OHERALDOThe Voice of Goa Since 1900

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JUNE 14

The hustle and bustle at the fish-ing jetties across the State finallywent missing on Monday aday before curtains come downon this years fishing season.

Hundreds of fishing vesselsdropped anchor at the jetties,while the migrant labour haveall headed to their native States.

But, mechanised boat ownersappear a worried lot. In fact,many a boat owner is keepingtheir fingers crossed over theavailability and arrival of crewmembers for the next fishingseason, beginning from July 31.

Their fear stems from the factthat a large number of migrantlabour working on the fishingvessels had left the State afterlast years cyclone left manylabourers met a watery grave inthe Arabian sea off Maharashtracoast.

The fact that the mechanisedfishing industry were hit by amanpower shortage post cy-clone has come to haunt theboat owners, forcing them to

keep their fingers crossed overthe availability of the manpowercoming season.

Says Elvis Gomes, Executivemember of the Cutbona BoatOwners Union: Last years cy-clone has left bitter memoriesin the minds of the labourersand their families. But, we arestill hopeful that the labourerswill return to the jetties for thenew season. Let us wait andsee.

Other boat owners echoed

similar sentiments at the Cut-bona fishing jetty hoping againsthope for the arrival of the mi-grant workforce in time

As is the normal practice,many a boat owner is believedto have paid advance money totheir crew members, with thehope that they return for thenew season.

Goas mechanised fishing in-dustry is totally dependent onoutside workforce to meet the

PTI

LONDON, JUNE 14

Shocked by reports of massiveembezzlement in India in theuse of mil l ions of poundsgranted as aid for education,Britain today promised zerotolerance to corruption andlaunched an immediate in-quiry.

In a statement to PTI, the In-ternational Development secre-tary Andrew Mitchell said theallegations reported from Indiaabout widespread corruption inthe use of British aid was shock-ing.

These are shocking allega-tions. I have launched an imme-diate inquiry to ensure Britishaid money has not been mis-used. The new British Govern-ment will have a zero tolerancepolicy to corruption, he said.

When I took up this job amonth ago I made a pledge toBritish taxpayers; they mustknow that for every pound oftheir money, we will get 100pence of value, he added.

Mitchell said he was review-ing every single one of theDepartment for InternationalDevelopments country pro-grammes to ensure that Britaingave aid to where it was mostneeded, to help the worldspoorest people.

But I want to go much fur-ther. This is why last week I an-nounced a new independent aidwatchdog - to scrutinise aid onthe taxpayers behalf. In futurewe will also publish all detailsof the departments spending

on our website, he said.According to DFID figures, 24

per cent of Britain annual aidto India is earmarked for edu-cation. Reports in the Britishmedia about the corruption inIndia mentioned a figure of 340million pounds in aid to a

schools project for childrenunder the age of14.

One audit of money ear-marked for the Sarva ShikshaAbhiyan project found that 70million pounds had reportedlyvanished. A report in the TheNews of the World quoted

Indias Auditor General as sayingthat that almost 14 millionpounds had been spent on itemsand luxuries that had nothingto do with schools.

Cash meant for kids educa-tion has been blown on luxuries.We discovered that officialsthroughout the country hadused it to buy new cars and inone instance aid cash was spenton four luxury beds costing atotal of 17,754 pounds as wellas a 3,803 pounds computer,the report said.

Meanwhile, Human ResourceDevelopment Ministry sourcesin New Delhi said the Sarva Shik-sha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme has avery robust financial monitoringsystem which includes an annualaudit by chattered accountantsempanelled by the CAG, con-current financial review by In-stitute of Public Auditors ofIndia, periodic performance re-view by the CAG and quarterlyreview with the financial con-trollers of states SSA societies.

Large amounts of moneywere shown to have been spenton schools that reportedly didnot exist, while in some casesair conditioners, faxes, photo-copiers and 7,531 colour tele-vision sets were reportedlybought despite there being noelectricity supplies. The reportsaid that 150,000 pounds waspaid into a mystery bank ac-count with no reason given.

It quoted a report by the In-stitute of Public Auditors ofIndia that in Bihar children were

Goas Heartbeat: Abhishek

for Team Brazil Pg 14

Sports: Seniors will play to

potential, says Dhoni Pg 13Business: Top officials hint

at RBI tightening Pg 12

Visit us at:www.oheraldo.in panjim, TUESDaY, jUnE 15, 2010 pRiCE Rs. 3.00 (air Surcharge Rs. 1.50) pages 18

IN BRIEF

From now on yellow cards forMinisters involved in bribes,corruption, links with mafia...and red cards for murder, rape,molestaiton...

PM asks GoM on Bhopal to meet With the raging politicalstorm over Bhopal gas tragedyshowing no signs of abating,Prime Minister ManmohanSingh sought to do some dam-age control by directing thereconstituted Group of Minis-ters to meet immediately andprepare a report in 10 days.The GoM, headed by HomeMinister P Chidambaram, hasbeen asked to assess the op-tions and remedies availableto the Government. It is ex-pected to meet on Thursdayor Friday. (PTI)

(Report on page 9)

25 drown in boat tragedy At least 25 people, mostlywomen and girls, drownedwhile around 17 others wentmissing when an overcrowdedboat capsized in Ganga riverin Ballia district in Lucknow. The boat carrying around 60people sunk in Dubahar areathis morning. Its occupantswere proceeding to attend afunction on the other side ofthe river, Additional DirectorGeneral of Police Brij Lal toldreporters, adding, 17 peoplewere either rescued by policepersonnel or safely made it tothe shore. (PTI)

Kandla Port polluting creekAnthropogenic activities atKandla Port were contaminat-ing water in its creek whichcould affect the marine sanc-tuary and national park there,a study by the NIO, Goa, said.A conclusion to this effectwas drawn by a study on In-fluence of Anthropogenic Ac-tivities on ExistingEnvironmental Conditions ofKandla Creek (Gulf of Kutch)by NIO scientists. (PTI)

Labourers carrying fishing nets at Cutbona jetty. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar.

Showers drenchGoa, Met warnsof gusty winds

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JUNE 14

The much-awaited monsoonshowers lashed the State earlyMonday even as the Met De-partment warned of heavy rainsaccompanied by strong gustywinds in next 24 hours.

Rain or thundershowers ac-companied by strong gutsy windwould hit parts of the State.Some areas might also witnessmoderate to heavy rainfall incoming 24 hours, Indian Me-teorological Observatory in-charge K V Singh said.

Predicting a good rainfallin the next two days, Singhsaid, though the monsoonarrived late in the State, weexpect good showers in com-ing days.

Singh confirmed that south-west monsoon had advancedinto Goa on June 10 but due tothe weakening of monsoon cur-rents, the State could not wit-ness good amount of rainfall atthe beginning.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JUNE 14

The Hospicio mortuary was backin the news once again for thewrong reasons. This time, how-ever, there was no complaint ofspace constraint at the 18-unitmortuary, but the Hospital sim-ply had no senior medico-legalsurgeon to conduct a post-mortem examination on Mon-day.

The hospital witnessed up-roar this morning after relativesof the girl murdered in Margaoon Sunday came to the hospi-tal to take possession of herbody, only to find no doctor toconduct the autopsy.

A lady medical officer, draftedby the Government to the Hos-picio mortuary, declined to per-form the autopsy on groundsthat it was a murder case.

A relative of the girl main-tained that they were called tothe hospital at 9.30 am todayto take possession of the girlsbody, but added that the post-mortem did not take place evenat 11.30 am.

Worse still, since there wasno senior medico-legal surgeon,acting Hospicio Medical Super-intendent, Dr Nasnodkar issuedinstructions to the lady medicalofficer to transport the girlsbody and get the post-mortemdone by a senior doctor at theGoa Medical College and hos-pital mortuary.

This infuriated the relatives,who were left high and dry forno fault of theirs, since theywere anxious to take possessionof the body to perform the final

rites this evening.The acting Hospicio superin-

tendent informed that the ladymedical officer had her own lim-itations in carrying out the post-mortem of the girls body. Sinceit is a murder case, it is in thefitness of things that the autopsywas done by a senior doctor,he added.

The explanation failed to sat-isfy the agitated relatives, whodemanded to know why thecommonman is put to greathardships for want of a doctor.If the lady doctor is not autho-rised to perform post-mortemexaminations, why is she ap-pointed at Hospicio, a memberof the Hospicio Visiting Com-mittee, Damu Shirodkar de-manded to know.

Shirodkar said if the seniorconsultant, Dr Avinash Poojaryis on leave, the acting Hospiciomedical superintendent oughtto have made alternate arrange-ments, adding that the girlsfamily ought to have been toldlast night about the prevailingsituation at the district hospi-tal.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JUNE 14

Lyndon Monteiro, officer on spe-cial duty (OSD) to formertour i sm min i s te r Mickk yPacheco today withdrew his an-ticipatory bail plea from GoaBench of Bombay High courtafter he was asked to remainpresent during hearing of hisplea.

Justice U D Salvi of BombayHigh Court had directed Mon-teiro to remain present in thecourt for his anticipatory bailplea hearing, which has beenpostponed to June 17.

Monteiros lawyer, AmitPalekar, said that he has with-drawn the anticipatory bail pleaand legalities are being exam-ined to decide further courseof action.

When the anticipatory bailapplication came up for hearingtoday morning, social activistand High Court lawyer Aires Ro-drigues pointed out that therehas been a circular of the HighCourt that any anticipatory bailhas to be filed by the concerned

person.The provisions of law and

High Court rules mandate thatan anticipatory bail applicationcan be filed under Section 438of the Criminal Procedure Codeonly by the person anticipatingarrest, Rodrigues told the court.

Meanwhile, the Public Pros-ecutor (PP) Carlos Ferreira, tooargued that the application wasnot maintainable as it was filedby Monterios mother. He de-manded that Monteiro be pres-ent for his anticipatory bail pleahearing.

Justice U D Salvi told Palekar,appearing on behalf of Monteirothat it was very glaring that theanticipatory bail application wasnot in accordance with the rules.

Palekar told the Court thathe would take instructionswhether to withdraw the antic-ipatory bail application and laterJustice Salvi adjourned the mat-ter to June 17.

Monteiro, who has been onthe run since June 6, has beendeclared as co-accused in the

Lyndon withdraws bail petition

Drug dealerDudu moves HC for bail

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JUNE 14

Israeli drug dealer David Drihamalias Dudu has moved to theHigh Court seeking bail, point-ing out to the anomalies in po-lice panchanama conductedwhen he was raided.

In the bail application movedbefore the court, Dirham hassaid that he is innocent.

Dudu was arrested on Febru-ary 21, 2010 for possessing nar-cotic substances at Anjuna byAnti Narcotic Cell. An offenceunder Narcotic Drugs and Psy-chotropic Substances Act hadbeen registered against him forpossessing cocaine, heroin pow-der and charas.

The alleged drug dealer in hisbail petition has said that theletter written by investigatingOfficer Sunil Gudlar to deputysuperintendent of police (DySP)informing about the raid wasfabricated.

The covering letter ad-dressed to DySP has such awealth of factual material added

Education aid to India blown on luxuries

Britain shocked, orders immediate probe

Money for nothing?70 million pounds for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyanproject had reportedly vanished. Almost 14 m pounds spent on items and luxuriesthat had nothing to do with schools.Officials throughout the country bought new carswith aid money. 17,754 pounds spent on 4 luxury beds while 3,803pounds used to buy a computer.ACs, faxes, photocopiers and 7,531 TVs boughtdespite no power supplies. 150,000 pounds paid into a mystery bank accountwith no reason given.(According to a report in The News of the World that quoted IndiasAuditor General).

Curtains down on fishing seasonFear over manpower shortage looms

Hospicio plays truant; doctor

refuses autopsy

(Continued on page 10)

(Continued on page 10)(Continued on page 10)

(Continued on page 10)

Pg1:Layout 1 6/15/2010 12:50 AM Page 1

GOAHERALD

Pg2GOA, TUESDAY, 15 JUNE, 2010

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MAYEM, JUNE 14

Believe it or not, students insome classes at GovernmentPrimary School (GPS), Vithala-pur-Sanquelim are being madeto squat on the floor due tolack of benches.

Speaking to Herald, PTAmember Manasi Borkar saidshe had requested the educa-tion department to provide ad-ditional benches about sixmonths ago to avoid the exist-ing situation.

However, my requests fellon deaf ears. Students arenow facing acute problems.In some classrooms, four-fivestudents have to sit on onebench while in other class-rooms students are compelledto sit on the f loor, saidBorkar.

The total strength of stu-dents in the school is 263,which consists of pre-primarystudents (31), Urdu medium(27), Std 1 (52), Std 2 (42), Std3 (50) and Std 4 (61).

The government shouldlook into the matter with im-mediate effect, said a parent,Sajjala Awakhale.

Another parent Sriram Bakresaid there is no toilet for the

school due to which studentshave to answer natures call bythe roadside.

The worst affected are theteachers, who cannot go inopen places to answer natures

call, said Bakre.The parents and teachers

have requested the educa-tion department to provideadequate facilities for theschool.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JUNE 14

Blaming Mamlatdars and BlockDevelopment Officers for block-ing his plan to include more andmore Goans in the BelowPoverty Line (BPL) list, Rural De-velopment Minister ChurchillAlemao has said the Centre hascome out with new criteriawhich would help bring largenumber of Goans in the BPL cat-egory.

Alemao warned the RDA staff,especially from South Goa dis-trict, that he would crack a whipand send them home, if theirperformance continues to re-main below par.

At the meeting with RDA of-ficials and staff held here onMonday, Alemao announcedthat the Centre has relaxed theBPL norms which will now makeit easy for economically back-ward Goans to get in the BPLlist. The Mamlatdars and BDOshad blocked our plans to bringmore Goans in the BPL list on

grounds the applicant does notfall in the category. But, the lat-est criteria will help people tobe brought under the category,he said.

The RDA Minister issued di-rectives to the officials to ensurethat more and more Goans areincluded in the BPL list to availbenefits under the Centralschemes. There are someSarpanchas, who have refusedto approve names for the BPLfamilies. Now, the rules arechanged that the householdowners can now take approvaleven from a Zilla panchayatmember and other persons men-tioned in the criteria, he said.

The Minister asked the RDASecretary to immediately writeto the Mamlatdars and the BDOson the refusal to clear the namesunder the BPL list and also calla meeting with them to solvethe imbroglio.

He replied in the negativewhen suggested that the RDAdepartment could not make

major inroads in the villages tobring the poor under the BPLlist. In Navelim village, therewere only three people includedin the BPL category. Now thefigure has shot up to over 600.Things are certainly improving,but more needs to be done. Peo-ple should realise that a NREGcard holder is automatically in-cluded in the BPL list, he added.

Meanwhile, the RDA Secre-tary has called upon the officialsand staff from South Goa to putin more efforts to ensure suc-cessful implementation of theBPL schemes. The DRDA, northhas initiated many steps. Thestaff in south Goa might havebeen working hard, but thereare many inadequacies as perthe records, he said.

The Secretary said that audi-tors have questioned the poorimplementation of BLP schemesin South Goa and called uponthe staff to work with dedicationand sincerity by bringing morepersons in the BPL category.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JUNE 14

Following a representation bythe parents to the EducationMinister Atanasio Monserratewith their grievances, the Stategovernment on Monday di-rected the Mustifund schoolmanagement to hold back thefee hike of the primary studentsuntil further decision.

According to the parents, theMustifund school managementhad raised the fee from Rs 550to Rs 800 in April this year, dur-ing admissions to the new aca-demic year.

However, we were in formore shock when the school re-

opened. The management gavea notice that the fee has beenincreased from Rs 800 to Rs1350 based on government rec-ommendation, a parent saidspeaking to Herald on conditionof anonymity.

The management gave thereason that the fee hike wasnecessary for paying the teach-ers according to governmentscales, the parents stated.

The parents today met the ed-ucation minister in his chamber,who assured them to take a de-cision in the matter by evening.

By evening the Education De-partment issued directions tothe school to hold back the fee

hike.We have asked them to hold

back the fee hike, Education Di-rector Celsa Pinto told Herald.

It may be recalled recentlythe government appointed com-mittee had submitted a feestructure to be followed by allschools after complaints ofheavy fees being charged by theprivate schools.

The education director saidthat the minister has decidedto ask the committee to take are-look into the fee structure.

Until than we have asked theMustifund management to re-fund the excess fee collected tothe parents, she stated.

Mustifund school directed to hold back fee hike

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JUNE 14

The All Goa Unaided SchoolsParents Association (AGUSPA)has warned the Education de-partment against playing withthe sentiments and anguish ofparents, who toil hard to edu-cate their children and refusedto be exploited.

The Association has alsoasked the Director of Educationto scrutinise the statements ofaccounts submitted by theseschools and further audit thesame before granting any ap-provals as per the Goa SchoolEducation Act 1984.

Association Secretary OrlandoPacheco has accused the Edu-cation Department of adoptinga casual attitude towards theconcern of parents with regardsto the matter of fee hike in theunaided schools in Goa. He saidthe circular dated 16th April2010 issued to the schools withregards to the fees is misleadingand bound to create confusionand has been issued without un-derstanding the ground realitiesexisting in the State and withoutany details or directions.

Association Chairman NisserDias has taken strong exceptionto the report filed by DeputyDirector of Education Anil Powarto the government, stating thatonly a few parents have filedcomplaints on the fee hike. TheDeputy Director of Education

has made the statement inspiteof several protests being raisedfrom several quarters by parents.This only goes to show thatPowar is more inclined towardsthe school managements, whichare usually headed by industri-alists and businessmen and notthe parents, Dias said.

He said the fee of Rs 1350pm for primary section and Rs1800 pm for the middle and sec-ondary section recommendedby the Pednekar Committee andaccepted by the Government isbased on an assumption thatthere is an average of 25 stu-dents in the primary section and30 students in secondary sectionper division or class after cal-culating the sixth pay scalesalaries to teachers. In reality,however, there are almost 40students per class or divisionsin most of theses 148 unaidedschools in the State which areusually English medium schools.Therefore, the fees per monthin most of these schools shouldbe much less then the fee rec-ommended by the PednekarCommittee and thereafter ac-cepted by the Government,Dias said.

He further pointed out thatthe fees will be much lesser thenthose proposed by some ofthese schools which had askedfor approval to fees upto Rs1800 pm month for primary sec-tion and upto Rs 2500 pm for

middle section and secondarysection.

Meanwhile, Association Pres-ident Orlando Pacheco hasurged the teachers communitywho are to receive the salarieson par with Government teach-ers as per directives from thecentral government be vigilantand ensure that these schoolswho will be hiking the fees uptothe set limit, as per the recom-mendation of the PednekarCommittee get their salaries asper the scale they deserve.

He further said the DoEshould also ensure that theteachers are actually paid as perthe scale recommended as thesame will be collected from theparents.

The association has furtherappealed to the Education Min-ister and the State governmentto bring in legislation and enactan Act on the lines of Tamil NaduSchools (Regulation of collectionof fees) Act 2009, which was up-held by the division bench ofthe Madras High Court, dismiss-ing all writ petitions challengingthe validity of the said Act.

The Association said such alaw is necessary to put an endto the donation, capitation fees,profiteering and commercializa-tion of education and exorbitantfees resulting in exploitation ofstudents and parents by themanagements of these unaidedschools in the state.

Fee hike in unaided schools unwarranted, says AGUSPA

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

PORVORIM, JUNE 14

The Bardez unit of Shiv Sena hasdemanded that the Directorateof Education should make avail-able all text books to studentsimmediately and end the mis-eries of teachers and students.

The Shiv Sena has threatened tostage an agitation in the State withparents and teachers, if the Direc-torate of Education failed to makeavailable the text books to students.

In a memorandum to the Di-rector of Education on Monday,Vibhag Pramukh of Shiv Sena,Bardez, Philip DSouza has statedthat textbooks are one of themajor teaching and learning re-sources used in the schools.

Non-availability of text bookson time hampers the academicactivities of the students andschools. If students do not haveaccess to the textbooks, it isnot possible for the teachers togive homework for the stu-dents, stated DSouza in thememorandum.

Besides, pressure on teachersalso increases to complete thecurriculum when books are notmade available at the commence-ment of the academic year andconsequently the students haveto burn midnight oil to cope upwith the studies, he added.

The memorandum further statedthat failure to supply textbooks tothe students at the beginning ofthe academic year has become anannual event and misery.

The woes pertaining to non-availability of textbooks haveplagued our education sectorconsistently for years together.Yet the government does notappear to have taken any effec-tive steps to solve this persistentproblem, said DSouza.

If the tenders were floatedon time and the concerned ed-ucational authorities had takenup the matter with printers/pub-lishers vigorously, then this prob-lem would not have arisen. Theavailability of textbooks on timesave teachers and students from

unnecessary pressures andstress, stated the memorandum.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JUNE 14

Hazard a guess why the MargaoUrban Health Centre witnesseda huge queue of migrant labour-ers on Monday morning.

Well, the monsoons have fi-nally arrived and the UrbanHealth Centre has taken up thework of screening of migrantworkers for malaria and healthcards in right earnest.

Around 150 migrant labour-ers, besides women and chil-dren, made a queue outside thehealth centre this morning, wait-ing for their turn for malariatesting and vaccination.

Health officials led by theHealth Officer, Dr Geeta Kakod-kar attended to the migrantsand even recalled the field staffto the office to meet the heavyrush of migrants.

As inquiries revealed thatmost of migrant labourers hadno health cards, the health au-thorities noted down details ofthe workers, and have assuredto provide the cards immedi-ately.

Says Urban Health Officer, DrGeeta Kakodkar: Most of thelabourers hailed from the east-ern state of Orissa. The health

officials tested them for malariaand administered them thetreatment. The drive was partof the awareness drive under-taken by the health office duringthe monsoon season.

She said the migrant labour-ers were vaccinated today andwill be soon provided with themandatory health cards by heroffice. We have taken precau-

tionary measures to ensure thatthe malaria situation is kept abay this season. The health of-fice does not want to take anychances over the outbreak ofvector borne diseases in theCommercia l Capita l , sheadded.

The Margao Urban Health of-fice has recently received a paton its bag, right from the Chief

Minister, Digambar Kamat to theMargao Municipal Chief SavioCoutinho for the sincere workput in to combat vector bornediseases in the city.

In fact, health officials saidthe sustained campaign by theMargao Health office has helpedto keep the number of malariaand dengue cases under checkin recent times.

Migrants queue outside the Margao Urban Health Centre for malaria testing on Monday. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar

Migrants screened for malaria in MargaoNCP image will not be tarnished

by Mickkys

controversyHERALD REPORTER

VASCO, JUNE 14

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)Legislature Wing Chief and Rev-enue Minister Jose Philip D-Souza has claimed that theNCPs image would not get tar-nished by the controversy sur-rounding former tour ismminister Mickky Pacheco.

Speaking to media along thesidelines of World Blood DonorDays function organized by Her-itage Institute of Hotel andTourism at Vasco on Mondaymorning, DSouza also said theNCP would retain all portfoliosof the resigned minister.

After the party high com-mand decision, Pacheco re-signed gracefully on moralgrounds and he himself hasasked the probe in the death ofNadia Torrado. These are hispersonal issues that will cer-tainly not tarnish the partysimage, stated the revenue min-ister.

When asked about newlysworn minister Nilkant Halankar,DSouza said there will be nochange in the portfolio, as itwas earlier decided by the highcommands of both the parties.The question of a compromiseon portfolios doesnt arise, headded.

Centre-backed criteria will bringGoans in BPL list: Churchill

PSI case: cops

file chargesheetHERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JUNE 14

The Cuncolim police on Mondayfiled a charge sheet against ac-cused Santosh Naik in the at-tempt to murder CuncolimPolice Sub-Inspector PrasannaBhagat.

The police has cited around16 witnesses in support of itscase.

In this case, accused SantoshNaik was charged by the Cun-colim police for stabbing PSIBhagat with a knife at Balli whena police team had gone to hishouse to arrest him in a criminaloffense.

PSI Bhagat had sustained twowounds on his left groin andhand and was immediatelyrushed to Hospicio hospital,where he was treated for thestab wounds.

The incident had taken placeon February 28 night.

Students squat on floor at Sanquelim school

Students squat on the floor of the classroom due to lack of benches at Government Primary School,Vithalapur-Sanquelim. Photo by Vishant Vaze

HERALD REPORTER

VASCO, JUNE 14

The Deputy Town Planner ofMormugao taluka is reportedlyirked with the order issued bythe Sub Divisional Magistrate(SDM) over hill cutting activitiesin Consua-Cortalim.

The recent ex-parte order ofSDM Levinson Martins, asking theTown and Country Planning De-partment and Director of Minesand Geology to file compliance re-port and take immediate correctivemeasures over massive hill cuttingactivities in Consua-Cortalim, hasannoyed both the departmentsfor overlooking activities carriedout beyond the prescribed per-mission by the company.

Why were villagers quietover the issue that was goingon since 2008? Am I a crow tokeep a vigil on hill cutting ac-tivities, asked an annoyedDeputy Town Planner A P Diniji.

Though the order has beenissued to the Town Planner, butthe Deputy Town Planner, beinga concerned department in Mor-mugao taluka, has been asked

to file compliance report to thesub divisional magistrates order.

In his compliance report,Diniji has claimed that the hillcutting has carried out regard-less of TCP norms. He ques-tioned the attitude of thevillagers as to why they werequiet and got up suddenly afterthree years to complain abouthill cutting activities.

It may be recalled that PedroFernandes of Consua had lodgeda complaint with the DeputyPlanner in March, 2010. Actingon the complaint, Diniji hadlodged a police complaint, butthe police are yet to establishthe identity of the accused.

When pointed out that the Townand Country Planning Departmentin an order dated April 9, 2008,had issued permission to a com-pany to excavate the hill and howhe claimed that he was unawarewho has cut the hill although com-plaint has been filed, Diniji said hehas referred Fernandes complaintletter to Verna police to lodge com-plaint against unknown person, asno survey number was mentioned

in the complaint.He further said he along with

Executive Engineer, PWD, AnilRingne has inspected the areaand machinery would be de-ployed to take corrective meas-ures as suggested by SubDivisional Magistrate.

Interestingly, Martins orderstates the company names andsurvey numbers, while Diniji inits recent compliance report hasalso mentioned the companyname, but till date police has failedto establish who has cut the hillthough an offence has been reg-istered under Section 17(a) of GoaTown and Country Planning Act.

We have written to differentauthorities after getting com-plaint and investigating thecase, said Verna PI Jivba Dalvi.

However, the monsoon hascommenced and Sub DivisionalMagistrates order has stated totake measures to save impend-ing disaster within seven days,while Monday being the seventhday, only inspection has beencarried while the work is yet tocommence.

Vasco Dy town planner reacts angrily to SDM directives

Says hill cutting goes on regardless of TCP

Margao murder

accused

remandedHERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JUNE 14

The accused arrested in the broadday light murder of the youngwoman in the city here on Sundayevening has been remanded totwo days police custody.

Margao police station in-charge, PI Santosh Desai said theaccused Abhijit Patil was takenfor medical examination to theGoa Medical College and hospi-tal, Bambolim Monday morning.

When asked to throw lightwhether the accused was takento Bambolim to ascertainwhether he was in a disturbedstate of mind, PI Desai said theaccused made it appear that hewas not in a proper frame ofmind, adding that this is onereason why the accused wastaken to the GMC hospital.

Meanwhile, the body of de-ceased gir l M Shaikh washanded over to her relativesafter a post mortem examina-tion at the Goa Medical Collegeand Hospital, Bambolim.

Shiv Sena demands text books availability to students immediately

Lucky escape forVasco local as

house roof collapsesHERALD REPORTER

VASCO, JUNE 14

A 36-year-old man from Bogda-Vasco had a miraculous escapeafter the roof tiles of his house fell on him on Monday after-noon.

The incident occurred when Sunil Sakalkar was sleeping in oneof the rooms of his house near El-Monte Theatre, Bogda-Mormugao.Sakalkar has fractured to his leg.

Vasco fire brigade personnel informed that Sakalkar was alonein the room when the wall of an abandoned house located abovehis house collapsed on his room due to heavy showers.

Sakalkar, who was trapped in the debris of the roof tiles, wasremoved by his niece and the 108 ambulance later shifted him toa hospital.

Official from Mormugao Mamlatdars office has estimated thedamage of about Rs 20,000. Mormugao MLA Milind Naik has askedhis labourers to clear the debris to provide relief to the affectedfamily.

It may be recalled that the thickly populated Bogda area, whichis declared as landslide-prone zone by the government authoritiesfew years ago, has seen such incidents during monsoon.

During last monsoon, about three cases of landslide were re-ported on the mountainous stretch of Tariwado-Bogda.

The damaged house at Bogda-Mormugao. Photo by M Prabhav

Colva theft:maid held

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JUNE 14

The Colva police has arrested amaid servant in connection withthe theft of gold ornaments andUS Dollars all valued over Rs 1.5lakh from the house of one Ken-neth Saldanha, a resident of Colva.

The Colva police said that Sal-danha complained that gold orna-ments consisting of bangles, pearearrings, a pendant, finger ring,gold earrings, besides 1000 USDollar were stolen from the house.

Based on the complaint fromSaldanha, the Colva police arrestedthe maid servant and is being in-terrogated by the men-in-uniform.The Colva police are investigating.

Bijapur manfound dead

CALANGUTE (HC): A 25-year-oldman from Bijapur was founddead at Sinquerim on Mondaymorn ing . Accord ing toCalangute police, Santosh Gan-garam Rathod, residing at KhaliBhat, Sinquerim, was addictedto liquor and suspect that hemay have died due to overdose,thus ruling out the possibilityof murder. The body has beensent to Bijapur for final rites.

BICHOLIM (HC): A 55-year-oldsecurity guard from Jharkhandwas allegedly murdered by hisroommate over a petty quarrelon Sunday at about 10.30 pm.

According to reports, one Kr-ishna Sahu from Jharkhand andShankar Sharma (48) from Bihar,both security guards, were stay-ing with three of their friendsat Maina-Navelim, Sanquelim.

On Sunday, Sahu was sleepingon the floor with his legs towardsShankar, who was having dinner.Enraged at this, Shankar askedSahu to move his legs as he washaving his food. This led to alter-cation between the two andShankar hit Sahu with a woodenlog. Sahu fell unconscious and wasrushed to PHC Sanquelim, butdied on the way to the hospital.

Security guardreported killedat Sanquerim

pg2:Layout 1 6/15/2010 12:50 AM Page 1

GOA, TUESDAY, 15 JUNE, 2010

GOAHERALD

Pg3

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JUNE 14

Strongly opposing the bail ap-plication by the ministers OSDin the High Court, Goa Policehave raised suspicions aboutthe firm Bresources Manage-ment S.A, run by former tourismminister Mickky Pacheco,wherein Nadia Torrado workedas Accounts Co-ordinator.

The reply filed by CrimeBranch before Goa Bench ofBombay High Court, has men-tioned that the business was tocover something.

There was no formal andstructural functioning. Every-thing seemed to be working ina personal fiefdom of Pacheco.

There were no meetings and de-cision of the Board of Directors,the reply reads.

The activities of the com-pany are very suspicious andseems to be cover for some-thing else, police added in theirreply.

The investigations by CrimeBranch have revealed that Nadiawas the part of Pachecos com-pany, Bresources ManagementPvt Ltd.

Even though the deceased(Nadia), was an employee coor-dinator of his office, she nevercame to the office, police said.

Claiming that Nadia andPacheco had intimate relation-ship, Police have said that they

have recovered a half burntboarding pass which claimsNadia as VIP/spouse of touris Further letters on this pass areburnt.

Pacheco was the person whowas present with the victim atall time during the treatment,police said adding he was pres-ent at Apollo Hospital, Margao,Jupiter Hospital, Mumbai andApollo Hospital at Chennai andwas closely monitoring visit ofpolice officer and other per-sons.

From the conduct, it is clearthat he is an accused involvedin this offence, police said.

Police reply before the HighCourt on Monday has strongly

opposed the anticipatory bailplea of Lyndon Monteiro, OSDto Pacheco and co-accused incase of death of 28-year-oldNadia.

Monteiros plea that the caseis politically motivated, is beendenied by Crime Branch.

Police said that this is a verysensitive matter wherein ayoung woman has died in verysuspicious and mysterious cir-cumstances.

On the contrary, Monteirobeing in very powerful positionis hell bent on impending theinvestigations and creating hur-dles in the efforts of police tounravel the truth, Crime Branchsaid opposing the anticipatory

Firm run by Mickky suspicious: Crime Branchbail plea filed by Monteiro.

There has been systematicand sustained destruction of ev-idence and it appears thatMickky Pacheco and his OSDmay have a very important roleto play in destruction of evi-dence, police said adding thereis every possibility that the ap-plicant may further indulge indestruction of whatever evi-dence police is trying hard toretrieve. He is required for cus-todial interrogation for recoveryof two mobiles, passport, laptopof the victim and empty Ratolpaste tube, which are missing.

Police have said that takingin view the statements of thewitnesses, PM reports, circum-stantial and scientific evidences,it is clear that Monteiro has beeninvolved in the crime and isevading his arrest.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JUNE 14

Strongly denying that he hadever called Goans as squealingpigs, the PWD Minister offeredto resign both as an MLA andMinister if proved that he hadmade the statement.

What I had said was that theNGOs are always crying whenthe government takes up devel-

opment and also when there isno development. I had nevercompared Goans to crying pigs.I have no right to say that, anagitated Alemao said.

The Navelim MLA said hewould never call Goans pigs andaccused his political opponentbehind the campaign againsthim on the issue.

If I have ever called Goans

Churchill denies calling Goans squealing pigsOffers to resign if statement proved

pig, I am ready to resign as anMLA. What I had said was thatin Goa, there should be a policyon housing as there are around1000-2000 Goan builders andaround two lakh workers em-ployed in the construction in-dustry. Everywhere, the NGOsdemand a stop on the construc-tion activity, he said, addingin Goa, Christians rear pigs andkill them. If we go to catch pigsto rear or kill them, they dontknow why they cry.

In the same way, he said thatthe NGOs are crying even whenthe government tries to take updevelopmental project such asthe bridges in his Navelim con-stituency.

He blamed his political op-

ponent from Navelim for writingletters to the Editor in the localpapers. Goans by and largeknow what Churchill has donefor Goa. It is very difficult to getanother Churchill. The sacrificewhich I and my family made forthe Konkani language, everyoneknows. People will realise mycontribution only when I leavethis world, Alemao added.Some people even came to Car-mona with a pig. My supporterswere agitated and disturbedover the false campaign, but Iadvised them not to react, hesaid, and reminded his politicalopponents that only God andthe people of Goa can finish himpolitically and termed his op-ponents as mere samples.

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JUNE 14

The Goa Association of Prema-turely Retired Employees of Gov-ernment of Goa have decidedto go on hunger strike as theState government has failed topay heed to their impending de-mands.

In a memorandum submittedto the Chief Minister DigambarKamat on Monday, the associationhas demanded that their demandsbe accepted within 15 days.

We will have no option butto proceed on chain hunger strikeindefinitely by talukawise repre-sentatives; in case the matter isnot settled within a period of fif-teen days, the association said.

The chief minister is learntto have assured the associationto look into the matter.

The association memoran-dum says that the central CivilServices Vth Pay commission

Prematurely retiredgovt staff seek

resolve to demandsThreaten to go on hunger strike

1996 envisaged the age of su-perannuation to 60 (sixty) yearsto all government employeesbut the Goa Government re-tained the age of superannua-tion as fifty eight years (58)instead of sixty years (60).re-sulting in violation of the termsof Goa Daman & Diu reorgani-zation act 1987.

Subsequently, the memoran-dum says, the age of superan-nuation was enhanced to 60years vide in 1998.

Again the superannuationage was reduced to 58 years in1999 only to be raised to 60years in 2007, the memoran-dum says.

In view of the above, thememorandum says, 293 nos ofrepresentations of retired gov-ernment servants at the age of58 years were sent to the chiefminister & The chief Secretaryon October, 27, 2009 and sec-ond lot of 235 nos of such rep-resentations were sent to themon November, 11 2009 request-ing monetary benefit for twoyears (incremental benefits, payand allowances, pension andpensionary benefits) accordingly.

However, the association says,it is very much regretted to notethat nothing is heard from chiefminister and the chief secretarytill date.

Nilkanth yet to be givenportfolioHERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JUNE 14

Even a week after he was for-mally sworn in as the minister,NCPs Thivim legislator NilkanthHalarnkar is yet to be given anyportfolio.

Halarnkar was sworn in onlast Tuesday, af ter formertour i sm min i s te r Mickk yPacheco resigned from the cab-inet following his questioningby the Crime Branch in NadiaTorrado death case.

Halarnkar has expressed hisdesire to take over as the Tourismportfolio saying he would put anend to the rave parties in theState if given a chance.

However, when contacted hesaid that it was the prerogativeof the Chief Minister to decideon the matter.

The NCP too wants the port-folios of Tourism, Captain ofPorts and Housing Board begiven to Halarnkar saying theywere with their party ministerearlier.

When contacted Chief Min-ister Digambar Kamat told Her-ald a decision in this regard isyet to be reached.

There has been no decisionon the portfolio as yet, Kamattold this reporter over phone.

He said he will discuss withthe high command and take adecision soon.

pg3:Layout 1 6/14/2010 11:54 PM Page 1

GOA GOA, TUESDAY, JUNE 15, 2010

HE

RA

LD

Pg 4sHoRt tAKes upcoming events

Computer Academy opened

Sr Jennifer Crasto inaugurates Computer Academy at St AlexsConvent, Calangute. Photo by Thomas Fernandes

CALANGUTE(HC): Superior General of Handmaids of ChristCongregation Sr Jennifer Crasto inaugurated the ComputerAcademy of the Congregation at St Alexs Convent, Calangute,on Sunday.

Sr Crasto inaugurated the Computer Academy in the presenceof St Alex Church, Calangute, Parish Priest Fr Carmo Martins.Others present at the inaugural ceremony included Sr AmeliaDSouza, Sr Joanita DSouza, Sr Lina Dias, Sr Tomacine DSaand Sr Perpetua Fernandes among others.

Sr Jennifer Crasto cut the ribbon to throw open the ComputerAcademy for the public, while Fr Martins blessed the premisesand invoked Gods blessing for the commercial premises in in-terest of all concerned.

Sr Sunita has been entrusted the teachers job with varietyof courses including Web Designing, Desktop Browsing, HTML,Multimedia, Accounting and Basic/Advance courses. Fro moredetails, contact the Computer Academy on 2914257.

Pediatric conference heldPANJIM(HND): The Goa Association of Pediatricians recently

hosted the 8th National CME of Pediatric Infectious Diseasesat the NIO Auditorium, Dona Paula. This was the first timethat a national event in pediatrics was held in Goa.

National President of Indian Academy of Pediatrics Dr DeepakUgra was the chief guest on the occasion. Dr Deepak compli-mented the Goa Association of Pediatricians for the progressmade by them in the academic field over the last few yearsand also for achievement of several milestones in the healthsector.

He also appraised the State government and Directorate ofHealth Services for their efforts in making Goa free from Poliocases, for the last 10 years and now, recommended the use ofinjectable polio vaccine.

The Conference was addressed by 30 eminent nationalfaculty members and attended by 250 pediatricians from allover India. The highlights of the scientific topics discussedwere, polio eradication in India, future perspectives, issueson recent vaccines, antibiotics, childhood diseases like malaria,dengue, chikungunya, pneumonia.

The National Pediatrics Infectious Diseases Chapter felicitatedthe organising chairperson Dr Virendra Gaonker, organisingsecretary Dr Nelly de Sa and treasurer Dr Sushma Kirtani, andscientific committee chairperson Dr Shivanand Gauns, fortheir commendable efforts in making this prestigious event agrand success.

Sanguem school re-opensPANJIM(HND): Miracles High School and Miracles PrimarySchool, Sanguem began the academic year 2010-2011 recentlywith a Eucharistic celebration, the theme being Bloom, Godloves you.Rev Fr John C DSouza, Manager of Miracles High School andRev Fr Michael Rebello, the Headmaster of the School werethe main celebrants. The priests urged the students to bloomintellectually by developing their minds and to bloom spirituallyby coming closer to God and to bloom morally by leavingbehind what is bad and cultivating what is good.During his homily, Rev Fr John C.DSouza preached about theduties of the headmaster, the teachers, the parents and mostof all, the students. The liturgy was organized by Enid da Costa.

HERALD NEWS BUREAU

PANJIM, JUNE 14

It is the good attitude of thePriest that matters to resolveadministrative problems, stateda Pilar professor of theology,during the keynote address ofthe Inaugural year of the PilarTheological College on June 11.

Pilar Professor Fr Kyriel D-Souza, who delivered the LecttioBrevis, Priest A Steward ofCommunity was referring tothe recent accusations reportedby media about administrativemismanagement made bypriests.

Fr DSouza, who is currentlythe Provincial Superior of thePilar Society, said priests needthe specific contribution of thelaity not only for the organiza-tion and administration of thecommunity, but also for faithand charity.

A certain osmosis exists be-tween the faith of the priest andthat of the other faithful, saidFr DSouza.

Fr DSouza noted the internaldangers to the priestly ministrywith regard to bureaucracy, func-tionalism, democratization,planning which is more mana-gerial than pastoral.

Unfortunately in some cir-cumstances, priests can be over-whelmed by structures whichoverpower them and are not al-ways necessary, or which inducenegative psycho-physical con-sequences detrimental for the

Good attitude of priest matters to resolve problems in parish

Pilar Professor Fr Kyriel DSouza delivers the keynote address atthe Pilar Theological College.

spiritual life and for the veryministry itself, Fr DSouza said.

It is both urgent and neces-sary to ensure unity among allecclesial forces so as to respondeffectively to the attacks cur-rently being made on priestsand their ministry, he added.

Fr DSouza stated that themost attractive image of a priestis a Man of God for others.Ven. Fr Agnelo DSouza, whowas humble, accountable andtransparent even beyond office

hours , is a role model topriests, he said.

Archbishop Emeritus RaulGonsalves recalled the words ofPope Benedict XVI and affirmedthat the priest is not a socialworker, but a man of God. Theprelate warned about thehermeneutics of discontinuityand rapture and called to choosethe hermeneutics of continuityand reform.

In his inaugural address, Rec-tor of the Pilar Theological Col-

lege Fr Anslemo DSouza statedthat peace with God, peace withCreation is the theme for theentire seminary year.

He informed that there are41 students of theology, 5 dea-cons are exercising diaconateministry, 19 students studyingPhilosophy in Nagpur, 10 doingtheir regency and 64 studentsdoing their graduation in theProvinces.

Fr Walter Gomes, Vicar Gen-eral and Chairman of FormationCommission, released the Hand-book 2010-10 of the Pilar The-ological College.

Dr (Fr) Jacob Theckanath, abiblical scholar, presently Exec-utive Secretary of the Federationof the Asian Bishops Conference(FABC) Office of Evangelizationwas the moderator for the in-augural lecture.

Archbishop Emeritus RaulGonsalves later presided overthe solemn Eucharistic celebra-tion in the Pilar Seminary Chapel.As the church is formally closingthe year dedicated to Priests onthe solemnity of the SacredHeart of Jesus, Archbishop Gon-salves invited the people to con-tinue to pray for the priests.

The ministries of Lector andAcolyte are the first step towardspriesthood, stated Bishop Gon-salves, while conferring the min-istries of lector and acolytes to10 students of theology. Theseministries precede the diaconateordination.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JUNE 14

Tiatr Academy Goa (TAG) organ-ized recently a workshop ontiatr at Desterro High School,Vasco in collaboration with theschool authorities. 45 studentsof Standard IX and all the teach-ers of the school attended theworkshop and actively partici-pated in the proceedings.

Tomazinho Cardozo, Presi-dent of TAG gave the history oftiatr in brief and explained aboutthe correct traditional formatof tiatr. He also gave detailedinformation about songs (Kan-

taram) which are an integral partof tiatr.

Anil Kumar, a veteran tiatrartiste dealt with the directionof tiatr and explained the par-ticipants the various aspects ofdirection such as acting, stagesetting, background music,light effects, etc. The studentsof Desterro High School pre-sented a small skit on the oc-casion.

The headmistress SarojiniSousa welcomed and JyotiPanchal, theatre art teacherp r o p o s e d t h e v o t e o fthanks.

TAGs workshop at Vasco school

The students of Desterro High School performing a skit on the oc-casion.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JUNE 14

A General Body meeting of In-dian Academy of Cytologists washeld recently at Edinburgh. Atthis meet it was finalized thatthe Indian Academy of Cytolo-gists has been affiliated to theEuropean Federation of Cytol-ogy Societies (EFCS). The IndianAcademy of Cytologists whichconsists of Cytopathologists andCytotechnologists in India andhas a membership of around1400 can now interact with theEuropean Societies.

According to a press release,the Indian Academy of Cytolo-gists was represented by Dr RG Wiseman Pinto- Past Presi-dent of IAC and Professor andHead of Dept of Pathology GoaMedical College and Hospital.The EFCS was represented byall the members of the Euro-pean Federation. The Presidentof the EFCS is Dr FernandoSmith for Portugal and the Sec-retary is Dr Phillipe Vielh fromFrance.

The Indian Cytopathologistscan now gain access to the tu-torials, CMEs and conferencesbeing held in Europe. The Cy-topathologists form Europe willalso visit India when the IAC or-ganizes its Annual National Con-ferences and CMEs.

The diagnostic terminologyfor reporting the FNAC of Thy-roid is also being discussed.

The EFCS has a Eurocytologyprogramme where the learnerscan learn Cytology, E-Scan whichis a network of European Pathol-ogists and Cancer PreventionPrograms; there would be alsoexchange of doctors, technol-ogy, information and commonclinical studies between IAC andEFCS, Dr R G Wiseman Pinto hasbeen instrumental in the affili-ation of IAC to EFCS.

The events and journals ofEFCS would be now availableto the Indian doctors; similarlythe journals and events of Indiawould be available to the Euro-pean doctors, add the press re-lease.

Indian Academy ofCytologists gains

affiliation to EFCS

San Joao blast PANJIM (HND): Sao Joao Rain Dance Blast will be held at

Socos Creative Farm Chinchinim on June 24, from 10 am to10 pm.

Bands in attendance will be Alcataraz, Purple Rain, DJCynthia, DJ Nik besides Konkani entertainment Frog by BenEvangelisto & troupe and duo show by Agnelo & Fredy. Variouscompetitions like fancy dress, San Joao queen, coconut breaking,etc will be organised.

For details contact Stanley Pereira on 9767239123.

Cookery, bakery classesPANJIM(HND): A comprehensive course on low fat bakery

and cookery classes will be conducted from June 21 by FatimaMoniz in Margao.

The course includes cakes with decoration, desserts (hot &cold), pies, tarts (sweet & savoury), breads, cookies, souffles,mousses and veg/non-veg dishes. The cuisine will be Portugese,Goan, Continental, Italian, Indian etc. Cooking without eggswill also be taught. For details contact Fatima on 2776035 or9370275702.

Night school classesMARGAO (HR): The Adult Education and Welfare Association,

Vidhyanagar-Margao will conduct the regular night schoolclasses for Std VIII and Std IX for drop out and employed stu-dents between 6 pm to 9.30 pm at Housing Board school,Gogol near the government primary school.

Chairman Luis Alex Cardozo said the school is conductingthe night classes since last 10 years. He said students who areinterested should contact the school on mobile No 0422059808.

The school is recognised by the Education Department andby the Goa Board of secondary and higher secondary education,Porvorim, Cardozo added.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JUNE 14

Speaker Pratapsing Rane re-leased two Konkani dramabooks Pashaan Pazaar, writtenby Zilu Gaonkar and second edi-tion of Ani Ek Buto Fullo, writ-ten by Dr Prakash Vozrikar atForest Training School, Valpoiin Sattari taluka.

Both the books are publishedby Bhoomi Prakashan Saunsthaof Sarvorshem, Sattari.

Speaking on the occasion,Rane said, education can be im-pacted by using theatre skills,if the learning is fun, no childwould refuse education.

Rane congratulated both theauthors and said the authors ofthis book are experts and ex-perienced professionals in theirrespective fields. What is com-mendable is their sincere effortto make the subject compre-hensible for the common man.

Highlighting the role of au-dience in drama hall, ShridharKamat Bambolkar said, theatrerequires an audience. The phys-ical presence of an audiencechanges the performance of anartist and automatically it in-spires actors, and increases ex-pectations. Public from Sattaritaluka has proved it by gathering

in large numbers at the KalaAcademy, he added.

Hanumant Chopdekar spokeon the positive and negative as-pects of the books.

Abhay Jog, well known direc-tor, and both the authors ZiluGaonkar and Dr Prakash Vozrikaralso spoke on the occasion.

Prize distribution for poetryrecital competition was held onthe occasion.

Earlier, Abhijeet Gaonkar ofBhoomi Prakashan welcomedthe guest. Raghoba Pednekarproposed the vote of thanks,while Shyam Gaonkar comperedthe function.

Theatre skills required in childs education: Rane

Speaker Pratapsing Rane releasing the Konkani books Pashaan Pazaar, written by Zilu Gaonkar andsecond edition of Ani Ek Buto Fullo, written by Dr Prakash Vozrikar at Forest Training School, Valpoi inSattari taluka.. Also present are Shridhar Kamat Bambolkar, Abhay Jog, Dr Prakash Vozrikar, ZiluGaonkar, Hanumant Chopdekar and Abhijie Gaonkar.

GU Registraraccepts

SIOs demandHERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JULY 14

The Students Islamic organizationof India (SIO), Goa Zone submit-ted a demand letter to the Reg-istrar of Goa University requestingan extension of the last date forsubmitting the application formsfor the post-graduate coursesfrom June 15 to a further date.

According to a press release,the delegation of SIO led byAnwar Khan, zonal president wasassured by the Registrar, M M San-godkar that the dates would beextended to June 18. the SIO hadrequested to extend the dates atleast by 8 days, but the Registrarcited that the whole schedule ofthe admission would be disturbedas the entrance exams to the var-ious departments is scheduled tobe held on June 21.

The issue came to light as thefinal year graduation students havenot received the statement ofmarks and other certificates fromthe university and the last datefor submission of the applicationforms was announced on June 15.Acting on the request of SIO, theregistrar called a meeting of theexamination section of the uni-versity and assured the delegationthat the statements of marks andother certificates would be dis-patched by the university on June14 and would be made availableto the students on June 15.

The delegation consisted ofShaikh Shoaib, Member ZAC,SIO Goa Zone and Zeeshan Khanof St Xaviers College, Mapusa,representing the affected stu-dents, adds the press release.

Advocacy workshop held

Dr Nandini Korgoankar, State Entomologist from Directorate ofHealth Service speaking on the occasion.

PANJIM(HND): Advocacy workshop on vector borne diseaseswas conducted by Primary Health Centre, Curtorim at DavorlimPanchayat hall recently. The work shop was inaugurated atthe hands of the chief guest Maria Miranda, ZP member ofDavorlim and Atul Verlekar, ex ZP member was the guest ofhonour.

Subhash Zore, health worker shared his experience in thefield work of prevention and eradication of Malaria. JoseAntao, sanitary inspector urged people to maintain hygienicsurroundings while the Health Officer, Dr Shashi Parkar in herpresentation explained in details about vector borne diseases.She stressed that the construction sites were the main breedingplaces and urged upon the builders to make health cards oflabourers. She also promoted the use of insecticide treatedbed nets and said rapid diagnostic kits were available at thesub-centre and PHC.

Dr Nandini Korgoankar, State Entomologist from Directorateof Health Service briefed the gathering. There was an interactivesession with audience, where in sarpanchas from nearby villagewere present. Krishna Pagui proposed the vote of thanks. Theprogramme was compered and managed by Rajesh Arlekar.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JUNE 14

Acting Chief Secretary NarendraKumar said blood saves life as aresult there is urgent need tocreate awareness on voluntaryblood donation to the commonman as the requirement of bloodis high in the State.

Mr Kumar was speaking asthe chief guest on the occasionof World Blood Donor Day ata function jointly organized byGoa State AIDS Control Societyand Goa State Blood TransfusionCouncil at Seminar hall, Secre-tariat, Porvorim, on Monday.

Rajiv Verma, Secretary, Healthwas the guest of honour. Dr C PDas Acting Dean, Goa MedicalCollage and Dr Rajnanda Desai,Director of Health Services werealso present on the occasion.

World Blood Donor Day is ob-served as the birthday of KarlLandsteiner who discovered theblood groups which helps tosave life of million of people inthe world. Slogan of the day isnew blood for the world.

Speaking further, Kumar said,blood donation is for a noblecause and asserted the need tofocus on young generation andmotivate them for voluntaryblood donation. Private blood

donors should also be encour-aged, Kumar asserted.

He also handed over keys ofBlood Transportation Vans to DrC P Das, Dean, GMC and Dr Ra-jnanda Desai, Director of HealthServices on the occasion.

Rajeev Verma, SecretaryHealth stressed the need to mo-tivate women and studentsabove 18 years for voluntaryblood donation. More blood do-nation camps are being organ-ized to achieve targets, he added.

Dr R G W Pinto, Prof andHead, Department of Pathology,GMC in his key note address re-viewed the scenario of voluntaryblood donation and said thatthe first Blood Bank was set upin Goa in 1952. Necessary meas-ures are being taken for safetyof blood donors and the pa-tients.

Dr Pradeep Padwal, ProjectDirector, Goa State AIDs ControlSociety briefed about blood do-nation programme and stressedthe need to promote voluntaryblood donation programme toincrease blood donation unitsto cope up the blood require-ment in the state.

Supriya Dinesh Sinari, a reg-ular blood donor was also hon-oured on the occasion.

Dr N V Markande proposedthe vote of thanks while AshaVernekar compered the function.

Recruitment in Indian Navy

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JUNE 14

Indian Navy has invited appli-cations from unmarried malecandidates for recruitment asstewards, cooks and topassesfor MR/NMR 01/2011 batch inthe Indian Navy. Last date forreceipt of application is June 18.

Also, the Indian Navy has in-vited applications from unmarriedmale candidates for enrolmentas sailors for Senior SecondaryRecruits (SSR) - 01/2011 batch inthe Indian Navy. Last date for re-ceipt of application by them isJune 16 for this post.

Further, applications are in-vited from unmarried male can-didates for enrolment as sailorsfor Artificer Apprentice - 129(01/2011) batch in the IndianNavy. Last date for receipt of ap-plication is June 18.

For details, interested personnelshould download the advertise-ment from the Indian Navy websitei.e. www.nausena-bharti.nic.in orcontact Secretary, Department ofSainik Welfare, Panjim.

Need to create awareness on blood donation: Kumar

Statistics Day celebration

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JUNE 14

The Department of Planning,Statistics and Evaluation is gear-ing up to celebrate StatisticsDay on June 29 to commemo-rate the birthday of the greatStatistician Professor, P C Mo-halanobis.

The main highlight of the cel-ebration will be a cultural pro-gramme at Kala Academy. Theoccasion will be graced by ChiefMinister Digambar Kamat as thechief guest and other importantdignitaries.

Besides this a quiz competi-tion on socio-economic per-spec t i ve o f Goa w i l l beconducted at Directorate ofPlanning, Statistics and Evalua-tion, Junta House, 4th lift onJune 24.

All the Departments in Goaare requested to send a teamof 2 officers/officials and confirmtheir participation by June 16.

The Department will also or-ganize a blood donation campon June 25 and the general pub-lic is requested to come forwardat DPSE, Junta House and donateblood for a social cause.

Names of the blood donorsshould be confirmed latest byJune 20. For details contact V BSaxena on 9850685080 or SupriyaHenriques on 9822166669, saysa press release.

Restricted water supply

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JUNE 14

There will be restricted water supply to the entire Porvorim,Calangute, Saligao and Candolim areas on June 15 due to anaccident at Assonora Water Supply line near Mapusa by-pass,which has caused damages to the pipeline which needs repair,says a press release.

POWER SHUTDOWN

JUNE 15MAPUSA: Between 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are Greenpark,

Bastora Paliem, St Anthony Waddo, Monte Guirim, entire Guirim,Bodgini and surrounding areas.

JUNE 16PANJIM: Between 9 am to 5 pm. Areas affected are EDC house

opposite Talaulikar Hospital, Amina building, Bullet showroom,Maratha Bhavan building, Lar Milrock, Premevera Building, PanjimHotel, Sindurg building, Syaz complex, Mahalaxmi building, Vi-jayalakshmi apartment, Mayfair hotel building and surroundingareas.

Page 4 - 1:Layout 1 6/14/2010 9:33 PM Page 1

GOAOHeRAL

dO

Pg5GOA, tuesdAy, 15 june, 2010

==

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MAYEM, JUNE 14

Bicholim Deputy CollectorNarayan Gaad on Monday ex-pressed strong concern overthe PWDs failure to fully re-move the mud near the Bi-cholim River.

Gaad also expressed concernover the Water Resource De-partments (WRD) reluctance toremove the de-silted mud fromthe rivulet near ShantadurgaHigh School, Bicholim, despitearrival of the monsoon. Thedeputy collector feared of pos-sible floods if the mud is notcleared at the earliest.

The deputy collector onMonday inspected flood pre-cautionary work undertaken byWRD and PWD to avoid likelyfloods in Bicholim.

After inspecting, Gaad foundthat the PWD had not clearedthe mud completely from thebasin of the Bicholim River,while WRD has not removedthe de-silted mud from Bi-cholim rivulet near Shan-tadurga High School, which is

the main spot for the possiblefloods.

Bicholim MLA Rajesh Pat-nekar, Bicholim MunicipalCouncil Chairperson SatishGaonkar, WRD Engineer As-sagaonkar were also present

during the visit.Due to a cold war between

the WRD and PWD, innocentvillagers will suffer despitespending Rs 8 crore on theworks, they stated.

Meanwhile, former BMC

councilor Shashimkant NaikHalarkar has also expressedconcern over the work and hasaccused the concerned author-ities of undertaking desiltationwork without taking into con-sideration people views.

Failure to remove mud could lead to floods: Bicholim Dy Collector

POWER-PLAY: The digging of roads for laying of underground electricity cables which continues even after the onset of monsoons put mo-torists at Adaovaddo-Majorda out of gear. Incessant rains saw the mud of the open drains being washed along the narrow roads posing gravedanger to the lives of motorists.

Bicholim Deputy Collector Narayan Gaad inspects Bicholim Bridge and other areas. Photo by Vishant Vaze

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

CANACONA, JUNE 14

After raising hue and cry intothe mysterious death of NadiaTorrado, Savera President TaraKerkar has now turned her at-tention to the death of a 28-year-old woman from Cotigao.

Savera President Tara Kerkarhas suspected that the woman,who was reported missing inmid-February and found deadseven days ago, may have beenmurdered.

On Monday, Kerkar submit-ted a memorandum to Cana-cona Deputy Collector in thepresence of the womansbrother, Padi-Barcem SarpanchDattaram Gaonkar and SouthGoa ZP Deputy ChairmanKhushali Velip alleging suspi-cion in the death of ShubhangiSubhash Gaonkar.

We demand that the policeshould change the case earlierregistered by them as unnatu-ral death to murder and inves-tigate it accordingly, statedKerkar.

Kerkar stated that thewoman, originally fromQuepem, was married some-where in 2003-04 and had nochildren out of the wedlock.

Her husband used to as-sault her with blows, kicks andsticks, thereby torturing herphysically and mentally, whileshe was also harassed by otherfamily members as she did notconceive.

Even though she had re-portedly gone missing since

February 16, 2010, neither herhusband nor anyone from herhusbands family made any ef-forts to look for her or evenfiled a missing report with po-lice, stated Kerkar in thememorandum.

It was by sheer chance thatone of the nieces, who inciden-tally visited Cotigao, told herher brother that the womanwas not seen at her husbandshouse. The brother then filed amissing complaint of his sisteron February 18, states thememorandum.

Incidentally on the sameday, the womans husband re-ported sick and was admittedin a government hospital for afew days.

However, her husbanddidnt think fit to file a policecomplaint or go in search of hismissing wife. As soon as bodywas handed over by police, hecremated the body withouteven informing her mothersfamily members.

How did he perform her lastrites without informing her ma-ternal family or even herbrother, when he did not madea single attempt to look out forher or even file a missing policereport, which incidentally wasfiled by her brother, askedKerkar, who met Canacona PIRaju Raut Dessai on Monday.

Giving other details of thecircumstances and the suspi-cious manner in which her hus-band and his other familybehaved in the entire episode,

NGO sniffs murder in Cotigao womans death Kerkar demanded that thewomans husband, his motherand other siblings should bequestioned by the police tobring out actual facts.

While speaking to scribes,Kerkar compared this case tothat of Nadias death presentlyrocking the State.

According to Kerkar, policedo not take cognizance of com-plaints lodged by the commonman seriously and simply close

investigations into such myste-rious deaths as suicide cases.

Meanwhile, according toCanacona police, the autopsyreport conducted on the re-mains of the woman remainedinconclusive, as the body wasfound in highly decomposedstate.

However, her right arm hasbeen preserved and will besent for forensic analysis atChennai, informed the police.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JUNE 14

Twenty-six Thats the totalnumber of stop work orders is-sued by the flying squad inSouth Goa since Chief MinisterDigambar Kamat announcedconstitution of the squads tocheck illegal hill cutting andland filling.

Thanks to the Village Groupsof Goa, the flying squads werestreamlined by the authoritiesto meet the requirements,even though sources in theknow say the action initiatedby the Town and Country Plan-ning department is left muchto be desired.

Deputy Collector, MargaoJohnson Fernandes says thesquad has so far issued a totalof 26 stop work orders sincethe constitution of the squad.In Salcete alone, the squadhad issued around 6-8 stopwork orders either to stop hillcutting or illegal land filling. Acouple of cases were also re-

ported from Mormugao Talukaas well.

Sources in the know say itsnow left for the Town andCountry Planning departmentto initiate action against the vi-olators under section 17-A ofthe Town Planning Act.

Incidentally, representativesof the Village Groups of Goahad last week bitterly com-plaint to Senior Town PlannerPuttaraju over the inordinatedelays by the Margao Townplanner to lodge FIRs againstthe violators of the TCP Act.

Puttaraju, however, soughtto assuage ruffled feathers byasking the Town Planner, Mar-gao to begin the process oflodging FIRs in all the 18 caseswhere stop work orders wereissued by the flying squads.

As per Puttarajus instruc-tions, the Town planners aremandated to complete theprocess of lodging FIRs withthe police by coming Wednes-day.

Since inception, S Goaflying squad has issued

26 stop work orders

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MARCEL, JUNE 14

Residents of Bandora-Pondahave stopped an ongoinghill-cutting activity, which isallegedly undertaken toconstruct a road for a pro-posed residential project atNavato Wado, Bandora.

According to the resi-dents, the hill-cutting activ-ities were undertakenduring weekends and withina day shovel vehemently ex-cavated earth and almostreached to the peak. How-ever, the activity wasstopped only after the resi-dents contacted TCPs flyingsquad, which visited the siteand asked the contractor tostop the work immediately.

The residents have nowdemanded a stern actionagainst the contractor andproprietor, who is learnt tobe a local. The hill-cutting

work also allegedly axedmany fruit-bearing trees.

Our valuable fruit-bear-ing trees, including sandalwood trees, have been felledand I do not understandhow such things are al-lowed, as the contractorfreely destroyed our nature.Authorities need to act onsuch cases or else what willremain is only a barrenland, said Shashi Nageshkarof Bandora.

In protest, about hundredof villagers, including Ban-dora Sarpanch DamodarNaik, gathered at the site.

Sarpanch Damodar Naikclaimed that the panchayatdid not give permission forhill cutting and assured theresidents that he will notallow such illegality. How-ever, Naik said the file per-taining to developing ofplots in the area was ap-

proved by the TCP.The file pertaining to

plots was cleared few yearsago, after the developer hadacquired permissions fromthe Town and Country Plan-ning Department. I dontunderstand how the buildercarried out such a massivehill cutting. We wont allowsuch things in our pan-chayat jurisdiction, saidNaik.

Former Bandora sarpanchShekhar Naik has urged theresidents to stay united andnot allow any more hill-cut-ting activity in the area.

If people are united,then such activities can benailed down and I urge thepeople not get carried awaywith political pressure. Wemust stand united to fightagainst such forces who aredestroying our motherearth, said Shekhar Naik.

Residents stop hill-cuttingactivity at Bandora

Bandora villagers gathered in protest over hill-cutting activity. Photo by Amresh Parab

Speaker toget ex-NCC Achievers

AwardHERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JUNE 14

Speaker of Goa Legislature As-sembly Pratapsing Rane will beawarded The Navhind TimesEx-NCC Achievers Award,which will be presented onJune 30, at International Cen-tre, Dona Paula, at 4.45 pm.

The President of State Ex-cadets NCC Association Goa(SENA-GOA), Adv Avinash Bhosleaddressing a press conferenceat the International Centre,Dona Paula said that Chief Min-ister Digambar Kamat who wasalso Ex-NCC Cadet will be thechief guest for the function.

Commissioner for NRI Af-fairs, Eduardo Faleiro will bethe Special Guest.

Chief Minister Kamat washonoured last year as Ex-NCCAchiever with The

The selection committeeformed under the chairman-ship of Dr Edward DLima hasselected seven names for theseachiever awards such asSpeaker of Goa Legislative As-sembly and former Chief Minis-ter Pratapsing Rane (Politics),Superintendent of Police JoseAllan de Sa (Goa Police Service),Director Sports Authority ofIndia Roque Dias (Sports), Di-rector Women & Child, SanjeevGadkar (Goa Civil Service), Adv.Ajitsingh Rane (Law), FormerSuperintendent of Police, Fin-ton DSouza (For his efforts toimprove Civil Defence set up inthe State), John Aguiar of De-partment of Information & Pub-licity ( Literature/Media).

Bhosle said that this was amotivational project whichhelps motive the young boysand girls to join NCC. NCC hesaid, helps the youths to makethem strong and develop theirpersonality. It brings positivequalities in the individual, hesaid.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JUNE 14

Fish and other vendors operat-ing from the old fish marketcalled on the Margao MunicipalChairperson Savio Coutinhoand made a fervent appeal tohim not to crack a whip againsttheir activity.

They maintained that ven-dors engaged in the activity atthe old fish market and sur-rounding area are mostlyGoans and eke a living on thesmall time business.

They feared immediatecrackdown by the Margao Mu-nicipal authorities as the ven-dors were issued a warning byone of the Market inspector tostop the activity or face action.

The vendors impressed uponthe Chairperson that they havenowhere to go and appealedthat they be spared from theimminent action.

The chairperson gave the ven-dors a patient hearing and as-sured to discuss the matter withthe Chief Officer Y B Tawde.

Sources in the know said themarket inspector issued thewarning to the fish and othervendors to stop the activitywith immediate effect. Whatsuddenly made the authoritiesto stop the activity remains un-known, but sources in theknow said it comes against thebackdrop of the similar actioninitiated by the Civic bodyagainst illegal fish vending atthe pick-up stand.

Incidentally, the Chairpersonis believed to have questionedthe Chief Officer over the deci-sion of the market inspector toselectively target the fish ven-dors when the very same in-spector has been found

Fish vendors urgeMMC to allow

activity at old market

wanting in his duties in clear-ing encroachments in the Mu-nicipal markets.

Sources in the know said theCivic body had in the past at-tempted to clear the fish ven-dors from the old fish market,but in vain.

n They maintained thatvendors engaged inthe activity at the oldfish market and sur-rounding area aremostly Goans and ekea living on the smalltime business.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

OLD GOA, JUNE 14

A 31-year-old native of Indore(MP) but residing at Loutolimdied in a road mishap alongthe highway at Santa Cruz onSunday evening.

According to police re-

ports, Victor Francis, a sales-man for a mobile service net-work, was riding his TVSVictor motorcycle (GA-OA-H-3112) from Panjim to Margao,when he went off the roadand rammed into a tree nearLuis and Co showroom at St

Cruz.Old Goa Police said the rider

sustained grievous head andspinal injuries and was shiftedto the GMC hospital at Bam-boim, where he breathed hislast while undergoing treat-ment.

One dies in Santa Cruz mishap

pg5 6/15/2010 12:34 AM Page 1

INDIAOHeRAL

dO

Pg7GOA, tuesdAy, 15 june, 2010

==

HERALD BUREAU

NEW DELHI, JUNE 14

India on Monday called forevolving creative solutions tosettle Kashmir problem, whileurging Pakistan to shed its in-security psyche and not seeIndias growth in subjective ornegative terms.

Addressing a close door ses-sion on AfghanistanIndiaPakistan trialogue organised byDelhi Policy Group (DPG), For-eign Secretary Nirupama Raoadmitted that a progress onJammu and Kashmir was madeon the basis of an understand-ing with Pakistan that bound-aries could not be redrawn.

The text of Raos speechmade public here stated thatthe idea of understanding wasto make boundaries irrelevantand people on both sides ofthe LoC be able to move freelyand trade with one another.

Towards this goal, a num-ber of cross-LoC CBMs wereput in place, which includedthe opening of five crossingpoints on the LOC; introduc-tion of triple entry permits; in-crease in frequency ofSrinagar-Muzaffarabad andPoonch-Rawalkot bus services;starting of cross-LOC trade onSrinagar-Muzaffarabad andPoonch-Rawalakote routesthrough movement of trucks,etc, she said.

Ahead of the series of India-Pakistan engagements, ForeignSecretary Rao called for reaf-firming the progress and build-ing on achievements throughcomplex negotiations andshowing patience at the same

time. On the way forward, wehave to build on these achieve-ments. We also have to reaf-firm the progress madethrough complex negotiationsand dialogue through patientand unsung effort whether inthe composite dialogue orback channel diplomacy, dur-ing this period. We must seekcreative solutions, she toldthe conference.

Emphasising that as the twocountries commence the exer-cise of overcoming the difficul-ties in the relationship, Raosaid India seeks a stable,peaceful and economicallyprogressing Pakistan. "Sec-ondly, we sincerely desirepeace with Pakistan. Thirdly,we have to learn to live withthe asymmetries in our sizesand capabilities. Such differ-ences of scale should not deterus from working with eachother. Pakistan should shed itsinsecurity on these counts,"she said, adding that India hasexhibited a true restraint, de-spite "misguided and seriousprovocations".

She asked Pakistan to pre-vent the entry of radical ideol-ogy into the domain ofreligion, and, the consequentimplications for peace and se-curity between India and Pak-istan, making differences overKashmir even more difficult."Radical, terrorist forces arealso increasingly battling forlarger space in a deadly strug-gle that seeks to overwhelmmoderate, democratic forces inPakistani civil society," the For-eign Secretary said. "The writ-

ing on the wall must be seen,"she said.

Terrorism as a continuationof war by other means and theuse of terrorist groups selec-tively as strategic assetsagainst India cannot and mustnot continue, she said.

"As an intrinsic part of thelong-term vision of relations itdesires with India, Pakistanmust act effectively againstthose terrorist groups thatseek to nullify and, to destroythe prospects of peace and co-operation between our twocountries," Rao said in her ad-dress. She said the road aheadis a long and winding one. Butas fellow travellers, India andPakistan must tackle the chal-lenges of this rocky road withthe belief that a secure andprosperous future vitally andcrucially depends on our abilityto do so."

The remarks come ahead ofthe meetings between the For-eign Secretaries this monthand Foreign Ministers nextmonth who have been directedby their respective Prime Min-isters to work out the modali-ties of restoring trust andconfidence in the relationshipthus paving the way for a sub-stantive dialogue on all issuesof mutual concern.

Noting that geographicalcontiguity and shared history,ethnic and linguistic affinities,and similar developmentalchallenges have not induced aninevitable congruity betweenthe interests of the two, Raosaid "That is the tragedy of ourrelationship.

India asks Pak to shed sense of insecurity

HERALD BUREAU

NEW DELHI, JUNE 14

The Cabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) is understoodto have cleared a proposal forthe Home Ministry to raise itsown construction force alikethe Border Roads Organisa-tion (BRO) for undertakingconstruction of roads andbridges in the Maoist-affectedareas.

The Indian Army will provideits officers from the Corps ofEngineers initially to build upthe new organisation, theHome Ministry sources said.The Corps is the backbone ofBRO raised in 1960 to buildand maintain roads in the bor-der areas.

The initial proposal was toengage the BRO in the Maoist-affected areas but it wasdropped after reviewing thebig workload entrusted to it toconstruct a network roads onthe borders of China to matchthe all-weather roads it has

built on the other side, sourcessaid.

They said the CCS notedvery poor road communicationnetwork in the tribal areas inthe grip of the Maoist ultras.Responsibility of buildingroads in the states rests withtheir public works department(PWD) who mostly engage pri-vate contractors for the job.

The CCS noted that theMaoists not only extractmoney from the contractors toallow their machinery in theareas under their control butalso prevent construction ofany roads in the sensitiveareas.

Since the state governmentsdo not provide the needed po-lice protection to the contrac-tors to carry out works, theCCS felt the Home Ministryshould have an organisationthat undertakes constructionof roads and bridges on itsown, without engaging thecontractors, sources said,

pointing out that such an or-ganisation will have own secu-rity apparatus to take on theMaoists if they obstruct theconstruction.

The budget for the organisa-tion will come from the fundsallotted by the Home Ministryto the state governments fordevelopment works in theMaoist-affected areas.

The organisation will beraised with the help of the of-ficers of the Corps of Engineerswith the BRO and engineers ofthe Central Public Works De-partment (CPWD). It will beheaded by an Army General.

The Indian Army is opposedto take over the anti-Naxal op-erations on the ground that itspersonnel are not trained forcivilian duties of a police force.It is, however, not opposed tospare a sizeable number of en-gineers, both civilian and mili-tary, from BRO for theproposed organisations,sources added.

Home Ministry to raise own BRO for naxal areas

PTI

GHAZIABAD, JUNE 14

Protesting Jat leaders, who hadstopped water supply fromhere to Delhi demanding reser-vation in government jobs,today suspended their agita-tion after talks with govern-ment officials.

The agitation by AkhilBharatiya Jat Sangarsh Samiti(ABJSS) in Muradnagar in Ghazi-abad since last night had hitwater supply across the na-tional capital from the UpperGanga Canal.

Almost all areas in South andEast Delhi faced cuts in watersupply due to the agitation bylocal BKU and Lok Dal leaders,Jal Board officials in Delhi said.

District Magistrate R RameshKumar said that full water sup-ply to Delhi will be restored ina day or two as two keys at thewaterworks have been dam-aged by the protestors.

He told PTI that ABJSS leaderChoudhary Yashpal Malikagreed to suspend the agita-tion after talks with represen-tatives of the Central and stategovernments.

Officials said that theprotesting leaders will hold de-tailed talks with the govern-ment representatives on thedemand for reservation in gov-ernment jobs and in higher ed-ucation as also amendment tothe Hindu Marriage Act, 1955,to ban same gotra weddings inthe Jat community.

Malik said that the agitationwould be resumed if the talksfailed to find a way out in a dayor two.

Jat leaders suspend agitation, water supply to resume to Delhi

The District Magistratemade it clear that securityforces would remain deployedat the waterworks and nobodywould be allowed to take thelaw into their hands.

Two major water treatmentplants, Sonia Vihar and Bhagi-rathi, which get water from theUpper Ganga canal, could notfunction this morning due tonon-supply of water. They caterto 40 per cent water require-ments of Delhi.

Irrigation department saidthat water supply to Delhi mayremain suspended for two daysas the waterworks would needsome repairs. Water, once re-

leased, takes at least five hoursto reach Delhi.

Meanwhile, a burst in amajor pipeline in Haiderpuralso resulted in water cut inPalam and other neighbouringareas.

The pipeline burst yesterdayand Delhi Jal Board engineerswere working to restore thewater supply, a senior DJB offi-cial said.

Meanwhile, Chief MinisterSheila Dikshit said she wasvery "disturbed" over the watercrisis in the city and assuredthe people that all steps will betaken to restore water supplyto the city.

PTI

NEW DELHI, JUNE 14

Taking a tough stand, the Cen-tre today decided to send secu-rity forces to remove the65-day-old blockade by Nagagroups of the two nationalhighways, which has created asevere shortage of essentialcommodities in Manipur.

"We have decided to sendCentral forces to remove theblockade," Home Secretary G KPillai told PTI.

National Highways 39 (Im-phal-Dimapur) and 53 (Imphal-Silchar), passing throughNagaland and connecting Ma-nipur, have been blocked bydifferent Naga groups sinceApril 11 to protest Manipurgovernment's refusal to allow

NSCN leaders T Muivah's entryinto Manipur to visit his ances-tral home.

Pillai said that the chief sec-retaries of Nagaland and Ma-nipur will meet on Wednesdayto review the situation there.

The economic blockadehas pushed Manipur on theverge of a breakdown withstocks of all essentials com-modities, including babyfood and life saving drugs, al-most drying up.

The All Naga Students' Asso-ciation had launched the block-ade to protest holding ofelections to six autonomousdistrict councils in the Hillswhich, it alleged, were givennot enough power to carry outdevelopment works.

Centre to send forces to remove Manipur blockade

pg7 6/14/2010 9:41 PM Page 1

Aletter to the editor appearing in one of thelocal dailies correctly summed up the po-litical scenario that is prevalent in the state

today. The part where the writer describes hisfoolish audacity to stand for an assembly electionand the consequential snubbing by a well meaningneighbour, who had the cheek to inform him thatin spite of being a good man he would not dotheir work, should come as an eye-opener tomany who want to plunge into the political arenaand change the whole system.

The you scratch my back and I will scratchyours tone with which every aspiring candidateis greeted and encouraged, leaves nothing to theimagination. When the electorate itself has nocompunctions about expecting their elected rep-resentatives to promote corruption and nepotism,why should it cry foul when, in a sudden flash,their leaders are caught with their pants down,literally?

The initial period, when a newly elected mem-ber learns the ropes, is nothing less than an ini-tiation into the mannerisms of flowing with thetide, graduating into devising flagrant ways offlaunting and bending the law of the land. Thefirst stint in the house goes into cementing onesplace in the order of things the alliances andloyalties that will decide ones political future.The growing power and the consequential richesgradually become addictive.

There are a few who appear to be in a hurryand intent on scaling the peaks in a jiffy. I wouldcall these contenders the by default members.They are the dark horses in multi-cornered con-tests who triumph due to splitting of v