Goa CM Manohar Parrikar: Alemao supported fake degrees racket

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Wednesday accused former PWD minister Churchill Alemao of patronising a fake degree racket, recently busted by police, saying the illegalities eroded the sanctity of the department.

“Alemao, during his tenure as PWD minister, was directing various candidates to this academy (which operated the racket), giving fake certificates before recruiting them as engineers in PWD department”, Parrikar said in his reply to a question on affairs of PWD Department in Legislative Assembly. The crime branch recently exposed the racket after raiding a private academy in Margao.

According to police, the racketeers used to provide bogus educational certificates, purportedly of various recognised universities, including the Board of Secondary Education, Gwalior.

“The bogus certificates were bought from this academy by candidates who have now become engineers”, Parrikar said, adding that the illegalities committed by Alemao has eroded the sanctity of PWD department. Alemao, a senior Congress leader was PWD minister in Digambar Kamat-led government.

SOURCE: PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Goa Congress slams BJP for paying sacked miners

Panaji : The Goa Congress lashed out at the Manohar Parrikar-led government Tuesday for paying mining firm employees who had been sacked after the ban on mining in the state.

Leader of opposition in the state assembly Pratapsing Rane said that instead of doling out money, the government should ask the mining companies to re-hire the workers they have sacked.

“How long is the government going to give them money? These are employees of private organisations. Today it is the mining companies, tomorrow it will be some other private companies,” Rane told the assembly during a discussion on the motion of thanks to the Goa governor’s speech.

“We can take an assurance from the companies that they (employees) should be taken back at the same post they had,” Rane said.

Goa’s Governor B.V. Wanchoo in his speech Monday had announced that the state government was working out a financial package for people affected by the mining ban, through which each affected individual would receive about Rs.6,000 per month as dole until the mining impasse was resolved.

Four months ago, the Supreme Court enforced a mining ban in Goa after a judicial commission unearthed a Rs.35,000 crore illegal mining scam being carried out by an unscrupulous nexus comprising politicians, bureaucrats and mining companies.

SOURCE: IANS

 

Mining lobby attacks Goa Governor for ignoring their plight

Panaji: The mining lobby on Wednesday attacked Goa Governor Bharat Veer Wanchoo, calling him an “agent” of the Central government and accusing him of being callous to those affected by the ban on iron ore mining in Goa.

Lobbyists seeking revocation of the ban on iron ore mining in the state spoke to reporters after Wanchoo “snubbed” the pro-mining lobby protesters who have been camping near the Martyrs’ Memorial here for the last two weeks.

On Wednesday morning, the Governor and other leading political dignitaries, including Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, arrived at the memorial in the capital to pay their tributes to Goa’s freedom fighters. However, the Governor returned to Raj Bhavan without speaking to protesters at the site.

“He did not have the courtesy to address us. We have been protesting here for the last two weeks. The Governor is not concerned about the sufferings of the people of his state,” Communist Party of India (CPI) state general secretary Christopher Fonseca told reporters here.

Fonseca heads the Goa Mining Affected People’s Front, which is protesting the loss of jobs caused by the Supreme Court-imposed mining ban. Fonseca also said that the Goa government was not taking convincing steps to resolve the mining crisis in the state.

“It has been four months since the ban has been in place. The government has not given a single convincing argument to the Supreme Court to ensure that the ban is removed,” Fonseca said.

Fonseca’s comments come only a couple of days after the Governor, in his inaugural address to the Goa Legislative Assembly, said that the Manohar Parrikar-led state government was working to introduce a financial package for people living in the mining belt, who had lost employment due to the mining ban.

The package involves giving out monthly dole to the tune of Rs 6,000 per head to those who have lost their mining jobs. The dole, however, has been criticised by the Opposition, which has said that instead of dishing out money, the state government should crack down on mining companies to ensure that workers are not laid off without any pressing reason.

SOURCE: IANS

 

Mopa Airport: Process begins for green signal to proposed airport at Mopa in Goa

PANAJI: The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has started the process of giving clearance to the proposed greenfield airport at Mopa in Goa, the state Assembly was informed today.

“The matter was discussed at the meeting of the Environment Ministry on January 28. There are further studies which are still required and they would be taken now,” Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the Assembly.

Independent legislator Vijay Sardesai had raised the issue of environment clearance to the airport at Mopa, about 70 km from here.

The MLA, who heads the movement involving locals against the airport, claimed that various preconditions suggested by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had been ignored by the Goa government which appears in a hurry to go ahead with the project.

“ICAO had suggested that a comprehensive strategy should be put in place before going ahead with the project as another airport already exists in the state,” Sardesai said.

The Chief Minister, quoting an ICAO report published in 2007, said there was a need to have two airports in Goa as the existing one at Dabolim would get saturated due to increasing flow of passenger traffic in the tourist state.

Parrikar rejected the notion that Mopa airport would benefit Maharashtra, more than Goa, due to its close proximity with the neighbouring state.

“The airport is 25 kms away from Maharashtra border,” he said and requested the Assembly Speaker to allow half an hour debate on the issue so that “Goa Government’s stand on the issue can be clarified”.

SOURCE: THE ECONOMIC TIMES

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

Dabolim will stay, but Mopa needed for future: Francisco Sardinha

TNN Jan 20, 2013, 03.12AM IST

PANAJI: South Goa MP and Congress leader Francisco Sardinha said that he will safeguard the interests of the people of South Goa by ensuring that the Dabolim airport remains operational even after Mopa airport is built.

While addressing mediapersons on Saturday Sardinha said that the government has spent 380 crore on the new terminal at Dabolim.

In the same breath, Sardinha also said he supports the construction of the Mopa airport as he is thinking of the “requirements of the state in the next 50 years”.

With ‘Goemkar’, a new regional group recently holding a public meeting on the issue of the Dabolim airport, Sardinha said “Mopa is not a new issue…Land acquisition began seven years ago.”

“Don’t get carried away by groups of people who will not do anything in the interest of Goa,” he added.

Stating that he was the MP of South Goa, Sardinha said, “I will not do anything against the interests of the people. But we have to think 50 years ahead. I don’t want posterity to curse us.”

Sardinha said, “I want Mopa to be built, provided the highway from Canacona to Pernem is built first.” He felt if Mopa doesn’t come, another airport will come in Sindhudurg which will benefit Maharashtra.

He also condemned the deteriorating law and order situation in the state in light of increasing instances of rape as well as murder.

When questioned if he would be replaced as party candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Sardinha said, “I am confident that I will be given the ticket.”

SOURCE: THE TIMES OF INDIA

Beaches, towns, villages, Canacona is a mess

By Ashokkumar U Desai, TNN | Jan 22, 2013, 02.04 AM IST

CANACONA: Indiscriminate dumping of garbage in open spaces by tourism stakeholders including shack, tent and restaurants operators forced Agonda villagers to stage a protest rally to the Agonda panchayat office on Sunday.

Fifty percent of seasonal tourism stakeholders at Agonda have no permission from the panchayat office nor from the fire and emergency services nor do they have a systematic garbage management facility. “As a result, they dump garbage in any open space at night time,” said Saplesh Desai, panch at the Agonda panchayat.

He blamed tourism stakeholders for dumping garbage along village roads, water bodies, residential areas, roadsides, and forest areas and also blamed Agonda sarpanch Dijula Pagi for this.

Likewise, garbage littered around in the municipal jurisdiction of Canacona municipality has drawn stinging criticism from all quarters of society as the treatment plant set up at a cost of over Rs 2 crore has been rendered ineffective. The situation is becoming worse with every passing day, but no relief in sight.

Known for its famous beaches, Canacona will slowly lose its tag as a tourism destination if a proper policy is not put into place. Palolem, Patnem, Rajbag and other coastal areas apart from Chauri is littered with refuse, giving an ugly look to the villages. Villagers also fear that the unsightly environment condition will slowly make it a breeding ground for vector-borne diseases.

Pramod Fal Desai, deputy sarpanch of Agonda village panchayat, said “Though the garbage treatment plant at Dumanem, on the way to Agonda, was meant to treat garbage collected from the taluka, it is posing health-related problems to locals as well as passersby owing to lack of proper treatment facilities.”

Municipality supervisor D Krishna said, “Only five metric tonnes of garbage can be treated at the treatment plant on a daily basis, but, the collection has been more than 10 metric tonnes during this season every day.”

Canacona municipal council (CMC) engineer Ajay Fal said that as per the agreement, the garbage plant is being operated by company executives for one year till municipality staff are trained and their job is to provide only electricity and water, besides some minor machinery maintenance.

Agonda sarpanch Dijula Pagi complained that the garbage treatment plant built at a cost of around Rs 2 crore has become a breeding ground for flies and bacteria. The people of Agonda are affected since a huge quantity of garbage is being dumped at the plant everyday and the plant is operational once in a week, the sarpanch said.

A starred hotel has already been served a notice for dumping garbage along the roadsides, said municipality Inspector D Yesso. When CMC chairperson Ajay Bhagat was questioned on the issue, he said that the garbage treatment plant on land admeasuring 4,225 sq m, at Dumanem is not sufficient to treat garbage collected daily, he said he will take up the issue before the council at the monthly meeting.

Speaking to TOI, Pradip Naik, chief officer of the Canacona municipality, said he had instructed the municipal engineer, supervisors and inspector to take strict action against those who violate laws by disposing garbage in public places.

Canacona Community health officer Vinod Naik said that vector-borne diseases have increased in Canacona and the government needs to pay urgent attention towards garbage being dumped in open spaces.

SOURCE: THE TIMES OF INDIA