Goa eyes one million tourists during 3-day Goa Carnival

 

 

Press Trust Of India / Mumbai/ New Delhi Jan 26, 2013, 00:49 IST

 

 

Goa Tourism on Friday said it is targeting 10 lakh tourist arrivals during the forthcoming Goa Carnival which will be held from February 9 this year.

“We are aiming at least 1 million tourists to visit Goa during the forthcoming three-day Goa Carnival. We expect over two lakh tourists per day to visit the state during this period,” Goa Principal Secretary, Tourism, R K Verma said.

For the first time, the carnival will include food and cultural festival, which would start on February 8 and continue for the next five days, he added.
“Attracting tourists to Goa is important as tourism contributes 30-35 per cent to state domestic product,” Verma said. When asked about the number of tourists who visited the carnival last year, Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar said, “Last year, most of the festivities were cancelled due to a school bus accident.”

As a new initiative this year, bollywood actors like Neha Dhupia, Sayali Bhagat and others have been roped in for the float parade in Panaji.

The festival as usual will feature four float parades in four cities, Panaji, Margao, Vasco and Mapusa, Goa tourism said.

On the initiatives being taken by the state government to attract tourists through out the year, Goa Tourism Development Corporation MD Nikhil Desai said, “Apart from the beaches of Goa we are also promoting heritage tourism, adventure tourism, festival tourism and western ghats tourism.” The government is also taking major initiatives for infrastructure development and capacity expansion, Parulekar said.

SOURCE: BUSINESS STANDARD

 

 

Special status for Goa: Alina for assembly resolution for special status

TNN | Jan 26, 2013, 03.38 AM IST

PANAJI: Members of Goa’s movement for special status (GMFSS) found support in the presence of environment minister Alina Saldanha as they announced that chief minister Manohar Parrikarhas agreed to move a resolution for special status to Goa at the upcoming assembly session.

Saldanha said that she along with GMFSS was pursuing the dream of her late husband and former environment minister Matanhy, who revived the demand for special status to Goa in 2008 under Article 371 of the Constitution of India.

Saldanha said that the growing migrant numbers and mindless sale of properties to outsiders is a cause for worry.

“Unchecked immigration in Goa is leading to ruthless development on hills and other areas where construction is prohibited. We have presented a memorandum to the chief minister to get special status for Goa and we have given him a copy of the memorandum presented to the President of India in 2010 in the matter with an appeal to introduce legislation in the upcoming session of the assembly and our chief minister has agreed. We do not want financial packages, we only want special status to preserve our cultural identity,” Prajal Sakhardande, president of GMFSS said.

He said that due to large-scale immigration, Goans are getting marginalized in their own land and that the main objective of the special status is to keep a check on sale of land to outsiders.

“Goa is a mix of two different cultures and this makes our identity unique, which is dying. We also do not have the carrying capacity if the teeming millions from across the country say they love Goa and keep migrating here,” Sakhardande said.

He said that there also has to be a check on those entering the state as there is in other states with special status like Himachal Pradesh. “We are not against migrants, but Goa already has one of the highest population densities in the country,” John Lobo, secretary of GMFSS, said.

Gurudas Kamat said that there is hope for Goa as recently special status has been awarded to a region spanning Hyderabad and Karnataka covering backward areas like Bidar and Gadag.

SOURCE: THE TIMES OF INDIA

 

Vijai Sardesai: Khazan land bill is a scam

MARGAO: Independent MLA Vijai Sardesai launched yet another salvo at chief minister Manohar Parrikar; this time over the government’s handling of the draft ‘Goa Khazan Land Development Board Act, 2012’.

Sardesai has promised to not only raise this issue in the upcoming assembly session amongst other key issues, he also stated that the ‘government would be put on the mat’ by coordinating with other members of the opposition who are working on a strategy to ‘target and quiz’ the BJP-led government.

Stating that he had been asked to reply to the draft bill in his capacity as an MLA by the chief engineer of the water resources department within 15 days of it being sent to him, Sardesai, while addressing media persons on Saturday, said that he had conveyed his detailed reservations in a letter to the chief minister.

“The draft bill is nothing but the foundation of a land scam that will finish of Goa’s khazan lands and I want to know why lands are required to be acquired to stop illegal breaching of bunds. It is a question all Goans need to ask the government,” he said.

The Fatorda MLA pointed out that there are laws in place to protect khazan lands and it only needs proper implementation. He concurred that khazan lands are the last bastions of the comunidades and the gaunkari system followed in Goa.

SOURCE: THE TIMES OF INDIA

Mopa airport: Govt moves to acquire land in 3 villages

PANAJI: The government on Thursday invoked Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act to acquire 22,63,185 sq m of land for the proposed Mopa airport in three villages of Chandel, Casarvarnem and Varcond in Pernem taluka.

While the government had initially proposed to acquire 74.99 lakh sq m of land in six villages, only about 48.70 lakh sq m of land had been taken in possession in four villages.

The 22,63,185 sq m now sought to be acquired was earlier left out from the acquisition proceedings because residents of Pernem petitioned the Bombay high court at Goa challenging the land acquisition.

In its judgment, the high court directed the government to hear out the petitioners once again and to go ahead with the land acquisition. Official sources said that the high court took cognizance of the fact that the land acquisition was genuinely for a public purpose. Since the petitioners are also aggrieved over the terms of the land acquisition, the chief minister has also publicly declared the government’s intentions of coming out with a new land acquisition policy where the compensations are much higher than before.

Official sources said that once the new land acquisition policy is declared, the petitioners’ grievances will be addressed. As of now, the state government has already taken possession of about 65% of the land required for the construction of the proposed Mopa airport in the four Pernem villages of Mopa (23,64,065 sq m), Casarvarnem (7,75,916 sq m), Chandel (3,37,265 sq m) and Uguem (4,50,935 sq m).

The government has also passed the awards to the affected persons.

The award for four villages totals 29.64 crore so far. The break-up of the award amount is as follows; Mopa ( 14,01,89,277), Chandel ( 5,18,15,510), Casarvarnem ( 7,00,06,376) and Uguem ( 3,44,11,141).

 

SOURCE: THE TIMES OF INDIA

Vijai Sardesai: Mickky should not support govt on Mopa Airport

MARGAO: Hitting out at the BJP government and South Goa Congress MP Franscisco Sardinha and Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho, Goemkar convenor Vijai Sardesai requested Nuvem MLA Francisco ‘Mickky’ Pacheco to withdraw support to the BJP government to bolster opposition to the Mopa airport.

While addressing media persons on Monday, Sardesai said that he had no ego issues with Pacheco and would be happy to concede to him the leadership of the movement if he decided to join Goemkar. “Nuvem MLA Pacheco has contended that he was the pioneer of the anti-Mopa movement. I agree and request him to once again take the lead but by first withdrawing support to the government that is bulldozing this project on the Goan people,” said Sardesai.

The independent MLA further said that it appears that the chief minister has taken Goemkars as his opponents by going ahead with the acquisition of 22 lakh sq m of agricultural land at Mopa, the very next day after Goemkar held a public meeting at Lohia Maidan.

“The land acquisition notice has been followed up with a Mopa steering committee meeting to be held on January 24,” said Sardesai, adding that a delegation of Goemkar will try to meet the civil aviation secretary and chairman of Airports authority of India, who are supposed to attend the meeting.

He criticized Sardinha for having expressing support to the ‘Two airport theory’ and ridiculing the Goemkar movement. “I feel this MP has outlived his political shelf life by pitching for Mopa and intending to contest from South Goa,” Sardesai said, demanding the MP explain to the people what he had done on the promise of special status to Goa given in his presence by the Congress.

SOURCE: THE TIMES OF INDIA