OHERALDOThe Voice of Goa Since 1900

Sports: Brazil sack Dunga,

players face backlash Pg 18

Goas Heartbeat: Bipasha joins

the Tweeting Bandwagon Pg 14Business: Food inflation

easing -- Finmin Pg 12

Visit us at:www.oheraldo.in panjim, tuesDaY, julY 6, 2010 pRiCe Rs. 3.00 (air surcharge Rs. 1.50) pages 18

He needs treatment for his heart?But I thought he doesn't have one!

IN BRIEF

Force is all-conquering,but its victories are

short-lived.-- Lincoln

Communal clash in Ahmedabad A clash broke out here tonightbetween members of twocommunities, prompting thepolice to fire two rounds inthe air to bring the situationunder control. The incidenttook place in the communallysensitive Shahpur area afteran altercation between twogroups over some a pettyissue, they said. (PTI)

Seven suffer from anthraxAt least seven persons suf-fered from anthrax after theyhandled the meat of an af-fected bull at Domkol in Mur-shidabad district. Eight cattlehave died and several otherlivestock have been found tosuffer from anthrax. (PTI)

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JULY 5

Goa remained paralysed formost part of the day due toMondays Bharat bandh, evenas stone-pelting incidents werereported from some parts keep-ing the police on their toes toward off untoward incidents.

While a few minor incidentsof trouble were reported fromacross the State, police said thecapital city remained peacefulfor major part of the day, barringan incident in which three ShivSainiks had to be arrested fortrying to close down the NavtaraHotel. (Related reports on pg 2)

V i jay Sur lakar, GajananMutkekar and Sunil St Inezkarwere placed under preventivearrest (section 151 of Cr Pc) andlater produced before the mag-istrate. They were released onan interim bond.

Though life in the city cameto a standstill with shops andother business establishmentsdowning their shutters, someof the pharmacies remainedopen throughout the day.

Most of the schools had min-ima l a t t endance wh i chprompted the heads to urge stu-dents to return home, whilesome schools despite having

Goa feels Bharat bandh heatl 3 Sainiks held for

trying to shut hotel.l Courts functioning

hit as staff andlawyers took a break.

lOPDs at the GMCwere empty by 11 am.

lOf 370 KTC busesonly 70 plied.

KTC conductors and drivers at the Panjim bus stand, which wore a deserted look on account of theBharat bandh on Monday. Photo by Rozario Estibeiro

HERALD REORTER

PANJIM, JULY 5

Snubbing ten paisa ticket hikeoffered by the State govern-ment, the private bus operatorson Monday announced indefi-nite bus strike from Monday,July 12.

The bus operators are de-manding fare hike of 20 paisaper kilometer from existing 45paisa.

We have decided to go onindefinite bus strike from Mon-day, if government does not ful-fill all over demands by July 11.A seven-day notice will beserved to the governmenttoday, All Goa Private Bus Own-ers Association (AGPBOA), Gen-eral Secretary Sudip Tamankartold reporters on Monday morn-ing.

Briefing media after the meet-ing of all private bus owners inPanjim, Tamankar said that afare hike of 10 paisa is not ac-ceptable as they have to shellto nearly Rs five for diesel everytime.

We would have consideredten paisa hike if the petroleumproduct prices had not beenhiked after an increase in April,this year, he stated.

Tamankar also said that if thediesel prices go down, then theyare ready to go ahead with tenpaisa hike in fares.

We asked state governmentto prepare a chat mentioningthe prices of diesel (up anddown) and fix the ticket faresaccordingly, in near future, headded.

Along with ticket hike, bus

operators have also asked thegovernment to take necessaryaction over the harassment byKadamba Transport CorporationLimited (KTCL) to private busoperators.

We have noticed that KTCLruns nearly 15-16 buses on Ma-pusa-Panjim route, where onlyfive official permits are grantedto them. Similar is the case onPonda-Panjim route, where twopermits are given, Tamankarpointed out.

The government and thetransport department need totake immediate and serious ac-tion in this matter, he added.

In order to give KTCL a par-allel service with private buses,the Association has demandedformation of a committee with

Bus owners: meet demands or face indefinite strike

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 5

The South Goa Sessions Courton Monday ordered framing ofcharges of rape and destructionof evidence against John Fer-nandes in the Russian womanrape case.

While passing the order fram-ing of criminal charges, Addi-t ional Sessions Judge B PDeshpande said the medical re-

port has supported the con-tention of the victim in view ofthe multiple injuries present onher body.

Judge Deshpande said the of-fence of rape is sufficientlybrought out in the complaint aswell as in the statement madeby the victim, which has beensupported by medical evidence.

At the stage of framing

John charged with Russians rape

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 5

The Sessions Court on Mondayextended judicial custody of for-mer tourism minister, MickkyPacheco by a day; even asPachecos legal counsel assertedthat the Benaulim MLA cannotbe blamed for Nadia Torradosdeath and termed the ongoinginvestigations as politically mo-tivated.

Saying that Pacheco is in noway responsible for Nadia Tor-rados death, legal counsel AdvSurendra Dessai submitted thatdeceased Nadia Torrado has

committed suicide as she al-legedly had a suicidal tendency.

Praying for bail for the formertourism minister, Adv Dessaisaid deceased Nadia might havegone into depression after read-ing a tiatr advertisement in thelocal newspaper which statedthat Viola is the wife of Pacheco.He submitted to the judge acopy of the newspaper carryingthe tiatr advertisement.

Saying that Nadia has al-legedly committed suicide, AdvDessai maintained that whenone consumes 20 tablets and

Mickkys custody extended by a day

Judge pullsup jailor

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 5

Where is Mickky Pacheco? Whatis his latest medical status?These questions came to thefore in the Sessions Court onMonday during hearing of for-mer tourism ministers bail plea,prompting a visibly perturbedAdditional Sessions Judge P VKamat to censure a judicial lockup jailor.

(Continued on page 11)

(Continued on page 11) (Continued on page 11)

(Continued on page 11)(Continued on page 11)

No need ofarmy in Naxalareas: Pillai

PTI

RAIPUR, JULY 5

The government today said therewas no immediate need to de-ploy army in Maoist-hit regionsand it could take nearly sevenyears to get rid of the menace.

Union Home Secretary G KPillai, who is on a visit to reviewthe situation in Chhattisgarh,said there was no need to de-ploy army personnel at presentin the Maoist-hit regions.

Speaking to reporters atKanker, Pillai said that it couldtake between 3 and 7 years toget rid of the Naxal menace.

Referring to the casualtiessuffered by paramilitary forces,he said the Naxals were takingadvantage of situation wherebyjawans enter into their territoryto fight them.

Page 1:Layout 1 7/6/2010 12:47 AM Page 1

GOA, TUESDAY, 6 JULY, 2010

GOAHERALD

Pg 2

HERALD NEWS BUREAU

PANJIM, JULY 5

Life came to a grinding halt inthe State on Monday as nearlyall shops, establishments, pri-vate transport operators andeducational institutions sus-pended services for the day, inresponse to the opposition-ledBharat Bandh to protest againsta hike in fuel prices.

Heralds team of correspon-dents visited various parts ofthe State and reported that theBandh was near total but by andlarge largely peaceful, barring afew incidents where miscreantsdamaged KTC buses and someprivate vehicles.

Miscreants punctures thetyres of four Kadamba buses andsome private buses at the Cur-chorem KTC bus stand, whileminor incidents of stone peltingon Kadamba buses were also re-ported near the Sessions Courtand Karaswada in Mapusa. Thewindscreen of the Ponda-VascoKTC bus was also damaged atBorim-Ponda.

Two vehicles, a Kadamba busand a trailer, were stoned in Bi-cholim taluka, while a Maha-rashtra-bound goods carriertruck was also punctured at theSarvan main road. Stray inci-dents of burning of tyres were

also reported at Baina-Vasco.Most of the people opted for

an extended weekend and pre-ferred to remain indoors, in-stead of risking any backlash oruntoward incidents by miscre-ants.

Most educational institutionsin the State were closed due topoor attendance, while govern-ment offices all over the Statealso wore a deserted look.

Police arrested Shiv SenaSta te P res ident UpendraGaonkar and Bicholim MunicipalCouncil Councilor Kamlakar Telion charges of obstructing trafficat Bicholim. They were later re-leased in the evening.

Police also arrested three ShivSaina activists in Bardez oncharges of forcing shopkeepersto close down their shops.

In another incident, MarcaimMadkaim BJP Block PresidentPrashant Naik was detained oncharges of blocking the road atFarmagudi.

CANACONACanacona witnessed a near

to total Bandh at least in com-mercial town of Chaudi, eventhough traffic ran unhinderedon all the roads, including theNH-17.

Most of the shops and estab-lishments remained closed inChaudi and surroundings, whilethe entire fleet of private busesremained off the road through-out the day in support of theopposition parties demand forreducing fuel prices and Stateprivate bus operators demandto increase the fare.

However, Kadamba buses op-erated normally, transportingonly few commuters who cameout of their houses.

The Bandh seemed almost avoluntary one, as few shops inlocal village bazaar areas of vil-lages in Poinguinim, Maxem(Loliem) and elsewhere in thetalukas interior remained par-tially closed for major part ofthe day.

Not much movement of peo-ple was seen in the taluka, asthe rains lashing the State sinceearly morning seems to have as-

sisted the national bandh call,where except for PoinguinimMLA Ramesh Tawadkar request-ing few shopkeepers in his con-stituencies Poinguinim bazaararea, there were no efforts fromanyone to enforce the Bandh.

Even though no untoward in-cident was noticed anywhere inthe taluka, sources informedthat a huge tree was cut andthrown on a culvert at Barcem-Padi, disrupting highway trafficfor a short while, before theroute was cleared.

All the Cafs, tea stalls,restaurants, besides all othershops and including Bhajji andfish market at Chaudi and sur-rounding areas remained closed.Few bars and taverns were seendoing brisk business. Few work-ing restaurants at Palolem andGulem did business as on anynormal day in the taluka.

Town schools includinghigher secondary and a collegewhich commenced as usual inthe morning, winded up for theday early before time, due toabsence of teachers, while phar-macies, clinics and hospitalsfunctioned as normal.

Sources informed that pres-ence in government offices wasalmost normal, but some bankskept their shutters half closed

and functioned from inside,whereas few ATMs were keptshut since morning fearing in-cidents of stone throwing.

With almost no transporta-tion plying from talukas interiorareas, school-going childrenseems to have been the mosteffected with many taking onfoot to reach back to theirhomes situated in town pocketslike Kindlem, Ponsulem, Rajb-hag, Patnem, Palolem, Masti-moll, Devabhag, Shristhal, etcfor want of local internal bustransportation.

Many school buses (Bal Rath)were reportedly not operatedfor fear of stone throwing inci-dents.

Police were seen stationedonly at some of the main placesin the taluka, at Char Rasta,Chaudi, where no untoward in-cident took place, while evenprivate transportations thoughplied freely was noticed runningonly intermittently.

The overall movement of ve-hicles along the highway pliednormally, but was very briskthroughout the day, as exceptfor one ST bus which early morn-ing raced towards Karwar, nomore Karnataka buses pliedalong the highway during theday.

MORMUGAOMormugao taluka observed

a complete bandh except forsome incidents of burning tyresat Baina.

Markets were shut, schoolswere empty and roads wore adeserted look across Vasco, Mor-mugao, Sancoale and Cortalim,as major commercial establish-ments, transporters in Mormu-gao Port Trust (MPT), tourist taxioperators and Black and YellowTaxi operators at Dabolim air-port remained off the road.

Stray incidents of burning oftyres were reported at Baina andalong the NH-17A near Sancoale,but by and large the bandh waspeaceful in entire Mormugaotaluka.

However, the port townstarted limping back to nor-malcy in the evening, as most

of the commercial establish-ments and all major markets re-sumed its business activities by6 pm.

The BJP workers along withformer Vasco MLA Rajendra Ar-lekar were seen in Vasco citynear Vasco Kadamba shuttleservice and urging the peopleto support their cause.

Interestingly, the Vasco fishmarket that has rarely observedsuch political bandhs, was fullycooperative with BJP workers,as they have shut their businesssince morning.

Addressing the media, StateBJP Spokesperson Rajendra Ar-lekar congratulated the partyworkers and express gratitudeof the people of Mormugaotaluka for supporting BharatBandh successfully.

With this bandh, we believeour message has reached to thepeople about the governmentinefficiency to control inflationand fuel price hike that has badlyaffected the entire nation, saidArlekar.

BJP expresses its gratitudetowards transporters, touristtaxi unions, bus operators,unions of vegetable market,youths and fish community andpeople of Mormugao taluka forsupporting the bandh, addedArlekar.

When asked whether therewas mixed response at Valpoibecause of former health min-ister Vishwajit Rane, he allegedthat Rane has used his force andutilized government machineryby forcefully opening commer-cial establishments to show thatbandh has no effect in Valpoi.

CURCHOREMThe twin towns of Curchorem

and Sanvordem witnessed atotal Bandh, which passed offpeaceful, except for some inci-dents of tyre punctures.

According to sources, tyresof four Kadamba buses andsome private buses, which wereparked at KTC bus stand, werepunctured by some miscreants.Roads were blocked at someplaces by cutting down treesand throwing them on the road,but Curchorem fire brigade serv-ices cleared it.

All the shops and establish-ments remained closed through-out the day, while the vegetableand fish markets wore a de-serted look. Buses remained offthe roads as only few KTC buseswere seen plying along the road.

Since most of the schools hadpoor attendance, the schoolswere closed early for the day.CCMC office, some banks andmedical stores functioned nor-mally.

MAPUSAMapusa police arrested three

Shiv Sainiks on charges of forc-ing the shopkeepers to closedown their shops, even thoughMapusa and Porvorim witnessedtotal Bandh.

Mapusa PI Rajesh Kumar in-formed that they have arrestedthree Shiv Sainiks, who wereforcing the shopkeepers to closetheir shops.

Police arrested Shiv Sena (Goaunit) President Upendra Gaonkerat Bicholim. The Shiv Sainikswere produced before the Judi-cial Magistrate First class in theevening and were released onbail.

We had offered police pro-tection to the establishments,who had requested for it. Thepolice were patrolling along the

roads in Bardez to maintain lawand order. We were fully gearedup to meet any eventuality, saidPI Kumar.

Speaking to Herald, BardezMamla tda r Gaur i shShankhwalker said there weresome minor incidents of stonepelting on Kadamba buses nearthe Ses s ions Cour t andKaraswada.

However no one was injuredin the incident. Overall, thebandh was peaceful in Bardez,said Shankhwalker.

Barring one restaurant in Ma-pusa, all the shops, restaurants,petrol pumps and banks re-mained closed. All the schools,except government schools, de-clared holiday due to poor at-tendance of the students.

The Yellow and Black taxisand auto rickshaws also re-mained off the roads. However,KTC buses were seen plying oncertain routes. The Kadambabus stand at Mapusa wore a de-serted look, as the private busesdid not ply.

Since private buses were offthe road, people residing in thevillages, where KTC buses donot operate, had to face a lotof hardships due to non-avail-ability of transport. Police inlarge number were deployed atKadamba bus stand, municipalmarket, Navtara restaurant andalong the main roads of the city.

The BJP protesters sat downon the road near Gandhi Circleat the entrance of the Mapusacity in morning and tried toblock the traffic. DySP SammyTavares along with the policeforce rushed to the spot anddispersed the crowd and clearedthe road for vehicular traffic.

The BJP protestors also triedto block roads in Siolim by plac-ing stones and tree branches onthe road, due to which trafficwas disrupted for some time.However, the barricades wereremoved by the police.

Mapusa PI Rajesh Kumar saidthey have arrested three ShivSainiks, who were forcing theshopkeepers to close theirshops.

CALANGUTEThe Bandh also evoked good

response from the people in thecoastal belt of Calangute.

All shops in Calangute, Ar-pora, Saligao and Anjuna wereshut, while in Candolim exceptfor few shops, other businessestablishments remained closed.The fish market in Calangutewas also closed. However, theessential services functionednormally. Schools in Calangutewere also affected due to theBandh.

Except for a stray incident offelling of a tree to block theroad at Saligao, no untowardinc ident was reported inCalangute.

In Candolim, a roadside wellcollapsed, posing a threat tomotorists and pedestrians. How-ever, it was immediately coveredwith the help of an excavator.

The worst affected were thetourists, as some wanting totravel to South Goa for hotel ac-commodation and railway sta-tion for their train, were unableto do so due to support of theTaxi Owners for the Bandh. Fewtaxi owners were however seenplying their taxis.

Calangute police kept a strictvigil on the movement of vehi-cles and pedestrians, while RTOMapusa was also seen patrollingthe area.

The BJP Calangute unit led bySaligao ZP member MichaelLobo expressed satisfaction overpeople support for the Bandh.

We went to each and everyshop or business establishmentand appealed to the people fortheir support to the bandh toprotest against hike in petro-leum products. The rise in pe-troleum products will definitelyhave the desired effect on pricesof essential products, thus mak-ing the cost of living of middleclass people miserable, saidLobo.

BICHOLIMShiv Sena State President Up-

endra Gaonkar and Bicholim Mu-nicipal Counci l Counci lorKamlakar Teli were arrested forallegedly obstructing traffic atBicholim. Both were releasedlater in the evening.

Two vehicles, including aKadamba bus and a trailer, werestoned at Bicholim and Vhalshimrespectively. A Maharashtra-bound goods carrier truck wasalso punctured at Sarvan main

road.The Bandh called by BJP unit

of Bicholim taluka and assistedby Shiv Sena was cent percentsuccessful in Bicholim, as all theeducational institutions, privatetransport operators, banking in-stitutions and NGOs supportedthe Bandh.

All the schools declared hol-iday due to poor attendance ofthe students. However, thoughall the government offices wereopen, they wore a deserted lookdue to poor attendance of staffmembers.

Enough though it was aBazaar day at Sanquelim, about95% shops remained closed,while vendors also preferred toparticipate in the Bandh.

The activities of the agitators,who participated in the Bandh,were so fast that police and firebrigade personnel found it dif-ficult to clear the barricades,comprising trees and stones,which were placed at differentplaces in Bicholim and surround-ing areas like Sarvan, Vhalshim,Mulgaon, Assanora, Bordem andother areas.

On Monday morning, peoplepreferred to travel by Kadambabuses, which were travelingunder police protection, butafter stone pelted on a bus, peo-ple preferred to go home with-out attending their work.

When some agitators learntthat work was going in BicholimIndustrial Estate area, they sendsome activists and stopped thework. The entire market area inBicholim wore a deserted look,as all the shops including fishmarket, bar and restaurants,kiosks and establishments re-mained closed.

In Sanquelim, though it wasa Bazaar day, hardly any 5%shops were open and that toowith half shutters, while all thegovernment offices also wore adeserted look.

Bicholim PI Harish Madkaikar,PSI Tukaram Walke, PSI TerranceVaz and DySP Bossuet Silva wereseen taking stock of the situa-tion.

Bicholim Deputy CollectorNarayan Gaad and MamlatdarPramod Bhat were also seenhandling the situation.

Meanwhile, Bicholim MLA Ra-jesh Patnekar, MLA Anant Shet,BMC Cha i rpe r son Sa t i shGaonkar and councilors claimedthat the Bandh was 100% suc-cessful.

SANGUEMThe All India Bandh was total

success in Sanguem taluka withall shops and establishments re-maining closed and privatebuses operating along variousroutes in Sanguem remainingoff road for the day.

There was however no unto-

ward incident of any sort re-ported from any corners of thetaluka.

Incidentally, it was for the firsttime that all the shops and es-tablishments remained closedin Sanguem, particularly in theremote areas where notwith-standing the Bandh call givenby any party, shops used to re-main open.

Hotels, tea shops and generalstores in the remote areas asthat of Uguem, Bhati, Neturlim,Rivona and other areas remainedclosed, thereby making thebandh a to ta l success inSanguem.

Schools and the lone highersecondary school in Sanguemfunctioned as usual, but with

poor attendance. GovernmentOffices, banks and a pharmacyin the town area however re-mained open for the day, butwith less clientele.

The Mamlatdars office inSanguem which is otherwisefound busy on any given work-ing day wore a deserted lookwith hardly any people visitingthe office for official work.

Buses plying from Sanguemtowards various destinationswere seen parked at Sanguembus stand. A couple of extraKadamba buses which pliedalong the Sanguem-Curchoremroute also had any passengers,as most people preferred to re-main indoors.

Speaking to Herald, SanguemMLA Vassudev Meng Gaonkarthanked the business commu-nity and bus owners from theconstituency for supporting thebandh and making it a total suc-cess in Sanguem.

Gaonkar claimed that due toescalating prices of essentialcommodities, it has become dif-ficult for the common man tolive in the country.

The government has totallyfailed in putting a check overthe rising prices all over thecountry, thus affecting the com-mon man, added Gaonkar.

PONDAThe Bandh was peaceful in

Ponda taluka, barring a stonepelting incident, wherein a wind-screen of the Ponda-Vascobound KTC bus was damagedat Borim. Luckily, no one wasinjured and one Sandip Gaudewas arrested in this connection.

In another incident, MarcaimMadkaim BJP Block PresidentPrashant Naik was detained oncharges of blocking the road atFarmagudi.

Police personnel were de-ployed along various locationsto prevent any untoward inci-dent. Major trading and businesscenters in Ponda remainedclosed, however few small busi-ness establishments at the newKTC bus stand did not supportthe Bandh.

Private bus operators, motor-cycle and taxi operators alsosupported the nationwidebandh called by the BJP inprotest of price rise.

Essential services like phar-macies were open, howeversome petrol pumps in Pondataluka remained closed.

Unaware of the situation, fewinterstate commuters werestranded at the KTC bus stand,Ponda.

Sitaram from Himadgao-Anmod, Karnataka, along withhis 10 colleagues waiting for abus at Ponda new bus stand said:We were unaware of this de-velopment. We are waiting sincemorning, but no bus has arrived.We dont know whether we willreach to our native place today.

Shiroda MLA Mahadev Naikwas seen at the old bus standPonda along with BJP support-ers.

The Bandh is 100% percentsuccessful. People have sup-ported our call for a bandh andwe are thankful to them. TheCongress government has takenthe common man for a ride andwith 100 percent support to ourbandh, it is clear that mandateis on our side, he said.

This is definitely not a com-mon mans government. Infla-tion has affected the aam admi.The government should rollback price rise on petrol, dieseland the cooking gas, he added.

Ponda Merchants AssociationPresident Sunil Dessai said theyhave supported the bandh as it

has adversely affected the econ-omy.

I am thankful to the PondaMerchants for supporting thebandh call. We are against thegovernment decision on theprice hike as it has affected thecommon man, said Dessai.

Shiva Sena has also supportedthe bandh call. North Goa ShivaSena Chief Damu Naik said hisparty workers were already in-structed not to indulge in law-breaking activity.

Shiv Sena has supported thebandh call as the price rise hasaffected the people. The gov-ernment does not care for theaam admi or else they wouldhave controlled the price rise.However I have already in-structed our North Goa partyworkers not to break law andobserve bandh peacefully,added Naik.

QUEPEMThe bandh was tota l in

Quepem taluka, though no un-toward incident took place.

Sources informed that thebandh was voluntary, but onSunday BJP volunteers were seenmoving in Quepem Bazaar dis-tributing pamphlets and re-questing the shopkeepers toobserve bandh on Monday.

Except for three pharmaciesin Quepem town, all the shopsand establishments remainedclosed throughout the day. How-ever, some shop owners openedtheir shops late in the evening.

Private schools in Quepemdeclared a holiday due to poorattendance. All the governmentinstitutions like mamlatdar,Deputy Collector, BDO, council,other departments and banksfunctioned as usual. In most ofthe offices, most staff attended

their duties, however in someoffices the attendance was thin.Some policemen were seenposted in Quepem town.

SATTARIThe Bandh at Valpoi evoked

mixed response, as most shopsin Valpoi market were closed,while only a few shops wereseen open till 10 am on Mon-day.

However, the s i tuat ionchanged thereafter and somemore shops were seen openunder the protection of policeforce, who was camping in themarket area.

Private buses, rickshaws andpilot motorcycles remained offthe road throughout the day,thereby causing inconvenienceto the public.

Most aided high schools inValpoi closed early. Althoughthe banks in Valpoi remainedopen, the credit co-operativesocieties remained closed.

Sources from some of the of-fices in Valpoi informed that thestaff attendance was low due tounavailability of adequate trans-port facility.

Honda Sattari junction andsurrounding area wore a de-serted look as almost all theshops in the area remainedclosed. However, most of theshops in Keri-Sattari were seenopen, while the restaurants andhotels in most of the places inSattari remained closed. Eventhe fish market at Valpoi re-mained closed.

When contacted, Valpoi PIShivram Vaigankar informed thatthe bandh was peaceful and nountoward incident was reported.

Later in the evening, ex-deputy speaker and BJP leaderNarhari Haldankar addressedthe press conference and in-formed that the Bandh was a90% success.

People from Sattari gave anoverwhelming support to thebandh, as all the common menare being affected due to risinginflation, he claimed.

He further said no shop-keeper was forced by BJP work-ers to shut down, but theshopkeepers themselves sup-ported for the bandh respondingto the appeal of BJP north GoaMP Shripad Naik and other localleaders.

Haldankar claimed that outof about 150 shops in Valpoi,only about 20 shops remainedopen.

He thanked Valpoi people andshopkeepers for supporting theBandh, thereby expressing re-sentment over rising inflation.

PERNEMThe Bandh evoked good re-

sponse in Pernem taluka, as allthe shops and establishmentsremained closed.

No untoward incident was re-ported. Pernem police said thebandh was peaceful and had de-ployed police personnel in sen-sitive areas.

In the morning, a large num-ber of commuters were seen atPernem bus stand and most ofthem had to return back to theirresidences, as few KTC buseswere seen plying.

Most of the industrial unitsand schools in Pernem remainedclosed, while one-third of thegovernment staff reported forduty.

Many schools were open, buthad to close down early for theday due to poor attendance.

TISWADIThe area around Old Goa

evoked huge response for theBandh. Over 35 police person-nel, including police officialsfrom Old Goa police station,were deployed at various placesin and around Old Goa to avoidany untoward incident.

Shops and other establish-ments in Old Goa remainedclosed for the day, while the lo-cals who are doing their veg-etables business near the OldGoa Circle also joined the bandh.

Early morning, locals fromCorlim and Old Goa, who werewaiting for bus transport to pro-ceed towards Panjim to their of-fices were forced to go backhome after private buses wentoff the road and KTC buses wereseen plying at odd hours duringthe day.

Some BJP workers were seenmoving in and around industrialarea in Corlim, asking the com-pany officials to close their busi-ness and support the Bandh,which some companies agreedto.

[With inputs from KathyPereira, Suresh Naik, Thomas Fer-nandes, Anil Shankhwalker, Vis-hant Vaze, Alfred Fernandes,Amresh Parab, John Fernandes,Ashraf Khan, Taurappa Lamani,Arun Naik and Kanzil Rodrigues]

Strike brings life to grinding halt in State

Bandh total success, boasts BJPHERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JULY 5

The BJP has claimed thattodays bandh was total suc-cess as people in Goa volun-ta r i l y pa r t i c ipa ted in i trevealing their deep discontenttowards the Congress-led gov-ernment for increasing oilprices.

Addressing a press confer-ence in the presence of seniorBJP leaders today evening,State President, LaxmikantParsekar, said it was 100 per

cent bandh as shops, commer-cial establishments, schools,colleges remained closed andvehicular traffic was totallybrought to a halt.

He claimed bus owners as-sociation, auto rickshaw asso-ciations, motorcycle pilotassociations, taxi owners as-sociations, petrol pump own-ers and others supportedtodays bandh and thanked allfor their support.

North Goa MP, Shripad Naikas well as Leader of Opposition

Manohar Parrikar said volun-tary participation of people inthis bandh indicated that peo-ple are not happy with govern-ment.

Parrikar said no force wasused and people sponta-neously participated in thebandh reflecting their frustra-tion towards rise in the prices.He also reiterated that theState government should re-duce the burden of commonby bringing down its revenueintake on VAT.

No interruption at airport HERALD REPORTER

VASCO, JULY 5

The Bandh may have affectednormal life in the State, butoperations at the Dabolim In-ternational Airport went unin-terrupted, as most flights wereon schedule.

While tourist taxi operatorsand Black/Yellow taxis the es-sential mode of transport atthe Dabolim airport were vir-

tually missing in the parkinglot, most passengers had madealternate plans to travel to andfrom the airport.

Morning operations at theairport were smooth and theairport remained closed forcivil operation after 8.30 ambecause of naval sorties.

Passengers, who were sup-posed to board flights in theafternoon, arrived at the air-

port in the morning itself, asmost commercial airlines hadalerted passengers of theBandh and had requested themto arrive at the airport wellahead of schedule time, saida source at Dabolim airport.

Passengers who arrived inthe airport had either informedtheir relatives to receive themor had engaged private vehiclesin advance.

The KTC bus, whose tyres were punctured by some miscreants atKTC bus stand, Curchorem. Photo by Suresh Naik.

Protesters sit on the road to block the traffic in Mapusa.Photo by Anil Shankhwalker

Trees cut and placed as makeshift barricades on the road in Bicholim. Photo by Vishant Vaze

Margao wears a deserted look due to the nation-wide strike.Photo by Santosh Mirajkar

GOA, TUESDAY, 6 JULY, 2010

GOAHERALD

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HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 5

Trade and commerce came to acomplete halt in the commercialcapital on Monday in supportof the Bharat bandh, even as thepolice arrested two persons forstoning a Curchorem-bound KTCbus at Sao Jose de Areal villagethis evening.

Margaos major markets theNew Market and the Gandhimarket wore a deserted lookas the shops and business es-tablishments down shutters vol-untarily today. The hustle andbustle at the KTC bus stand andthe old bus stand in front of theMargao police head quarterswent missing. There was notmuch activity in SGPDAs megamarket, including the fish mar-ket.

Though a fleet of KTC buseswere found stationed at the KTCstand, private buses were com-pletely stayed off the road insupport of the bandh call.

Educational institutions in thecity reported thin attendance inthe morning, prompting manya management to shut the in-stitutions for the day.

Government offices in the cityalso reported poor attendance,thus affecting official workthroughout Monday.

Led by MLA Damu Naik andRupesh Mahatme, the BJP tookout mrocha in the city in themorning to enforce the bandh.The police had to intervene nearthe Margao Residence as the ac-tivists attempted to close downthe establishments in andaround the place.

DySP Umesh Gaonkar andother police officials intervenedto bring the situation. The mor-cha later wend its way throughthe city in both Margao and Fa-torda.

Meanwhile, the police tookinto custody two youths fromthe Housing Board area for ston-ing a Curchorem-bound KTCbus. The police said the duoAnand Damodar Naik (16) andPritesh Bikaji Godkar (21) werearrested by the police.

Meanwhile, the President ofthe Margao unit of the BJP, Chan-dan Nayak has thanked the peo-ple of Margao, besides theowners of shops and businessestablishments for voluntarily

closing their establishments insupport of the bandh call.

The Margao police made elab-orate arrangements across thecity as a precautionary measure.Pickets were set up at the NewMarket and the Gandhi marketand at the KTC and old bus standto keep the miscreants at bay.

Meanwhile, Fatorda MLA andBJP spokesman Damu Naik hascongratulated the people forthe total bandh in Margao andFatorda and warned that theGovernments both at the Centreand in Goa to read the writingon the wall of the peoples dis-content with their policies.

He thanked the merchantsof the New Market for vol-untarily keeping their shut-ters down and also all thevendors and hawkers in thedifferent markets of Margaoincluding the SGPDA marketa t O l d M a r k e t . H e a l s othanked the private bus op-erators for staying off theroads. I would like to thankeverybody and specially thef i sh vendors who c losedshop today in response tothe call for a bandh given by

us, he said adding that thepeople of Goa should alsobe complimented for bearingup with the inconvenience forone day. The very fact that ven-dors, hawkers and the tradingclass voluntarily kept their shut-ters down and that people did notprotest or object to the bandhproves that the aamadmi is totallydiscontented with the Congress poli-cies and realising that the Congressis only paying lip service to theircauses, he said.

Naik announced that if theunjust hike in petroleum pricesis not rolled back immediately,his party would intensify its ag-itation and added that going bythe response the bandh evokedtoday, the masses would will-ingly support them.

Meanwhile, former MMCChairperson Johnson Fernandessaid the people has fully sup-ported the bandh because thegovernment has failed to protectthe interest of the common man.This is not the Aam Aadmisarkar. The prices of petroleumproducts have been hike, thusdepriving the daily bread of thecommon man, he added.

Bandh leaves Margao deserted

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 5

PWD Minister Churchill Alemaoon Monday claimed that supportfor his daughter Valanka whohas decided to contest the nextAssembly polls from Benaulim -- is swelling day by day in theconstituency.

Alemao told newsmen onMonday evening that her daugh-ters candidature has evokedgood response from Colva vil-lage, which had in the past givenmixed response to him.

During my election, I mighthave received mixed supportfrom Colva village, but Valankawill get support from the vil-lagers. Those who were not withme during my elections havepledged support for Valankascandidature, Alemao added.

The PWD Minister reiteratedhis decision to open the Be-naulim office on August 15 at

Support for Valanka swelling

The delegation from Colva which called on PWD Minister Churchill Alemao to pledge support forValankas candidature. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar

11 am.Valanka said she failed to un-

derstand how Dr Hubert Gomescan expect her support to hiscandidature when she would bein the fray in Benaulim. I willcontest 200 per cent in Be-naulim. When I am contestingthe polls, how can I support DrHubert, she said.

She said so many people, whohad in the past not supportedmy Father, are now supportingher candidature.

When asked how manysarpanchas and Pacnhas are sup-porting Valankas candidaturein Benaulim, the PWD Ministerrecalled that not many Sarpan-chas or Panchas were with himwhen he threw his hat in thering in Navelim constituency.

Replying to a question,Valanka said she is quite positivein getting the Congress ticketand exuded confidence that the

Congress president will not sayno to a women intending to con-test the polls. Let us cross thebridge when it comes, she said,when newsmen asked whethershe would contest the polls ifthe Congress denies the ticket.

The PWD Minister said that SouthGoa Zilla Chairperson Maria Re-bello will support Valanka inthe next Assembly polls. I havebrought Maria into politics. Herhusband has been with me fora long time, he added.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JULY 5

A major fire completely gutteda residential flat on the thirdfloor of a ground-plus threestorey building Kalika Square atGogol here on late Mondayevening.

Property worth around Rs 5-6 lakhs is believed to have beendestroyed in the fire.

Fire personnel rushed toGogol at around 8.20 pm after

receiving a call and were en-gaged in the fire fighting oper-ations till 9.45 pm.

Sources in the know said thataround six tenders were pressedinto service in the fire fighting op-erations. It took more than an hourto bring the fire under control.

The inmates were out of thehouse when the fire broke outin the flat. Household items inthe living room and bedroomwere destroyed in the fire. A

Gogol flat gutted in major fire

The Gogol flat which was engulfed in a major fire on Mondayevening. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar

dog which was holed up insidethe flat was later rescued by thefire fighters.

Fire men managed to remove theLGP gas cylinder from the house be-fore any tragedy could occur. Thefire men broke open the main doorto gain entry into the flat to bringthe fire under control

Fire Officer Gil De Souza in-formed that the flat owner Lov-ina S Nair has informed that cashof Rs 12,000, gold ornaments,a laptop, TV, three cupboardscontaining costumes, besidesother household items were gut-ted in the fire.

He said that fire might haveoccurred due to a suspectedshort circuit, adding that inves-tigation is on to ascertain theexact cause of the fire.

Fatorda MLA Damu Naik vis-ited the spot and took stock ofthe situation. When it waspointed out to him that the firemen lack basic facilities, Naikassured to take up the matterin the coming Assembly sessionand ensure that adequate pro-vision is made by the govern-ment for the f ire f ightingoperations.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JULY 5

Transport Department saidthat it will conduct case-to-casestudy on the private buses,which remained off the roadstoday, before initiating actionagainst them.

In spite the State govern-ments decision to hike busticket fares by ten paisa per kilo-metre, the State private busespreferred to continue their day-long bus strike on Monday. Thebus operators had expressedunhappiness over the quantumof ticket hike.

We will initiate the actiononly after going through the cir-cumstances that made privateoperators to remain off the

roads, Transport Director ArunDesai said.

He said that the departmentwill conduct case-to-case study.We need to hear from each op-erator the reason for going onstrike, Desai said.

Desai said that the actioncould be either in form of sus-pension of temporary or per-manent permits or impositionof fines.

The action will be taken to-morrow. The report is underprogress, he said.

Meanwhile, the private oper-ators who met today in Panjimdecided that even if a single per-mit is cancelled, then the entireprivate bus transport will cometo standstill.

Transport Minister Ramakr-ishna Dhavlikar had warned ofcancellation of temporary buspermits, if the vehicles remainedoff road.

He said that our strike is il-legal and had warned suspen-sion of bus permits. But if hedoes so then he will be respon-sible for further consequences.Not a single bus will run in theState, North Goa Private BusOwners Association, PresidentSudesh Calangutkar said.

He even said that they wouldprotest at respective RTO of-fices.

Calangutkar pointed out thatmost of the buses that run onMargao-Vasco route are haveonly temporary permits.

Govt vows action against bus operators for joining strike

HERALD CORRESPONENT

CANACONA, JULY 5

A youth from Gaondongrim-Canacona committed suicide byhanging himself to a cashewtree in the cashew plantationsnearby his residence at Sator-lim.

According to Canacona po-lice, Suhas Gaonkar (22) was re-ported missing from his housesince Saturday and his where-abouts were unknown till thefamily on Monday found a sui-cide note left by him in thehouse.

It was then that family mem-bers and some neighbours con-ducted a frantic search, only tofind his body hanging at a neigh-

bouring cashew plantation inSatorlim.

The boy, who completed hisgraduation during the last aca-demic year, had reportedly gotadmission to complete a DEd

course and was ambitious to be-come a teacher.

Police recovered the body andsent it for postmortem on Mon-day evening, informed Canaconapolice.

Canacona youth hangs to death

Ponda car driver killed in accident

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

PERNEM, JULY 5

A driver from Ponda died, whiletwo other persons were injuredwhen a car and a bus collidedwith each other at Sawantwadion Sunday evening.

According to reports, the in-cident occurred when deceasedMohanlal Yadav along withDeelip Naik and Babu RamaNaik, who were proceeding intheir Indica car (GA-01-B-1584)from Ambolim towards Sawant-wadi, collided against a speed-ing m in i bus , wh i ch wasproceeding from Swaantwaditowards Belgaum.

MohanlalYadav died on thespot, while the other two occu-pants in the car, Deelip Naik andBabu Naik were injured in theaccident. They were rushed toa hospital in Sawantwadi, fromwhere they were referred toGMC Hospital in Bambolim.

The bus driver fled from thesite. Sawantwadi police haveregistered a case against the busdriver and are investigating thecase.

Pernem local gets bail

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

PERNEM, JULY 5

The Childrens Court grantedbail to Sunny Tirodkar, who wasarrested by Pernem police inconnection with the suicide caseof Sarika Fadtare of New Waddo,Pernem.

Lucky escape for four as two cars collide at Corlim

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

OLD GOA, JULY 5

Four members of a family had alucky escape when two cars col-lided with each other along thehighway near the Konkan Rail-way Bridge at Mallar-Corlim.

According to Old Goa Police,four members of a family wereon their way from Banastarimto Mapusa in a car, driven byViraj Vinayak Naik, while theoncoming car was driven by Ma-hesh Naik of Shiroda.

According to police officials,Mahesh was overtaking anothervehicle and was speeding at thetime of the mishap.

The Old Goa Police registeredthe case under the Motor Vehi-cles Act and further investigationis in progress.

Vishwajeet launches poll

campaignHERALD CORRESPONDENT

VALPOI, JULY 5

Vishwajeet Rane has begun hiselection campaign to the bye-elections in Valpoi constituencysince Wednesday.

He performed the poojaat Karanzol Kumtal templein Sanvordem Panchayat andconducted a corner meetingand briefed voters about de-velopment works he did inlast three years and appealedto them to re-elect him inthis bye-election.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

VALPOI, JULY 5

The Sattari Civil Supply officehas been hard hit by shortageof administrative staff, whichcauses inconvenience to thepublic.

The office has been function-ing with only two staff members,one civil supply inspector andanother LDC.

The workload is increasingday-by-day, but the ill-equipped

civil supply office is unable tomeets the needs of the peopleand many a times people areturned back without their workdone.

Sources in the office informedthat a lot of work is pending,including RTI applications andthe staff is helpless to completethe work on time unless twomore clerks as per requirementsare appointed to make the officefunction smoothly.

Staff shortage hitsSattari civil supply office

Police remand for four women

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

PERNEM, JULY 5

Pernem Judicial Magistrate FirstClass Cholu Gawas remandedfour Lamani women to sevendays in police custody.

According to reports, Pernempolice had arrested rag pickersCharu Ramesh Lamani, GitaRahul Lamani, Laxmi KrishnaLamani and Sunita Rahul Lamanion charges of stealing 10 kgscopper samai and other utensils,all worth Rs 9,000.

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GOA, Tuesday, 6 July, 2010

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GOAGOA, TUESDAY, 6 JULY, 2010

HERALD Pg 5

SHORT TAKES

Calangute ASI retires

Calangute PI Nolasco Raposo presents a token of appreciation toASI G B Thapa on his retirement. Photo by Thomas Fernandes

CALANGUTE(HC): Assistant Sub-Inspector (Wireless) G BThapa, attached to Calangute Police station, retired from theservices of Goa Police recently.

Thapa, who served for 16 glorious years for Goa Police whiledoing 26 years of duty for Indian military, was given a warmsend-off by the officers and staff at Calangute police station.

Police Inspector Nolasco Raposo congratulated Thapa for hismeritorious and sincere services to the police department andwished him well in his retired life.

Later, PI Raposo presented a small token of appreciation toThapa. Others present included PSI Gaurish Parab, PSI HarishGauns, PSI Mahesh Kerkar among other staff.

Extension centre opened

Sister Rena, Missionaries of Charity cutting the ribbon to markthe opening of the extension centre of Agnel Polytechnic,Verna.

PANJIM(HND): Agnel Polytechnic,Verna, inaugurated its firstextension centre at Fatorpa, under the Govt of Indias Schemeof Community Development through Polytechnics, at the handsof Sister Rena, Missionaries of Charity, in the presence of thevillagers.

In their respective speeches, Fr Simon Rodriguez, ParishPriest of Our Lady of Fatima Church and Kamat Rebello,Sarpanch of Fatorpa appealed to the audience to take full ad-vantage of the scheme for the betterment of community ofFatorpa. Subhash Lotliker, Principal, Agnel Polytechnic gavean introduction to the activities of the scheme while SenevaOliveira, junior consultant welcomed the gathering and gavea presentation on the achievements at other village extensioncenters where such activities were conducted by the Polytechnic.

Freddy Dias, internal coordinator proposed the vote ofthanks

The inaugural function was followed by a demonstrationby Pooja Dabhale of Goa Energy Development Agency on var-ious solar appliances useful for saving natural resources andreduction in electricity bill.

Under this Scheme Agnel Polytechnic conducts a variety ofskill development programmes such as electrician, flower mak-ing, screen printing, etc at the Polytechnic and at extensioncenters which are free of cost. Shortly, extension centers willbe set up at Raia, Sao Jose de Areal, Loliem and Agonda, saysa press release.

Uday is chief of Valpoi panel

Uday Raikar and Mhalu Gawas.

VALPOI(HC): Uday Raikar was elected president of ValpoiSarvajanik Ganeshutsav Mandal for 2010-11.

Other office bearers elected are Mhalu Gawas (secretary),Sainath Shirodkar (vice President), Rudresh Manerkar (jointsecretary), Vasudev Narvekar (treasurer), Sunil Katkar (jointtreasurer) and Nitin Pokle (member).

The meeting also decided to publish a souvenir and ap-pointed Mhalu Gawas as in-charge of the souvenir committee.The other sub committees have also been formed during themeeting held at Valpoi recently.

HERALD REPORTER

VASCO, JULY 5

Chief Minister Digambar Kamaton Thursday stated that theState government has made rev-olutionary progress for the de-velopment of art and culture inthe State.

Kamat was addressing thegathering during the inaugura-tion of newly formed musicacademy Shadj Gandhaar MusicAcademy (Sgma) by Manda andNarayan Bandekar CharitableTrust at Essen Arcade, 5th Floor,behind Government HighSchool, Mangor Hill, Vasco.

Revenue Minister Jose PhilipDSouza, Deputy Speaker Mau-vin Godinho, Mormugao MLAMilind Naik, Mormugao Munic-ipal Council Chairman ShekharK h a d a p ka r, Pa d m a s h re ePrashad Savukar, CouncilorsNit in Chopdekar, ManeshArolkar and Kritesh Gaonkar,philanthropist and industrialistNana Bandekar, Manda Ban-dekar and others were presenton the occasion.

Kamat said revolutionaryprogress for development of artand culture is evident in theState cultural policy. The gov-ernment has implemented it ef-ficiently, while every prominenttown in the State has state-of-

the-art Ravindra Bhavan for theartistes, he added.

Goans are born artistes andthey need the infrastructure toshowcase their talent and theState government has deliveredits best to ensure that they getgovernment support, claimedthe chief minister.

He further said the State gov-ernment has made a provisionfor financial assistance schemefor elderly artistes, who havecontributed for art and culture.

Kamat appreciated the effortsof Manda and Narayan BandekarCharitable Trust for creating aninfrastructure to promote clas-sical music in Vasco.

With corporate houses tak-ing such an initiative, it will cer-tainly reduce the pressure of thegovernment, as people oftenhave high expectation from thegovernment. But due to othercompulsion, some governmentsfail to delver its best in all as-pects, said Kamat.

Earlier, Revenue Minister JosePhilip DSouza expressed grati-tude and congratulated the Ban-dekar Trust for opening musicacademy and urged them to con-tribute for the development ofVasco city.

Deputy Speaker and CortalimML A Mauvin Godinho alsothanked the Bandekar Trust forshowing generosity towardspromotion of classical music inVasco.

Though there are many high-profile businessmen in Goa, butvery few have taken the initiativeto contribute for the social wel-fare, said Godinho.

Mormugao MLA Milind Naiktoo expressed similar views andcongratulated the BandekarTrust for providing music acad-emy for the people of Vasco.

Padmashree Prashad Saukaralso spoke on the occasion.Manda Bandekar welcomed theguests, while Nitin Bandekarcompered the function.

Govt has aided development of art, culture in State: CM

n Goans are bornartistes and theyneed theinfrastructure toshowcase theirtalent and theState governmenthas delivered itsbest to ensurethat they getgovernmentsupport.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JULY 5

Minister for Social Welfare SudinDhawalikar has said that anamount of Rs 1.5 crore has beenearmarked for Motorcycle/TaxiMaintenance Scheme duringthe current year. The amountwill be disbursed to about 3000beneficiaries.

He said the unique schemeis first of its kind in Goa toprovide financial assistance ofRs 5000 for vehicle mainte-nance to those completingthree consecutive years in pro-fession.

Dhawalikar was speaking asthe chief guest after disbursingcheques of financial assistanceamounting to Rs 3.75 lakh underMotorcycle/Taxi MaintenanceScheme to 75 beneficiaries fromPonda taluka at a function heldat Kavale Panchayat, Ponda onSaturday.

He said efforts would bemade to enhance the budget-a r y p rov i s ion under th i sScheme and also to hike in-come limit to enable more peo-

ple avail the benefit of thisunique scheme of the StateGovernment.

Dhawalikar further said theGovernment will soon intro-duce a new scheme calledHome Nursing for thosewho are non matric and thesame will be implementedthrough the Social WelfareDepartment. The course fees

of Rs. 3500/- and the travel-ling allowances will be borneby the State Government, headded.

He urged the motorcycletaxi and rickshaw drivers as-sociations to form societies inorder to avail the benefits ofthe Government schemes,which include the risk cover-age, medical insurance, pen-sion etc.

Suresh Thakur, PresidentMotorcycle Taxi Riders Asso-ciation, who also spoke laudedthe efforts taken by Dhawa-likar to help the needy andpoor.

Damodar Naik, Sarpanch, Vil-lage Panchayat Bandora, Smt.Poornima Naik, ZP Bandora,Nalini Korde, Retired teacher,Suvidha Palekar were presenton the occasion.

Earlier Usha Naik, SarpanchKavale welcomed while RajeshKawlekar, Panchayat membercompared the function andlater proposed the vote ofthanks.

Govt allocates Rs 1.5 cr for taxi scheme

n Efforts would bemade to enhancethe budgetaryprovision underthis Scheme andalso to hikeincome limit toenable morepeople avail thebenefit of thisunique scheme ofthe StateGovernment.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MAYEM, JULY 5

Pale MLA Pratap Gawas visitedthe damaged houses of DeepeshParwar and Tukaram Parwar atAmbedkarwada-Amona, Bi-cholim.

It may be recalled that thehouses of Deepesh and Tukaramwere damaged after a tree camecrashing down on them re-cently. Both the house ownershave suffered a loss of aboutRs 1 lakh, in which householditems, clothes, etc, were de-stroyed.

MLA Gawas assured maxi-mum help from the Disaster

Management Relief Fund to boththe families. Gawas will alsomeet Chief Minister DigambarKamat for providing financialhelp. However, the MLA pro-vided personal financial help toboth the families.

Meanwhile, due to heavy rainin Bicholim taluka on Thursdayevening, reports of uprootingof trees were reported inMayem, Latambarcem, Sal, Ad-valpal and Mulgao.

The Disaster ManagementTeam is looking after the situa-tion and every thing is undercontrol, said Bicholim Mamlat-dar Pramod Bhat.

Pale MLA visits inmates of damagedhouses at Bicholim

Pale MLA Pratap Gawas visit the damage house of Parwar family atAmona-Bicholim. Photo by Vishant Vaze

Creators toorganise

courses inMargao

HERALD NEWS BUREAU

PANJIM, JULY 5

Creators, a group of profession-als, will conduct various coursesat BPS Club Margao in theevenings from July 13 to April2011.

The courses include disci-plines such as Personality de-ve lopment (K ids /Adu l t s ) ,keyboards, guitar, v iol in,drums, skating, Indian classicaldance, Hip Hop Dance, learnto speak English, art and paint-ing.

In the musical instrumentscategory, prominent musiciansfrom Goa will train students toanswer the Trinity Collegeexams at the end of the courseapart from the practicals.

The proper techniques ofdrawing and painting will beimparted to the students bya q u a l i f i e d p ro f e s s i o n a lartist.

Goas champion skater, whois also the member for the In-dian team, will train the kidsin skating. An African dancetrainer will train students inHip Hop dance, while person-ality development classes willhave a visiting faculty compris-ing doctors, HR professionals,personality development train-ers, Soft Skill trainers, Man-agers and teachers. IELTSqualified English trainers willteach Spoken English for For-eigners and to those aspiringfor jobs abroad and also tothose seeking higher positionsin the country.

Admissions are open tochildren and adults at theBPS club premises from 10am to 6 am from July 5. Fur-ther details are available onP h : 9 8 2 2 3 8 8 8 1 2 /9890013097.

Chameleons seen mating on the road at Sancoale. Photo by Joywin Fernandes

Tourism minister feted

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JULY 5

Minister for Tourism NilkantHalarnkar was felicitated at thespecial function organized topromote love toward the envi-ronment by Tivim Parish Councilmembers at the St ChristopherChurch Hall, recently.

On the occasion tourism min-ister said that the governmentwas working for the bettermento f common man and haslaunched various schemes fortheir welfare. He appealed topeople to avail the schemes. Healso assured to provide basicamenities. He appealed to thepoor to avail financial assistancescheme to repair their houses.

Highlighting the role of stu-dents, Halarnkar said childrenshould actively participate in ex-tracurricular activities to expandtheir knowledge. He said chil-dren are wealth and future ofthe nation.

Halankar thanked the villagersfor felicitating him and appealedfor support in carrying out de-velopmental works in the con-stituency.

Earlier, Fr Mateus Rodgrigueswelcomed. Adrian DSouza pro-posed the vote of thanks.

Later, Halarnkar distributedthe coconut and mango saplingsto children.

Cheques givenunder Indira AwasYojana at Mollem

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

COLLEM, JULY 5

A cheque distribution functionof Indira Awas Yojana was re-cently organized at Mollem pan-chayat hall.

On the occasion, 33 chequesof Rs 30,000 each were distrib-uted to Indira Awas Yogana ben-eficiaries from Mollem, Collem,Sancorda and Kirlapal-Dabalpanchayat areas.

Dharbandoda ZP memberRashmi Lambor, RDA AssistantProgramme Officer ReemaMarathe, Gram Sevika NirmalaMarathe, Sanguem BDO AnujaFaldesai, Sancorda Sarpanch Yo-gita Naik and others were pres-ent on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion,Lambor appealed to the peopleto avail benefits of variousschemes launched by the de-partment.

In her speech, Reema Maratheexplained various schemes likeSuvarn Jayanti Gram Rojzar Yo-gana, Self Employment SchemeYogana, Indira Awas Yogana, Na-tional Family Benefit Scheme,Indira Gandhi Widow PensionScheme and Indira Gandhi Dis-able Scheme.

Konkani musical showPANJIM(HC): A Konkani musical show on national integration

Bharat Amcho Des will be organized by Socorro de Santa Cruz,a well known Konkani stage artist in collaboration with Tiatr Acad-emy of Goa, on July 8 at GVN hall, Margao at 3.30 pm and on July27 at Kala Academy hall, Panjim at 7 pm.

The cast includes Anthony San, Clarissa, Aniceto Bab, Andrew,Albert, Andrea, Sheikh Amir, Priyanka, Jose de Agacaim, CyrilAlmeida, John Fenandes, Francis de Mungul, Cosma Fernandes,Jasmine, Sonia and Socorro de Santa Cruz.

The music is arranged by Luiz Cota(saxophone), NorbertCota(trumpet), Norman Cardozo(keyboard), Benny(bass guitar)and Xavier de Moira(drums) and sound and light effects by Praveen.

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NEW DELHI, JULY 5

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumartoday said there were "seriousgaps" in accountability frame-work for government's flagshipprogrammes implementedthrough private agencies, whichwas a major concern of the newAudit Bill proposed by Comp-troller and Auditor General.

Inaugurating a national sem-inar on 'Legislature-Audit Inter-face', Kumar said transparencyand accountability were the driv-ing forces of good governance.

"There are serious gaps in theaccountability framework ofthese implementing agenciesand the CAG's present mandatefor audit of these agencies isalso limited," she said here.

"One of the major concern ofthe (Audit) bill is about the in-strumentalities through whichexpenditure is being increasinglychannelled by government," shesaid.

Kumar noted that publicspending on flagship pro -grammes for improving healthcare, universal elementary ed-ucation, sanitation and employ-ment had increased by leaps andbounds.

"Most of these programmesare being implemented by pan-chayats and municipal bodies

or under the society mode bydirect transfer of funds fromcentral ministries to registeredgovernment societies at state,district, block and panchayatlevels," she said.

Referring to the public-privatepartnership (PPP) model usedmore intensively by central andstate government to help meetgaps in provision of basic serv-ices in infrastructure sector, shesaid it was essential for the gov-ernment to ensure that servicesbeing delivered through sucharrangements to the users metthe agreed time, cost and qualitystandards. "Apart from ensuringtransparency and competitive-ness in the process of award ofcontracts, it is equally importantto

protect the public exchequer

from unintended misuse ofclaims from concessionaires,"she said, recommending thatsuch programmes should re-ceive adequate attention ofoversight bodies like CAG, Com-mittee on Public Undertakings(CPU) and Public Accounts Com-mittee (PAC). This, she said,would protect the user interestand the need to secure valuefor public money.

Noting that audit was fre-quently faced with situationswhere auditees did not complywith CAG's request for recordsand information, Kumar said itnot only delayed the audit ro-cess, but also seriously impactedthe quality of audit examinationand thwarted possible disclo-sure of serious irregularities,frauds and embezzlements.

Referring to the functioningof the PAC and CPU, the Speakersaid it was not just self-assess-ment, but also public percep-tions about effectiveness thatneeded to be taken into accountby these committees.

"Effective parliamentary over-sight is the cornerstone of goodgovernance. Prompt responseof the executive in taking cor-rective measures on the objec-t ions r a i sed by C AG ininspection reports...is crucial,"she added.

Gaps in accountability in flagship schemes a concern PTISRINAGAR, JULY 5

Ahead of the march by separatiststo curfew-bound Anantnag insouth Kashmir, authorities todayreimposed curfew in Pulwama andKakpora towns, parts of Srinagarand Baramulla districts.

The step to clamp curfew againwas taken to avoid any untowardincident, police said.

Police vehicles fitted with publicaddress system went around oldcity areas and Batmaloo in centralSrinagar to announce impositionof curfew.

Hurriyat Conference headed byjailed leader Syed Ali Shah Geelanihad given the "Anantnag chalo"call to protest civilian killings andto express solidarity with the fam-ilies of three youths killed in al-leged firing by security forces.

Curfew, which was imposed inSopore on June 25 and subsequentlyin rest of the valley including Srina-gar was lifted yesterday. However,it continued in Anantnag where vi-olence erupted again yesterday.

"No one will be allowed to disturb law and order situation", a senior police officer told PTI.Security restrictions would continue especially during the day when the separatists have decided to organize protest programme

and march, the police said. Police and paramilitary contingents are patrolling the deserted streets and have blocked roads with razor wire and armoured

vehicles at Lal chowk, Jehangir Chowk, Sonawar, Nowgam and Panthachowk in the city to prevent people from assembling orproceedings towards Anantnag.

Police are looking for separatist leaders spearheading the protests in various parts of the valley, official sources said.Geelani and his top aides including Mohammad Ashraf Sehrai and Ayaz Akbar have already been booked under the Public Safety

Act.Normal life was disrupted in many parts of the valley due to security restrictions. Government offices, educational institutions,

banks, semi-government offices, shops and business markets were closed and transport, both public and private, was off the road inthe city.

Curfew reimposed in parts of Kashmir

Deserted street of Rainawari Chowk in Srinagar as authorities reimposed curfew restrictions in mostparts of the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar on Monday.

PTI

NEW DELHI, JULY 5

India is all set to roll out its in-digenous naval Light CombatAircraft (LCA) at the HindustanAeronautics Limited (HAL) facil-ity in Bangalore tomorrow,which will be witnessed by De-fence Minister A K Antony.

"The first indigenous navalLight Combat Aircraft the LCA(Navy) NP1 -- is scheduled to rollout from HAL Aircraft Researchand Design Centre (ARDC)hangar on July 6," a DefenceMinister official said here today.

An important milestone forthe naval programme of Banga-lore-based Aeronautical Devel-opment Agency (ADA), the

aircraft would be brought outof the hanger where it was as-

India set to roll out LCA todaysembled part-by-part during theroll-out.

Navy Chief Admiral NirmalVerma will be the chief guest atthe event. The aircraft is beingreadied for induction into theNavy and for deployment onboard the Indigenous AircraftCarrier (IAC), currently underconstruction at the Cochin Ship-yard, by 2015.

Following the roll-out, theNaval LCA, with state-of-the-arttechnologies and punch, will beready for the phase of systemsintegration tests leading toground runs, taxi trials and flighttrials.

Once the ground based testsare completed , the 'NP1' is ex-pected to fly by the end of thisyear and the NP2 is likely to flyby the end of 2011.

The government had sanc-tioned the LCA (Navy) pro-gramme in 2003 and the firststage of development includeddesign and fabrication of atrainer and a fighter -- NP1 andNP2 respectively -- along with aShore Based Test Facility (SBTF)at Goa naval air base, which hasalready come up.

The SBTF is being used tosimulate carrier take off and ar-rested landing and as a trainingfacility for future pilots of thenaval LCA.

It is also being used for train-

ing on the newly acquired MiG-29K fighter jets, bought fromRussia to be operated on theAdmiral Gorshkov aircraft car-rier, which is under a repair andrefit programme in a Russianshipyard.

The LCA (Navy) NP1 would beflying with the GE-F-404-IN20engine and is designed for Ski-jump Take Off But Arrested Re-covery (STOBAR) operations.

The only carrier-borne aircraftin the light category in theworld, Naval LCA will be oper-ating with a wide variety of op-e ra t iona l weapons andequipment like the Beyond Vi-sual Range (BVR) missile, anti-ship missiles, conventionalbombs, a ir defence guns,counter-counter measures anddrop tanks.

The ADA is responsible fordesign, development, groundtest and flight test of both theNaval and Air Force versions ofthe LCA. HAL is the principalpartner of ADA in this task.

The Indian Navy, the Centrefor Military Airworthiness andCertification (CEMILAC) and Di-rectorate General of Aeronau-t i c a l Q u a l i t y A s s u r a n c e(DGAQA), all have played an im-portant supporting role in thedevelopment of the Naval LCAright from its inception, the of-ficials said.

Ishrat was LeTsuicide bomber,

Headley told NIAPTI

NEW DELHI, JULY 5

Bearing out the version of Gu-jarat Police, American-bornLashker-e-Taiba terrorist DavidHeadley has claimed before NIAsleuths that Ishrat Jahan, a Mum-bai girl killed in a police en-counter in Ahmedabad, was asuicide bomber of the outfit.

Official sources said thatHeadley shared this informationwith the four-member teamcomprising officials from Na-tional Investigation Agency andLaw Department during theirvisit to Chicago in the US.

The girl, whose death hadsparked a major controversy,was alleged to be a member ofLashker's suicide squad who hadbeen inducted by top LeT op-erative Muzamil.

Headley's information corrob-orates the stand of Gujarat Policeand the Centre. The encounterhad run into controversy afterJahan's family claimed that shewas just a student and filed anappeal in the court. Gujarat Po-lice had claimed that the terror-ists were in the state to attackChief Minister Narendra Modi.

Sources said Headley's recon-naissance missions for Lashkarin India started in 2006.

Jahan was killed along withJaved Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillaiand two Pakistani nationals --Amjad Ali and Jishan Johar AbdulGhani -- on June 15, 2004.

Devotees offering special prayers on the occasion of Guru Hargobind anniversary at Gurdwara at Chatipadshahi in Srinagar on Monday.

Will not allowTaliban-type attacks: LDF

PTI

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 5

The Kerala government todaysaid it would not allow Taliban-type attacks, a day after a col-l ege l ec tu re r ' s pa lm waschopped off for allegedly prepar-ing an inflammatory questionpaper that triggered protestsfrom Muslims.

Kerala Home Minister Kodiy-eri Balakrishnan asked all polit-ical parties to unite and isolateforces responsible for the "bar-baric" attack on the lecturer atMoovattupuzha yesterday.

"All political parties shouldcome together to isolate suchforces," he said in reply to a sub-mission by P J Joseph (KC-M) inthe Assembly.

The minister said a seven-member gang attacked T JJoseph, a Malayalam lecturer atNewman College in Thodupuzhaand chopped off his right palm.

Balakrishnan said police arequestioning the suspects andstringent action would be takenagainst the culprits.

He said the governmentwould verify if there were lapseson the part of police in providingprotection to Joseph, who wassuspended from the collegeafter the question paper row.

Intervening, OppositionLeader Oommen Chandy saidthe attack was part of a "con-spiracy" to destroy the commu-nal harmony in the state.

PTI

NEW DELHI, JULY 5

A Delhi court today deferredthe pronouncement of itsorder on a plea by an advocateopposing CBI's move to with-draw the two-decade-old Bo-fors pay-off case against Italianbusinessman Ottavio Quattroc-chi.

Chief Metropolitan MagistrateKaveri Baweja posted the matterfor further proceedings on Au-gust 7 in view of the caserecords lying with the SupremeCourt.

Additional Solicitor GeneralP P Malhotra, appearing for CBI,submitted before the court thatthe probe agency has filed anapplication in the apex courtseeking its direction to sendback the case records to the trialcourt.

The CBI application is likelyto come up for hearing in theSupreme Court on July 13, hesaid.

Advocate Ajay Agrawal, whofiled an application before thecourt opposing CBI's decisionto withdraw the case against70-year-old Quattrocchi, con-tended tha t the or ig ina lrecords relating to the casewere sent to the SupremeCourt in a separate matter inwhich a few accused were dis-charged by the Delhi Highcourt.

"The CBI is acting in collusionwith the accused and was un-necessarily hurrying up to with-d raw the ca se aga ins tQuattrocchi, even though the

matter with regard to other ac-cused is already pending beforethe Supreme Court," he al-leged.

After hearing the submissionsof Agrawal and the CBI, thecourt adjourned the matter. Thecourt had also on May 15, de-ferred its order.

"Apart from the fact thatthere is sufficient material andgrounds against Quattrocchifor his prosecution, the con-duct of the CBI and its counselwho happens to be top lawoff icers of the countr y ishighly deplorable and depictsan apparent and active collu-s i o n w i t h t h e a c c u s e d , "Agrawal had alleged in his af-fidavit seeking rejection ofCBI's plea.

He had claimed that CBI hadnot filed the appeal against theDelhi High Court judgement dis-charging some accused in thecase.

Quattrocchi, the sole surviv-ing accused in the case after theDelhi High Court quashed thecharges on May 31, 2005,against other accused, has neverappeared before any court inthe country.

CBI had failed on two oc-casions in its attempt to getQuattrocchi extradited - -first from Malaysia in 2003and then from Argentina in2007.

In November last year, theagency had asked the Inter-pol to take Quattrocchi 'sname off the Red Corner no-tice list.

Court defers order onmove to drop case

against Quattrocchi

PTI

MUMBAI, JULY 5

Seventeen years after being granted bail in a drug ped-dling case, Maliram Saharsar (38) was last week sum-moned by a special NDPS court and sent to jail only tobe later discharged from the case.

Saharsar's case is one of the matters that came upfor hearing during the 1992-93 Hindu-Muslim riotswhere the city

was so tense that even judicial offices came to astandstill for over a month.

Saharsar, a labourer from Rajasthan, was arrested in1992 in a drug peddling case but was released on bailin October 1992. When his case came up for hearing

post the Babri Masjid demolition, curfew was imposedin the city.

"His case came up for hearing again on January 12but there was a second round of riots in the city.Saharsar had come to court on both the dates but thecourts were shut. The court documents marking hispresence in court on the hearing dates were also mis-placed," his lawyer Ayaz Khan said.

Now, after 17 years, a non-bailable warrant wasissued against the accused after he failed to appearbefore the court

despite repeated summons sent to him."Soon after he received the warrant, he came to the

court, which however arrested him and sent him to ju-

dicial custody," Khan said. According to Khan, Saharsar was not aware of the

summons sent to him by the court on previous occasionsas they were sent to a wrong address.

Special NDPS Judge M V Kulkarni on Saturday,however, discharged Saharsar from the case afterobserving that there is no case made out againsthim.

The case dates back to October 1992, when Saharsarwas arrested on the basis of a statement given by a co-accused Umed Khan Bhawar, who claimed that Saharsarhad collected narcotic substances from him in Rajasthanand brought it to Mumbai. However the police hadnot seized any narcotics from Saharsar.

Accused in drug peddling let off after 17-yrs for no evidence

PTI

NEW DELHI, JULY 5

Ailing former union minister George Fer-nandes will continue to stay with his wifeLeila Kabir for the time being with theDelhi High Court today finding his re-sponse incoherent on the issue of his cus-tody.

The court refused to interfere with thepresent arrangement after an hour-longchamber proceeding during which JusticeV K Shali tried to elicit response from the80-year old leader to ascertain with whomhe would like to stay.

The court, however, could not come toany conclusion because the leader, sufferingfrom Alzheimer's disease, could not respondto the questions put by the judge.

"Fernandes is not able to articulate incoherent and consistent manner his views.He does speak few words which are in-audible. He could not speak a completesentence and his speech was more in thenature of murmur from which no inferencecould be drawn as to what he wanted,"Justice V K Shali said after interacting withthe leader one-on-one for about 15 min-utes.

"The court is of firm opinion that so faras Fernandes is concerned on account ofhis ailment he is not able to articulate andexpress his views which may help the courtin deciding the application with regard tothe case," the court said.

The court, which allowed his brothersand wife who are fighting legal battle forhis custody, to meet him separately, cameto the conclusion that the Rajya Sabha MPhas no problem with any of them.

"From the aforesaid interaction Fernan-des individually as well as the interactionof the parties, I am of the prima facie viewat this stage no further orders are war-ranted and the existing arrangement willcontinue till the time all the pending ap-plications are heard and decided," thecourt said.

The judge said Fernandes' interactionwith the his wife shows that he does notnurture any kind of discomfort while beingwith her.

The judge, after consulting his wife LeilaKabir and three brothers of Fernandes inhis chamber for an hour, said that the casewill be taken up for further hearing on July19.

Wearing a green Kurta and white pyjamawith a saffron scarf, the leader reached thecourt premises at around 14:35 hours andleft at 15:50 hours. Once a fire-brand tradeunion leader and a rabble rouser, Fernandeswas a pale shadow of himself when he wasbrought to the court room as he appearedlost and was unable to speak or recognisehis kin and friends.

He was brought to the court room in awheelchair by his wife. The frail leader,showing no emotions, was unable to recog-nise his supporters who surrounded himas soon as security guards lifted him fromthe car to the wheelchair.

As soon as the court proceedings begin,the lawyer, appearing for the brothers,pleaded that it should be conducted inchamber, which was supported by the wife'scounsel.

The judge then agreed to hear the casein-chamber and called Fernandes, his war-ring kin along with their lawyers to hischamber.

Justice Shali then asked all the relativesand lawyers to leave his chamber in orderto have hold a one-on-one talk with theleader to know his views.

Fernandes to remain with wife, brothers can visit: HC

No war onjudiciary,

says CPI-M

PTI

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, JULY 5

The CPI-M in Kerala today al-leged a section of media andcertain 'vested interests' weretrying to create a false impres-sion that it had declared a waron judiciary by highlighting theparty's critical views on the Ker-ala High Court order banningroad-side public meetings.

The party, however, defendedits stand on the issue maintain-ing that roadside meetings hadbeen an important democraticmeans to educate people onvital issues, especially in Indiawhere large sections are still il-literate.

"Similarly, protest marchesand public meetings are meth-ods for people to give vent totheir strong feelings and senti-ments in a democratic manner,"CPI-M state secretary PinarayiVijayan said in a statement.

Page 7:Layout 1 7/6/2010 12:10 AM Page 1

Health Minister Vishwajeet Ranes joiningthe Congress has opened up PandorasBox. Or has it? Actually, there is nothing

strange about it. As elections approach, suchcharacters join the Congress. Then, if they aredenied tickets, they catch hold of regional outfitslike the United Goans Democratic Party (UGPD)or Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), oreven so-called national parties like the NationalistCongress Party (NCP), get elected with a thumpingmajority and become coalition partners with min-isterial berths, either with the Congress or theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whichever forms thegovernment.

Ideology simply does not matter; neither forso-called ideological parties like the Congressand BJP, nor the regional parties like the UGDP,MGP, etc. Or, they contest as Independents.

Vishwajeet was denied a ticket in the last As-sembly election. The reason? A Congress principle;no two tickets in one family. Papa Rane (SpeakerPratapsingh Rane) was contesting from his tradi-tional Poriem constituency. Vishwajeet was there-fore denied a ticket from Valpoi.

It was no bother hoodwinking the High Com-mand. A strange guy very few people had everheard of was announced as the Congress candidatefrom Valpoi. At the very last minute, he officiallywithdrew his candidature and simply disappeared.It was a cakewalk for Junior Rane, who handsomelydefeated BJP candidate Puti Gaonkar. Now, thisPuti is in the Vishwajeet camp and has joinedthe Congress like his leader.

And, for his upcoming by-election (he resignedhis seat to join the Congress) the junior Khashehas announced that he will do nothing noposters, no banners, no moving from house tohouse nothing. See the power of democracy(money-cracy?).

By now, the Yuvraj of Sattari has spread histentacles like a giant amoeba. He got PratapGawas elected from Pale, after his MLA brotherGurudas expired. Besides Sattari, his vitamin Mis making waves in the Bicholim taluka. In theZilla Panchayat elections held recently, he poseda threat to Home Minister Ravi Naik in his Pondaconstituency, by defeating Ravis candidates inplaces like Kurti-Khandepar. Political observers

tell me that he has started expanding his sphereof influence to the Pernem taluka, especially theMandrem constituency.

When Vishwajeet has such widespread influ-ence, is it at all possible for the Congress to stickto its great principle of no two tickets in onefamily? The first exception to the rule was Soniaand Rahul Gandhi. The Ranes may be the secondexception.

There are other Gharanas too in Goan politics.When Urban Development Minister Joaquim Ale-mao was elected on a Congress ticket from Cun-colim, his brother Churchill had defied theCongress High Command to contest from Navelimon the Save Goa Front (SGF) ticket, to defeat hisone-time mentor Luizinho Faleiro. Simultaneously,he got Alex Reginaldo Lourenco elected fromCurtorim, defeating Congress veteran FranciscoSardinha; who was later rehabilitated as the SouthGoa MP.

A year later, as usual, Churchill merged his anti-Congress SGF into the Congress, and became thePWD minister. The strongman has gone to theextent of publicly saying that out of every 100rupees he gets from the government, he gives90 rupees to the people. A public justificationfor a 10 per cent commission on every contract!

But, will the Congress will have the guts to denytickets to both Alemao brothers Churchill andJoaquim?

But even this generosity from the Congresswill not satisfy him. He tried very hard to get theSouth Goa MP ticket for his lawyer-turned-politician daughter Valenka. Now, he has unilat-erally announced that she will contest fromBenaulim, on a Congress ticket!

Will the Congress now set a new precedent bygiving three tickets in one family? The answer is,does it have any choice? If denied, the Alemaobrothers will get Valanka a ticket from some re-gional party like the UGDP, or field her as an In-dependent. And, in the event that the allianceticket for Benaulim goes to the NCPs MickkyPacheco, the Congress will probably get yetValanka as another Independent MLA to supportits coalition government (with a ministerial berth,of course).

That is not all. Mining magnate and SanvordemIndependent MLA Anil Salgaocars son SameerSalgaocar has unilaterally announced that he willcontest from Mandrem, on a Congress ticket ofcourse. The statement was intended to put anend to rumours that the father would make wayto field his son from Sanvordem. But the dona-

tion-fame son has already given himself a Con-gress ticket, without any reference to the hallowedHigh Command.

This case is unlike the other two. A so-calledCongressman is claiming a party ticket for himself,when his father is an Independent MLA. The Con-gress has to give Sameer the ticket, if it wantsthe support of his Independent father.

There is yet another rumour. Education MinisterAtanasio Babush Monseratte, who ditched theCongress at the very last minute to contest on aUGDP ticket in the last Assembly election andcame back to the party recently, is as a disciplinedsoldier of the Congress now planning to fieldhis wife Jennifer from Taleigao, while he will con-test from Panjim. The BJPs Leader of the Oppo-sition, Manohar Parrikar, is to shift to Porvorim,a new constituency.

It could be true. Babush quit the Congress lasttime as his wife Jennifer was denied the Congressticket from Santa Cruz. Both contested on UGDPtickets. Babush won, but Jennifer lost. She is nowa Zilla Panchayat (ZP) member. Does the Congresshave the guts to deny tickets to both? If not,both or at least Jennifer could be a UGDPcandidate or an Independent.

Whether its Vishwajeet, Valanka, Sameer orJennifer, they are all from the upcoming youngbrigade of the Congress, and are ever ready tosabotage their own party and contest as Inde-pendents. They are not at all dependent on theCongress. On the contrary, the Congress is de-pendent on them.

For all of them the Ranes, the Alemaos, theSalgaocars and the Monserattes the Congressis their family. If the family does not accept them,they are Independent enough to part ways, contestas an enemy, get elected, extend support to thecoalition government, become ministers, andthen once become disciplined soldiers of thisgreat, 125-year-old party.

And if the Congress doesnt agree, the BJP another great party with a difference is readyto embrace these Independent Congress familymembers. Its just a part of running the familybusiness Politics!

( Th i s a r t i c l e f i r s t appea red on :www.goanews.com)

Blowing coldDr Francisco Colao, Margao

You will agree that facts are sacred butcomment is free. But not to the extent thatit allows your Whistleblower (Herald Mirror,4 July) to cleverly use a mix of in-betweencommas and phraseology to add grist tothe mill. To say that the Catholic Churchurges its flock to vote for corruption ratherthan communalism is just not true.

I also dont agree with Whistleblowerwhen (s)he says: Unlike corruption, com-munalism can be stopped in a state with ahyperactive media and a wide-awake (sic)High Court. Past experience fails to sub-stantiate this. Communal forces are lyingdormant and no power on earth will be able

to stop them when they strike at the firstopportunity. We have been witnesses tothis time and again, here and in other states.

I agree with Whistleblower when (s)hestates that corruption seeps into the soulof a society and destroys everything like acancer. But lets not forget that the brandof radical communalism being propoundedtoday poisons the very roots of the tree ofour nation, pollutes its sap and yields badfruits. Human memory is not so short as toforget the great communal atrocities com-mitted in the recent past.

Lets condemn corruption by all means.But lets not underestimate the danger ofcommunal poison.

Sudden illnessAires Rodrigues, Ribandar

The rich, powerful and well connected canmanipulate things to get themselves out ofany awkward situation. Micky Pacheco man-aged to evade jail and stay in the comfort ofthe Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the MargaoHospicio.

He was well all day, but suddenly whentold to go to jail complained of hypertension.He allegedly later tested positive for jaun-dice. Did this health condition merit a stayin the ICU? The authorities and the doctorsin particular have a lot to answer for. Willthe same concern be shown to all accusedin custody?

Indian Taliban?Michael Vaz, Merces

It is shocking that a Christian lecturer wasattacked with sharp weapons and his palmwas severed right in front of his family byan extremist Muslim outfit in Kerala, al-legedly because a question paper he hadset contained allegedly derogatory remarksagainst the Prophet, which triggeredprotests. It may be noted that the lecturernot only suspended from his job but wasarrested for this. He was on bail when theincident took place.

Even assuming the lecturer was at fault,the government had proceeded to take ac-tion against him according to the law. Butwho gave powers to these hardline elementsto take the law in their hands and causehim such grievous hurt? Proper action should

be taken to nip such nefarious activities inthe bud.

This is a democratic country, where thelaw takes its course. We do not want anyTalibanisation of this land at any cost.

DiscriminationKajal Chatterjee, Kolkata

The editorial Weak hearted? (Herald, 5July) rightly points out that the wealthy andpowerful, if at all nabbed by the adminis-tration and sentenced to police or judicialcustody, suddenly develo