Policeman arrested for molesting woman in Mapusa in North Goa

A policeman was arrested for allegedly molesting a woman on the pretext of conducting an investigation at her residence in Mapusa town near here, police said today.

Constable Prashant Dawaskar, 30, was arrested yesterday after a woman lodged a complaint with Mapusa police that he, along with four other civilians, ransacked her flat and molested her, while trying to conduct a probe on a complaint against her husband, police said.

The woman and her six-year-old daughter were at home when the alleged offence took place, while her husband was out on his duty.

The woman mentioned in her complaint that Dawaskar entered her house on Sunday at around midnight without a woman police constable and body searched her, amounting to molestation.

Superintendent of Police (North) Vishram Borkar said the constable had been arrested and placed under suspension.

There was no formal complaint against the woman and the constable acted on his own, Borkar said.

The woman alleged that all the persons entered the house forcibly claiming that her husband owed them money.

SOURCE: DECCAN HERALD

Goa miners flay Assocham, call steel industry ‘inefficient’

Criticising Assocham’s stand on the issue of iron ore export duty , miners in Goa today said the levy should not be a tool for subsidising “inefficient” domestic steel industry. “Assocham should present a rational picture. Export duty should not get imposed for the purpose of subsidy to the inefficient steel industry,” Goa Mineral Ore Exporters’

Association (GMOEA) spokesperson P K Mukherjee told PTI. Repeating the demand for reduction in duty on iron ore exports, Mukherjee, who is also the Managing Director of Sesa Goa, said that the levy should remain only on the lumps — the highest grade of the mineral and rare in nature.

GMOEA is an industry body for most of miners from Goa. On Sunday, Assocham in a statement had said it has cautioned the government that any move to roll back export duty on iron ore, as is the demand of the mining industry, would adversely impact the steel industry.

It had also said that the government must stay vigilant and not repeat the saga of illegal mining caused by unrestrained iron ore exports and interests of the steel industry should receive government’s attention as they are facing the crisis of the mineral.

However, Mukherjee said there is no economic logic to continue with the export duty on fines and lower grades (having iron content below 52 percent). “What grade of iron ore you want to conserve needs to be understood. Duty on lower grades of the mineral makes their export uneconomical and they remain at the mines. Keeping them there is not conservation but destruction,” he said.

Currently, a duty of 30 percent is levied on both types of iron ore — lumps and fines. Few months back, the Mines Ministry and miner’s apex body FIMI had also sought reduction in export duty on iron ore from the Finance Ministry.

Meanwhile, Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) said during the April-November 2012, iron ore export from the country has plunged 62 percent to 15 million tonnes due to mining ban in some key producing states, curbs on shipments and higher duty and freight charges.

FIMI Secretary General R K Sharma has alleged that government had raised the export duty bowing down under pressure from the steel industry. According to Mukherjee, domestic steel manufacturers are taking a protective shield through export duty route to hide their inefficiencies and for not paying the market price as there is no dearth of iron ore in the country.

“If world steel producers can produce the most competitive steel even after importing at international prices, why Indian producers want an artificial subsidy through the protective environment of export duty.

“Why they not be buying (iron ore) at import parity price? Basically, you (steel industry) are trying to hide your own inefficiencies by asking for continuation of export duty,” he said, adding that he is “ready for an open debate” on it.

SOURCE MONEY CONTROL.COM

Goa IGP Sanjay Singh transferred for lending official car to foreign woman

PANAJI: The Union home ministry has issued the transfer order of Goa inspector general of police Sanjay Singh following a request from the state government to remove him from the post. The state government was upset with Singh’s behaviour and disregard for the post he was holding.

Sources said Singh had given his official car to a foreign woman national to drive it around and a photograph of her driving the car was posted on a social networking site. Traffic police had also stopped her driving the car. Chief minister Manohar Parrikar has asked the anti-corruption branch of the vigilance department to investigate the case.

“The state government has verbally received the communication from the Union home ministry of the transfer of the IGP. The letter is expected to reach within the next two days,” sources in the government said.

Parrikar was reportedly upset with the IGP for frequently attending parties and for suppressing the shooting incident at a club in Morjim on New Year’s Eve. The IGP was said to be present at the party at the time of the incident.

The sources said the chief minister had informed the Central government that if the MHA didn’t act on the request of the state government to transfer Singh out of Goa, the state government would relieve Singh from the post.

SOURCE:  TIMES OF INDIA

Manohar Parrikar alleges former Goa CM, cabinet minister involved in mining scam

Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Monday said that a former Congress chief minister and a cabinet minister were involved in illegal mining in the state and would soon be penalized .

“All Congress leaders from (former chief minister) Digambar (Kamat) to (former minister) Joaquim (Alemao) are involved in illegal mining and their names will come out soon,” Parrikar told reporters during his government’s reach-out campaign that started last week.

Parrikar added that those named in the illegal mining scam would be penalized soon.

The BJP, during its stint in the opposition had openly named several top Congress officials, claiming they were party to a Rs.25,000-crore illegal mining scam.

Parrikar also warned of tough action against those found involved in illegal mining in Goa.

“All the people will be taken to task if there is clear evidence against them. No one will be spared. But that doesn’t mean there would be arrests just like that. We will produce documentary evidence and chargesheet them, then let the courts decide,” Parrikar said.

Mining in Goa has been banned by the Supreme Court of India, which is hearing a public interest litigation on illegal mining in the state.

SOURCE: DECCAN HERALD