News Roundup

SUZETTE ADVANI, whom we have generally seen writing columns for magazines and newspapers, released her new line of clothing at Casa de Goa in Calangute, this month. It drew a sizable crowd of wheel-heeled buyers, who appeared to be thoroughly impressed by Suzette's styling.

MILLENIUM CELEBRATIONS: The Comunidade of Mapusa has been a poineer in the field of raising worthy projects, while most other Comunidades look on while their lands are being usurped illegally. The Mapusa Comunidade held their Millennium Celebrations on October 2, the feast of St Jerome, with a plethora of events. The most important among the day's events was the laying of the foundation stone for a much needed chapel at the housing board in Mapusa. The foundation stone was blessed by Archbishop Raul Gonsalves in the presence a large gathering.

Soon after that former Chief Minister Franciso Sardinha inaugurated the mini-market complex about a hundred meters away from the proposed chapel site. Of course, they had other programmes like felicitating their gaunkars, realising of a Souvenir to mark the occasion and finally, good entertainment with tiatr "Adeus".

CIVIC POLLS PEACEFUL: Pernem notched the highest voting with 83.55 per cent among the 11 municipal councils in the elections held on October 15. With nearly 68 per cent of the 2.1 lakh urban electorate exercising the franchise to elect 128 out of 692, it was quite a fine display of political consciousness in Goa's cities and towns. The elections were peaceful except three cases of impersonation in Mapusa. Rajendra Patkar, a candidate, found that his candidate's badge wasn't proof enough for identity as a bonafide voter. In the same town, the former Additional Solicitor General of India and prominent Goan lawyer M S Usgaonkar, was refused the right to vote until he returned with an electricity bill as evidence for identity.

FIRST NON-GOAN COUNCILLOR IN MORMUGAO: As in the rest of the civic bodies, the voters for the Mormugao Municipal Council rejected 18 of the 20 sitting city dads/moms and re-elected only Rama Honavarkar (Ward 3) and social worker Ms Tara Kerkar (Ward 19), who won from an open ward defeating four male candidates. The counting was delayed due to recounting of the ballots a record number of four times in Ward 18, at the request of sitting councillor Prakash Naik, who was defeated by Dananjay Naik. The delayed results were available only at 6.30 am today (October 17). Highlight of the Mormugao Council is the victory of the first non-Goan councillor Kundu Narayan from Uttar Pradesh in the Ward No.7 of Baina. Panels supported by the BJP and the Nagrik Samiti failed miserably because only independents succeeded in all the wards. (Courtesy: Kelly Furtado, Vasco)

NO TO NARVEKAR: Were Mapxemkars surprised that a former chairperson of the Council and a powerful figure in local politics was defeated by Prabhakar Vernekar by a margin of 256 votes? Probably not because Narvekar has been indicted by the Goa Public Men's Corruption Commission. His wife Manisha Narvekar, however, was the lone winner from his group. Sitting councillors Mathew Braganza lost to Maria Carvalho (Ward 7) and Lucio Soares lost to Baburao Desai, in the results where Francis D'Souza-led panel won in 10 out of the 13 wards. First-time winner, builder Oscar D'Souza polled the highest number of votes (1109), whereas Armindo Braganza, Suryakant Naik and Michael Carrasco figure among the councillors who have retained their seats.

MARGAO OUSTS FORMER CHAIRMAN: Prominent social worker and woman activist Ms Auda Viegas scraped through with a mere 4-vote victory in Margao, where the main losers were former chairperson Ganeshyam Shirodkar in results which are most likely to continue the instability trend in the South Goa's civic body. All winning candidates Monica Dias, Kamalini Poinguinkar, Estella Lobo, Doris Texeira and Auda Viegas will be in the fray for the chairpersonship, reserved for females.

SLEEPING BISCUITS: Sergio Fernandes (23) of Candolim and his friend Robert Rodrigues, who were travelling from Goa to Pune on September 28, fell to the drugged biscuits ruse of a bearded person and lost nearly Rs.7,000 and a camera.

REGULARISING ENCROACHMENTS: CM Francisco Sardinha said on October 3 cabinet sub-committee comprising Dy CM Dayanand Narvekar, Law minister Francisco D'Souza, Industries minister Alexio Sequeira, Weights and Measures minister Mauvin Godinho and Power minister Digambar Kamat, will study the cases or regularising encroachments on comunidade land. According to Sardinha, there is a proposal before the government to allot maximum of 300 sq mt land to each encroacher.

EMPLOYMENT PROPOSALS: The Cabinet has decided to reserve 2 per cent jobs for the children of freedom fighters in group A and B services of the Goa government. Even married persons would be given government employment in harness cases. CM Sardinha said that 250 vacant posts would be filled in the power department through the regulation of employees on the nominal muster roll.

DELHI GOANS: ‘Goenkarancho Ekvott" is the name of the socio-cultural body formed by Goan living in Delhi. At the meeting held on October 1, Suman Kurade was unanimously elected the chairperson and Dharmanand P Kamat the secretary.

BASTORA MURDER CASE: The Additional Sessions Judge, Mapusa, has convicted Anthony D'Souza of Tivim, Domnic Mendes of Anjuna, Sandip Morajkar or Porvorim, Merwyn Menezes of Saligao and Roy Fernandes of Siolim in the 1997 murder case at Bastora.

HONOURING A VETERAN BUS: GDX-I, the first bus purchased by the Kadamba Transport Corporation 20 years ago, will be decorated and illuminated today, to mark the 20^th anniversary of the Kadamba Transport Corporation Ltd.

BRIDGE TO CHORAO: To fulfill the long-pending demand of the residents of the island of Chorao, the government proposes to construct a bridge, for which tenders would be floated by December 2000, according to PWD minister Subhash Shirodkar.

TURTLE NEWS: The villagers keeping a watch at the Morjim beach where they spotted 20 sea-turtles on October 6. The turtles have already laid eggs, which have to be protected from poachers. The flippered visitors had showed themselves at Galgibaga in South Goa on September 10.

DOCTOR DUO FINED: Dr Ajit of Canacona and Dr Kinara or Karnataka have been directed by the Court of the Civil Judge, Senior Division at Mapusa, to pay a sum of Rs.5 lakh jointly to Leo and Rosy Miranda of Canacona, as compensation for a tonsils operation negligently performed on their five-year-old son Francis on July 3, 1989, leading to the boy's death.

SABIRE CASE: The Panjim Bench of the Bombay High Court has held that there is enough recorded evidence to frame charges against Dominique Sabire, for conspiring with convicted peadophile Freddy Peats.

DOMICILE, LANGUAGE NEEDED: Following representations by the Goa Hit-Rakhan Manch, the State government has decided to issue circulars to all departments to ensure that recruitment rules regarding the domicile and language clauses are strictly adhered to while inviting applications for all posts, in order to protect the interest of Goan youth.

COMPUTERS-FOR-SCHOOLS ARRIVE AT LAST: One hundred free computers along with monitors, donated from abroad under the Goa Computers-In-Schools Project, have finally reached Goa after a three months of trying time for Daryl Martyris and Jude Miranda to get the shipment through. The computers will be distributed to 12 schools in Goa.

SHACK SHOO: With the government charging a fee of Rs.35,000, Rs.30,000 and Rs.15,000 for a large, medium and small sized shacks respectively, the All Goa Shack Owners Association had no option but to approach the government to reconsider the decision. They feel that it would be difficult to do business or even recover their investment.

PLASTIC GOES, OIL-SLICK STILL TO GO: In the campaign launched by the NGOs in Goa, seven truckloads of plastic waste were collected from the sand dunes and ditches of the 2.5-km Sinquerim-Candolim stretch in a single day's operation. Other villages too look cleaner since the drive began on October 2. But plastic is not the sole element plaguing Sinquerim; the "River Princess" is still oil-slicking the beautiful beach.

NEW PLASTIC DUMPS: At a meeting held in Margao on October 6, the Goa Environment Federation unanimously decided to dump the plastic at sites in Canacona, Colva and Cuncolim, considering the opposition to the proposed dump at Sonsodo by Manovikas school.

THE BOND BUG: The Goa government's penchant for bonds does not emerge from the concern for Goa's development entirely. According to Ashley do Rosario and Frederick Noronha (Herald), Rs.40 crore from the Rs.150 crore sought to be raised by way of loans, will be spent on the voluntary retirement of a section of the vast work force, which the government has accumulated over the years.

EVACUEE PROPERTY COMMISSION: The government is likely to extend the term of the Silva Commission, which was appointed on May 9, 2000, with a term of 150 days, to investigate the irregularities committed by the custodians in handling the evacuee property at Mayem. The work of the Commission still remains incomplete.

JOB AGENT NABBED: Usha, who along with Jaykumar Pandya, had started Perfect Placement job recruitment agency in Panjim and duped young Goans to the tune of almost Rs.15 lakh, was arrested in Bombay, on a complaint filed by Trevor Rodrigues, who had surrendered his passport alongwith Rs.20,000 to the con couple.

VHP MEET IN GOA: Ponda in Goa has been chosen by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) for holding a meeting of its highest policy-making body--Marg Darshak Mandal—on October 18 and 19. The most controversial decision of constructing the Ram Temple at the disputed Babri mosque site in Ayodhya, will be taken up at the Ponda meeting of nearly 120 dharmacharyas of various Hindu sects from all over the country.

FRIDAY BALCAO: The fortnightly discussion forum of Mapusa, run by the Goa Desc Resource Centre has just completed 20 successful sessions. People working on alternatives in their own respective fields share their experiences and the problems they encounter in their work. The participants too join in the discussions and contribute their suggestions.

KIDNAPPERS RELEASED: South Goa District and Sessions Judge Nelson Britto released Mushtak Shaik Mohammad, Rajan Das, Saimulla Basherkar, Sayeed Shaheed, Jovin Rosario and Rohit Cruz on a bail of Rs.5000 each and personal bon of an identical amount. They had been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of Roma Mahato of Vasco.

LIFER FOR FIVE: Additional Sessions judge D N Kenkre sentenced to life imprisonment Roy Fernandes of Siolim, Sandeep Morasker of Porvorim, Anthony D'Souza of Tivim, Marvin Menezes of Porvorim and Domnick Mendes of Anjuna, who were found guilty of murdering Feliciano Monteiro (62) of Bastora on May 11, 1997.

KONKANI ORAL EXAMS: According to Vinayak Parab, chairman of the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, students will be evaluated in Konkani oral examinations for the Secondary School Certificate examination from the year 2002.

CHURCHILLAK CHALLOILO (CHURCHILL ABUSED): Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao complained to the Cuncolim Police on October 12 that one of the sons of Agriculture Minister Arecio D'Souza, threw eggs on him and abused him during a meeting at Cuncolim. (H)

CSI'S COMPUTER COMPETITION: The Computer Society of India [Goa] holds a computer-related competition for school students in Goa every year. The prizes are usually awarded at the GoaNet meeting. The awards were kicked off by GoaCom donating the annual top prize of Rs.20,000. Sharp, a Bombay-based firm dealing in UPSs, came up with another prize subsequently. CSI plans to introduce new prizes. Vivian, Bytesforall and others have already contributed prizes. A few more donors could help the CSI competition to reach more students. So, those interested could offer annual prizes or an one-off in equivalents of US$100, US$50, US$25 or more.

DOWN UNDER: CM Francisco Sardinha said at a seminar on trade, investment and tourism, in Sydney, that the Goa has been changing focus from the agricultural sector to the secondary and tertiary sectors. In the secondary sector, the government seeks investment to build container handling, solid and liquid waste management facilities as well as the development of trade centres for garments, precious stones, etc. He told Australian businessmen that investment is being pursued for a number of tourism-based projects like gold courses, theme parks, wildlife parks, Go-cart and bowling centres, multiplexes, shopping malls, integrated entertainment and cinema theatres.

INDUSTRY WORRY: Members of Goa's 6000-strong small scale sector appear worried over the Goa government's recent move to impose entry tax on certain raw materials. Some were even heard complaining that pollution clearing authorities demand a ‘processing charge' for every project cleared, amounting to upto half-percent of the total cost of the project. Indian market is flooded with foreign goods already: apples from New Zealand, chocolates from China, garlic, macaroni, peppermints, etc. and this has been another major worry for the local industry.

DROWNED AT DUDHSAGAR: On October 15, three junior engineers of the Irrigation department escaped from the jaws of death while returning from a picnic at the Dudhsagar waterfalls, while the body of their colleague (Anil Gangadharan) is yet to be traced. The young picnickers had forded a small stream while proceeding to the falls but while returning home in the evening, a showers had converted the stream into a raging torrent. Faced with the frightening prospect of having to spend the night in the wilderness, they formed a human chain. Two managed to cross safely but got swept away by the powerful current. The third one was rescued while holding precariously to a tree but the last one is yet to be traced

BROTHER RAPES SISTER: A girl aged 12 was raped by her brother Minguel Tavares (19) from Cansaulim on Oct.15^th morning when their mother was not at home.