Bicholim flares up
BICHOLIM: A tense situation prevailed in Bordem-Bicholim after DySP Shamba Sawant allegedly assaulted Mulgao deputy sarpanch and one of the panchayat members who questioned a mining truck driver involved in an accident and blocked traffic for almost four hours. Trouble started in the afternoon when deputy sarpanch Vishalsen alias Prashant Gaad and panch Nilesh Gaad, who were returning to Mulgao on a motorcycle, were knocked down by a speeding mining truck driven by one KV Francisco.[GT]

Let people party, Scarlet wrote
PANJIM, Apr 3: Two days after she returned to Britain with her daughter's body, Fiona MacKeown revealed Scarlet in a school essay had unwittingly left instructions for her own funeral. Daily Mirror quoted the mother as saying: "She wrote that when she died, she wanted a party for people to celebrate her life and not her death. She could not have known it would come so soon." [H]

GOA TOON
ALEXYZ

Cong braces for face-off with NCP-backed front
PANJIM, Apr 3: With the Churchill Alemao-Mickky Pacheco boxing bout producing mild tremors, the All India Congress Committee General Secretary in-charge of Goa desk BK Hariprasad is planning to meet Congress President Mrs Sonia Gandhi before visiting Goa on a fire-fighting mission, sources in the national capital said. [H]

MMC gets tough with ZIL over transport of hazardous substances
VASCO, Apr 3: The Mormugao municipal council (MMC) has issued stern directives to Zuari Industries Ltd, to stop the transportation of hazardous materials from Vasco to Zuarinagar in order to avoid risk to the citizens of the port town.The MMC chief officer, Mr Melvyn Vaz, in his notice to the ZIL, has said that the recent incident, which involved a truck bearing registration number GA-02-V-6062 carrying sludge of Phosphoric acid spilled it all over the road from Goa Shipyard Ltd upto the Chicalim junction, endangering the lives of the people. [NT]

Eco, culture, sports activities to be focus of Pomburpa camp
PANJIM: A summer camp under the banner of "Serula: Son of the Soil project" has been launched by the students of St Elizabeth High School, Pomburpa, on April 1 and will last till April 13. The camp, organised jointly by parents, ex-students, villagers and Goa State Biodiversity Board was inaugurated by Diocesan Society of Education secretary, Fr Zeferino D'Souza. The camp has four sections - eco, leadership, culture and sports - and is held between 8 am and 1.30 pm. Six long-term projects will be unveiled during the camp: Library Project for students and parents, Pomburpa clean and green projects for scouts and guides, Eco - nature reserve and nature trail - for scouts and guides, Football project with Goa United for standards 5 to 9; Indian classical music and dance for Std 5 to 9. Alfred Rose plaque will be unveiled for his contribution towards our language, music and culture. [GT]

Colva School project
MARGAO: Chief Minister Digambar Kamat will lay the foundation stone of the proposed project of the Infant Jesus High School at Colva today at 10.30 am. [GT]

Tiatrists lauded for entering Guinness book
PANJIM: TACT Institute (Goa), imparting training to upcoming Konkani tiatrists, ha congratulated tiatrists Wilmix Mazarello and Sharon Mazarello, and musician Norman Cardozo, for entering into the "Guinness Book of World Records" by participating in the non-stop-group-singing in Konkani recently in Mangalore They were a part of Kepenchim Kirnam. [GT]

Dare to walk a different road
There is a sense of desperation creeping into Goan society as the tsunami of irrational development threatens to overwhelm the state. As mega projects mushroom and ever-growing mass tourism places greater strains upon the social and environmental fabric, the process of hawking Goa to the highest bidder is well under way. Things are at the point where the urban sprawls and rural deserts by now characteristic of much of India are replicated here as well. [Vidyadhar Gadgil, Herald]

TSKK SILVER JUBILEE CLOSING CEREMONY
PORVORIM: The Closing Ceremony of the Silver Jubilee Year of Thomas Stephens Konknni Kendr (TSKK) was held at TSKK premises on 28 March evening. Archbishop Felipe Neri Ferrão of Goa Archdiocese was the chief guest, and Premanand Lotlikar, President of Dalgado Konknni Akademi; Purnanand Chari, President of Konknni Bhasha Mandal, Margão; Wilson Mazarello convenor of Roman Lipi Action Front; Eric Ozario, President of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy and Fr Anthony da Silva, S.J. the Jesuit Provincial of Goa Province, were guests of honour.
The function started with a procession from the entrance receiving the Chief Guest Archbishop Felipe Neri Ferrão along with all the guests of honor. Goan traditional musicians led the procession followed by the traditional ‘Vojem’ consisting all the local seasonal fruits and flowers of Goa. Chief Guest Archbishop Felipe Neri Ferrão was escorted with the traditional umbrella used during the Hindu religious functions, followed by brass band. Fr Pratap Naik welcomed the guests after the bhajan presented by Fr. Simon Fernandes, S.J. Archbishop conferred Fr Antonio Pereira Konknni Puroskar on Yusuf Sheikh, the 18th recipient of this puroskar. The award consisted of a shawl, memento and a cheque of Rs. 25,000/-. Archbishop also felicitated Eric Ozario, the Gurkar of Mandd Sobhann and the President of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya Academy, for making the Guinness Book of World Records by singing in Konknni for 40 hours.
The Archbishop said that the Konknni language and its culture have a unifying quality that draws people together, and urged Goans to speak and read Konknni to keep the language alive and to propagate Konknni culture.
While addressing the crowd Eric asked not to discriminate against the Konknni language spoken by a group on the basis of script. Let Konknni flourish in all the three scripts i.e. Devanagari, Kannada and Roman. Yusuf Sheikh desired and opined that writers have the task to create an environment in society where everybody could live in peace and harmony.
Wilson Mazarello presented ‘Konknni Martir Floriano Vaz Puroskar’ to Daniel F. da Souza for his Konknni book in Roman script ‘Koslich Malis Nastana’. The award consisted of a memento and cash Rs. 5,000/-.
TSKK in collaboration with Mandd Sobhann, Mangalore has published 3 volumes of devotional songs in audiocassettes and CDs entitled ‘Bhakti Sobhann’. Lyrics for these devotional songs in these cassettes were written by Fr. Pratap Naik, S.J. The booklet of these lyrics was published by TSKK in collaboration with Michael Gracias of Queenie Productions, Velsão, was released by Eric Ozario during the function. The DVD ‘TSKK Darshan’ providing full information on activities, and facilities available at TSKK was released by Purnanand Chari, the president of Konknni Bhasha Mandal, Margão during the function.
‘Lourenço Umbelina Scholarship’ of Rs.1,800/- was given to Miss Concy Fernandes from Vasco by Premanand Lotlikar. As part of Silver Jubilee Year TSKK organized Fancy dress, drawing and coloring, poster, fancy lamp making and Rangoli competitions were held for students and adults. Prizes for all the prize winners were distributed on this day at the hands of Jesuit Provincial of Goa Province Fr. Anthony da Silva, S.J.
Young Chico and his group sang Konknni Film Songs after the main function. Ms Shilpa Salvi and Ms Netra Veluskar of TSKK compeered the function and Ms Preeta Naik delivered a vote of thanks.