log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday SATURDAY AUGUST 6, 2022 GOA 13 pages PRICE ` 8 PWD cracks whip against illegal structures on govt land in Salcete IN SHORT >> Goa traffic police to be trained by Haryana experts PANAJI: Traffic Police personnel in Goa will be trained by experts from College of Traffic Management, Haryana, DGP Jaspal Singh said after he held a meeting with Dr Rohit Baluja, Director College of Traffic Management today. DGP also said that he discussed traffic enforcement strategy with Dr Baluja. Direct Goa-Lucknow flight launched PANAJI: Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya M Scindia on Friday inaugurated a direct flight between Lucknow and Goa operated by Air Asia. The flight effectively commenced from Friday and with a schedule of one flight per day. 156 test positive for Covid in State PANAJI: The number of Covid positive cases held steady as 156 more people tested positive from the 1472 samples that were tested in the last 24 hours. The State has now recorded a positivity rate of 10.6 per cent. India offers to sell 18 jets to Malaysia NEW DELHI: India has offered to sell 18 light-combat aircraft (LCA) ‘Tejas’ to Malaysia, the defence ministry said on Friday, adding that Argentina, Australia, Egypt, the United States, Indonesia, and the Philippines were also interested in the single-engine jet. Vice President’s election today NEW DELHI: Members of Parliament will vote on Saturday to elect the next Vice President of India in an election where National Democratic Alliance candidate Jagdeep Dhankhar is pitted against Opposition pick Margaret Alva. Hooch claims 11 lives in Bihar CHHAPRA: Eleven people have died while 12 have fallen seriously ill, many of them losing their eyesight, after consuming spurious liquor in Saran district of Bihar, a dry state, officials said on Friday. Officials said five people have been arrested for their alleged involvement. Price rise: Cong protests, Gandhi siblings detained >> See pg 9  WEATHER >> Max: 28C Min: 23C Humidity: 90% TIDES Low: High: 10.08 05.20 23.23 16.00 Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday 2 The Goan (Playstore) PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VIII, NO. 50 GOA Govt replaces Committee of Administrators of Visionaries Society 3 Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 9 INFO Get rid of dark neck instantly with potato SPORTS Big money from UAE league threatens Australia’s Big Bash Govt has no clue on quantity of fish imported into State UNION MINISTER TELLS RAJYA SABHA THERE IS NO DATA THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Claiming that fish sold in Goa is not laced with formalin or formaldehyde, Union Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Minister Parshottam Rupala has admitted that State is not maintaining the data on quantity of fish imported into the State. “The Government of Goa has reported that the data on quantity of fish imported into the State is not maintained by them and that the fish sold in Goa is not contaminated with formalin/formaldehyde”, Rupala said in reply to the unstarred question raised by Rajya Sabha MP Luizinho Faleiro. “It is reported (by the Goa government) that the Government of Goa has engaged the services of Quality Council of No report of depletion of fish catch along Goa coast: Minister PANAJI: Union Minister for Fisheries Purushottam Rupala has told the Rajya Sabha that there is no report regarding depletion of fish stock in coastal waters of Goa in the last five years. In a written reply to a question Rupala said that the marine fish production in the waters of Goa during the last five years ranged between 1.01-1.18 lakh tonnes and as such there is no substantial decrease in fish catch. The traditional fishermen have repeatedly alleged that there is decrease in fish stock along the Goa coast due to destructive fishing India (QCI) to carry out 24x7 checks on the checkpost at Pollem and Patradevi of all the fish-laden vehicles which enter the State”, the Minister said. Through the reply Rupala practices like bull trawling and use of LED lights. However government has said that all is well.  >> See pg 3  submitted to the House that there is 24x7 checking done by the concerned agencies for quality at the checkpost at Pollem and Patradevi of all fish-laden vehicles entering the State. Minister Rupala also informed the House that the Government of Goa has informed that the Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration Goa has its Food and Drugs testing Laboratory at Bambolim and is equipped with all high-end equipment/ instruments for testing of all food articles. These equipments have been procured with assistance from Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). It is further reported that the QCI also has set up a laboratory at the wholesale fish market at Margao to check all the loaded vehicles entering the State markets and samples are also drawn at random by the concerned food safety officers of the Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration, Bambolim for testing. The Directorate of Food and Drugs Administration also carries out inspections of fish vendors as per the requirement of Schedule-IV of Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, says the reply. Centre rejects Goa’s proposal for medical device park at Verna THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI In a setback to the State government, the Central government has rejected Goa’s proposal for setting up a Medical Device Park at Verna. Goa had been eyeing the possibility of setting up a cluster for manufacturing medical devices at Verna and had sent its proposal to the Department of Pharmaceuticals of the Central government. The Centre had also received proposals from other States and Union Territories. According to a release by the Union Department of Pharmaceuticals the proposals were evaluated as per the criteria given in the scheme guidelines and final approval for financial assistance of Rs 100 crore each was given to Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. The release further says that there is no proposal to establish more medical device Goa had been eyeing the possibility of setting up a cluster for manufacturing medical devices at Verna on land admeasuring 250 acres and had sent its proposal to the Union Department of Pharmaceuticals parks in the country, under the scheme and as such Goa’s proposal stands rejected. The State government had identified approximately 250 acres at the Verna Industrial Estate to set up the park. As the proposal had not yet got approval from the Centre, the State government had not approached any industries or firms to set up medical device manufacturing units. The scheme offers a grantin-aid of 70 per cent of the project cost of infrastructure facilities, up to Rs 100 crore while 30 per cent of the cost has to be borne by the State. Camping sites, safaris at INDIA ‘WRESTS’ 3 MORE GOLD Goa’s sanctuaries soon RANE TO LEAD FOREST TEAM, SEEK CENTRAL HELP THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI A plan to improve habitats in Goa’s sanctuaries and protected forests is in the making and Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane will lead a delegation comprising of Forest officials to Delhi on Monday next to seek assistance from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. The plan will include longterm and short-term measures including some ideas to develop eco-tourism activities, Rane told the media. Camping sites in wildlife sanctuaries with amenities, measures to improve the wildlife habitats leading to conditions which will help develop wildlife safaris, eco tracks are being envisaged, he said. A plan to develop Bondla zoo with private players is also being prepared. Rane said, two major camping sites are being planned at Surla in Sattari and at Cotigao in Canacona. He also said all the turtle nesting sites currently being overseen by the forest department, particularly at Morjim in North Goa and Galgibag in Canacona, will also be developed so as to attract the youth from Goa as well as tourists. The plan will also include Wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Deepak Punia increased India’s medal haul at the CWG 2022 in style on Friday winning gold medals in their respective categories BONDING WITH NATURE „„Measures to improve wildlife habitats to develop wildlife safaris, eco tracks being envisaged „„Plan to develop Bondla zoo with participation of private players „„Two major camping sites being planned at Surla in Sattari and at Cotigao in Canacona „„Turtle nesting sites at Morjim and Galgibag to be developed so as to attract youth from Goa as well as tourists „„Plan to include developing Chorao’s famed Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary „„’Eco Tracks’ to be developed in all sanctuaries developing Chorao which hosts the famed Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, he said, adding that ‘Eco Tracks’ will be developed in all the Sanctuaries. All the plans will take into account involvement of local communities, he said, adding that he will lead a delegation to meet the Union Environment and Forest Minister Bhupendra Yadav to explore and seek financial support for the plan from the Centre. Rane said, the former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Karnataka, Vinay Luthra will advise Forest officials in drawing up the plan. Meanwhile, Rane’s wife Deviya Rane who heads the Goa Forest Development Corporation has hinted at developing Surla in Sattari which adjoins the Chorla ghat and borders Karnataka could be developed as a hill station. Ms Rane said several sites in Sattari which have natural waterfalls where picnickers throng particularly in the monsoon months will also be supervised as these areas are left strewn with garbage. 13 DAZZLING DEEPAK „„Wrestler Deepak Punia added the third gold of the night by beating Pakistan’s Muhammad Inam in the men’s 86kg category „„Punia outclassed his opponent pushing him out of the mat got a lead in first three rounds 3-0 PERFECT BAJRANG „„In the men’s 65kg final, Bajrant defeated Canada’s Lachlan SHINING McNeil SAKSHI „„It was a technically perfect bout from Bajrang in the final as „„Sakshi Malik outwitted he beat the Canadian Canada’s Ana Gonzalez in the women’s 62kg category to 9-2 on points add a second gold from the sport for India „„For Sakshi Malik this is a first gold medal at CWG. She won a silver in 2014 RBI HIKES INTEREST RATE BY 50 BPS EMIs on home, auto loans set to rise PTI NEW DELHI Home, auto and other loan EMIs are set to rise further after RBI on Friday raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points, the third straight increase since May in an effort to cool stubbornly high inflation. The increase in lending rate or the repurchase rate (repo) by 50 bps to 5.40 per cent is 25 bps higher than the pre-pandemic repo level. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das signalled that the second straight half-point hike wasn’t the end of the rate tightening regime and more may come to tame inflation that has for six months stayed above the comfort zone of 6 per cent. The central bank however did not revise its existing economic growth or inflation forecast despite indications of a global slowdown, recessionary conditions in the de- veloped economies, and the moderation already witnessed in commodity prices. “Inflationary pressures are broad-based and core inflation remains elevated. Inflation is projected to remain above the upper tolerance >Continued on P5 1 in 8 patients develop long Covid symptoms: Study China steps up drills around PTI LONDON ne in eight adults who are infected with SARSCoV-2 experience longterm symptoms due to Covid, according to one of the most comprehensive studies on the viral disease to date published in The Lancet journal on Friday. The study provides one of the first comparisons of longterm symptoms after SARSCoV-2 infection, called ‘’long Covid, with symptoms in an uninfected population, as well as those in individuals both pre- and post-Covid infection. The inclusion of uninfected populations enables a more accurate prediction of longterm Covid symptom prevalence as well as improved identification of the core O KEY OBSERVATIONS OF THE STUDY „„Core symptoms recorded were chest pain, difficulties breathing, pain when breathing, painful muscles, loss of taste or smell, tingling hands and feet, a lump in throat, alternately feeling hot and cold, heavy arms or legs and general tiredness „„Severity of these symptoms plateaued at three months after infection with no further decline „„Other symptoms that did not significantly increase three to five months after a Covid diagnosis included headache, itchy eyes, dizziness, back pain and nausea „„Core symptoms have major implications for future research, as these symptoms can be used to distinguish between post Covid condition and non-Covid-related symptoms symptoms of long Covid. “There is urgent need for data informing the scale and scope of the long-term symptoms experienced by some patients after Covid illness. said Professor Judith Rosmalen from the University of Groningen in The Netherlands. “However, most previous research into long Covid has not looked at the frequency of these symptoms in people who haven’t been diagnosed with Covid-19 or looked at individual patients’’ symptoms before the diagnosis of Covid-19, said Rosmalen, lead author of the study. The study looked at the symptoms most often associ- ated with long Covid, including breathing problems, fatigue and loss of taste and smell, both before a Covid diagnosis and in people who have not been diagnosed with disease. The researchers collected data by asking participants to regularly fill out digital questionnaires on 23 symptoms commonly associated with long Covid. The questionnaire was sent out 24 times to the same individuals between March 2020 and August 2021, meaning participants who had Covid-19 during this time were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 Alpha-variant or earlier variants. Data was collected before the Covid vaccine rollout in Netherlands so the number of vaccinated participants was too small to analyse. Taiwan, cancels US talks PTI BEIJING China on Friday stepped up its provocative military drills and warplane incursions in the Taiwan Straits, as Beijing announced sanctions on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in retaliation for her highstakes visit to Taiwan and cancelled bilateral talks with Washington on defence, climate change and a range of other issues. Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on Wednesday, when she met President Tsai Ing-wen and other leaders, has infuriated China’s ruling Communist Party, which views the The PLA dispatched 68 aircraft and 13 vessels for the activities around the Taiwan Strait, part of which had crossed the median line and jeopardised the status quo of the strait self-governed democratic island as its territory that should be reunified with the mainland, even by force. China has declared four days of military exercises in six designated zones surrounding Taiwan, as part of its angry response to Pelosi’s visit to Taipei. The Eastern Theatre Com- mand of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) which oversees Taiwan, continued to conduct joint combat exercises and training in the northern, southwestern and eastern waters and airspace off Taiwan island for the second day on Friday. The PLA dispatched 68 aircraft and 13 vessels for the activities around the Taiwan Strait, part of which had crossed the median line and jeopardised the status quo of the strait, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said on Twitter. On Thursday, the first day of the 4-day drills, PLA conducted a series of live-fire exercises and training operations.