log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2020 GOA Now, Muslims vow to support those who will walk the talk on kabrastan Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday 10 pages 2 The Goan (Playstore) PRICE ` 6 VOLUME VI, NO. 161 GOA Minister: Road tax paid before waiver to be adjusted in future 5 Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 INDIA In Delhi Chalo march, Punjab farmers brave water cannons CM directs Pollution Board to conduct inspection at MPT SAYS COAL HANDLING WILL BE HALVED BASED ON TEST RESULTS THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said the State government will slash the maximum permissible quantum of coal handled at the MPT after results of fresh tests being conducted by the Goa State Pollution Control Board. Sawant said, he has directed the GSPCB to conduct fresh tests and prepare report on the pollution caused at MPT with the coal handling operations there. “The government has asked GSPCB to revisit the permission process for coal handling at MPT,” Sawant said, adding that pollution levels with current permissible quantum will be checked. The decision to slash the Goa policy to spur exporters set up base notified PANAJI: The policy adipted by the State government in a bid to spur export businesses set up base here was notified earlier this week. The policy provides for several measures related to policy, infrastructure, common facility, ease of doing business, among others for export businesses. Goa, according to official Government of India claims, ranks 16 among States from where goods and services are exported. It contributes 0.69 per-cent of the country’s total exports with pharma gobbling the lion’s share. IN SHORT >> Assam bids farewell to former CM Gogoi GUWAHATI: The final rites of former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi were performed on Thursday with full state honours at the Nabagraha Cremation ground in Guwahati. Assam bade an emotional farewell to its beloved Tarun Gogoi amid the chanting of hymns, preceded by a gun salute. WEATHER >> Max: 34.2 C Min: 20.4 C Humidity: 65% TIDES Low: 02:48 15:17 High: 08:48 22:08 SAID SAWANT ... „„The government has asked GSPCB to revisit the permission process for coal handling at MPT. Pollution levels with current permissible quantum will be checked „„The decision to slash the quantum of the fossil fuel permitted to be handled at MPT by 50 percent will be taken after the GSPCB submits this fresh report quantums of the fossil fuel permitted to be handled at MPT by 50 percent will be taken after the GSPCB submits this fresh report, he added. On Wednesday, after a cabinet meeting, Sawant had said the coal handled at MPT will be halved in a bid to placate a swelling agitation against the government’s alleged bid to hasten projects cumulatively suspected to contribute to a coal transportation corridor. The three projects - - double tracking of the South Western Railway track, four-laning of National Highway 4A and a private power project involving laying inter-State transmission lines -- have faced stiff and persistent opposition with the agitation against them swelling over the last BJP MLAs snubbed for beating protest drums against coal PANAJI: Reprimanding its own legislators who joined the anti-coal protests, state BJP President Sadanand Shet Tanavade said that MLAs should stay within respectable limits and should have talks with CM and the government to get clarity on the issue. BJP MLAs, including Water Resources Minister Filipe Neri Ferrao, former Environment Minister Alina Saldanha and Cuncolim MLA Clafasio Dias, have openly joined the anti-coal agitations.  several recent weeks. The growing stir has also gained a soaring traction nationally and even globally through social media platforms where the hashtag #SaveMollem campaign is resonating. The projects cut through protected forests of the Bhag- Dental college students cry in pain over fee hike >> See pg 2 wan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and the Mollem National Park. The nod to these projects was granted by the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) dubiously during the national lockdown via a video-conferencing meet in April. >Continued on P6 PANAJI he Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday announced a “Veej Andolan” in Goa to challenge the BJP government in the state to provide uninterrupted power supply to Goans and also provide it for free to those consuming up to 200 units per month. AAP leader Valmiki Naik pointed out that frequent power cuts are common in areas like Netravali in Sanguem taluka, Canacona, including Panjim, and Power Minister Nilesh Cabral’s hometown of Curchorem, because of which people have to unnecessarily invest in inverters and other power backups. “Not only are the power cuts inconvenient but power fluctuations are another cause T Lack of clarity, confusion over Rohit Sharma’s injury: Kohli 10 HC grants interim stay on govt’s cess notice THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The Bombay High Court at Goa has granted an interim stay on the operation of the Goa government’s notice to the JSW Group asking that they pay up around Rs 160 crore rural development cess, that the government says has been accrued between 2014 and 2018. Earlier this month the Goa government had issued notices to JSW among other companies asking that the dues be paid up within 15 days failing which action to recover the monies and initiate prosecution would be undertaken. The High Court had back in October dismissed the State government’s preliminary objections to the maintainability of the petition and held that the petition was maintainable before the Court. In its petition, JSW has challenged the constitutional validity of the Goa Rural Improvement and Welfare Cess Act, 2000, and the Rules questioning the levy of cess ARGUMENTS OF COAL HANDLER „„If the Goa government interprets the term ‘transport’ in the Act to include the railways as well, then the Act becomes constitutionally susceptible „„Therefore, even a show cause notice, according to the petitioners, could not be sustained because the authority that issues lacks the power NEXT ACTION „„The matter has now been kept for December 17 for further hearing in the case on inter-State transportation of goods by rail from the Port in Goa to other States, such as Karnataka. Appearing for JSW, Adv Mukul Rohatgi had argued that the manner in which the Goa authorities intend to apply the law to JSW, “it falls foul of the constitutional scheme as to distributing powers in the federal set up.” Rohatgi submitted that JSW imports the coal to the port at Goa and then transports exclusively by train to other parts of the country. “Unless the transportation is through the inland roads of the State, this statute will have no application. Much depends on the interpretation of the provisions, which are generic as to the nature of transportation,” he said. “If the Goa government interprets the term ‘transport’ in the Act to include the railways as well, then the Act becomes constitutionally susceptible. Therefore, even a show cause notice, according to the petitioners, could not be sustained because the authority that issues lacks the power,” he argued. BEGINNING OF MARRIAGE SEASON THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The newly admitted students of the Goa Dental College have complained to the Health Department against what they say is an “unreasonable, unjustified and arbitrary” hike in the fees for the post graduate courses at the Goa Dental College and Hospital to which they have only recently enrolled. The students are aggrieved that the Goa government has hiked the fees from Rs 12,000 per semester to Rs 1-lakh per semester which takes the yearly fees from Rs 24,000 to Rs 2-lakh per year. “The fee structure prevailing at the time of counselling showed that the fees per semester for the Post Graduate students would be Rs 12,000. The students at no point of time were intimated or given any notice of any increase in the tuition fees even at the time of seeking admission,” the students have said in a missive to the Undersecretary (Health). “With the revised fees of Rs 1 lakh per semester, it translates into a whopping 833.3% increase from the previous amount of fees charged for the respective courses and such a substantial increase that too after the stu- THROUGH THE ROOF „„The students are aggrieved that the Goa government has hiked the fees from Rs 12,000 per semester to Rs 1-lakh per semester „„The 'unreasonable' hike takes the yearly fees from Rs 24,000 to a whopping Rs 2-lakh per year „„The fee structure at the time of counselling per semester for Post Graduate students was Rs 12,000 „„The students say they were not intimated of any increase in the tuition fees even at the time of seeking admission dents have taken admission is wholly arbitrary, unreasonable and unjustified,” the students, said. “The retrospective increase in fees at this point of time is therefore not only contrary to the terms of contract but is also against the principles of promissory estoppel,” the students have said. The students have argued that many of them have studied and appeared for the NEET exam by keeping the affordability of the course in mind and such a move to hike the fees after the admission process was completed as almost extortion. “We have opted for admission to the various courses based on the fee and stipend structure that was displayed during counselling and were under the bonafide impression that the same fee structure shall prevail. This increase in the fees without prior notice is not only arbitrary and unreasonable but is also totally unfair for the students who have spent years preparing for the NEET Entrance Exam and taken admission after careful planning of their finances keeping in mind the fee structure prevailing at the time of counselling,” the students have said. Women perform rituals as part of the Tulsi Vivah celebrations at Bhatulem on Thursday. The festival signifies the end of the monsoon and beginning of the wedding season in Hindu community. Narayan Pissurlenkar MUCB to shut 16 branches from January 1 THE GOAN I NETWORK MAPUSA The last vestiges of the liquidated Mapuca Urban Co-operative Bank will vanish from the physical vision of Goans from New Year’s day of 2021. The bank will be shutting down its 16 branches including one extension counter Veej Andolan: AAP's power struggle for Delhi model in Goa THE GOAN I NETWORK 7 SPORTS POWER REFERENDUM AAP is launching a referendum in Goa that will pose three main questions to Goans: „„Do Goans want end to power cuts immediately? „„Do Goans want free electricity up to 200 units and half rates up to 400 units? „„Should Pramod Sawant listen to Goans or his party high command? The referendum can be signed by a missed call on 7504750475, post which a link will be sent to sign the referendum, says an AAP press note of worry,” he said, reporting that people all over Goa complain of their electrical equipment getting damaged due to power fluctuations. To add to the suffering caused due to power cuts and fluctuations, Goans receive hefty bills from the electricity department. These bills, instead of being generated every month, are sent as accumulated bills that are too high to pay at one go,” Valmiki added. Valmiki asserted, “In the debate, Cabral accepted that the Goa government has not been able to provide an uninterrupted supply to Goans despite being in power for nine years. His hollow promises of making this possible in Goa in the next 9 months is something nobody in Goa believes as he has been utterly incompetent in the last two terms.” “Looking at the power situation in Goa, we are reminded of a similar situation in Delhi that existed in Delhi until 2013. Thereafter, Arvind Kejriwal took charge and changed the situation drastically. Today, Delhi does not have any power interruptions, has a steady voltage, and people get electricity round the clock,” AAP Goa Convenor Rahul Mhambre said. The AAP leaders mentioned that every domestic consumer in Delhi whose consumption is up to 200 units of power per month is not given any electricity bill as it is free for them. Those consuming 200 to 400 units per month are charged only 50 percent of the total bill. They further asked the Goans to check with any friends or relatives they have in Delhi to know the power scenario in the national capital and compare that with Goa. Mhambre said, “Goa also wants a 24-hour power supply and in fact, deserves it. It can be provided to them but unfortunately, both the BJP and Congress have failed. They neither have intent nor plan to provide this basic necessity to Goans. We demand from the CM that Goans be provided 24-hour continuous power supply, put an end to power cuts and make 200 units of electricity-free and up to 400 units bills half.” The AAP has launched ‘Veej Andolan’ to force the Pramod Sawant-led BJP government in Goa to give relief to Goans from power cuts and high power bills. from January 2021 which were being operated from rented premises. The bank has 24 branches in the State and the ones in rented premises will be closed and space will be handed back to the owners. The bank had already given 2 months prior notice to the owners regarding the same. They have also requested locker holders to withdraw their valuable materiel from the lockers and hand back the lockers to the bank. The branches which will be shut from January are in Mapusa City, Anjuna, Siolim, Mandrem, Taligao, Santacruz, Diwar, Ussgao-Tisk, Curchorem, Sanguem, Margao, Benaulim, Penha de Franca, Cansaulim and an extension counter in Thivim industrial estate. The bank’s general manager Shailendra Sawant in his public notice also asked for the quotation from those who are interested in buying the >Continued on P6 Defence Minister: Another 26/11 almost impossible PTI NEW DELHI A 26/11-like terror strike in India is almost impossible as the national security architecture has been significantly bolstered in the last few year, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, the 12th anniversary of the deadly Mumbai attack in which 166 people including 28 foreigners from 10 nations were killed. While addressing the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, Singh also referred to the Sino-India border row in Ladakh, and said the armed forces have been given a free hand to effectively deal with any attempts to change the Line of Actual Control and that the government will not I want to assure everyone that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, there will be no compromise on India’s self-respect, sovereignty and territorial integrity — Rajnath Singh allow any harm to India’s self respect. “I want to assure everyone that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, there will be no compromise on India’s self-respect, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said. Referring to the 26/11 attack, Singh said India is no more a soft target for terrorism due to variety of measures in the last few years, and added that Pakistan has been exposed as “nursery of terrorism” following diplomatic outreach by New Delhi. “We can assure all the countrymen that now India has strengthened its internal and external security cycle so much that it is now almost impossible to execute another 26/11 attack on Indian soil,” Singh said. On November 26, 2008, a group of 10 Pakistani terrorists went into a rampage, carrying out a coordinated attack on a railway station, two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre, after they sneaked into India’s financial capital through the Arabian sea route.