontest next

Assemblypolls: Joaquim

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

With rumours rife that he is allset to introduce his pilot sonYuri into electoral politics, Cun-colim MLA and Urban Develop-ment Minister Joaquim Alemaoscotched all such reports, sayinghis son may succeed him onlyafter his retirement.

Theres no way Yuri will contestthe next Assembly polls from Cun-colim or anywhere else when I willstand for re-election from the con-stituency, Joaquim asserted.

The Minister, however, has-tened to add that Yuri has beenactively involved in social worknot only in Cuncolim con-stituency, but elsewhere.

The rumour mill was activethroughout Tuesday with Yurisbirthday being the talk of theTown on account of the con-gratulatory messages in themedia, followed by a freeKonkani Tiatr near the busstand. Incidentally, the vernac-ular media had reported a fort-night ago that the Urb a nDevelopment Minister mayshift to Sanguem and fieldhis son in Cuncolim.

Addressing a Tiatr function,Joaquim said that he will have totake permission of the people ofCuncolim to contest from Sanguem.But, I would prefer to retire frompolitics instead of contesting fromSanguem, he said.

60 slaughterbulls rescued

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

Acting on a tip off, the MainaCurtorim police conducted araid on late Tuesday night at Da-vorlim and rescued around 60bulls which were brought forslaughtering on the eve of Id onWednesday.

Maina curtorim PI Sidhant Shi-rodkar informed that the policehas arrested three personsunder section 429 and 511 ofthe IPC for bringing the cattlefor the purpose of slaughteringthem near the railway gate atDavorlim. He provided thenames of the arrested personsas Shaik Abdul, a resident of Da-vorim, Vijay Varde and SureshVarde, both residents of Kudal,Maharashtra.

The police received specificinformation that some personswould bring the cattle near therailway gate for the purpose ofslaughtering on the occasion ofId festival, he said.

PI Shirodkar informed thatthe police has been deployednear the Davorlim railway gateto ensure that the cattle isguarded and not lifted away bythe owners.

South SP, Allan de Sa and Mar-gao DySP Umesh Gaonkar werenot available for comments.

GOA, WEDNESDAY, 17 NOVEMBER, 2010

GOAOHERALD

OPg3

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, NOV 16

With no action forthcoming from the State Gov-ernment against alleged illegalities of the Cor-poration of the City of Panjim (CCP) and its rulingcorporators, BJP supported corporators have de-cided to file Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

Rupesh Haldankar along with other corporatorstold a press conference on Tuesday here thatthey will now file a PIL seeking directions to thegovernment to order investigation into variousscams that CCP remained mired in during lastfour years.

He said, several scams such as pay parking,security guard , house tax scam, casino office

permission scam, ghost worker scam andthe biggest of all Panjim market shop allot-ment scam. However, there has been no tan-gible action in any of the scams what soever, he said.

Of the total 1424 shops about 70 per centshops are illegally occupied with corportors UdayMadkaikar and Daya Karapurkar are the main cul-prits, he charged.

He also named Mayor Carolina Po and AccountsTaxation Officer (ATO) Joaquim Colasso being re-sponsible for this mess in CCP and demandedthat CCP should re-tender shops which are illegallyoccupied after retrieving ownership of those il-legally occupied shops.

BJP-backed corporatorsto file PIL on CCP scams

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, NOV 16

While fund starved Corporationof the City of Panjim (CCP) hasnot yet received a single paisaunder Jawaharlal Nehru NationalUrban Development Mission (JN-NURM), it has ended up spend-ing over Rs 50 lakh in preparingdetailed project reports (DPRs)of projects, alone, it wants inthe city.

The CCP paid Rs 9.61 lakh toWater & Power ConsultancyServices (India) Ltd, Gurgaon forpreparation of DPR for the sec-tor water body preservation andhill slope protection.

Groupe SEC India Pvt Ltd, Ban-galore which was hired for

preparing DPR for four differ-ent projects was paid Rs37.24 lakh.

It was engaged for preparingDPR for basic services to urbanpoor that included 226 apart-ments at Kamrabhat and waspaid Rs 11.31 lakh.

For preparation of DPR forComprehensive Mobility Plan(CMP) for it received Rs 11.35lakh and Rs 9.24 lakh for prepa-ration of DPR for the Sector Her-itage Conservation for the city.Whereas it received Rs 14.58lakh for preparation of DPRfor development of park,gardens and open spaces forthe CCP.

This include Bonca De Vaca

precint and Swami VivekanandRoad, development of DonaPaula park and market, devel-opment of Miramar beach,Charao Jetty & redevelopmentof entry to Viscounts House,Divar Jetty and provision of toi-lets.

Whereas for preparationof DPR for municipal e-gov-ernance design it paid Rs10.96 lakh to M/s UpasaniJain & Kshirsagar and G SMathur & Co Pune.

Some of these projects arepending with directoratemiss ion in Delh i even asmany other States alreadygot funds from JNNURM andalso started work.

Project reports cost CCP Rs 50 lakh

2 arrested for killing wild boarHERALD CORRESPONDENT

SANGUEM, NOV 16

Wild Life Division, Kurdi-Ne-travali, Range Forest Officer ND Prabhudessai on Sunday ar-rested two persons from Ne-travali-Sanguem for allegedlykilling a wild boar from theprecincts of Netravali Wild LifeSanctuary.

The accused have been iden-tified as Francisco Mascarenhasand Sukdo Velip. The forest of-ficials have also attached a TataIndica car belonging to one ofthe accused and a motorcycleallegedly used in the commis-sioning of the offence.

Later, Judicial Magistrate FirstClass Sanguem released the duoon bail on the condition to re-port to the Range Forest Office,Netravali, in the morning andevening sessions everyday forone month.

Sources informed that the for-est officials while on round tothe Netravali Wild Life Sanctuarynoticed the vehicle within theprecincts of the Wild Life Sanctuaryand directed the car driver to stopthe vehicle for inspection.

The officials found a dead wildboar on the back seat of the car andaccordingly arrested the vehicledriver for the offence.

The officials also stopped amotorcycle, which was followingthe car and arrested the motor-cycle rider, after a gun was foundtied to the motorcycle andwhich the officials alleged wasused in killing the seized wildboar.

Inquiries revealed that Mas-carenhas was allegedly calledby the killer of the wild boar tocollect the wild boar after pay-ment of a certain price at a spec-ified location.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, NOV 16

Sanjay Leela Bhansalis film,Guzaarish has hit a controversyafter posters of Bollywood iconAishwarya Rai Bachchan smok-ing cigarette displayed all acrossMumbai.

The anti-tobacco NGO, Na-tional Organisation for TobaccoEradication (NOTE), has threat-ened to issue legal noticeagainst Bachchan and the film-maker by Wednesday.

The NGO has asked filmmakerto withdraw the posters show-ing smoking scenes.

The innumerable postersand banners of the film Guzaar-ish displayed all over Mumbaishows Aishwarya smoking a cig-arette. We will make sure thatthe notice is issued by Wednes-day, NOTE General SecretaryDr Shekhar Salkar said heretoday.

Guzaarish, casting Aishwaryaand Hrithik Roshan is set for therelease on Friday-November 19.

NOTE , i n the pas t haddragged Amitabh Bachchan tohigh court for similar offenceduring promotion of film Fam-ily.

The display of the postersshowing Aishwarya smokingraises worries in our mind thatsuch depictions could be trend-setter, Dr Salkar said.

He stated that NOTE Indiafirmly believes that there is inlarge use of film stars to prop-agate smoking, who are consid-ered as icons and even deitiesby their millions of fans.

Anti-tobacco NGOwants Guzaarish

posters withdrawn

Margao bomb

blast accused

applies for bailHERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

An accused in the Margao bombblast case has moved the SouthGoa Sessions court for bail.

Accused Prashant Juvekar hasmoved the court on grounds thatthe National Investigating Agencyhas not yet filed a chargesheetagainst him in the court.

The bail application will comeup for hearing on November 19.

Sources in the know that theNIA has prepared a supplemen-tary chargesheet against the twoaccused persons PrashantAshtekar and Prashant Juvekarand others.

It is learnt that the copy ofthe chargesheet has been dis-patched to Delhi for final ap-proval from the NIA sleuths.

The charge sheet is likely tobe filed early next week, NIAsources said.

Once the fans find theirfavourite celebrate consumingcigarette, they automaticallymove closer to it, he added.

NOTE India had in the pastknocked every door to preventthe clandestine proliferation oftobacco by using Bollywoodstars.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

The Chief Inspector of Facto-ries and Boilers have asked theMormugao Steel Ltd Curtorimto submit a report on the main-tenance of the furnace whichwitnessed a blast late Mondaynight.

The direction was issued tothe management of MSL factoryon Tuesday as the Chief Inspec-tor of Factories and Boilers S MParanjape inspected the factorythis morning to assess the rea-son behind the furnace blast.

I think theres somethingwrong with the furnace causing

the blast. The Management hasclaimed that the furnace wasmaintained on a regular basis.But, I have asked for the main-tenance report as part of theprobe into the incident, Paran-jape said.

According to Paranjape, theblast in the electric furnacemight have occurred when wa-ters from the electric coil camein contact with molten metal.We have to investigate howthe water from the coil came incontact with the molten metal,he added.

Fortunately, the workers whowere rushed to Hospicio hospi-

Curtorim blast: Firm told to submit report on furnace

The MSL factory at Curtorim. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar

tal stands discharged after beingtreated for the injuries sustainedafter the blast. Though the blastshook the neighbourhood, therewas no major damage causedto the factory premises, unlikethe furnace blast in the Cun-colim Industrial estate.

Meanwhile, the Maina Cur-torim police has said that actionagainst the management of theMSL will be initiated only afterreceiving a report form the ChiefInspector of Factories and Boil-ers. We have recorded thestatements of the workers work-ing in the factory at the time ofthe blast. A case of accident hasbeen registered so far, PI Sid-hant Shirodkar said, adding thatthe course of further investiga-tions into the furnace blast willbe based on the report from theFactories and boilers.

PI Shidodkar along with Mar-gao Sub-divisional police officer,DySP Umesh Gaonkar visitedMSL on Tuesday noon to assessthe situation.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, NOV 16

Farmers from Ponda and Bi-cholim talukas have objected tothe proposed natural gaspipeline by the Gas Authority ofIndia Ltd (GAIL), during a public hear-ing at the Collectorate Office today.

The project, according tosources, will bar villagers fromerecting any structures althoughthe cultivation of crops will bepossible. A batch of 50 farmersand householders expressedtheir resentment in the secondmeeting with the Deputy Col-lector of Land Acquisition An-thony DSouza.

The pipeline will passthrough vast acres of fields andhouses, which will cause onlydamages, a farmer said. Theauthorities had issued noticesto villagers of Mormugao, Pondaand Bicholim for public hearing,as the pipeline will pass throughthe three talukas starting fromGokak in Karnataka.

Beginning at Virdi, the under-ground pipel ine wil l passthrough Maulingem, Curchirem,Carapur, Amona, Tivrem, Khan-dola, Vargao, Adcon, Boma,Kundaim and Madkai before mov-ing to Mormugaos villages of San-coale, Pale, Cortalim and Quelossim,sources stated. The end point willbe near Zuari Industries.

Speaking to Herald, DSouzasaid that the project is not anacquisition. The land will con-tinue to remain with the owners.GAIL will lay undergroundpipeline after which the landwill be returned back to respec-tive owners, he said.

The officer, who has been ap-pointed as the competent au-thority, said he will compile areport to be furnished to theMinistry of Petroleum after hear-

Ponda, Bicholim farmers object to gas pipeline

ing the locals . S ince, thepipelines would also cross res-idential areas, the departmentwil l suggest i ts diversionthrough agricultural land.

It is learnt that two gas sta-tions will be set up one each at

Curchirem (Bicholim) and Mad-kai for which 2,500 sq mtrs eachof land would be acquired. Forlaying the spur line, authoritieshave already identified the landand compensation will be paidto owners, said the source.

nBeginning at Virdi, the pipeline will passthrough Maulingem, Curchirem, Carapur,Amona, Tivrem, Khandola, Vargao, Adcon,Boma, Kundaim and Madkai before movingto Mormugaos villages of Sancoale, Pale,Cortalim and Quelossim.

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Blood donation camp heldPANJIM (HND): Max New York Life Insurance in association

with Thalassemics - India conducted 6 blood donation campsin the state as a part of the 29 city blood donation drive acrosswestern India. Max New York Life employees and agent advi-sors donated 125 units of blood; in all 300 units were col-lected. The camp at Margao was inaugurated by Chief MinisterDigambar Kamat who was delighted with enthusiasm of MaxNew York Life employees and agents in conducting the blooddonation camp and the impact they have made on the lives ofThalassemia patients.

Tailoring classes opened

Calangute MLA Agnelo Fernandes along with the women trainees. Photo by Anil Shankhwalker

PORVORIM (HC): Calangute MLA Agnelo Fernandes inaugu-rated the cutting and tailoring class started by Reis MagosSarpanch Sushma Pednekar in association with JanashikshanSanstha at Verem.

Speaking on the occasion, Fernandes complimented thesarpanch for taking an initiative to conduct the cutting and tai-loring class for the benefit of the poor women in her village.

Sarpanch Sushma Pednekar informed that in Reis Magos,there are several unemployed women, who are interested tostand on their own feet, but do not have necessary resources.

It is for the benefit of these women, I have started this classwith the assistance of the Janashikshan Sanstha, Porvorim.Teacher Rajasree Korjuenkar of Jana Shikshan Sanstha will pro-vide training to the women, she added.

The sarpanch further informed that she plans to approachthe Rural Development Agency or EDC or Bank for providingfinancial assistance at confessional rate of interest to thetrainees for purchasing sewing machines to enable them toearn their livelihood.

Panch members of Reis Magos and Nerul panchayats werepresent for the programme.

Our Lady of Piety feastCOLLEM (HC): Parishioners of Collem celebrated the feast of

Our Lady of Piety with great enthusiasm and religious fervourat Our Lady of Piety Church, Collem, on Sunday.

Fr Orlando Lopes and Fr Pio Furtardo were the main cele-brants for the mass. People from Collem, Mollem, Shigao,Kasavalim and Kajumal participated in the procession.

Speaking to Herald, Fr Orlando Lopes said this year, theChurch is celebrating its 55 years of services.

Kefira rewarded

Kefira Rodrigues receives the National Child Award 2010 fromPresident Pratibha Patil at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan, NewDelhi.

VASCO (HR): Kefira Rodrigues from Vasco was awarded theNational Child Award 2010 by President Pratibha Patil on Chil-drens Day function at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.

Rodrigues, a Std 8 student of Deepvihar Secondary School,Sada, was selected for the National Child Award 2010 for ex-ceptional achievements, which she received from the President.

The Award is in recognition of her diverse achievements inthe field of sports, dance and music. The award carries a cashprize of Rs 10,000, a Silver medal and a certificate.

Among the notable achievements to her credit, Kefira Ro-drigues was adjudged the best Taluka level Bharat Natyamdancer by the Directorate of Arts and Culture, Government ofGoa.

She has also participated in Ethnic and Western Dance per-formances in Ahmedabad, Delhi and Malwan-Maharashtra.

Kefira was the recipient of the Monginis Puraskar for mul-tiple intelligence. She was also awarded the first place in Tal-ented Girls Contest held among seven schools from differentStates organised by St Xaviers Girls College, Mumbai.

Fatima Bi to be honouredVALPOI (HC): Fatima Bi Khan of Nanus-

Valpoi, who recently completed 101 years,will be honoured by her family membersand villagers next week.

According to some close relatives, thefamily has decided to offer special prayersfor the good health and stability of Fatimaand will also felicitate her in the presenceof well wishers and villagers.

Like other responsible citizens, mygrandmother also exercised her franchiseduring recent municipal council elections,

said Fatimas grandson Sharafat, who was recently electedcouncillor of Valpoi Municipal Council.

Everybody in the family is happy to receive the blessingsof our eldest member of the family, he added.

uPCoMInG eVents

uPCoMInG eVents

Cultural evening at TelaulimPANJIM (HND): YMCT Entertainment in Association with Di-

rectorate of Art and Culture will present a Goan culturalevening Nachum-ia Kumpasar featuring Goas NightingaleLorna on November 18 in Telaulim. Lorna will be accompaniedby Seby Fernandes, Travasso, Lulu Fortes, Sidhanath Buyao,Sonia Shirsat and Cyril Ferrao.

Music will be provided by Guinness record holder NormanCardozo with his seven piece orchestra.

Chief Minister Digamber Kamat will be the chief guest whilelocal MLA and PWD and RDA Minister Churchill Alemao willbe the guest of honour.

Indiras birth remembrancePANJIM (HND): Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC)

will observe the Birth Anniversary of former Prime Minister ofIndia, late Indira Gandhi, on November 19 at Congress House,Panjim at 10 am.

GPCC President Subhash Shirodkar, Chief Minister DigambarKamat, MPs, MLAs and other party leaders will attend thefunction.

Childrens book fair PANJIM (HND): As part of Silver Jubilee celebrations, Bal Bha-

van will organise childrens book fair cum sale on November18, 19 and 20 at Bal Bhavan campus, Campal, Panjim, from9.30 am to 6 pm.

Various childrens books and other educational relatedbooks in English, Hindi, Marathi and Konkani will be for saleat discounted rates.

Broadway Book Centre, GKA, Marathi Academy, Varsha BookStall and Narvekar Book Agency, Marcela and others will par-ticipate in this book fair.

The book sellers who wish to participate may contact BalBhavans programme section.

Inauguration of libraryPANJIM (HND): The state-of-the-art, Dr Francisco Luis

Gomes Library, will be inaugurated on November 21 at thelibrary premises, behind Rosary Church, Navelim, Salcette,at 5 pm by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, in presence ofPWD Minster Churchill Alemao, who will preside over thefunction.

Various facilities have been created in the library such asspacious reading room, lecture hall, newspaper section, workstation for public, children's section, multipurpose hall, cafe-teria, administrative block, conference hall to create ideal at-mosphere of learning and gaining knowledge.

Goa Book Fair - 2010PANJIM (HND): Directorate of Art and Culture in collabora-

tion with Institute Menezes Braganza, Panjim and RavindraBhavan, Margao will organise Goa Book Fair 2010 from No-vember 20 to 26 at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao from 9.30 am to9.30 pm.

The fair will be inaugurated on November 20 at 10.30 amby noted writer Damodar (Bhai) Mauzo in the presence of ViceChairman of IMB, Mohandas Surlakar, and Vice Chairman ofRavindra Bhavan, Shridhar Kamat.

Book vendors from of Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra andUttar Pradesh will participate in the Fair.

Dandiya-Raas competitionPANJIM (HND): United Cultural Association, Paleim, Ucca-

saim will organise 8th All Goa Dandiya Raas competition onNovember 20 at Sateri Devsthan Hall, Paleim, Uccasaim at 8pm. All Goa Hindi film songs dance competition will be heldon November 21 at 8 pm at the same venue. Cash prizes andtrophies will be awarded to the winners. For registration call9850247721.

Get together for seniors PANJIM (HND): A get-together for the senior citizens will be

organised at Recreation Center, Pedda, Margao to celebrateDiwali on November 20 at 5.30 pm. Chief minister DigamberKamat will grace the occasion and chat with the senior citizenswho will display their virtuosity in music. Margao MunicipalCouncil Chairman Sushila Naik will also be present for thefunction.

Corlim gram sabhaPANJIM (HND: The ordinary gram sabha of Corlim will be

held on November 21 in the community hall of the panchayatat 10 am. Proposals on developmental works for the meetingmay be forwarded to the Sarpanch in the panchayat office onor before November 17.

Bike rally in the ghatsPANJIM (HND): Wildtrek Adventures, Bizz and Buzz, and

HCN will organise 1st ever The Bike SSScape 2010, a bikerally/trek on November 21 from Panjim to Mangeli andback. The highlights of this rally will be waterfall views,valley views, visit to Sada fort and dip in Mangeli falls.Over 100 participants are expected to take part in thistrek.

The Bike SSScape rally, from sea level to the highest pointsfeatures challenging roads, rough terrain for tough guys andgals with enduring bikes. This first formal Western Ghat spe-cial, covering about 120 kms in 3 states will end within 12hours.

Route: PanjimAssonoraBicholimSanquelimKeriChorlaSadaMangeliBedshiDodamargSalAssonoraPanjim.

The organisers will provide the participants with special T-Shirts printed for the rally, lunch, water, snacks, first aid, doc-tors in case of any emergency, participation certificates anddiscounted petrol vouchers.

For rules and entries call Dr Prithvi (9822123458), Savio(9822155805) or Sameer (9158911999). Rally will be limitedto only 50 bikes.

Mando festival at KAPANJIM (HND): The Goa Cultural and Social Centre, Panjim,

will organise its 44th all Goa state level Mando festival on De-cember 9 and 10, at Kala Academy A/C Auditorium, Panjim.

Duly filled entry forms should be submitted on or beforeNovember 25 to Octavio Rodrigues. For further details, con-tact 9881737479, 2229548 or 9823053546.

Crib competitionPANJIM (HND): Directorate of Art and Culture will organ-

ise Crib Competition at district level in North and SouthGoa from December 28 to 30. Cash prizes for each districtwill be Rs 10000, Rs 7000, Rs 5000 for the first three placesand five consolation prizes of Rs 2000 each. Interested par-ties may collect the application forms from the office of theDirectorate of Art and Culture, 5th floor, Shrama ShaktiBhavan, Patto, Panjim, by December 2 and submit the filledforms by December 13.

Power shutdownNOVEMBER 18

NEURA: From 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are Neura Churchand surrounding areas.

NOVEMBER 19

NEURA: From 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are Neura-O-Pequeno, Deubhat and surrounding areas.

NOVEMBER 20

NEURA: From 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are Neura Panchayat,Dayanand Arya HS, Alvares Saw Mill, Gudiwada and surroundingareas.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, NOV 16

Fr Antonio Rosario Pegado wasborn on March 6, 1933 at Goa-Velha. He studied in Rachol Pa-triarchal Seminary and wasordained a priest at RacholSeminary on September 13,1959 by then Patriach D VieiraAlvernaj.

As a deacon, he had a shortstint as a librarian in SaligaoSeminary, then as prefect at StJoseph High School boardingand assistant Parish Priest ofCalangute Church.

On request of the Bishop, hewent to Mozambique to workas a missionary where heworked in various missions asSuperior in Nampula Diocesefrom 1961- 1975. Back in Goain 1975, he was associatedwith the parish of Goa-Velhaand did his BA at Shivaji Uni-

versity- Kolapur. In 1978, he left for Los Ange-

les, USA at the request of theBishop of Los Angeles to workin the Holy Family Church inArtesia, where there was largecongregation of Portuguesespeaking people. He servedthis diocese from 1978 to 1985.

While in USA, he attendedKensington University, Califor-

nia, where he was awarded thedegree of Master of Arts in So-ciology in 1977 and PhD de-gree in Philosophy andSociology in 1985.

From 1985 to 2002, heserved in the Archdiocese ofSingapore and Macau. Fr Anto-nio Rosario Pegado made it hiscalling to help poor and needystudents in Goa by instituting

St Andrews Trust. Parishioners and friends,

present and past, attended theMass at St Andrew's Church,Goa-Velha on October 17 to cel-ebrate the Golden Jubilee of theOrdination to the priesthood ofFr Antonio Rosario Pegado.

Archbishop Gonsalves werethe main celebrant for the Eu-charistic celebration. Fr Anto-nio expressed his gratitude forhis vocational guidance to hisparents, seminarians, parish-ioners and family. Parish PriestFr Raul Colaco along with DrCarmo Pegado earlier wel-comed Archbishop EmeritusPatriach Raul Gonsalves.

Fr Lordinho Pereira, ParishPriest of St Anna's Church, Ta-laulim concluded with anoverview of Fr Antonio's life,paying tribute to his commit-ment, dedication and charity.

Fr Antonio celebrates 50 years of priesthood

By FR MANuEL GOMES

Today, November 17 is one of the mostpopular feasts of Salcete: the feast of OurLady of the Rosary in Navelim. Also today,Muslims celebrate Id and Hindus celebrateDiwali. It shows that true religion wants usto work in peace and harmony, and live insolidarity with one another. For centuries,Goans are well known for this tolerance,which should never be disturbed.

How do we become holy? Catholics andother Christians agree that we cannot saveourselves; rather, we are saved by grace Gods merciful aid, which enables us to be-come holy as he is holy. It is an unmerited,free gift of God, made possible throughJesus Christ, who died on the cross for us.

The Church accepts Christs declaration:I am the way and the truth and the life.No one comes to the Father, exceptthrough me. (Jn. 14:6) Also, his words thatwarn those who would turn away: Who-ever rejects you rejects me and whoeverrejects me, rejects the one who sent me.(Lk. 10:16)

But does this mean that only Catholicscan be saved? The Second Vatican Council,in Lumen Gentium and Ad Gentes speaksabout other people who can be saved andachieve eternal salvation.

The Church honours Mary as Mother ofGod, Mother of the Church and ourMother. She is invoked under variousnames: Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady ofLourdes; or as people sought her interces-sion in time of need Our Lady of BomParto (good delivery).

Why Our Lady of Rosary? On October 7,1571, the great naval battle of Lepantoended. The victory of Europe in the battlesaved Christian civilisation, and Pope St PiusV instituted the day as the feast of Our Ladyof Victory. Since the victory was basicallythe fruit of the rosary, later popes named itthe Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.

The origin of the Rosary dates to a rev-elation in a vision by Our Lady to St Dom-nic, founder of the Order of Preachers, inthe 13th Century. The 20 mysteries of theRosary are virtually a summary of the

Churchs Liturgical year, presenting Chris-tian truth comprehensively and graphically.

The roots of the Christian rosary lie in anancient prayer devotion of reciting 150times Our Father, later simplified to HailMary. Mostly illiterate Christians in themiddle ages used strings of beads to keepcount. The Rosary we use today is a simpli-fied version of the Dominican Rosary,which consisted of 15 decades of Hail Maryto the accompaniment of a meditation on15 mysteries pertaining to the life, suffer-ing, death and glorification of Jesus andMary, based on scripture. These mysterieshave three divisions, called chaplets, offive mysteries each Joyful Mysteries, Sor-rowful Mysteries and Glorious Mysteries.

On October 16, 2002, Pope John Paul IIadded a set of five new mysteries Lumi-nous Mysteries. The rosary is a perfectform of prayerful tribute to the Holy Trin-ity. May the Triune God through the inter-cession of the Blessed Virgin Mary blessus, guide us and protect us, now and al-ways!

Feast of Our Lady of Rosary

Fatima Bi Khan

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MAYEM, NOV 16

Speaker Pratapsing Rane hascalled upon the ruling body ofBicholim Municipal Council(BMC) to undertake develop-ment works, taking into con-sideration the provision for thenext 25 years.

Rane was addressing the rul-ing councillors of BMC onMonday at his residence atKulan-Sanquelim.

BMC Chairperson AnishaVernekar, Deputy ChairpersonShashikant Naik Halarnkar,Kamla Teli, Kamlesh Teli,Karuna Govekar, BicholimBlock President Naresh Sawaland Vishwanath Dhawaskarwere present on the occasion.

Rane also advised the coun-cilors to undertake develop-ment works unitedly, therebygiving priority to roads, water

and electricity, which are basicnecessities.

Meanwhile, BMC convenedits first meeting on Monday.

Government officials werepresent for the meeting in con-nection with the town develop-ment.

The discussion focused oncleanliness in the town, indis-ciplined parking, increasingnumber of stray cattle andother several issues.

The council put forward de-mands like shifting of Bi-cholim Police station andBicholim bus stand to someother place and use that placefor parking.

Cleanliness of gutters, draft-ing new plan for beautificationof Bicholim town, proper park-ing arrangements to bring dis-cipline, etc, were alsodiscussed.

Bicholim council advised to undertake long-term development

The newly elected councilors of Bicholim Municipal Council alongwith Speaker Pratapsingh Rane and Congress Block President NareshSawal. Photo by Vishant Vaze

Id-ul-Zuha greetingsextended

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, NOV 16

Chief Minister Digambar Kamathas extended warm greetingsto people on the occasion ofId-ul-Zuha.

In his message, Kamat hassaid that Id-ul-Zuha symboliseslove and sacrifice. The Id-ul-Zuha celebrations will promotepeace and unity among thepeople from different faiths,he said and added that all reli-gions preach basic principles oflove, compassion and sincerity.

CM has further stated thatGoa is known for its nature,peace loving people and com-munal harmony. He hoped thatthe celebrations will further en-rich this legacy of the land.

Governor Dr S S Sidhu hasalso extended warm greetingsto people of the state, espe-cially the Muslim brethren onthe auspicious occasion.

Dr Sidhu also underscoredthat all religions preach love,compassion, charity and peaceand that it should be our en-deavour to promote theseideals and make human societya happy home for everyone.

President of Association An-juman Nurul Islam, Panjim, HajiMustufa S Kader has conveyedBakri Idd greetings to all, onbehalf of the committee mem-bers and on a personal note, onthe occasion of Bakri Idd.

Goa Pradesh Congress Com-mittee president Subhash Shi-rodkar has wished Muslimbrothers and sisters a veryhappy Id-ul-Zuha (Bakri Id).May Allah bless all on this dayof sacrifice and also on the an-niversary of the day whenKoran was declared complete,he has wished further in a pressrelease issued here.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

CALANGUTE, NOV 16

Residents of Laxmi Apart-ments, Candolim, have com-plained to the healthauthorities and panchayat ofunhygienic conditions prevail-ing at the residential buildingat Candolim market.

According to the residents,the matter has been taken up onregular basis by one of the shopowners with the concerned au-thorities, but to no avail.

I had brought the matter tothe notice of the health author-ities and Candolim Panchayatand both the authorities hadpromised to look into the mat-

ter on priority basis, but thereis no concrete action forthcom-ing from the concerned author-ities, Zezito Fernandes toldHerald.

The local panchayat prom-ised to initiate action, but tilldate the waste water over-flows, while the health author-ities have served a notice ofdisconnection of power andwater supplies, but the author-ities are yet to act on it, addedFernandes.

The overflow of wastewater is killing the business ofthe shop owners like me, whileputting the residents in thearea at health risks. The chil-

dren and the teacher, whowere undergoing tuitions atmy rented shop, have beenasked to move to a safer andhygiene place to avoid healthhazards, said Fernandes.

When contacted, PrimaryHealth Centre, Candolim, HealthOfficer Dr Sachin Govekar said:We served an order on October29 for disconnection of electric-ity and water supplies and thematter is in process.

When contacted, CandolimSarpanch Anand Shettigar said:We have not taken any actionin the matter, but the residentshave approached the health au-thorities for needful action.

Candolim residents complain of unhygienic surroundings

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MAYEM, NOV 16

Pale MLA Pratap Gawas has un-dertaken a programme ofbringing the infertile miningland under cultivation, whichwould benefit about 500 farm-ers from Pale constituency.

According to Gawas, farmersfrom Pale constituency arecompelled to keep their vasthectares of land without culti-vation since the last 20 yearsdue to hectic mining activities,which has severely affectedtheir sustenance.

By undertaking this activity,land admeasuring about 6 lakhhectares will come under culti-vation, informed Gawas.

It is pertinent to note thatthe natural heritage and farm-ing tradition of villages likePale, Navelim, Kudne, Amona,

Surla, Velgem and other sur-rounding areas is likely to gointo oblivion.

It may also be noted thatthere are huge paddy fields ex-isting at Pale constituency,known by different names like

Sastacho Aag, Nawar, Path,Kamar Shet, Kunge, Namas,etc, especially in the areas likeDurikwada, Perwada, Bharoni-wada and Kothawada, whichare not at all cultivated byfarmers since the last 20 years.

Sastacho Aag was famousfor different species of fishesdue to salty and sweet water.However, the production of allkinds of fish was destroyed.

MLA Gawas has called uponthe farmers to work unitedlyfor the upliftment of theirpaddy fields by advising themnot to run after jobs of meagerearnings, thereby keeping thetradition of farming running.

He also said that he will takedue efforts to compensate thefarmers and also keeping awatch on hectic mining activi-ties.

Pale MLA on mission to cultivate infertile mining land

nMLA Gawas hascalled upon thefarmers to workunitedly for theupliftment of theirpaddy fields byadvising them not torun after jobs ofmeager earnings,thereby keeping thetradition of farmingrunning.

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HERALD CORRESPONDENT

PORVORIM, NOV 16

Mapusa Municipal Council(MMC) has handed over thepossession of the old fish mar-ket to Goa State Urban Devel-opment Agency (GSUDA) forthe construction of new fishmarket.

GSUDA Project Officer Mar-cia DCosta, engineers Vijayku-mar Sawant, Prashant Narvekaralong with MMC ChairpersonSudhir Kandolkar and Munici-pal Engineer Mohan Naik vis-ited the old fish market andinspected the site.

Fish Vendors AssociationPresident Shashikala Govekarwas also present during theirvisit. The fish vendors havebeen requested to vacate thefish market and shift to the ad-jacent temporary shelter, builtfor them till the new fish mar-ket is constructed.

Speaking to Herald, MMCChairperson Kandolkar saidGSUDA will demolish the oldfish market and the foundationstone for the new market willbe laid shortly.

GSUDA has awarded thetender of the new fish marketto N B Kinalekar ConstructionCo, who has assured to com-plete the project within 15months, said Kandolkar.

Kandolkar further informedthat the project cost of thenew fish market complex is Rs7.77 crore. This one storeyfish market building will be

constructed on an area of2,488 sq mtrs, he added.

On the ground floor, it willhouse about 240 fish vendors,cold storage room, toilets androoms for municipal inspectorsand the linesmen of electricitydepartment, informed Kan-dolkar.

On the first floor, provisionfor about 44 chicken and Mut-ton stalls, toilets and canteenhas been made, added Kan-dolkar.

It may be recalled that theold fish market was built in1991 at the cost of about Rs 25lakh. Since water proofing ofthe roof was not done, thewater seeped through the roofof the fish market and over theyears, its condition became pa-thetic. Hence, technical depart-

ment of the MMC declared thebuilding unsafe in 2007.

In April, 2009, MMC demol-ished the roof top of the oldfish market and shifted thefisherwomen in the temporar-ily shelter, built in the openspace adjacent to the fish mar-ket.

The then MMC chairpersonRoopa Bhakta had assured thefisherwomen that the newmarket will be built within sixmonths. As MMC failed to ho-nour its commitment, fisher-women shifted back to the oldfish market on March 16,2010.

The fisherwomen staged aprotest rallies on March 17 andJune 18, 2010, demanding con-struction of the new fish mar-ket urgently.

Mapusa council hands over fish market to GSUDA

The old Mapusa fish market. Photo by Anil Shankhwalker

Public happy with traffic changes in

MargaoHERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

A week after the RTA, Margaoeffected changes in the citystraffic pattern, the changeshave evoked support frommembers of the public for de-congesting the city.

President of the Jai DamodarAssociation, Mahesh Nayak hascomplimented Chief MinisterDigambar Kamat for the diver-sion of mini buses and solvingnearly 60 per cent of the trafficcongestion in the CommercialCapital.

On the threat call given bythe bus operators, Nayak saidthe Panjim leaders of the busoperators should first put thesituation in Panjim in order andthen come to Margao.

Enough is enough. The busoperators should think beforethey act, Nayak said, and re-minded the bus operators thatthe schools are reopening onNovember 22.

Making an appeal to the busoperators not to take the stu-dent community for a ride onNovember 22, he suggested tothe operators to cancel the pro-posed strike or threatened tohighlight the illegalities and ir-regularities of the operators tothe notice of the government.

He pointed out that that busdrivers and conductors doesnot wear the service badge anduniform and that tickets arenot issued even after repeatedrequests. Overloading, over-crowding and overspeeding isthe order of the day. The emer-gency door is not functioningin many buses while theres noprovision for senior citizensand ladies in the buses, Nayakadded.

HERALD REPORTER

VASCO, NOV 16

Lightning struck a building atMangor-Vasco on Sundayevening, damaging a car, elec-tricity appliances and a wall.

The lightning damaged theperiphery wall on the terraceof Prime Royal Apartmentbuilding, bringing down a partof the wall.

Residents of the building didnot report the matter to au-thorities, but disclosed the in-cident to the media onTuesday.

The magnitude is such thatthe wall was damaged and

bricks of the wall fell on thecar, which was parked at thebasement of the building.

The residents were trauma-tized with the incident thatmost of them remained in-doors on Sunday evening whenlightning struck the building.

In few flats, the electricityappliances were also damaged,but not a single resident hascome forward to file a com-plaint about the incident.

"When lightning struck thebuilding, the structure shookfor a moment," said SantoshKumar, the security guard ofthe building.

Lightning strikes in Mangor, causes damage

Carpenterdies after fall from

ladderHERALD CORRESPONDENT

CANACONA, NOV 16

A 32-year-old carpenter fromYellapur-Karnataka succumbedto injuries, after he fell off aladder at Agonda on Monday.

According to Canacona Po-lice, Nagraj Marathe, residingat Agonda, accidentally slippedand fell off the ladder and sus-tained serious head injuries.Marathe soon succumbed tohis injuries.

Police further informed thatafter carrying necessary post-mortem, Marathes body washanded over to relatives.

HERALD NEWS BUREAU

PANJIM, NOV 16

Thousands of sick and infirmpeople will throng to Pilar tobe anointed with holy oil dur-ing the 4 pm novena mass ofVenerable Fr Agnelo on Novem-ber 17.

Fr Hilario Fernandes, VicePostulator for the cause of theprocess of Canonization of Ven-erable Fr Agnelo, will offer spe-cial prayer to speed the processof healing during the mass.

Over 40 priests and eightdeacons will be present for theanointing service. Specialcoupons are provided for thesick to attend the service.Coupons can be collected fromPilar.

Confessors will walk towardsthe sick to offer them the op-portunity to celebrate thesacrament of reconciliation(confession) from 3.30 pm.There will be no mass at 5.15pm on November 17.

Archbishop-Patriarch FilipeNeri Ferro will preside over

Sick, infirm people to be prayed upon at Pilar

the Solemn High mass on No-vember 20 at 9.30 am.

Novena masses whichstarted on November 11 will beheld daily at 5.30 am, 6.45 am,8 am, 9.15 am, 10.30 am, 4 pm,5.15 pm and 6.15 pm (English).At the end of every Mass, therewill be special prayers over thesick.

There will be a mass inMalayalam at 11.30 am on No-vember 17. Rt Rev LawrencePius Dorairaj, Auxiliary Bishopof the Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore, Chennai, will cele-brate a mass in Tamil onNovember 20 at 12.15 pm.

Areal woman commits suicideHERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

A 51-year old woman from SaoJose de Areal ended her life byjumping in a well.

Maina Curtorim police saidthe incident occurred aroundnoon on Tuesday when thewoman jumped inside the well.

The body of the deceased waslater fished out by the personnelof the fire services. The MainaCurtorim police has registered acase of unnatural death. Furtherinvestigations are on.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

CALANGUTE, NOV 16

Though there have been im-provements in the technologybringing in new machines inthe agriculture sector for har-vesting or cultivating the crop,farmers of Calangute seems tobe in favour of old hand-heldharvester machines.

The old harvester machinemade of wooden material andnails can be used either manu-ally or through an electricmotor. The machine can beused singly by a farmer reduc-ing its costs and expenses onmanual labour.

Speaking to Herald, afarmer, Anthony Luis of GauraVaddo (East), Calangute, whohas been involved in harvest-ing his crop through the oldgeneration harvester, said: Ihave been reading on papersabout government giving sub-sidies to the farmers throughthe harvester machine, but Idid the same job using a hand-held machine, which can becalled a single hand harvester.

The machine is not an ex-pensive one, but can do won-ders for the farmers like mesaving a lot of money on har-vesting the crop for a good

yield without any wastage,said Luis.

Through the hand-held har-vester, there is absolutely nowastage of any grass or yieldlike the harvester machines,where the grass becomes re-dundant, he said.

The job can be accom-plished at ease and withoutany stress to body, but it takesa considerable time to do thejob. About 2,000 sq mtrs canbe covered in two days times,added Luis.

The government should se-riously consider providing suchhand-held machines for thefarmers instead of harvestermachines at subsidized rates.The machine will come handyto the farmers and they willnot be required to depend onothers for favours, said Luis.

According to sources, thereare many farmers in Calanguteusing such hand-held har-vesters rather than dependingon the harvester machines pro-vided by the agriculture de-partment.

The hand-held harvester wasinitially put in practice by lateDamian Costa of Calanguteusing a leg paddle, which wasimprovised for a motors job bythe Carmen DSouza family.

Since then, the harvester hasbeen worked on motor savingenergy of the farmers and pro-viding relief, making good theshortage manpower require-ments. It also saves a lot formoney for the farmers.

Calangute farmers prefer hand harvester machines

Anthony Luis with a novel harvesting machine at Calangute. Photo by Thomas Fernandes

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

Colva Panch Calvert Gon-salves has urged PWD Minis-ter, Churchil Alemao toensure that the villagers ofColva are not discriminatedagainst at the cost of thehoteliers vis--vis water pres-sure.

In a letter, Gonsalves drewattention of the PWD Minis-ter to the fact that the resi-dents of Sernabatim inparticular and Colva villagersin general are facing lowwater pressure for the lastfew months.

He, however, said thatwhile the villagers are under-going the trauma of lowwater pressure, most of thehotels enjoy normal waterpressure and demanded thediscrimination against the vil-lagers. The hotel ownerscannot be allowed to makemerry at the cost of the localresidents, he added.

Meanwhile, Gonsalves hascomplimented the Goa gov-ernment for the decision tolease certain grounds in Goafor the practices of the pro-fessional football clubs.

Reacting to the statementof Dr Hubert Gomes warningof protests if SAG ground isleased out to a South Goa I-league football club, Gon-salves said Gone are the dayswhen people used to cele-brate a rare victory againstBengal clubs. The introduc-tion of African and other play-ers into our system has onlyraised the standard of foot-ball in Goa and India. No onehas a right to criticize themand specially who have noteven probably held a football.Apart from practice, its toughcompetition thats requiredto make a good player, who isthen taken by the top clubs.Its for everyone to see as towho promotes football com-petition all over Goa by spon-soring various tournamentsthroughout the year.

The Panch member saidthat the persons that DrGomes is criticizing havedone wondered to Goan andIndian football because theypersonally love football.Whereas others are doing itto win hearts since peoplelove football, he said, addingthat Dr Gomes should know

that its not wrong to preventmischievous elements fromdisrupting entertainmentprograms organized for thepeople.

On claims by Dr Gomesthat there has been no devel-opment done since liberationin Benaulim constituency,Gonsalves said even a blindman will deny this becausethe development is there foreveryone to see. One is freeto contest as its their demo-cratic right but surely not byportraying themselves as sav-iours and Gods gift to Be-naulim constituency, headded.

Release equal water pressure to locals, demands Colva panch

House robbed at Khareband

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, NOV 16

Unknown culprits broke into aresidential house at Kharebandlast night and decamped withhousehold items.

Margao PI Santosh Desaisaid the miscreants effectedentry into the old housethrough the door and de-camped with the items, valuedaround Rs 40,000. The Margaopolice are investigating.

GOACAN toremember

road victimsMARGAO (HR): As part of its

road safety and traffic manage-ment campaign, GOACAN willobserve the World Day of Re-membrance for Road TrafficVictims in Panjim & Margao onNovember 20-21.

GOACAN CoordinatorRoland Martins said that almost4000 people are killed andmany hundreds of thousandsinjured everyday on the roadworldwide.

These figures are predictedto grow. The price in terms ofhuman loss, grief and care isimmeasurable. Road crashesare the leading cause of violentdeaths and injuries worldwideand the World Day of Remem-brance is drawing attention tothe scale of this global disas-ter, he said adding that theWorld Day of Remembrance forRoad Traffic Victims was initi-ated by RoadPeace in 1993 inthe United Kingdom. Sincethen it has been observed andpromoted worldwide by sev-eral NGOs and this is now glob-ally recognised.

Martins said that over 300deaths takes place every year inGoa due to road accidents, im-plying theres one death almostevery 28 hours.

pg5 11/17/2010 12:58 AM Page 1

Advice to freedom fightersAnthony J Simoes, Dona Paula

I appeal to the freedom fighters of Goa tolearn the lessons of history so that we arenot condemned to relive it. History shouldnot be repeated.

After the Portuguese were defeated andwere reduced to licking their wounds, an-other lot of Goans enabled the Portuguesere-group and take Goa at their next attempt.We paid for it with 451 years of colonialism.

Now colonialism is history. It, however,comes in other avatars like globalisation,MNCs, etc.

The evils of tourism like casinos andprostitution, the gradual plunder of thewestern ghats through mining, demolitionof our hills and forests and reducing ourbio diversity into shambles are exampleswhich stare at us. Today, our freedom fight-ers are old, but they can use their experi-

ence, knowledge and wisdom to educateour youth, who can take up Goas burningissues.

Highway alignmentEdward Fonseca, Porvorim

With reference to the highways proposedby the Centre for Goa, this is not a gift,but a headache. I have never heard of ahighway passing through densely populatedareas. So, Goa will be the first in setting anexample for other states. This would meanlonger trips to get home and more fuelconsumption. There is a lot of money atstake and therefore the haste to thrust itupon Goa.

Goans are not ready for the burden inthe form of higher inflow of outstation traf-fic and the proposed tolls. The idea ofmonthly passes at Rs 500 should be re-jected. Goans need free access while out-station vehicles should be billed at theentry points.

Farming woesAyres Sequeira, Salvador do Mundo

Farmers in Salvador do Mundo are a happylot this year, because the harvest is good.But unusual rains in late October has ruinedthe crop thus incurring losses to the farm-ers. The government assurance to supplyseed, fertilizer and machine has remaineda mere promise, said a farmer critically.Labour too has gone up and many farmershave neglected their fields. Despite all odds,some still continue to harvest in memoryof their ancestors and to preserve tradition.They fear that the government may acquiretheir fertile land.

Portuguese bashingP L Fernandes, Old Goa

Portuguese bashing has grabbed the lime-light in recent news. No doubt everyoneendured the repression under AntonioSalazar. But I am not a Portuguese lover.Ironically, it was a Portuguese governor,who saved us from destruction, earningthe wrath of his government back home.The freedom struggle in Goa continuedwhile the Portuguese found a few allies.

History cannot be undone. The arrival

of the vessel Sagres is symbolic of seafarersor explorers and is in commemoration ofevents of yore when they traversed the searoute from Europe.

While the Govt. of India mends ties andcooperation, we in Goa seek to banish thePortuguese Consulate from here. In thiscontext, I am reminded of a few words bya former British PM. It simply says that weeither put up or shut up and let the em-powered do their job.

Tiatrists of yorePeter Pereira, Quepem

Tiatrists of olden times did not involve them-selves in politics. Nowadays, tiatrists sticktheir noses into politics and have becomevote banks to misguide people. These tal-ented men and women should praise the au-diences who are the real promoters of Tiatr.

Prevent bus overcrowdingAugustus Alphonso, Vasco

Transport Director Arun Desai has empha-sised on the overloading of buses, and hasappealed to people not to overload buses.As he said In most of the cases, peoplethemselves are responsible for overloadingas everyone is in a hurry. I appeal to people

not to board overloaded buses. He alsoadded that if required, additional buseswill be made available on the said routesand that a task force on transport has re-cently appointed a committee under histutelage to keep a check on unauthorisedbus stops along the NHs.

It may be mentioned here that lack ofavailable buses is going to compound theproblem and commuters simply cannotavoid boarding an overcrowded bus.

Another metaphor, please!Orlando Sa da Silva, Carmona

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru once remarked thatGoa ke log ajeeb hai. This phrase is oftenquoted by our present day politicians. Thecontext in which Nehru uttered this phrase,is unknown. Was it because our forefatherschose Goa to remain with the Indian Unionduring liberation struggle or was it becauseGoa preferred to remain as a Union territoryagainst merger through the opinion poll?

Issues such as mining, mega projects andcorruption in government severely affectsGoa. Through liberation, we are now free.That has not deterred us to be slavesof a political dynastic rule. What anirony? Goans, please choose whatmetaphor suits us.

Bribery shameJayesh Rane, Mumbai

Industrialist Ratan Tata of the Tata Groupmade a rare mention on the bribery issuewhich confounded him when he wished toforge an alliance with a prominent airline.Corrupt politicians and officers are thebiggest stumbling block in Indias rapidprogress. The nation has tremendous po-tential but the corrupt will never understandthe meaning of development. Personal de-velopment tops their agenda. They craveto earn black money. Many industrialistsare eager to invest in various types of busi-nesses. But the vicious circle of bribery willthwart many an effort. Can the CentralGovernment wake up and kill this briberycycle?

Dwarfed road signsAdelmo Fernandes, Vasco

As one drives along the road, one sees sev-eral sign boards which are supposed tohelp the road user. On the contrary, thesesign boards are in such vast numbers thatit only manages to confuse drivers. Worststill, most of these boards have the nameof the company, which sponsor them. Theactual road sign looks secondary and is over-shadowed by the sponsored company logo.It lends credence to be more of an adver-tisement than anything else. Road signsshould not have the name of the companysponsoring them.

Super commission neededJoaquim Pacheco, Divar

Chief Minister, Digambar Kamat is a prodi-gious commissioner of reports, reviews, stud-ies and consultations. Perhaps its time forone big super commission to investigate asto what happened to all those Kamat-commissioned studies which are, aban-doned?

Love is ........

The numerous scams, the fall of bridges, themosquitoes and the illnesses they spread,missing the deadlines, lack of hygiene, the

Commonwealth Games and the joys and prideassociated with it is mingled with an aura ofbeing typically Indian in nature. Everythingfell into place at the last minute, and the na-tion pulled it off spectacularly. My bestwishes and hurrahs go out to all the Indianathletes.

Now with the fires of wild celebration havingslowly died down, the scavengers are being putto sift over the remnants. It is, indeed, good toknow that all the investigating agencies are in-volved in investigation along with the ShungluCommittee. We are all aware of how far and howhigh the conduits of corruption have reached.This surely isnt easy. Will the obdurate andcorrupt government machinery allow the inves-tigation to move smoothly while putting theirown necks in the noose? The chances areminimal, but I do hope this investigationdoes not die a premature death like thoseof the past.

Peoples fury on the massive corruption scandalof the CWG had hardly died, when another infa-mous scam in the form of Adarsh CooperativeHousing Society was unearthed. Purportedlymeant for the widows of Kargils martyrs, theprime land ended up being a discretionary largesseof our ever charming Netas and their stooges,with a veritable whos who in politics, defenceand bureaucratic establishments, from ex-ser-vice chiefs to top politicians, babus and theirkin.

Corruption is a monstrous evil thats embeddedin our political and eco-social sphere, where aplethora of procedures and laws are violated andtransgressed with very little thought or no thoughtat all. In the past, no action has been taken andthe guilty have been vindicated and allowed toabuse their political power and patronage. Therot has been systematic and the remedy must bemore than just finding a scapegoat.

The nexus between the politicians, servicemen,promoters and builders is very much evident. Se-curity aspects were apparently not adhered to.The scale of corruption and the involvement ofsenior services personnel are frightening. Thelacunae in laws should be plugged and the guiltypunished. Those responsible should be invariablytaken to task and made an example of, to detera repeat of such fiascos.

We all know that scams in India and more soin Goa, are nothing new. I wont be wrong insaying that they are fast becoming a way of life.Needless to say, it now is part of the corruptsdaily life. Land scams in Goa have become dailyoccurrences in every part of Goa, examples likethe security number plate, the earlier and thenot-so-long ago ticket gate scams, automaticallycomes to mind. One wonders what happened tothe earlier ticket gate fiasco? Its beyond anyones imagination why such scamsters arestill holding such elite posts. Its a real pitythat sports and development has been leftin the hands of such unworthy and corruptpeople.

SEZs and CRZs are the other big scams, theresurrected RP 2021 is still in hibernation evenafter a good number of assurances by Ali Babaand the Forty thieves. Even then, we do nothing

but elect the same rotten, incompetent, shame-less, corrupt and distorted politicians over andover again, even while they have been sellingGoa to the highest bidder.

Now on to the scam called Municipal elections. Our corrupt politicians continue to amass and

increase their already inflated personal fortunesand try to assert their power in municipal andpanchayat elections. The Panchayati Raj and themunicipal governance was established for theparticipation at grass-root level as independentbodies without any interference or involvementof the local and the central government, but thegood old doctrine of self governance has beenhijacked by our Neta babus who made it theirown play cum parking ground, for their own po-litical and financial gains. These elections onlyserve to reinforce the money power of the en-trenched corrupt elites. There has been an en-

demic corruption in political and bureaucraticcircles in Goa

Political parties should not be bickering overthe panchayats and the municipalities and castingtheir corrupt ideologies over them, these grass-root civic bodies should be run the way theywere meant to be run, independent of politicalmanipulators. The involvement of politicians atgrass-root politics raises more questions thananswers. We are, indeed, an indifferent electorate,and thats why our politicians foist their litter onus.

Even the municipal and panchayat electionsare getting increasingly delinquent and dangerous,with some of our ministers and ex-ministers re-sorting to goondagiri. The soaring eagles offame can so easily turn into vultures, and whilestrong arm tactics were used, money and goodieswere distributed like sweets during a festive sea-son. Looking at the very strong security presenceon a high alert, it looked like there was a com-munal flare-up all over Goa. We have been havingelections in Goa for nearly forty years, apart fromthe opinion polls and there was no problem. Nowfor the municipality elections, we have top notchsecurity. Where is Goa heading to? Is it a dawnof a new era?

Greed for power and money can bring theworst out into the open. Reading about the powersharing amalgamation formed in the differentmunicipalities has bemused me no end. The Ale-mao brothers seem to have become conductorsof the symphonies called Sanguem and Cuncolimmunicipalities.

Hold on to power by all means is the mantraof the day. It doesnt matter how idiotic it looks.Every Tom, Dick and Harry, working through acoterie, is looking and hoping for the chief s ed-ifice, behaving like petulant kids, typifying therot within and making loyalty an imbeciles beg-ging bowl. Troubled by past dalliances, trust hasbeen abandoned with impunity, there will alwaysbe inconsistency and incessant squabbling, butthey are willing to cohabit with anybody andeverybody, as long as it suits them and with thelure of future extramarital romances, it is advisableto negotiate divorce terms well in advance, with-out the door being shut on the option of a re-marriage. This impasse would be suicidal forall. Thats why it is called prudent politics.

All this only goes to show, just how greedyour politicians are for power and money. Ohgreed, thy name is folly!

OPINIONwww.oheraldo.in

Pg6Vol No CX No: 287

Goa, Wednesday 17 November, 2010

Letters to the EditorLetter of the Day

Unwarranted protestDr Shiv Prabhu Naik, by email

This is with reference to the arrival of the Portuguese naval ship Sagres on a goodwillvisit to Goa. I am very sad to know that the so called literate people of Goa, alsoknown as freedom fighters, members of the BJP and other outfits have protested thearrival. They should concentrate more on issues affecting Goa such as mountinggarbage, unemployment and corruption.

Those who have voiced their senseless opposition are not aware of what realdemocracy is. If it is not the Portuguese consulate, then it is the issue of SoniaGandhis origin.

I would recommend that those who raise up such issues, pay a visit to Mumbai orPondicherry and see for themselves how the past is preserved and glorified. Richcultural ties between nations have been maintained in this fashion. In addition, theGovernment of Portugal has helped the large Indian community in Lisbon in manyways. One of Lisbons main roads is named as Avenida Mahatma Gandhi. The protest,therefore, is without any reason and lacks professionalism.

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