OHERALDOThe Voice of Goa Since 1900

ment to them as illegal and assuch there should be no prob-lem now in their denotification.

According to Naik, there waseven otherwise no injunctionagainst the Centre from deno-tifying the SEZs, but AnandSharma had taken the stand thatthe Government wont denotifythem when the matter is pend-ing before the court.

Naik said he told the ministerthat the SEZ developers nolonger have land with them andas such he can proceed with de-notification without any diffi-culty.

PTINEW DELHI, DEC 2

Domestic airlines have proposeda massive hike in air fares ig-noring Governments calls notto resort to exorbitant fares afterthey were hauled up for abruptrise in ticket costs even duringnon-peak season.

The airlines, however, maynot have their way with the newfare structure they have pro-posed since the Directorate Gen-eral of Civil Aviation (DGCA) isunlikely to give its nod. The CivilAviation regulator received theproposals yesterday.

DGCA sources said today thecivil aviation regulator is likelyto shoot down the proposedprice bands and may ask the air-lines to rework them keepingthe interests of passengers inmind.

The responses (of airlines)are under examination, CivilAviation Secretary S N A Zaidisaid. The fare bands proposedby airlines are for the first timebased on distance-based slabs.

As per the proposals, an airpassenger travelling economyclass may have to shell out Rs10,500 for a Delhi-Chandigarhor Chennai-Coimbatore flightand anything upto Rs 40,000 onthe Delhi-Bangalore or Delhi-

Kolkata route.The domestic airlines came

out with the proposal after theywere asked by the DGCA to sub-mit the planned price bands onvarious sectors after some ofthem resorted to steep hike inairfares even during the non-peak season.

Civil Aviation Minister PrafulPatel reiterated that the airlineswould not be allowed to chargeexorbitantly.

DGCA will not allow anypredatory or exorbitant pric-ing...If there is something lack-ing we will make necessarycorrection. We will not allowairlines to charge exorbitantly.

We will not let them take ad-vantage of a situation, he said.

DGCA sources made it clearthat there should not be a situ-ation where the airlines fleecepassengers through a huge fareincrease.

The average price would belower if tickets are bought inadvance. The fares would reachtheir peak if purchased on theday of travel or just a day before,the sources said.

The regulator, which has es-tablished a Tariff Analysis Unitto keep a tab on the prevailingfare levels, would take a decisionon the matter very soon, the

HERALD REPORTERPANJIM, DEC 2

Indo-Bangladesh movie MonerManush was awarded the pres-tigious Golden Peacock for thebest film at the 41st Interna-tional Film Festival of India (IFFI)on Thursday.

The award carries a citationand prize money of Rs 40 lakhfor the films producer and di-rector. The Bengali director Gau-tam Ghosh received Rs 20 lakhfrom the Minister of State forInformation and BroadcastingChoudhary Mohan Jatua andother dignitaries.

Kaushik Gangulys story onhomosexuality Just AnotherLove Story, bagged the specialjury award a Silver Peacock,a citation and a cash prize of Rs15 lakh. The award was alsoshared with New Zealand filmBoy by Taika Waititi. The Cross-ing from Turkey was adjudgedthe second best film.

The Best Director award wasbagged by Susanne Bier of Den-mark for her film In a BetterWorld. The Best Actor Awardof Rs 10 lakh each went to theTurkish actor Guven Kirac forhis role in the film The Cross-ing while the Best ActressAward was won by MagdalenaBoczarska of Poland for LittleRose.

The films were judged by five-member jury led by Polish film-maker Jerzy Antczak, Emmyaward winning Canadian film-maker Sturla Gunnars, Australianlegendary actor Mick Molloy,French filmmaker Oliver Pereand South Indian film actress

Revathy Menon.The 11-day extravaganza

came to a close with the screen-ing of the French film ThePrincess of Montpensier, di-rected by Bertrand Tavernier.

Addressing an over-crowdedauditorium at Kala Academy,Chief Minister Digambar Kamatsaid that he looks forward toholding the 42nd edition of IFFIin Goa. He said that the new ini-tiatives like e-ticketing in IFFI2010 received tremendous suc-cess and sale of tickets went upto one lakh as against 80,000in IFFI 2009.

Replying to frequently askedqueries on infrastructure for thefestival, Kamat said that effortsare on to set up a good conven-tion centre in the State. He fur-ther said that they are analysingand taking corrective measuresto enhance the festival everyyear.

Jatua said that the Indian filmindustry is experiencing phe-nomenal growth of 16 per centand by next year its turnoverwould cross Rs 17,500 crore. Hesaid Indian cinema stands onthe cusp of being cinema of theworld but we must deliver to

sustain our position. Festival Director, S M Khan

said that the Festival receivedentries from all over the worldand offered the delegates, mediacritic and film buffs an oppor-tunity to watch the best of In-dian and world cinema.

Starting with a note aboutGoa being tagged as a partyplace, chief guest for the func-tion Bollywood actor Saif AliKhan told the gathering that theState can be tagged as the bestfilm festival destination.

Goa is more than just partying.

Visit us at:www.oheraldo.in panjim, friday, december 3, 2010 postal reg. no. Goa 101 price rs. 3.00 (air Surcharge rs 2.00) pages 16+4

I think their meaning is same. Onethat is scheme for Aam Aadmi isscam for ministers

Business: Food inflation

dips to 8.6 p. c. Pg 13

Sports: Zaheer returns;

Sree, Raina rested Pg 16

Goas Heartbeat: From highest

paid model to actor... Pg 1

(Continued on page 10)

(Continued on page 10)

(Continued on page 10)

The feast of St Francis Xavier, popularlyknown as Goencho Saib, will be celebratedon December 3, with Cardinal Oswald Gracias,Archbishop of Mumbai, being the main cel-ebrant for the feast mass.

Thousands of people from all walks of life

st Francis Xaviers feast today

PTINEW DELHI, DEC 2

The Supreme Court today camedown heavily on former TelecomMinister A Raja for bypassingand even overruling PrimeMinister Manmohan Singhs ad-vice to defer the allocation of2G spectrum by a few days.

The apex court also tookstrong exception to the toneand tenor of Rajas letter to thePr ime Min is ter, say ing i tamounted to showing disre-spect to the highest authorityin the country.

The Bench of justices G SSinghvi and A K Ganguly saidRaja had not paid heed to thePrime Ministers letter askinghim to wait for some days beforetaking any action on the alloca-tion of spectrum.

Resuming hearing on the pe-tition by NGO, Centre for PublicInterest Litigation (CPIL, on thespectrum scam, the court raised

questions on Raja ignoring theLaw ministrys advice seekingopinion of the AG as out ofcontext.

The court made the remarksafter noting that the Law Min-ister has given an opinion thatthe matter be referred to theEmpowered Group of Ministersfor seeking the opinion of thelaw officers like the AttorneyGeneral and Solicitor General.

Raja first received opinionof the Law Ministry which heoverruled by saying it was outof context, then he received a

letter of PM on the same dayasking him to wait and let me(PM) know further action you(Raja) take. That is also ignored,the court said.

The letter of Law ministryfor taking opinion of AG was ig-nored. The PMs letter was ig-nored. Is this the way thegovernment functions? thecourt asked.

Senior advocate T R Andh-yarujina, appearing for Raja,however, contended that theformer telecom minister neverignored the opinion of the Lawministry or the advice of thePrime Minister.

The Bench shot back, Thequestion is what led him to saythat the law ministrys opinionwas out of context.

Nothing could have hap-pened if you would have waitedfor two-three days after receiv-ing the letter from the PrimeMinister, the bench snapped.

Raja overruled PMs advice on 2G: sC

HERALD CORREsPONDENTNEW DELHI, DEC 2

Commerce Minister AnandSharma on Thursday issued anorder kicking off the process fordenotification of three SEZs (Spe-cial Economic Zones) in Goa.

The actual denotification,however, will take time as theproposal has to go before theBoard of Approval that sanctionsSEZs and no meeting of theboard is still fixed.

We have not yet fixed thenext Board meeting after the43rd meeting held on November18 and the proposals for deno-tification will have to be put onthe agenda for clearance, a De-partment of Commerce officialsaid, adding that the Govern-ment has to go by the boardsdecisions and cannot act on itsown to reverse the decision.

It is the statutory board thatgives clearance to the SEZs andas such cancellation of any clear-ance is also required to be re-ferred to it, the official said,pointing out that formal ap-proval was granted for sevenSEZs in Goa but only three werenotified.

Congress MP Shantaram Naiksaid he called on the CommerceMinister who issued orders onhis memorandum for denotify-ing the three SEZs without wast-ing any time. He expects theformal notifications soon.

Naik had approached the min-ister to point out that the PanjimBench of the Bombay High Courthad disposed off the pendingSEZ petition, holding land allot-

Centre issues order to denotify three Goa SEZs

CURTAiNs dOwN ON iFFiindo-Bangla film bags Golden Peacock

Air fares may hit the sky

NOT FARE ENOUGHl Delhi-Chandigarh or Chennai-Coimbatore Rs 10,500*

lDelhi-Bangalore or Delhi-Kolkata upto Rs 40,000*(*Proposed fares)

Luizinho clarifiesHERALD NEws DEsk

PANJIM, DEC 2

Former Industries Minister Luiz-inho Faleiro claimed that heh a s n o t , i n a n y w a y, a t -tempted to favour allotmentof land to M/s Meditab Spe-cialities Pvt. Ltd. for SEZ inthe State. When this case wasreceived by me, I referred thesame with my remarks to theChief Minister, he said.

(Report on page 2)

The actualdenotification will taketime as the proposalhas to go before theBoard of Approval thatsanctions SEZs.

Bengali director Gautam Ghosh receiving the Golden Peacock trophy for the Indo-Bangladesh movieMoner Manush at the hands of chief guest Saif Ali Khan. Also seen to the left are Susanne Biers son,collecting the Best Director award on behalf of her mother, and Magdalena Boczarska with the best actressaward. (More on IFFI results on Goas Heartbeat). Photo by Rozario Estibeiro.

Page 1_Layout 1 12/3/2010 12:43 AM Page 1

GOA, FRIDAY, 3 DECEMBER, 2010

GOA Pg2OHERALD

O

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, DEC 2

Stating that setting up of SEZswas a collection decision of thecabinet, former Industries Min-ister Luizinho Faleiro has rub-bished claims that he has in anyway attempted to favour allot-ment of land to M/s MeditabSpecialities Pvt. Ltd.

When this case was receivedby me, I referred the same withmy remarks to the Chief Minis-ter, he said and added that eventhe honorable High Court hasnot cast any aspiration on hisconduct as Industries Ministerand in fact, has found nothingwrong with the note datedMarch 13, 2006.

Elaborating further, Luizinhosaid that the so-called contro-versial note dated pertains to aland at Keri which was acquiredin 1992 for special project ofNylon 66/DuPont. In 1999 thesaid land was withdrawn fromDuPont and earmarked for ZeroWaste Goa Food Park and sub-sequently the government videits cabinet decision on August16, 2004 decided to transfer theland to Goa Education Develop-ment Corporation. However an-other cabinet decision was takenon February 15, 2005 when Iwas not even the Industries Min-

ister to revert the land back tothe IDC for industrial purpose,he pointed out and added, Sowhere is the question of me di-verting the land from educa-tional use to industrial SEZ?

Explaining that it is not anyindividual decision but a deci-sion taken collectively by theGIDC board of directors on April15, 2005 to appoint experts/con-sultants to study the use of land,Luizinho said that on February7, 2006 the GIDC in its boardmeeting resolved to establishpharma park (SEZ) at Keri.

Since the GIDC board hadalready taken a decision in thisregard, I forwarded the letter

addressed to me by M/s MeditabSpecialities Pvt. Ltd., with thenote dated March 13, which isowned by Ciplas for setting upa pharma SEZ on their own onthe said land in Keri which wasmarked for SEZ, he clarified.

The proposal is as per thepolicy of the State governmentand the policy of Governmentof India for establishment ofSEZs for encouragement of ex-ports, as part of the import ex-port policy of 2000-2001 foraugmenting facilities for exportproducts which was expectedto bring large dividends to theState in terms of economic andindustrial development and gen-

eration of new employment, hefurther informed and said thatduring the time of the note therewere no protests against the set-ting up of SEZs in the State. Cur-rently the State government hastaken a decision to do away withthe SEZ which is within its pre-rogative, he added.

Luizinho further stated thatthe role of Industries Ministeris to promote industries and togenerate revenue and employ-ment. Therefore my decisionwas in principle in accordancewith policy decision in force,he said and pointed out that inparagraph 85 of the recent HighCourt judgment regarding hisletter the court judgment hasstated that However there isnothing on record to show thatthe State government had takenany decision to issue a direction,moreover no such direction isproduced on record. What isstated in the note dated March13, 2006 is merely a proposalto issue a direction in case ofone company. And in para-graph 89 of the judgment page163 It is already held that whatis mentioned in the note is amere recommendation and nota direction under section 16which is required to be issuedby the State government.

Luizinho clarifies on SEZn When this case was

received by me, Ireferred the samewith my remarks tothe Chief Minister.Even the honorableHigh Court has notcast any aspirationon my conduct asIndustries Ministerand in fact, hasfound nothing wrongwith the note datedMarch 13, 2006.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, DEC 2

Granting temporary relief to a 70-year-oldpetitioner who has moved High Courtagainst Health Minister Vishwajit Rane andState Authorities for alleged harassmentmeted out to him by blocking access to hisbungalow at Dona Paula by building a com-pound wall the Bombay High Court atGoa on Wednesday granted stay on con-struction of a compound wall carried outby the health minister in the green zone infront of the petitioners bungalow.

A Division Bench comprising Justices S BDeshmukh and F M Reis has also issued no-tices to health minister, the chief secretary,member secretary of North Goa Planning& Development Authority (NGPDA), DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP), Taleigao VillagePanchayat and others and posted the matterfor further hearing in January 2011.

When the matter came to be mentionedas urgent hearing on Wednesday morning,petitioner Antonio F do Rosario, throughhis counsel Adv Joseph Vaz alleged that hehas been harassed by the Health Ministerthrough State authorities after he declined

to sold his property to the health minister.The respondent 5 (health minister) has

been misusing his authority, abusing hisposition as a minister and is instrumentalin directing the public authorities to harassthe petitioner because he refused to sellhis plot and bungalow to respondent 5,the petitioner charged in his petition.

The petitioner owns a bungalow undersurvey no 250/4 - plot X which is under ren-ovation whereas health ministers plot undersurvey no 250/4 - plot Y touches petitionersplot and both the plots has common bound-aries.

In October 2009, the health minister sentFr Inacio Almeida to convince the petitionerto sell his plot and bungalow to him andthe request was outrightly rejected, he saysin his petition.

According to the petitioner health min-ister has built a new storey bungalow bydemolishing the old one, allegedly withoutobtaining due approvals from the planningauthorities. He went on to occupy the bun-galow without obtaining occupancy certifi-cate, he alleged.

As submitted by the petitioner the access

road to the health ministers property andhis is through the property belonging to aco-operative housing society but it has beenblocked and encroached by putting up astructure depriving him of an access to hisproperty and bungalow.

After having failed to force him to sellhis plot and bungalow, the health ministerbegan to use the government authoritiesto harass him, he alleged.

He was slapped various show cause no-tices by state authorities indicating that hisbungalow was unauthorized even as he pro-duced evidence that he is a rightful ownerof the property and has all documents tosupport his case, he submitted.

Making further damning charges againstthe health minister, the petitioner submit-ted that after having blocked his accesson the eastern side, he constructed a com-pound wall around his plot X further en-croaching on the green zone in order tocreate blockade on the northern side ofthe petitioners plot even though planningregulations mandates that no constructioncan be carried out in an area reserved asgreen zone.

Vishwajit gets taste of law, HC stays construction of compound wall

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, DEC 2

State Home Ministry today helda review meeting with requestsfrom Goa police to depute CentralPara Military Force for the forth-coming Christmas and New Year.

It was a routine meeting toreview the law and order in thestate, said police spokespersonSuperintendent of Police (SpecialBranch) Atmaram Deshpande.

The meeting was chaired byHome Minister Ravi Naik whoinquired about the on-going se-curity arrangements for IFFI-2010 tha t conc luded onThursday and Feast of St FrancisXavier on Friday.

The minister insisted the de-partment to raise the crime de-tection level We requestedthe State to appeal the CentralGovernment to deploy CentralPara Military Force for year-end-ing events, said a senior policeofficer.

The state invites thousandsof foreigners descending in thecoastal state for Christmas andNew Year festivities.

Two platoons of Central In-dustrial Security Force were de-

puted in Goa for a period of 10days for IFFI, and it has been ex-tended to another day owing tothe Feast at Old Goa. The feastattracts several thousand devo-tees from all over the world.

Taking no chance in wake ofpast terror threats, the author-ities have planned to beef upthe security. Sources said thatvital installations are kept understrict vigil.

Following Mumbai terroristattack in November 2008, a totalof 375 CRPF and RAF personnelwere rushed to Goa by the Cen-tre in the wake of intelligencereports suggesting that thetourist hot spot might be a ter-ror target during the Christmasand New Year revelries.

The deployment came afterthe state government wrote tothe Union Home Ministry re-questing more central paramil-itary force, citing terror threat.

Whereas, in 2009, nearly 400additional paramilitary trooperswere sourced from the centralgovernment to gear up for thetwo high profile events - IFFI andthe President Prathibha Patilsvisit - and December celebrations.

Goa Police asks forpara military force

for Christmas seasonHERALD REPORTERPANJIM, DEC 2Kadamba Transport CorporationLimited (KTCL) will connectstates apex medical hospital tothe rural villages through theirbus service.

KTCL will be launching threenew bus services from Fridayonwards providing an expressservice to the people from Pa-tradevi, Pernem and Assnora.

The rural villages at the statesboarder like Keri (Pernem),Banda (Patradevi) and Ghotge-wadi (Asnora) will be connectedto the Goa Medical Collegethrough KTCL bus service, whichwill begin from 7am in the morn-ing.

The three new KTCL routesinclude: Banda-Panjim- Bam-bolim, Ghtgewadi-Panjim, Bam-bo l im and Ke r i - Pan j im -Bambolim.

KTCL official said that themain idea behind starting theseroutes was to provide a smoothpublic transport to the people,based far away from the apexhospital.

People situated in theseareas are basically poor and sev-eral patients from these areasvisit GMC for medical treatment.In order to reach GMC, peoplehave to exchange two buses.Hence we thought to make thistransport little feasible, the of-ficial said.

The people living in villagesbordering the state were oftensubjected inconvenience toreach GMC due to poor publictransport system. The introduc-tion of KTCL bus service willgive them a respite.

Official confirmed that thebuses, which will run on theseroutes, where lying idle with thedepartment. Rather the optingnew buses we thought to uti-lize the old ones, he said.

The department is also plan-ning to come up with morebuses along the Bambolimroute by January 2011.

Apart form this; the KTCL isalso working on a plan to pro-vide a ring service within Pan-jim-Bambolim route.

KTC to connect ruralvillages to GMC

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, DEC 2

Chief Minister Digambar Kamatturned Santa Claus on Thursdayannouncing goodies for the Mar-gao Municipal Council aimednot just at ushering administra-tive reforms and bringing thecivic employees under CCTVscanner, but help strengthengarbage collection mechanismin the commercial capital.

If Kamat is to be believed, thecivic body would lay thrust onmaking the city clean andstreamline the administrationthrough reforms. He exuded con-fidence that the measures wouldshow results by January 2011.

After an hour-long interactionwith the City Fathers during hisfirst visit to the Margao civicbody accompanied by the UrbanDevelopment Secretary andDMA Daulat Havaldar on Thurs-day noon, Kamat told newsmenthat he has issued directions tothe Chief Officer to dispose offapplications for single dwelling

units, house and compound wallrepairs, renewal of licenses, be-sides NOCs for water and lightconnections within seven days.I see no reason why applica-tions for these things cannot becleared within seven days if theapplicationsa re com-plete in allrespects,he added.

Thats nota l l . TheChief Minis-ter said hehas told theDirector ofMunic ipa lAdministra-tion to re-v i ew thepowers of the Municipal Engi-neers by enhancing the powersof the MEs to sanction estimatesfrom Rs six lakh to Rs 15 lakh.By reviewing this power, thegovernment intends to bringthe Municipal engineer on par

with the PWD Executive Engi-neer vis--vis sanction of esti-mates, he said.

He said that all correspon-dence received by the civic bodywould now reach the dealinghands on the same day as

against theperiod of 5-6 days.

S a y i n gthat he hasto ld theMMC Chair-p e r s o nSushila Naikto consultgovernmentp r i n t i n gpress Direc-to r N DAgrawal on

the implementation of CCTVsin the civic body, Kamat said thecivic body has plans too to revivethe bio-metric finger scan readerlying idle in the civic body formore than three years. Plansare afoot to introduce the con-

cept in government depart-ments as well, he asserted.

On the garbage front, theChief Minister said four garbagecompactors and two tippertrucks will be procured by thecivic body at cost of Rs onecrore. Besides, he said 40 con-tract workers will be engagedby the civic body exclusively forgarbage collection and clearedthe proposal to procure 1000-odd garbage bins for the city. Ihave also told the MMC CO tostudy the requests for grass cut-ting and fogging machines, headded.

He further said the civic bodywould outsource two rickshawsfor garbage collection in Margaoand Fatorda. These rickshawswill be stationed in areas wheregarbage generation is more likethe Sadekar lane, he said.

Moreover, garbage supervi-sors will now get a cell phonefrom the civic body, while newdustbins will be numbered ward-wise for quick disposal of waste.

CM spells out goodies for Margao council

LIST OF GOODIESnRs 2 Cr development grant

nRs 1 Cr grant for compactors

n40 additional labourers

n1000-odd garbage bins

nCell phones for garbage super-visors.

nCCTVs

nSanction councillors visit toMumbai for training.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, DEC 2

Term it as political move orsimply a move to generate rev-enue, Chief Minister DigambarKamat on Thursday gave hisstamp of approval to the requestof City Fathers to allot housenumbers to illegal houses in thecommercial capital after obtain-ing an affidavit filed by the owner.

Kamat defended his decision,saying the move would enrichcoffers of the civic body by nearlyRs one crore by way of housetax. Sadly, according to Kamatsown estimates, the Margao civicbody is faced with outstandinghouse tax arrears amounting toa whopping Rs 4-5 crore.

The Chief Minister told news-men that the councillors dis-cussed with him the issue ofallotting house numbers to thehouses which were assessed bythe civic body for the purposeof levying house tax. The as-sessment and survey reports areavailable. The municipal bodycan go ahead with the allotmentof house numbers after obtainingan affidavit from the owners,he added.

When newsmen drew his at-tention to the fact that the as-sessment work is suspect as itwas carried out by private indi-viduals in the presence of coun-cillors and not by municipalengineers, Kamat said the affi-davit will take care of any dis-crepancies in the claims made

by the owners. Surprisingly, theChief Minister further said thatMunicipal Engineers need notreassess the houses before al-lotting the numbers.

Civic officials in private saythe assessment of illegal houseshas not been done as per rulesin force. Instances are galorewhen the illegal houses havebeen extended by the ownersafter the assessment work wascompleted by councillors withan eye on the migrant vote bank.

Incidentally, the Director ofMunicipal Administration hadnot given the go-ahead signalto the Margao civic body to allotthe house numbers when theprevious body had sought per-mission from the government.

However, the Urban Develop-ment Secretary felt there is noharm in allotting the numbersfor the illegal houses, saying nolegal status would be bestowedon the structures.

On this count, the Chief Min-ister said house tax levied onthese structures would bring inhandsome revenue to the civicbody. Rough estimates say thecivic body can earn a tax revenueof Rs one crore, Kamat said.

But, when asked why the civicbody was going after this housetax, when house tax arrears arepegged at Rs 4-5 crore, Kamatsaid he would instruct the civicbody to identity tax defaultersand recover the tax under theLand Revenue code.

CM okays allotment of house nos to illegal houses in Margao

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, DEC 2

Come December 19 and allthe municipal bodies in theState would be inter-con-nected thanks to govern-ments ambitious program.

Chief Minister DigambarKamat has said that directionshave been issued to the UrbanDevelopment Ministry to en-sure that all the civic bodiesare inter-connected by Decem-ber 19.

Laying stress on computer-isation of the civic bodies,Kamat told the Margao Mu-nicipal Chief Officer PrasannaAcharya on Thursday to com-plete inter-connectivity of themunicipal body at the earli-est.

He said the governmentwould not mind giving addi-tional computers to the civicbody, but emphasised on theneed to complete the work atthe earliest.

All civic councils to be inter-connected

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, DEC 2

A day after registering a cheatingcase against the management,the Margao police raided theAchievers Aviation Academy onThursday evening and seizeddocuments from the institute.

A team of Margao police ledby Investigating officer PSI SurajGawas conducted the raid andsearched the premises for in-criminating material.

PSI Gawas told newsmen thata number of documents relevantto the investigation of the casehas been seized during the three-hour long raid in the insititute.

Replying to a question, hesaid though nothing incriminat-ing material was found insidethe institute, the police are ver-ifying the seized documents tohelp in the investigating of thecheating case.

It is learnt that the police

made entry into the institute bycalling a person who is believedto be part of the management.

Students of the Academy hadbeen up in arms over the last fewdays demanding action againstthe management of the AviationAcademy. They have been de-manding the refund of huge feesthey had paid to the managementto under the course.

The Margao police are furtherconducting the investigations.

Documents seized from Achievers Aviation Academy

SHWETA KAMAT

PANJIM, DEC 2

The online ticket booking forthe just-concluded IFFI did click

with an average 400 ticketsbeing booked every day.

National Informatic Centre(NIC) record indicates that 3925

Online ticket booking gets good response at IFFI

HERALD REPORTER

VASCO, DEC 2

Burglars decamped with goldand silver ornaments worth Rs1.65 lakh from a flat belongingto South Goa BJP Vice PresidentJayant Jadhav at Valmiki Apart-ments, Baina-Vasco, on Wednes-day night.

According to reports, Jadhavalong with his family membershad left for Belgaum on Sundayto attend a relatives wedding.Jadhavs sister had visited theflat on Wednesday evening andthe flat was intact.

However, when the servantvisited the flat on Thursdaymorning, she noticed that thedoor locks broken and the dooropen.

According to Vasco Police, bur-glars decamped with six pair ofgold earrings, two gold chains,amounting to Rs 1.25 lakh andsilver items worth Rs 35,000 be-sides other electronic items.

Police further informed thatthe burglars have meticulouslyassessed the gold items, as theyleft duplicated gold items in theflat and ransacked the entire

flat. Burglars have left laptopand other expensive electronicitems.

On Thursday morning, policehad locked the flat when theywere intimated about the inci-dent, but conducted the inves-tigation when complainantJadhav returned from Belgaumin the evening.

Vasco Police DySP MaheshGaonkar along with PI BrazMenezes visited the flat to takestock of the situation. Fingerprint expert and dog squad werepressed to get lead in the case.

Burglars target BJP vice-Presidents flatDecamp with booty worth Rs 1.65 lakh

tickets were booked online dur-ing the ten day long festival andaround 605 tickets were cancelledonline by the delegates andmedia, who were given specialpin number to book the tickets.

In a major milestone, the on-line ticket booking, launchedfor IFFI 2010, was introducedfor the first time in any of theinternational film festival. NIChad developed the software forEntertainment Society of Goa.

According to the availabledata, November 24 saw maxi-mum 578 people booking theticket online and also that wasthe day when maximum peoplecancelled their ticket online. Inall 98 people cancelled theirticket online on November 24.

The newly introduced systemgot lukewarm response on No-vember 21, when the softwarewas commissioned for the del-egates and media. Only 35 tick-ets were booked online that day.

NIC had introduced this soft-ware on that day, as the ticketcould be booked three daysprior to the film.

The online ticket booking sawsteady increase in the latterdays. On November 22 (284),November 23 (815), November24 (578), November 25 (511),November 26 (458), November27 (483), November 28 (327),November 29 (113), November30 (115), December 01 (118) andDecember 02 (105) tickets werebooked online.

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HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, Dec 2

The National InvestigatingAgency (NIA) on Thursday fileda supplementary charge sheetagainst two accused persons,Prashant Juvekar and PrashantAshtekar in the Margao bombblast case.

The supp lementa r ychargesheet was filed by NIADeputy Superintendent of PoliceRavi Gambhir in the South GoaSessions court this evening.

The NIA has charged bothPrashant Juvekar and PrashantAshtekar under the Unlawful Ac-tivities Prevention Act, explo-sives Substances Act, for waginga war against the State and forcriminal conspiracy under theIPc.

The NIA has also chargedPrashant Ashtekar under section201 of the IPc for destructionof evidence. The duo is presentlyin judicial custody since theirarrest around three months ago.

With todays development,the NIA has filed chargesheetagainst six accused in the case.Three other accused persons JaiPrakash alias Ana, Rudra Patiland Sarang Kulkarni are still atlarge.

The NIA has charged the 11accused persons, including thetwo deceased, Malgonda Patiland Yogesh Naik, for preparingthe improvised explosive de-vices (IeD) and conducting testblasts at Talaulim-Ponda, fol-lowed by another test blast atJath Sangli in Maharashtra.

The investigating agency hascharged deceased accused Mal-

Margao blast: NIA files supplementary charge sheet against 2 accused

gonda Patil and Yogesh Naik,besides Vinay Talekar, VinayakPatil, Dhananjay Ashtekar, DilipMangonkar, Jai Prakask alliasAnna, Rudra Patil, Sarang Kulka-rni and Prashanth Juvekar duringthe month of June 2009 to Oc-tober 2009.

The NIA has pointed in thecharge sheet that accused Mal-gonda Patil, Dhananjay Ashtekarand Jai Prakash brought explo-sive materials like gelatin sticksand detonators and other ac-cessories like printed circuit

boards, transistors, batteries,wires, etc for manufacturing theIeDs from difference sources.The IeDs were assembled at theresidence of Laxmikant Naik,the elder brother of accused Yo-gesh at Talaulim-Ponda and alsodiscussed about the actions tobe taken against the govern-ment, organizers and partici-pants and viewers of Narkasurcompetitions on grounds thatsuch competitions are againstHindu religion and practices.

In pursuance of the conspir-

acy, the accused formed twogroups, one comprising of de-ceased Malgonda Patil and de-ceased accused Yogesh Naik toplant the IeDs at the narkasurcompetition at Margao and thesecond group consisting ofVinay Talekar and Vinayak Patilfor planting the IeDs in a mini-lorry at Shanthadurga Temple,Sancoale.

Meanwhile, the South GoaSessions court on Thursday ex-amined three witnesses in sup-port of the prosecution case.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, Dec 2

The State Nationalist congressParty will continue with its existingexecutive committee that wasappointed by its party supremoSharad Pawar on July 28.

The State NcPs new Presi-dent Surendra Sirsat in a pressstatement issued here said theissue of continuance was dis-cussed yesterday in the presenceof other leaders and committeemembers. It was decided to re-tain the existing ec under myleadership, he stated.

Besides discussing importantparty matters, the meeting alsodiscussed the detailed pro-gramme to celebrate the birthday

NCP to continue with existing EC of the party founder and PresidentPawar from December 12 to 18.

earlier, Sirsat had favoureddissolution of the committee,

but later retracted by saying hedidnt intend to because a vac-uum would be formed thatcould hamper party progress.

35 hurt afterbus strays off road in

MapusaHERALD CORRESPONDENT

PORVORIM, Dec 2

About 35 passengers, mostlycollege students, were seriouslyinjured after an overcrowdedAssagao-Mapusa bus fell into a12-feet low-lying area nearGhateswar Temple at Mapusaon Thursday afternoon.

According to Mapusa Police,the bus (GA-01-V-2870) had leftBadem for Mapusa via Assagaoat about 3.30 pm. On reachingnear DMc college, Assagao, thebus driver in the process of ne-gotiating a sharp turn on theslope near Ghateswar Templedriver, lost control over the ve-hicle and the bus fell into thelow-lying area.

Mapusa Pol ice and FireBrigade officials rushed to thesite and removed the passengersfrom the bus. Locals fromGhateswar Nagar, who had gath-ered at the site, also assistedthe police in the rescue opera-tion.

The injured passengers wereshifted to Asilo Hospital in Ma-pusa for medical treatment. Po-lice Inspector Rajesh Kumar isinvestigating the case.

2 girls held on suspicion

of prostitutionHERALD CORRESPONDENT

PORVORIM, Dec 2

Porvorim Police on Thursday ar-rested two girls, suspected tobe prostitutes, and their agentat Porvorim.

According to Porvorim Police,after they received informationthat two girls and their agentMoksudur Rehman Laxkar (26)of West Bengal, but residing atcolva, are waiting alongside thechogm road near Angels Resortat Porvorim, PI Devendra Gaadrushed to the spot and arrestedthe trio.

Police further informed thatthe trio was produced beforeJudicial Magistrate First classMapusa on Thursday afternoon.Accused Laxkar has been re-manded to seven days policecustody, while the girls havebeen sent to Protective Homeat Merces. PI Devendra Gad isinvestigating the case.

No voting without EPIC

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, Dec 2

election commission of India,New Delhi has issued instruc-tions that the possession of theelection Photo Identity card(ePIc) is mandatory and the elec-tors will not be allowed to castvote without producing the ePIc.

The voters are therefore ap-pealed to approach the con-cerned Taluka Mamlatdars andget themselves photographedfor the purpose.

GOA, FRIDAY, 3 DECEMBER, 2010GOAOHERAL

DO

short taKes

Pg 4upcoMing events

EFA SALDANHA

If commemorating the life and death of StFrancis Xavier year after year by the faithfulin Goa led them to emulate Goencho Saib,Goa would have been a haven of peace. Weneed to reflect on his self-sacrificing lifefor our transformation.

God beckons us all to be saints; possibleonly if we strive to do everything accordingto His will. Had young Francis Xavier stuckon to his secure post of Lecturer in Aris-totelian Philosophy in the college of Dor-mans-Beauvais in Paris 480 years ago, hewould surely not be part of our memoriestoday.

Gods will prevailed to steer him awayfrom his college to play a bigger role, togather lost and downtrodden souls roundthe world, as was pre-determined. To quoteJohn 15-16,17: I chose you and appointedyou to go and bear much fruit, the kind offruit that endures.

This implies that when our choice of ca-reer, occupation or goals, is according toGods will, we get a sanctifying grace to doeverything with love and perfection. Sadly,most of us choose our occupations basedon money, prestige, or the herd mentality.So we do not achieve perfection, and failto make a mark on society.

Francis was a charming and polishedyoung man of 19 when he joined the Collegeof Santa Barbara. After two years in Paris,his parents sought to bring him back home,sick of his pestering letters for more money.

But Franciss sister Madaline pleaded withher father. She wrote: If you hold dear theGlory of God, let my brother continue inParis. Let him finish his Philosophy and The-ology. God has revealed to me that Francisis the chosen bearer destined to carry the

torch of faith to the Indies. So it was Madaline and ultimately, Loyola,

that supported his path to saintliness. Thesincere friendship and kindness shown byLoyola in his hour of need by paying hisoutstanding bills and inducing students toattend the young professors lectures, soft-ened Franciss proud heart. He took a likingto his mysterious benefactor, and wasgreatly impressed by his spiritual life andways.

Ignatius taught him that titles, estates,honours, amusements and money were alltemporary pleasures, and that it was notworthwhile to acquire these things but loseones soul. The words were quoted by StIgnatius of Loyola from the New TestamentMark 8:36: For what shall it profit a manif he shall gain the whole world and losehis own soul? They were the inspirationfor St Francis Xavier during his entire reli-

gious ministry. In this chaotic world, Francis stands out

as a man of integrity, with a sense of en-during values. Francis is the embodimentof hope in this materialistic world, full ofhypocrisy, discord and double standards.Though born in a noble family, he threw allhis ambitions aside on encountering au-thentic love. Today we need leaders like StFrancis and Mahatma Gandhi to serve theworld with selfless love, emptying them-selves to minister to this miserable society.

Francis took up his duties with total com-mitment. In Venice, while he was attendingthe sick in a hospital, a leper asked him toscratch his back. Xavier obliged, but reluc-tantly for fear of contracting the disease.Later, to counteract this fear, he sucked thewound full of pus.

Francis trudged on foot in burning heatand torrential rain for the poor. He wouldwalk up and down the streets ringing a bell.The old and the young would throng aroundhim. He would teach them catechism, valuesand provide for their needs without anydiscrimination. This resulted in many non-Christians embracing Christianity.

Biographer Daurignac gives details ofmiracles where St Francis restored sight tothe blind, cured lepers and the sick, andraised the dead. When he tried to calm theturbulent sea with his crucifix, it fell in thewater and the crab retrieved it.

The theme for this years feast is apt:Following in the footsteps of St FrancisXavier and Blessed Joseph Vaz, let us striveto live Christian values. Let us pledge tobe like him, to work tirelessly for peace,love and self-sufficiency for all, by sheddingall our weaknesses, especially greed andselfishness.

St Francis Xavier: Taking the road less travelled

Leonoras to screen Goencho SaibPANJIM(HND): Leonoras, Verna will screen Goencho Saib,

a movie on the life of St Francis Xavier on the occasion of thefeast ( December 3) at its restaurant at 8 pm. The eveningprogramme will begin with a live entertainment show by DJFranky from 7 pm onwards. Besides this, Goenchi Mogri, aGoan cultural troupe will also perform mandos, dulpods andKonkani songs on the occasion. For bookings and other detailscontact 2791263/9765321245/9860781178. The owner ofLeonoras, Jerome Mendes on his visit to Rome witnessed StFrancis Xaviers hand beautifully preserved in the church andalso the tongue of St Anthony in Italy. Mr Mendes is givingaway DVDs on the life of St Francis Xavier to the first 20Goans who can identify the above places.

Meet at Carmel College, NuvemPANJIM (HND): Carmel College of Arts, Science and Com-

merce for Women, Nuvem, has asked all parents of BA, B.Scand B.Com (Semester I, III and V) students to make it convenientto attend a Parent-Teacher Meeting at the College premiseson December 7 at 3.30 pm. Results of Semester I and SemesterIII Examinations of October of B.A, B.Sc and B.Com will bedeclared at the meeting, says a press release.

Exhibition of Christmas sweetsPANJIM (HND): The Goa Chamber of Commerce- Womens

Wing- will organise an exhibition of Christmas sweets preparedby women entrepreneurs on December 7 and 8 at the Cham-bers Surendrababu Timblo Hall from 10 am to 6 pm. This willbe a good opportunity for women who preparer Christmassweets for selling and also for the general public to samplesweets of various vendors and place their orders. Thoseinterested in exhibiting their products may call GCCI on ph2424252.

Legal Literacy CampPANJIM (HND): Micro Legal Literacy Camp will be organised

on December 5 by Bardez Taluka Legal Services Committeein association with VM Salgaocar College of Law, at Penha deFranca Village Panchayat Hall, at 4 pm aimed at spreadingawareness about the legal rights. Advocate PP Banaulikar willpreside and will speak on the subjects NDPS Act, Motor Ac-cident and Free Legal Aid. Citizens of Bardez are allowed toattend this camp.

Western classical music concertPANJIM (HND): Kala Academy, will present a concert of

Western Classical Music, featuring Joanne Marie DMello (So-prano) and Kumi Matsuo (Piano) on, December 11 at at Di-nanath Mangeshkar, Kala Mandir, Kala Academy, Campal,Panjim at 6.30pm.

Seminar at ZuarinagarPANJIM (HND): The Department of Commerce of MES College

of Arts and Commerce, Zuarinagar will organise a two-day na-tional seminar on proposed changes in Indirect Taxes withspecial reference to Goods and Service Tax in association withthe Goa branch of WIRC of Institute of Chartered Accountantof India on December 17 and 18 at BITS Pilani, Goa campus,Zuarinagar. Distinguished academicians, professionals(CA/CS/ICWA/CFA/Advocates) researchers, consultants from busi-ness industry Government and students from across the countryare expected to participate. Those interested in participatingshould note that the last date for paper submission has beenextended to December 10. For details contact Prof SanchilianaFaria on ph 2555772 or e mail condeptsem2010@gmail.com.

Disability awareness campaign

Children participating in one of the events organised.PANJIM(HND): Badthe Kadam II, a nationwide disability

awareness campaign was launched by the National Trust forthe Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Re-tardation and Multiple Disabilities from November 16 to 30 incollaboration with ONGC. In Goa, the campaign was coordinatedby Sangath, the State Nodal Agency Centre under the NationalTrust, with support from Disability Rights Association of Goaand many NGOs from the disability sector.

Events were held in Panjim, Canacona, Vasco, Pernem, Bi-cholim and Margao from November 22 to 27. The campaignwas well appreciated by the audiences and many expressed aneed for more such programmes to bring the persons withdisabilities in the mainstream.

IMB celebrates anniversary

Art and Culture Secretary T M Balakrishnan, releases the bookLuis de Menezes Braganza at a function organised by IMB,Panjim, on the occasion of 139th anniversary of the Institute.Also present are Director of Education Dr Celsa Pinto, Mohan-das Surlakar, Dr Edward de Lima and Ashok Parab.

PANJIM (HND): Institute Menezes Braganza (IMB), Panjim,celebrated its 139th anniversary recently by organising aspecial function in which Luis de Menezes Braganza, A GoanThinker and Visionary written by Dr Edward de Lima for IMBwas released by Secretary of Art and Culture T M Balakrishnan.

Director of Education Dr Celsa Pinto presided over the func-tion and spoke on Luis Menezes Braganza and author DrEdward De Lima spoke about the book.

IMB vice-chairman Mohandas Surlakar welcomed while IMBmember secretary Ashok Parab proposed the vote of thanks.Saish Deshpande compered the programme.

HERALD NEWS BUREAU

PANJIM, DEC 2

As part of its fourth centenarycelebrations, the PatriarchalSeminary of Rachol will organizean international conference onCatholicism in the world of Sci-ence from December 17 to 20.

The conference, which isbeing organised in collaborationwith Pontifical Council for Cul-ture, Vatican, Rome, Division ofHumanities at St John University,New York and the Indian Insti-tute of Science and Religion,Pune, will focus on wide rangingissues regarding the osmosisbetween Science and Christian-ity.

Archbishop Patriarch, hisGrace Filipe Neri Ferrao willsolemnly inaugurate the seminarand deliver the inaugural ad-dress. Dr Job Kozhamthadam,director of Indian Institute ofScience and Religion and pres-ident of the Jnana-deeepaVidyapeeth will give the keynote address and the messageof Archbishop Ravazi, the sec-retary of the Pontifical Councilfor culture will be read in theinaugural session.

The delegates will be ad-dressed by several speakers ofboth national and internationalrepute who have expertise intheir respective fields of re-search.

The dialogue of contempo-rary cosmology with catholictheology of creation would be

addressed by Dr Victor Ferraoof the Patriarchal Seminary ofRachol.

The debate on Darwinism andCatholic anthropology will betaken by Dr Craig Baron of StJohns University New York,while the debate on Creation,Evolution and Intelligent Designwill be taken up by Dr Tomasz

of the Pontifical Council, Vatican,Rome.

The Debate around the Neu-roscience and the Human Soulwill be tackled by Dr AugustinePamplany from Little FlowerSeminary, Alwaye, Kerala. TheGalileo episode will be dealt bythe Galileo expert Dr MathewChandrankunnel of the Dhar-maram Vidya Kshetra, Banga-loru. The fate of the universeand humanity will be discussedfrom the point of view of scienceand theology by Dr Kuruvillafrom Jnana-deepa Vidyapeeth.

Along with the above issuesof faith, the conference will takeup some vital issues of morals.Speakers include Dr May A Web-ber from St John University NewYork, (morality of cloning andstem cell research) and Dr SaritaNazareth of Goa University (Ge-netic Engineering).

Dr Asrid Lobo from Tata Me-morial Hospital will take up

moral issues emerging fromtissues banking, oncology andhuman fert i l i ty, whi le DrBazilio Monteiro from St JohnsUniversity, New York, will takeup the debate on the meta-physics of the models of de-velopment.

Dr Keith Desouza will studyhow hermeneutics is the meet-ing ground between science andcatholic faith, while Dr TheodoreMascarenhas sfx, from the Pon-tifical Council, Vatican, will takeup the teachings of the Churchon Science and technology.

Dr Chae Young Kim from So-gang University Korea will takeup the prospects of theologicalappropriation of the findings ofscience while Dr GennaroAuletta, of the Gregorian Uni-versity, Rome will takes the the-ological appropriat ion ofquantum physics. Dr AllanTavares , s fx , wi l l take upacoustics of sacred space.

The conference is open to allCatholics who are practicing sci-ence and those interested in sci-ence and faith dialogue.

Important issues like the IT,nanotechnology synthetic biol-ogy etc, will be addressedthrough group discussions. Fur-ther details of the conferenceare available with Dr Victor Fer-rao on Ph 9822185826, email:victorferrao@yahoo.co.uk orthe semina r y o f f i ce ( Ph :2776052 , 2776325 , and2776321).

International conference on science, religion

rachoLseMinary

POWER SHUTDOWNDEC 4

BICHOLIM : From 8.30 am to 12 pm. Areas affected are Arkar,Sonarpeth, Deendayal building, Hirabai memorial hall and sur-rounding areas.

DEC 5

MAPUSA: From 9 am to 3 pm. Areas affected are Mapusa Resi-dency, Carvalho Petrol Pump, Braganza House, KTC Bus stand,Mapusa market, Sub-yard and surrounding areas.

DEC 6

DULER: From 9 am to 3 pm. Areas affected are PrudentialParadise, Sports complex Peddem, Sattadar Arcade, Kamat galaxyand surrounding areas.

Shri Dattaray Ghanekar, State Teacher Awardee- 2010 of Peoples High School, Panjim, being felicitatedby Home Minister Ravi Naik at a function organised by the Secondary School Teachers CooperativeCredit Society Ltd recently in Ponda. Also present is science teacher of Mahanandu HS, Pradip Dhulap-kar.

One convicted for rash drivingHERALD CORRESPONDENT

SANGUEM, DEC 2

Sanguem Judicial MagistrateFirst Class Arti Kumari Naik onThursday convicted one JanoZore for rash and negligent driv-ing and for causing injuries tothree persons.

In the instant case that oc-curred on March 18, 2008, ac-cused Zore drove tipper (GA-09T-5339) in a rash and negligentmanner while proceeding fromCodli Tisk to Darbandora andon reaching at Dhoukond-Dar-bandora, rammed the truckagainst an oncoming Maruti Zencar, which was proceeding fromDarbandora to Codli Tisk.

Car driver Deepak Shivraj andother occupants , San jayChodankar and Kiran B Kossambi,were injured in the accident. Allthe three injured persons wereshifted to Government PrimaryHealth Centre Cacora, fromwhere they were shifted to GMCHospital in Bambolim.

The prosecution examined asmany as eight witnesses to provethe guilt of the accused includingInvestigating Officer Akbar Khan.

JMFC after going through theevidence led by the prosecutionand arguments advanced by APPGovind Gaonkar convicted the ac-cused and sentenced him to payfine of Rs 1,000 for offence underSection 279 and another Rs 500for offence under Section 337.

In the event of default in pay-ment of the fine amount, theaccused shall undergo simpleimprisonment for four monthsunder Section 279 and onemonth under Section 337.

Bicholim school students excel

Students along with Headmaster Suresh Ghatwal. Photo by Vishant Vaze

MAYEM(HC): Students of Shree Shantadurga High School,Bicholim, excelled in the singing, harmonium and drawingcompetitions organised by Department of Art and Culture.

In the harmonium competition, Girish Vishant Vaze baggedthe first place in Bicholim taluka in junior group, while insenior group, Sanpada Navathe stood first.

In the singing competition (classical), Sweety RamnathSawant bagged the first prize in senior group.

Other prize winners are Tabla (solo) - Atmesh RamnathSawant (second), Bharat Natyam - Janhavi Pradeep Sawant(first junior group) in Bicholim taluka.

In Bhakti Geet singing, Sanpada Pradeep Bhide stood second,while in senior group, Shivangi D Shetye stood first.

All the students were guided by music teachers Anand Naik,Manohar Jadhav and Manohar Kalsekar.

Headmaster Suresh Ghatwal and Ganesh Joshi felicitatedthe winners. All the students are selected for State level com-petition to be held in the second week of December.

Diabetes detection camp held

One of the patients being examined for Diabetes.

PANJIM (HND): Lions Club of Mala Fontainhas, Panjim,recently organised District level free Diabetes detection andawareness camp at Peoples HS, Mala, Panjim, on World Dia-betes Day. Joaquim Alvares of Biocon Ltd, Diabetology Division,Bangalore, tested blood sugar with glucometer strip for 100diabetes patients from various parts the state, seven of themwere detected with diabetes. Doctor also gave insulin injectionto the patients and Ln Rajendraprasad S Patel distributed freemedicines to the diabetes patients, sponsored by ChanduPharmacy, Panjim.

Dr Laxman S Parab, Dr Usha L Parab, Dr Suresh V Kamat, DrR H Curchorcar and Dr Vinay M Surlekar were also present atthe camp to give guidance to patients. The vote of thankswas given by Club president, Barnabe Dias Sapeco.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, DEC 2

On the occasion of the novenain preparation for the feast ofSt Francis Xavier, the Committeefor the Apostolate of inter-reli-gious dialogue in the Archdio-cese o f Goa and Damanorganised its annual inter-reli-gious meeting at Old Goa, ad-jacent to the Basilica of BomJesus recently.

The theme chosen for thedays reflections was: Union withGod, Values in Life (Deva San-gatan,Totvam Jivitant). The mainaim of this event was to fosterpeace and harmony among thepeople of different faiths.

The meeting began with thesinging of hymns and bhajansby the choir from Mater Dei ledby Fr Ivon Almeida and Fr MarioDCosta. A prayer dance chore-ographed by Sr Elsy and per-formed by the novices of HolyFamily Noviciate, Old Goa, in-voked praises to the Almighty.Fr Agnelo Pinheiro, Convenorof the Committee for the Apos-tolate of Inter-Religious Dia-logue, extended a cordialwelcome to all.

Speaking on behalf of theHindu community, PurohitSandeep Tengse highlighted thecore of Indian traditional beliefin the religion of universal loveand pointed out the primacyof the values of friendship,mercy, contentment and de-tachment for the human wellbeing.

Iqbal Mohidin, representingthe Islamic community, statedthat the meeting as a befittingtribute to St Francis Xavier who

rendered service to all, and ex-horted everyone present to liveout the values of love, peaceand justice which are very es-sential for harmonious living.

Dr Wanda Araujo, who rep-resented the Catholics, empha-sized that harmony is achievedwhen we have sincere respectfor human life and for nature.Quoting Gandhiji she calledupon everyone present to bethe change that one would liketo see.

Fr Tony Lopes, the SuperiorGeneral of the Pilar Society, inhis message focused on the one-ness of God who is omnipotent,and the vitality of all creation.He stressed that peace and har-mony would become a vibrantreality when humans sincerelylive out the values of love, innerpeace, truthfulness and respon-sive action.

An insightful skit entitled, re-ligion is not a boundary but abridge staged by the Sistersfrom Mater Dei Convent, OldGoa, challenged everyone to beinstruments of building bridgesof love, concern and peace inthe society. Caroline Cardozoled the congrega t ion tosolemnly pledge to uphold theshared values of all religions andstrive towards building a peace-ful society.

The meeting was attended bypeople of different faiths fromall over the state as well as bythe students from different ed-ucational institutions.

The programme was com-pered by Fr Milagres Dias, whileFr Caetano Fernandes proposedthe vote-of-thanks.

Inter-religious meetingheld at Old Goa

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, DEC 2

As part of the Golden JubileeCelebrations of the Liberationof Goa from the Portuguese Ruleon December 19, the State Gov-ernment has instituted a special50th Goa Liberation AnniversaryMedal to be awarded those se-lected from all ranks of the GoaPolice Force, Fire Services andHome Guards, for exemplarycourage and conspicuous gal-

lantry in discharge of duties, ex-ceptional devotion to duty, out-standing overall performanceand distinguished record in serv-ice.

All personnel of above men-tioned organisations who haveserved for at least 20 years willbe eligible for consideration ofMedal. The proposals will befirst scrutinized by a screeningcommittee headed by Chief Sec-retary Sanjay Srivastava.

The Committee will recom-mend names to the Governmentalong with the citations to en-able it to make the announce-ment on or before December19. The Medal will be awardedto all those having no vigilancecase pending or contemplatedagainst them; and the proposalwill have to be supported withintegrity certificate in respectof each candidate recommendedby the Screening Committee.

Medal for outstanding services on Liberation Day

Nelly for Belgiumand France

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, DEC 2

President of Goa PanchayatMahila Shakti Abhiyan, Nelly Ro-drigues, will represent India atthe International conference tobe held on January 25, 2011 atBrussels in Belgium and Paris inFrance where she will share herexperiences on work done inPanchayat Mahila Shakti Abhiyanfor empowerment of women.

She was selected based on herpowerpoint presentation andsharing her experiences in localgovernment at Asian Region Con-ference organised by the Euro-pean Union, New Delhi on LocalSelf Governance and its effec-tiveness in bringing social andeconomic change in Rural India.

The conference was inaugu-rated by a lady MP from Ger-many, Ms Franzier Keller, in thepresence of Secretary Ministryof Panchayati Raj, Dr H Panda,Director of European Union,Aristotele, and Ambassor of Bel-gium Jean Peatte.

GOA, FRIDAY,3 DECEMBER, 2010OHE

RALD

O Pg 5

DELHI BUREAUNEW DELHI, DEC 2

The Centre will fund Goa forsetting up four coastal policestations and have two new jet-ties as part of the second phaseof the coastal security schemeto be launched from April 1.

Four 12-tonne vessels, four4-wheelers and eight motor cy-cles are also sanctioned to Goaunder the scheme, Minister ofState for Home Mullappally Ra-machandran disclosed in a writ-ten answer to Shiv Sena's DrBharatkumar Raut in the RajyaSabha on Wednesday.

Each coastal police stationwill also get a lump sum assis-tance of Rs 15 lakhs for equip-ping with surveillance andcomputer systems and furniture,the minister said.

The Rs 1579-crore scheme tobe kicked off from April 1 en-visages strengthening of thecoastal security in nine coastalstates and four union territoriesover the next five years.

A total of 131 coastal policestations are to be set up underthe scheme, the highest 30 inTamil Nadu, 20 in A&N

Islands, 15 in Andhra Pradesh,13 in Orissa, 12 in Gujarat, 8 in

West Bengal and 7 in Maharash-tra.

Gujarat tops with 31 12-tonnevessels to be bought for theocean surveillance, followed by30 in Andhra Pradesh, 26 inOrissa, 20 each in Kerala andTamil Nadu and 14 in Maharash-tra. A total of 180 such vesselsare sought to be commissionedto secure the coastal borders.

The scheme also involves set-ting up of 60 jetties, includinghighest 12 in Tamil Nadu and10 in A&N Islands, and purchaseof 131 4-wheelers and 242 mo-torcycles.

Goa gets 4 coastal police stations

nThe Rs 1579-crorescheme to bekicked off fromApril 1 envisagesstrengthening ofthe coastalsecurity in ninecoastal statesand four unionterritories overthe next fiveyears.

HERALD CORRESPONDENTPORVORIM, DEC 2

Adv Dilesh Asnodkar has statedthat wives have got equal rightin the property of their hus-bands.

He was speaking at Britonaat Micro-Legal Literacy camp or-ganised by Taluka Services Com-mittee, Bardez, and DistrictLegal Services Authority, NorthGoa, in association with Sal-gaonkar College of Law and Brit-tona Legal Aid Cell in thepremises of Dhadeshwar Tem-ple, Brittona.

If the husband buys a plotof land or a flat in his name, hecannot sell it without the con-sent of his wife, said AdvAsnodkar.

Asnodkar further said daugh-ters have also got equal rightin the ancestral properties oftheir parents.

After the death of the par-ents, the property passes on totheir children. The children caninherit the right to propertythrough Inventory Proceedings

or Succession Deeds. InventoryProceedings are required to befiled in the court giving detailsof the property, while Succes-sion Deed has to be registeredbefore the Sub-Registrar of thedistrict, he said.

If the daughter relinquishesher right to property throughrelinquishing deed, she cannotclaim her right to the propertylater, said Adv Asnodkar.

Adv Asnodkar further in-formed that under Section 125of Criminal Procedure Code, thewife has got the right to claimmaintenance from her husbandif divorce takes place.

Further, under Section 127of the Criminal Procedure, thewoman is entitled to demandenhancement in the mainte-nance in case earning of thehusband increases in courseof time, added Adv Asnod-kar.

A Mundkar can claim about300-500 sq mtrs of land aroundhis house under the MundkarAct. However, married daughters

have no right in Mundkars prop-erty, said Adv Asnodkar.

Adv P P Benaulikar said anyperson whose yearly income isless than Rs 50,000, widows,physically challenged persons,etc, can avail the benefit of theLegal Aid.

Legal Aid can be availed tofile case or defend them in thecourt of law. Advocates are pro-v ided by the governmentthrough Legal Aid Cells free ofcost, added Adv Benaulikar.

Earlier, members of BrittonaLegal Aid Cell presented a skitdepicting how legal aid cell playeffective role in providing serv-ice to the weaker sections ofthe society.

In the skit, Digveta Naik,Shakuntala Zalmi, Jason Fernan-des, Tina Bhonsale, Swati Naik,Crispino Marcelo and Pushpun-der Kaur participated.

Chaitanya Padgaonkar andDigveta Naik compered the pro-gramme, while ShakuntalaZalmi proposed the vote ofthanks.

Wife has equal right in husbands property

Britona Legal Aid Cell presents a skit. Photo by Anil Shankhwalker

HERALD NEWS BUREAUPANJIM, DEC 2

Churches and educational andother church institutions will ob-serve International Day of Personswith Disabilities on December 3.

In a press note, Caritas Goahas asked all the parish priests,chaplains and heads of all edu-cational and church institutionsto organise meetings, discus-sions focusing on finding inno-vative ways and means by whichpersons with disabilities andtheir families can be integratedinto the mainstream of Society.

World Aids Day celebrated onDecember 1 every year and WorldAids Sunday on December 5, arededicated to elevate the aware-ness of AIDS pandemic sourcesin spreading of HIV infectivity.

It has become the most crit-ical epidemic in the recordedhistory. The statistics issued re-cently by UNAIDS in its 2010Global Report show that at theend of 2009, there were an es-timated 33.3 million people liv-ing with HIV, 2.6 million werenewly infected and 1.8 milliondied from AIDS-related causes.

These figures are slight de-

creases from those of 2009, withthe figures for new infections anddeaths nearly 20% lower than esti-mates in 1999. However, the reportstill highlights that infections areoutpacing treatment by 2 to 1, and10 million people are still waitingfor treatment, states the press note.

The annual observance ofthe International Day of Personswith Disabilities on December3 established by the Interna-tional Year for Disabled Personsin 1981 aims to promote a betterunderstanding of disability issueswith a focus on the rights of per-sons with disabilities and gainsto be derived from the integra-tion of persons with disabilitiesin every aspect of the political,social, economic and cultural lifeof their communities.

To mainstream disability inthe Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs) towards 2015 andbeyond ensure that there is fullparticipation in support of peo-ple with disabilities to obtaintheir rights from all stakeholders- the government and all relevantagencies, organizations of andfor persons with disabilities andsociety, added the press note.

Church to observeInternational Day of

Disabled Persons

HERALD CORRESPONDENTSANGUEM, DEC 2

South Goa Zilla Panchayat Chair-person Maria Rebello inaugu-rated six months course intai lor ing for unemployedwomen from Sancorda andother neighbouring areas onThursday.

The classes will be held underthe guidance of Sanvordem ZPmember Rashmi Lambor andare sponsored by the Govern-ment Polytechnic Curchoremunder its community develop-ment wing through polytech-nics.

Speaking at the inauguralfunction, Rebello complimentedZP member Lambor for playinga major role in the developmentof remote wards under her con-

stituency. Since getting elected,Lambor has conducted severalactivities in the area for the ben-efit of the rural masses.

Rebello urged the womenfrom the village to take max-imum benefit from the sixmonths long tailoring course,which could help the ruralwomen get self employment.

Lambor thanked the commu-nity development wing of Gov-ernment Polytechnic Curchoremfor adhering to her request toconduct tailoring classes in thevillage.

The camp is attended by 40candidates with classes beingconducted in two batches perday. Community DevelopmentOfficer of Government Polytech-nic Curchorem Gangaram Lam-

Tailoring course for Sancorda women opened

South Goa Zilla Panchayat Chairperson Maria Rebello speaks at the inaugural function of six-month tai-loring classes. Photo by Alfred Fernandes

Divar aged home postpones lottery drawHERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, DEC 2

Lottery draw to collect funds for the proposed extension of the building of Society of the PoorSisters of Our Lady Lar Santa Maragida, Home for the Aged at Divar to be held on December 3 hasbeen postponed to January 26, due to unavoidable circumstances. Sister Superior Monica Rodriguesand Sr Helen Fernandes have expressed their apologies for this delay.

Lar Santa Maragida, Home for the Aged established in 1986 on the 623 sq mt heritage home onthe island of Divar has presently 30 residents. As the Home is feeling the pressure to expand withthe increasing demand from the aged for health care, recreation, outdoor activities and psycho-spiritual needs, the Society intends to build a new home within the precincts, consisting of threelevels with a total floor area of 2,455.30 sq mts. The proposed new home will have 40 rooms andall support facilities.

The Society also runs another home for the aged at Uccassaim St Josephs Eventide Home. Theother activities of the Society are home for the street girls, medical care, education, boarding forvillage girls and empowerment of women and children.

Society has invited donations for its philanthropic activities. Interested donors may call on2280465/9822136860/9881541562.

HERALD REPORTERVASCO, DEC 2

Mormugao Municipal Council(MMC) on Thursday threatenedto take against action againstHindustan Petroleum Corpora-tion Ltd (HPCL) if the oil com-pany failed to renew the leaseagreement.

According to sources, the HPCLtanks, which stand tall on munic-ipal land at oil depot in the heartof Vasco city, owes nearly Rs 2.20crore as outstanding amount to-wards lease rent to MMC.

MMC Chief Officer GopalParsekar along with the officerof the taxation department onThursday briefed newly electedMMC Chairperson Suchita Shi-rodkar about non-renewal oflease agreement and dues anddecided to take stringent actionagainst the oil company.

The two major oil compa-nies, Indian Oil is been set upon municipal land admeasuring8,039 sq mtrs and HPCL on9,070 sq mtrs, with the leaseagreement, but both the com-panies were reluctant to renewlease agreement after lease rateswere revised in 1997. However,Indian Oil has renewed its leaseagreement, but HPCL is yet torenew it, said Parsekar.

The HPCL has failed to renewthe lease agreement since 1997,after old lease rate was revisedand fixed at Rs 25 per sq mtrs

per month, which was supposedto be increased after every threeyears, informed Parsekar.

But, the oil company failedto pay heed to the notices sentby MMC to pay the revised ratesand till date are paying the MMCat the rate of Rs 20, informedParsekar.

HPCL paid the petty sum,but has failed to renew the leaseagreement, said Parsekar.

Interestingly, the council hasnever inspected both the oilcompanies sites and the com-panies without taking MMC intoconsideration has constructednew offices and MMC is a mutespectator, said Parsekar.

Officers in taxation depart-ment have been constantly writ-ing to HPCL to renew the leaseagreement, but the correspon-dence have merely remained infiles, as the oil company did notrenew the lease agreement.

If officers from taxation de-partment are to be believed,MMC will not hesitate to sealthe premises of HPCL.

MMC has also stated that ac-tion would be initiated againstthe oil company under the pro-vision of Goa Public PremisesEviction Act, if the companyfailed to respond within 15 days.

The audit report of the coun-cil has also made some strongremark stating that the councilshould initiate some stringentaction to recover its outstandingdues and should further processfor eviction of unauthorized oc-cupation of municipal land.

When contacted, HPCL Offi-cer Parash Barjatya said the com-pany has pa id some dueamounts towards the lease rentto the council. I will check therecords for exact figure and in-form the media on Monday, headded.

Mormugao council threatensaction against HPCL

nThe two major oil companies, Indian Oil isbeen set up on municipal landadmeasuring 8,039 sq mtrs and HPCL on9,070 sq mtrs, with the lease agreement,but both the companies were reluctant torenew lease agreement after lease rateswere revised in 1997. However, Indian Oilhas renewed its lease agreement, but HPCLis yet to renew it.

HERALD NEWS DESKPANJIM, DEC 2

Motorcycle taxi pilots at park-ing stand Nuvem, have allegedthat private motorcycle ownersare also parking their vehiclesand ferrying customers therebyencroaching on their business.

This parking was solely allo-cated to the black and yellowmotorcycles by a notification is-sued by the office of DistrictMagistrate South Goa, on Sep-tember 26, 1986. According tothe motorcycle pilots they havecomplained no less than ninetimes to the Regional TransportOrganization (RTO), and alsobrought it to the notice of PoliceInspector of Maina-curtorim po-lice station, yet the problem hasbeen persisting for several years.

Recently also the authorizedmotorcycle pilots had filed acomplaint with Assistant Direc-tor of Transport, RTO, Arlem,and enclosed a list of privatemotorcycle owners who are op-erating as motorcycle taxis with-out any permission from Margao

RTO. The pilots have alleged it is

not only causing them monetaryloss but also become a majorsource of discord and fightingat the motorcycle taxi stand.

The pilots stated that theyhave not only availed of loansto buy their motorcycles, buthave also been burdened withthe increased fees for licenseand RTO passing.

The pilots also alleged thatexcept for a random check,which more appeared as aneye-wash, the police and theRTO have failed to stop theunauthorized motorcycles,which have been thriving rightunder the nose of traffic author-ities which are stationed at theNuvem junction. They alsocharged that several govern-ment officials have been also in-volved in the business over theyears.

In a letter made to the RTO,they have once again expressedhope that the issue would besolved on a priority basis.

Pilots at Nuvem claimharassment by private

motorcycle owners

HERALD REPORTERMARGAO, DEC 2

Accusing some elements for cir-culating reports that he haswithdrawn from the fray, Dr Hu-bert Gomes on Thursday has as-serted that he would under nocircumstances back out fromcontesting the next Assemblypolls from Benaulim.

Saying that he is determinedto contest the polls from Be-naulim constituency, Dr Gomeshas distanced away from politi-cians and political parties, say-ing that he is not affiliated toany politician or party as oftoday.

Briefing newsmen, Dr Gomessaid he would constitute a com-mittee of respected and uprightcit izens of Benaulim con-stituency, which will look intoall questions of his decision tocontest the polls and underwhich party banner.

Replying to a question, hesaid that he has come out witha three-point agenda to providebasic healthcare to the citizens,youth empowerment and tosafeguard the environment. Ihave already set in motion theprocess to achieve these objec-tives. Health camps have been

organized in recent and I havebig plans on the healthcarefront, he said.

In this connection, he dis-closed plans to launch a footballacademy and garbage andmalaria-free Benaulim 2013 onDecember 4.

Football is a paying profes-sion now. Footballers from othercountries play for the clubs andearn handsome salaries. Our vi-sion at the Benaulim CommunityCentre is to train youngsters sothat the youth from Benaulim

constituency represents thecountry within the next 10years, he added.

He stated that the BenaulimCommunity Centre would launcha war against garbage and malaria.If any leader has no priority totackle the garbage problem, heis not fit to be a leader, he said,and disclosed plans to make Be-naulim a model village in Goa.

I dont aspire to be a leader,but only has plans to serve thepeop le o f Benau l im con -stituency, he added.

Dr Hubert Gomes firm on contesting from Benaulim

Matias returns back caste

certificate, butseeks explanation

HERALD REPORTERMARGAO, DEC 2

The controversial OBC caste cer-tificate issued by the DeputyCollector, Margao Johnson Fer-nandes to a resident of Madel,Matias A J Pereira has been re-turned back to the deputy Col-lectors office.

But, Pereira has demandedto know from the deputy Col-lector as to how and why hehad signed the caste certificateon October 5 after issuing apress statement that his appli-cation has been rejected by theoffice.

Terming as false, misguidingand defamatory and not in keep-ing with the dignity of the officethe deputy collectors statementthat he had obtained the OBCcaste certificate by misguidingthe office, Pereira said he hadmade the application for thecaste certificate by followingthe due process of law and rub-bished the deputy Collectorsremarks that he had employedsurreptitious methods.

Normally, a show cause no-tice is issued to such personswho have done somethingwrong. However, in the presentcase, you have issued the showcause notice to me when I havenot violated any law. Therefore,the show cause notice is un-warranted and ought to bewithdrawn immediately ,Pereira stated in his reply tothe deputy Collectors showcause notice.

Saying that he is returningthe original caste certificatesince it is of no use to him,Pereira has threatened to ap-proach higher authorities if thedeputy Collector fails to clearthe blot caused to his charac-ter.

bor also attended the inauguralfunction.

Akash Kandilcontest atBicholimMAYEM, DEC 2(HC)

Vodli Art, Sports and CulturalAssociation Bicholim will organ-ize the 6th all Goa Akash Kandilcontest at Vodli-Bicholim on De-cember 4 at 6 pm. A fancy dressand cine dance contests will alsobe organized on the occasion.

Winners of Akash Kandil con-test will be awarded cash prizesof Rs 2,000, Rs 1,500 and Rs1,000, besides five consolationprizes. Fancy dress and cine dancewill be held in two categories.

Samuel Johnson once said: Politics is thelast refuge of the scoundrels, This quotecould be relevant during the days of yore.

However, in contemporary sense, the quote hasbeen manipulated into a new maxim which goes:Politics is the subterfuge of rogues, when bla-tantly caught, have the gumption to deny abouttheir involvement. Whatever they did is ab-solutely correct and justified as is the case ofYediyurappa who claims: Why should I resignwhen I have done no wrong. It could be the cri-teria towards prosecution embracing all in thepolitical spectrum as no one should be abovethe Law.

There is a semblance of proper authority inIndia who can assume that onus to take politicosto task, and when at task they should be madeanswerable and accorded due punishment. Al-though, in the present scenario, the time for itsexecution is floundering and the felons remainsfree to indulge in further nefariousness. And ifwe think that we have done away with chicanery,it is elementary with the episode of Adarsh Societywhere the Congress Government is trying to saveits face from the slumps of ineptitude and inequity.The apartments meant for Kargil war widows ex-panded to include politicians kin, bureaucrats,and armys top brass, (except the beneficiaries)who blatantly availed of government largesse atsome unquestionable price. Or for that matter,read the scam over 2G spectrum where it is pre-sumed that A Raja embezzled the exchequer tothe tune of Rs1,76,645 crore. If the Congress isembroiled in that sleazy quagmire, let us analysehow the khaki is crumpling and saffron is fading,with old mindsets and diluted pragmatism, al-though Nitish Kumar with good governanceagenda romped home with an overwhelming ma-jority.

It is blatant that when the BJP starts raisingthe corruption issue, it is evident that there isdiscontent amongst its own cadres as the Partywhich once claimed to be different from the oth-ers, is quite indifferent to the endemic wrangling.The case in point is with regard to the ReddyBrothers who are doing the unwarranted, withquantum of money power which is being splurgedwith no qualms nor probity as they hold the Kar-nataka Government to ransom. Gadkari, the in-

cumbent BJP President, with the allotment of anapartment to one of his kin can be termed asbeing associated in the cesspool of corruption,and there are still more cankerous skeletons tum-bling down from the cupboards of ignominy.

After going through all the putridity, which isengulfing the Aam Aadmi, most of the Indiansstill raise their voice exultantly, as if they are theunconquerable. One must not forget the damagethey have caused to the tapestry of Indian com-munal fabric like the burning of 18,000 preciousbooks and 30,000 manuscripts by the adherentsof Shiv Sena, from the hallowed halls of Bhan-darkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune justbecause the American James W Laine penned abook, Shivaji: the Hindu King in Islamic India.The age of comprehension and understanding isfar fading from the fertile mind of humankindwith the banning of book Such a long journeyby Rohinton Misty which was a part of the BombayUniversity Syllabus.

I iterate that Indians are vibrantly thumpingtheir chests in a hollow display of bravado, notforgetting the miserable rout which they sufferedin 1962 at the hands of the Chinese army in theIndo-China war where the commanding officerBrigadier Mohan Kaul ran helter-skelter in theface of the Chinese onslaught. Where were theIndians who are, till date, raising rhetoric and

hiding behind the frocks of their women? Onemay say that most of the Indians are good tohave overall skirmishes with Pakistan or to cheatand usurp money from the plebes, which has be-come redundant, and when the actual belligerencetakes place, they are conspicuously absent fromthe actual arena of war not forgetting that actualheroes are conveniently forgotten.

Indians are very good in orchestrating unduestorm, forgetting that the common man is chokingwith venalities, but in Goa, some had the gall toobtain mileage in petty trivia like raising blackflags upon the arrival of Portuguese Naval ShipNRP Sagres with fewer right wing activists, whofomented trouble only to justify their emolumentsfrom government of Goa, with no inkling of Goaspast. They have been telling the Goan Catholicsto go back to Portugal, never even contemplatingthat Goa belongs to Goans only and not to out-siders, who form the bulk of so called freedomfighters, for which I can proudly state: Go backto your own land, it is our fundamental right tolive freely in this land of ours bequeathed by ourforefathers. It is not enough to purify waters; allthey have to do is purify their own self and soullest the wrath of the Almighty befall on them.

However, the Goa government accepts the free-dom fighters thanks to its vote bank policy withoutrealising that they are not fighters at all, but mere

opportunists, who were released from their im-prisonment, for reasons catalogued by the Por-tuguese authorities. This was unknown to mostand there was no RTI then. All that the invadingIndian army utter then during Operation Vijaywas Jai Hind. As an irritant, I would like to ques-tion the Goa government the following: Whatare their credentials and credibility? Which free-dom did they fight for as can be seen that Goawas conquered by annexation and not at all lib-erated? Where are their attested testimonialsrecognised by the Government of India statingthey fought for the freedom of Goa? How canthe Government pay their pensions in lieu of un-dertaking the essentials towards the welfare ofthe State? And last, but not least, which Goandid suffer at the hands of the imperialists? For, itis certain that Goans with the dearth of employ-ment ventured to far distant shores but it doesnot mean that the Portuguese were bad as por-trayed. It can be said that if the opportunisticfreedom fighters have any anger against the Por-tuguese, they should direct their venom againsttheir erstwhile rulers as Novas Conquistas weremanaged by the Portuguese only from 18th Cen-tury and it was not conquered, but gifted. I knowall about these exploiters as I was a child of thecircumstances for my father was attacked andtrussed with strong ropes by these terrorists justto rob his guns and money, so who benefitedfrom the freedom?

There is anathema fomented by these miscre-ants for anything that is Portuguese, so how comethey are allowing the government to light Por-tuguese edifices like a Christmas tree wheneverthere is an occasion? If the freedom fighters donot want anything which is Portuguese theyshould convey the same and let the Portugueseauthorities bring down the signboard which statesRua Mahatma Gandhi. What about the childrenof the so called freedom fighters what nationalityare they holding?

It is not enough to terrorise people, whichhappened in my case, and go on orchestratingthe elements of discord, it is the final outcomethat counts. Those who act like a deterrent shouldbe shunned from our midst as they are orches-trating a storm in a tea cup which is repulsiveand should be condemned by all.

Politician-journo connectNelson Lopes Chinchinim

The exposure of the recent Radia tapes hasfurther strengthened the doubt of readers.The corporate and the industrialist are verymuch concerned about the policies, thathave a direct bearing on their business em-pires. People have always believed thatopinions are directed, uncomfortable newsis killed, and that there is also paid news,through pliable journalists. Industrialists

are entering politics to further their causeand influence decisions by being close tothe centre of power. Some industrialistsown media houses to get around obstacles.

Readers know that certain politicianscultivate some journalists, as they con-stantly labour at image building and censorall resentment. They are often seen hover-ing over them like a satellite in close orbit.The Radia episode clearly demonstratesthat with all the sweet denials of innocence,the truth is out there. The shrewd corporatelobbyist did not pick up anyone to achieveher designs. It was a well thought of strat-egy. The faith of the readers is badly shaken.The integrity of the profession needs tobe reassured to win back the implicit trustof readers

Why this paraphernalia?BVS Priolkar, Margao

One has to regretfully say that at present,our country or for that matter, even statesare running as per courts directives. Takefor example the issue of court directingfiling of FIR against Geelani for offence ofsedition. The Home Minister, CM of Delhiand police authorities avoided any actionand passed on the buck to the other.

In Goa, the situation is no different. Inmost cases, controversy is created inten-tionally so that the issue is dragged in courtand remains on hold for years. Even theagencies like CBI etc., are not sincere intheir intentions.

When we have the Honourable court asa monitoring mechanism, why do we needthe paraphernalia of ministers to governus at such an exorbitant cost?

AIDS and usM C Afonso, Vasco

HIV is spread through unprotected sex,blood transfusion, injecting drugs (sharingsame needles) and child birth. The stigmathat is associated with a HIV positive patientis deadlier than the the disease itself. Theseunfortunate men and women are able todo everything in life and lead normal lives.One needs to understand such individuals.Life is precious, beautiful and short. So letus love, care, and be there for them. This

certainly will bring about a difference inpeoples lives.

Fundamental rightMarcos Alemao, via email

Qurbani is the fundamental right of Mus-lims. It is religious in nature. The NGOswho stopped the slaughter of bulls at Vascoon Bakri Id day, are selfish. There are somany other issues, affecting the commonman which can be fought for, instead ofmeddling with other religions.

Sea water purified?Joaquim Correia-Afonso, Benaulim

Does the sea need purification? The sea isendowed with the gift of self purification.

The pseudo freedom fighters are theones who need to be purified. This lot hasbeen objecting to presence of Portuguesenames given to streets. The public wouldlike to know as to whose names they areobjecting to.

But before that, why not clean up theirstables? There are so many so-called free-dom fighters who do not qualify to becalled so, as they did not fight for Goasfreedom. These pseudo freedom fightersgot the infamous name because of the com-pany they keep.

UK applicants visa woesChris Boomer, by email

Getting visas for our holiday in Goa has

become increasingly difficult every year.This year the authorities have stopped thepractice of filling the form by hand, it nowhas to be done on the internet, which noteveryone has access to. The photographsize has been increased