log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday The Goan (Playstore) Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday >P8 SATURDAY JANUARY 16, 2021 IN SHORT >> High-level probe into lawyer-cop nexus on bail pleas PANAJI: A high-level probe led by SP Bossuet D’Silva has begun into the practice across police stations wherein lawyers connive to coerce accused to engage them through ‘friendly’ police officers and ‘fix’ bail litigations.  >> See pg 5 All eyes on today’s Margao meeting MARGAO: All eyes are focused on the Saturday’s Lohia Maidan rally coinciding with the 54th Opinion Poll Day, which is expected not just to commemorate the historic Opinion Poll, but to chalk out the Action plan to demand the scrapping of the controversial projects and save Goa from further destruction.  >> See pg 2 Still no headway in farmers’ talks NEW DELHI: Protesting farmer unions stuck to their demand for a complete repeal of three contentious farm laws at their ninth round of talks with three central ministers even as the government asked them to be more flexible in their approach and expressed willingness for necessary amendments, as the two sides decided to meet again on January 19.  >> See pg 7 Siraj racially abused again, called ‘grub’ MELBOURNE: India fast bowler Mohammed Siraj was targetted for abuse by a section of the crowd on the opening day of the fourth Test against Australia, a newspaper reported, claiming that he was called a “grub” by some spectators.  >> See pg 8 Over 300 ultras near LoC: Army chief NEW DELHI: Around 300400 terrorists trained in camps across the Line of Control (LoC) are ready to sneak into Jammu and Kashmir, Army chief General M M Naravane said on Friday. In his speech during the Army day parade, he also said that there has been 44 per cent increase in ceasefire violations that reflects Pakistan’s sinister design. WEATHER >> Max: 33.4 C Min: 21.8 C Humidity: 83% TIDES Low: High: 07.10 01.17 18.52 12.32 8 pages PRICE ` 6 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VI, NO. 207 DEBUTANT NATARAJAN SHINES RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 People’s power reigns, govt to move IIT project out of Sattari  RESPECTED SENTIMENTS OF LOCALS: CM  NEW SITE YET TO BE SELECTED THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday finally announced that his government has decided to relocate the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus project out of the current site at Guleli in Sattari citing public sentiments. The government is yet to zero in on a new site for the IIT campus, Sawant said after a meeting with Health Minister and local elected representatives from the region at his official Altinho bungalow. He said the decision to move the project out from Sattari was taken to “respect the public sentiments of the locals”. Locals at Shel-Melauli have been agitating for months against the project and the protests recently were marred by violence when a team of THIRD TIME UNLUCKY Police face off with the agitating locals in Melauli. (file photo) government land surveyors were pelted with stones. Sawant rejected suggestions that there were vested interests in locating the project in Sattari other than developing the backward taluka. At the Chief Minister’s official bungalow on Friday morning, panchas and recently elected ZP members of the area participated in the meeting with Sawant and the home minister after which the deci- sion was taken. “This government listens to the voice of the people. Therefore, our government has decided to shift the project from Sattari to another location,” Sawant said emerging out of the meeting. The project was planned from the perspective of development, but the state government could not convince locals, he said. >Continued on P5 CASES BEING REVIEWED „„This is the third time that the government has scrapped its decision to allocate a specific site for the IIT Goa campus „„Earlier, the govt had cancelled plans to locate it in Canacona in 2016-17 and at Sanguem in 2019 „„IIT, is presently sharing a campus with the Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi „„There are requests to withdraw the cases filed against protestors „„There is a process which needs to be followed. We are reviewing the cases, says Sawant „„Criminal cases under non-bailable sections including ‘attempt to murder’ were booked against several dozens of protesters SAWANT SPEAK „„This government listens to the voice of the people „„The project was planned from the perspective of development, but the state government could not convince locals BAC sets agenda for Assembly session THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI At least four government-sponsored legislations, including a bill to replace the recently promulgated controversial Ordinance to amend the Goa Municipalities Act, are listed in the agenda for the upcoming assembly session set to commence on January 25. On Friday, the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) confirmed the business to be taken up during the 4-day session. The House will not function on January 26, which is Republic Day. Meanwhile a cabinet meeting is scheduled for next Wednesday where the government could decide on pushing through more legislations. Speculations are rife that the government is inclined to declare the upcoming elections to 11 civic bodies and the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) on political party lines. This will require amendments to the Municipalities law as well as the Corporation of the City of Panaji Act, 2003. ON THE TABLE „„Municipality ordinance replacement bill „„Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill „„Goa non-Biodegradable Garbage Control (Amendment) Bill „„Goa Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill The other government legislations listed are the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, Goa non-Biodegradable Garbage Control (Amendment) Bill and the Goa Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill to ratify the upward modification of the State’s financial borrowing limits. The budget will, however, be presented in MarchApril session, which will be of longer duration. Meanwhile, legislature department sources said 751 questions, including 195 starred questions, have been received from MLAs. Covid vaccination begins IFFI set to roll in ‘hybrid mode’ today in Goa today, 700 on day-1 GMC CLEANING STAFF, ECOCLEAN WORKERS FIRST IN LINE TO GET VACCINATED THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Goa is all set to participate in the nationwide launch of the first phase of Covid-19 vaccination drive on Saturday. The vaccination drive will commence at seven notified locations across the State where 700 health workers are expected to be vaccinated on the first day. PM Modi is scheduled to flag off the first phase of the initiative at 10.30 am via video conferencing. The locations in Goa include five government hospitals namely the Goa Medical College and Hospital in Bambolim, North Goa District Hospital in Mapusa, Hospicio Hospital in Margao, Sub District Hospital in Ponda and Sub District Hospital in Chicalim and two private hospitals which include Manipal Hospital in Dona Paula and Health way Hospital in Old Goa. These are among the 3,006 session sites identified by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the first phase of the vaccina- 100 Chicalim health workers to get jabs VASCO: While the nationwide launch of the Covid vaccine scheduled on Saturday, 100 staff and health workers associated with the Chicalim Sub District Hospital (SDH) will be among the first to receive the dose of the Covid vaccine.  >> See pg 3 tion drive. At each of the seven locations in Goa, 100 beneficiaries are scheduled to be administered a dose of the vaccine on Saturday. Goa has received 23,500 doses of the vaccine ‘Covishield’. As per the announcement by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, 18,000-odd frontline health workers will be vaccinated first followed by senior citizens. Dean of GMCH Dr S M Bandekar disclosed that cleaning staff who work at GMC’s Covid-19 ward, including employees of Ecoclean Systems and Solutions and members of GMC’s multi-tasking staff will be the first to get vaccinated. Dr Bandekar said that GMC is hoping to vaccinate the 5,000 frontline health workers attached to it during this phase. Commenting on GMC’s preparedness, Health Minister stated, “I am highly impressed with the preparations at the Covid vaccination centre at GMC to kick start the vaccination drive.” He informed that each recipient will be checked for symptoms at the entrance by the vaccinator No. 1 and then allowed to enter the waiting area. The process will begin by registering each beneficiary on the CoWin portal. These persons will then be sent to the vaccination station for their first shot. He said that a separate AEFI Management Room to deal with any adverse effect following the immunization has been set up. The exercise will be undertaken at the special “Covid Vaccination Centre’ set up at GMC’s examination hall cum auditorium. A group rehearses ahead of the opening ceremony of the 51st International Film Festival of India at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium, Taleigao on Friday. (More pics on pg 6) Narayan Pissurlenkar THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The 51st edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will have its opening ceremony on Saturday, in the presence of Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. IFFI, which takes place from November 20-28 every year, was postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic and will now be held from January 16 to January 24. The ceremony, to be held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium, will kick-start the festival’s first “hybrid mode” edition, where delegates can participate and watch films and events virtually. Multiple Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at the ceremony. For the film lovers, film critics and the overall film industry, this is for the first time in the history of this festival that the opening ceremony will witness very few VVIP guests from the film fraternity and other invitees apart from se- lected media persons. It will be heart-warming to see Pablo Cesar, an Argentine filmmaker who will be participating as jury at IFFI this year. It was in 2018 that he directed the film ‘Thinking of Him’ on the relation between Rabindranath Tagore and the Argentinean writer Victoria Ocampo. >Continued on P5 Goa trip ends in tragedy, 11 Britain to close all travel corridors from Monday killed in Dharwad mishap Record in hospital admissions AGENCIES T THE GOAN I NETWORK BELAGAVI A trip to Goa ended in tragedy when a bus driver and 10 women were killed while six others were critically injured in a road mishap near Dharwad in Karnataka on Friday morning. The group comprising some noted doctors and members belonging to a prestigious lady’s club from >Continued on P5 LONDON he UK is to close all travel corridors from Monday to “protect against the risk of as yet unidentified new strains” of Covid, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said. Anyone flying into the country from overseas will have to show proof of a negative Covid test before setting off. It comes as a ban on travellers from South America and Portugal came into force on Friday over concerns about a new variant identified in Brazil. Boris Johnson said the new rules would be in place until at The mangled remains of the minibus which met with an accident near Dharwad in Karnataka on Friday morning. LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that the NHS was facing “extraordinary pressures”, having had the highest number of hospital admissions on a single day of the pandemic earlier this week. On Tuesday there were 4,134 new admissions, and the UK currently has more than 37,000 Covid patients in hospitals. Johnson said that once the most vulnerable have been vaccinated by mid-February “we will think about what steps we could take to lift the restrictions”. least 15 February. It comes as a further 1,280 people with coronavirus died in the UK within 28 days of a positive test, taking the total to 87,291. The latest government figures on Friday also showed another 55,761 new cases had been reported, up from 48,682 the previous day. Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, the prime minister said it was “vital” to take extra measures now “when day-by-day we are making such strides in protecting the population”. “It’s precisely because we have the hope of that vaccine and the risk of new strains coming from overseas that we must take additional steps now to stop those strains from entering the country.” People coming to the UK will need to quarantine for up to 10 days, unless they test negative after five days, in line with the current policy. Johnson added that the government would be stepping up enforcement at the border. Travel corridors were introduced in the summer to allow people travelling from some countries with low numbers of Covid cases to come to the UK without having to quarantine on arrival. Trade body Airlines UK said it supported the latest restrictions. Tim Alderslade, its chief executive, said: “Travel corridors were a lifeline for the industry last summer and the government were right to bring them in when they did.