log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday TUESDAY DECEMBER 1, 2020 Covid vaccine 100% effective in severe cases, says Moderna WASHINGTON: US firm Moderna said it would file requests for emergency authorization of its Covid-19 vaccine in the United States and Europe on Monday. “Vaccine efficacy against Covid-19 was 94.1%; vaccine efficacy against severe Covid-19 was 100%,” the company said in a statement today.   >> See pg 7 Govt may auction mining leases: CM PANAJI: With the wait for a solution to Goa’s mining imbroglio growing longer, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said, the State government is considering the option of auctioning mining leases to restart the industry.  >> See pg 3 OTS scheme for power defaulters PANAJI: A one-time settlement scheme 2020 for power consumers who have defaulted on payment of dues was launched on Monday by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in the presence of Power Minister Nilesh Cabral.  >> See pg 3 PM to chair all-party meeting on Friday NEW DELHI: The Centre has called an all-party meeting to discuss the Covid pandemic situation on December 4, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expected to interact with floor leaders of various parties from both houses of parliament, official sources said.   >> See pg 7 Covid RT-PCR test in Delhi @ ` 800 NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has slashed the price of RT-PCR tests -- the gold standard for detecting Covid -- by twothirds to Rs 800 in the city. Though these tests are being conducted free of cost in Delhi’s government hospitals, they can cost up to Rs 2,400 in private laboratories. Another storm likely to hit Tamil Nadu CHENNAI: Less than a week after Cyclone Nivar battered Tamil Nadu, another storm is expected to affect the southern state, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday. WEATHER >> MAX: 34.2 C MIN: 23.9 C HUMIDITY: 78% TIDES Low: 03:22 16:45 High: 09:46 23:10 8 pages The Goan (Playstore) PRICE ` 6 VOLUME VI, NO. 166 Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 2 8 3 Centre calls Goa's Covid fatality War within Cong; Ravi farmers for rate among highest talks today in country: Statistics locks horns with Girish Airlines prep for gargantuan vaccine supply IN SHORT >> Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday GOA 6 GOA All courts in South to begin functioning regularly from today Search on to locate 2nd pilot of crashed MiG-29 in Arabian sea ABROAD ISL: FC Goa frustrated in 1-1 draw against NorthEast United PTI n ACCUSES DIGAMBAR OF NOT STRENGTHENING PARTY n DISOWNED RAVI THE DAY HIS SONS QUIT CONG: GIRISH THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Congress MLA Ravi Naik on Monday said the State unit chief Girish Chodankar and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Digambar Kamat had failed to strengthen the party at the grassroots. Naik alleged that Kamat and Chodankar were unable to effectively take up issues against the Pramod Sawant government in the State. Not the one to take such strong retorts lying down, GPCC president Chodankar voiced the unspoken truth which had been acknowledged within the party’s folds over the last couple of months. “We disowned Ravi Naik the day his children left Congress and joined the BJP. Like RAVI NAIK’S CHARGE „„Girish and Kamat failed to strengthen the party at the grassroots „„Also alleged that Kamat and Chodankar were unable to effectively take up issues against the Pramod Sawant government the former leader of Congress Legislative Party who went and joined the BJP, Ravi also has one foot in the Congress and one in the BJP. How can we trust such people?” Chodankar declared asserting that the party does not intend to repeat its past mistakes. He said that the Congress sees GIRISH’S RETORT „„Ravi has one foot in the Congress and the other in BJP, how can we trust such people? „„Party will infuse fresh blood into the organisation, Congress will not repeat its past mistakes this as an opportunity to infuse fresh blood into the organisation and electoral fray. When asked about what the Congress has in store for Ponda constituency, the GPCC president stated, “We are capable enough of putting up a completely new front in order to win back the trust. I imme- Chargesheet in Swapnil murder case has over 1200 documents diately sought the permission of the high command and set out to reorganize the Ponda block. Since August, we have shortlisted several hardworking Congressmen as our potential candidates for Ponda.” Sources from within the party divulged that Ravi had a fallout with the Congress leadership in the immediate aftermath of the official entry of his sons Ritesh and Roy into the BJP on August 6. Contrary to the speculations that his entry into the BJP was with an eye on the chair of the Ponda Municipal Council, Ritesh proposed the candidature of Vishwanath alias Apoorwa Dalvi for the post. Dalvi was elected unopposed and in his address after taking over, he >Continued on P5 NEW DELHI Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar has invited farmer unions for discussion at 3 pm tomorrow citing cold and coronavirus, as hundreds of farmers started trickling in from Punjab to join the protesters at two borders of Delhi. Farmers’ organisations said more farmers from Amritsar region who had stayed back to celebrate Gurpurab -- have left, are likely to be at the border by Tuesday. The protesters have threatened to block five entry points to Delhi. Earlier today, Union minister Amit Shah met Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar the second meet within 24 hours after farmers protesting against the farm laws rejected the Centre’s proposal of early talks after shifting their protest venue. One of the protesters died last night after suffering a heart attack -- the second since the farmers’ march to Delhi started last week. THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Goa’s Covid fatality rate is among the highest in the country and is at par with the national average, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare latest data has revealed. According to the MoHFW data, which was released by Press Information Bureau, 71 per cent of the daily fatalities between November 28 and 29 were contributed by eight states and Union Territories which include Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. On the other hand, 22 states and UTs had a case fatality rate less than the national average of 1.46 per cent. Goa was listed as the last among these 22 states with a Covid fatality rate of 1.44 per cent. While the active cases in Goa rose by 35 between November 28 and 29, Delhi’s cases dropped by 1,603. 1 death, 159 new cases PANAJI: A 60 year-old man from Dodamarg, Maharashtra passed away at Goa Medical College and Hospital in Bambolim raising the Covid victim count of Goa to 688. The Directorate of Health Services also recorded 159 new cases from among the 1,672 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The testing has dropped below 1,700 once again despite efforts from the Health Department to target 2,000-plus tests on a daily basis. Presently, a total of 47,963 cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in Goa. With 688 Covid-related deaths, the fatality rate stands at 1.43 per cent. Around 3,48,871 samples have been tested in the state so far at the rate of 2,39,191 tests per million. HONOUR & TRADITION! States intention was to murder, rob THE GOAN I NETWORK MARGAO The Crime Branch on Monday filed a chargesheet in the September 2 cold-blooded murder of young city-jeweller Swapnil Walke with the investigation agency asserting that the accused had hatched a conspiracy to murder the deceased jeweller with the sole intention of committing murder and robbery at Krishni jewellers, Margao. The voluminous chargesheet, runs over 1200 documents, which includes the statements of the witnesses, panchanama documents et al. The crime branch has cited around 113 witnesses in support of its case, including 10-11 eye witnesses, who had seen the accused fleeing from Krishni Jewellers after committing the offense. While accused Mustafa Sheikh, Evander Rodrigues and Omkar Patil has been charged under section 302 of the IPC for murder, attempt to commit robbery (398), destruction of evidence (201) and criminal conspiracy (120-B) of the IPC, besides provisions of the Arms Act, the three accused from Bihar Kundan Kumar, Shani Kumar and Rahul Kumar have been charged under various provi- The voluminous chargesheet being carried to the Margao court on Monday.  Santosh Mirajkar ON PAGE 2 Waste collector helped in procuring pistol Swapnil sustained 21 brutal stab injuries Two country-made pistols were procured in Bihar sions of the Arms Act. A glance at the brief facts of the chargesheet states that the accused Mustafa Shai- kh, Evender Rodrigues and Omkar Patil had hatched the criminal conspiracy to eliminate owner of Krishni Jewellers Swapnil Walke by procuring illegal country made pistols of 7.65 caliber bore from accused Kundan Kumar with the assistance of accused Rahul Kumar and Shani Kumar, the natives of Bihar. As part of the conspiracy, accused Mustafa Sheikh, Evander Rodrigues and Omkar Patil used illegal pistol >Continued on P5 A ritual being performed to celebrate the 551st birth anniversary of Guru Nanak at a gurudwara at Alto-Betim, Porvorim on Monday. Guru Nanak, also referred to as Baba Nanak, was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. (Another photo on pg 2) Narayan Pissurlenkar Ex-Goa SEC Srivastava convicted for fraud THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Goa’s former State Election Commissioner R K Srivastava has been sentenced by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court to two years imprisonment and has been fined Rs 35,000 after being convicted in a case of reviving Shree Radhakrishna Co-operative Group Housing Society Limited, Delhi on the basis of forged documents. Srivastava, who was formerly the Registrar of the Cooperative Societies for New Delhi has been convicted for the offence along with his then deputy Padam Dutt Sharma. Following the completion of its investigation, CBI filed a chargesheet against 12 persons. Five of these accused were convicted by the trial court while five were acquitted. Two expired before the conclusion of the trial. Three persons who have also been convicted include Subhash Chander, Mayank Goswami and Ashwani Sharma. Each of them has been awarded four years of rigorous imprisonment along with a certain fine amount. The case was taken over by the CBI in 2006 after orders from the Delhi High Court. Initially, the CBI had >Continued on P5 Tanmar project: Scientists object to piecemeal ‘nod’ K’taka minister dares Sawant THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI pponents including scientists have raised objection to proponents of the Tamnar power project seeking environmental clearances in a piece-meal fashion. “Clearances for the railway expansion and the transmission line projects are being sought in a piecemeal manner, which is a typical strategy used to create fait accompli situations by project proponents,” said research scientist Girish Punjabi who has extensively studied the environment impact assessments of this project. Earlier in mid-November some 39 scientists from Goa and Karnataka. the two States whose protected forests are threatened, had written to the MoEF&CC demanding a O SUDDEN CHANGE? „„'Amche Mollem' citizens group says Electricity Authority minutes show alignment was initially proposed through Kolhapur „„Mollem line came in suddenly as another option despite warning of damage to forests and wildlife sanctuary „„Originally, land was study of the cumulative impact assessment between the two States before any clearances are granted. Another 100-odd scientists from across India had also written to the MoEF&CC expressing similar concerns. Punjabi meanwhile said, to be made available at Xeldem but suddenly shifted to Sangod „„Tamnar spent Rs 8 crore to buy 10 hectares of thickly forested land „„This was done despite a Supreme Court ban on conversion of land in excess of one hectare and with canopy density of above 10 per cent „„Proposed sub-station site covers 10 hectares area and a canopy cover of over 80 per cent there is a definite need for cumulative impact assessments for such projects where more than one lakh trees are to be felled in the two States. “The scale of fragmentation will severely affect habitat connectivity for tigers, elephants and biodiversity if all projects are given the go-ahead without understanding the real impact on the eco-sensitive central Western Ghats,” Punjabi added. Meanwhile, the ‘Amche Mollem’ citizens group said the Electricity Authority minutes show the alignment was initially proposed through Kolhapur. “The Mollem line came in suddenly as another option despite warning of damage to forests and wildlife sanctuary,” the group said in a statement. Originally, land was to be made available at Xeldem but suddenly shifted to Sangod, where Tamnar spent Rs 8-crores to buy 10 hectares of thickly forested land. “There is a Supreme Court ban on conversion of land in excess of one hectare and with canopy density of above 10 per-cent,” the statement said, adding that the proposed sub-station site covers 10 hectares area and a canopy cover of over 80 per-cent. The Tamnar power project is one of the three projects threatening protected forests >Continued on P5 to prove Mhadei allegations THE GOAN I NETWORK BELAGAVI Karnataka Minister for Water Resources Ramesh Jarkiholi has challenged Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to visit the Mhadei project site to see how Karnataka has still maintained the retainer wall to block the diversion of Kalsa rivulet to River Malaprabha. Strongly reacting to allegations made by Sawant that Karnataka has illegally diverted Mhadei project, Jarkiholi offered to resign from the cabinet if any illegal activity was found at the Kalsa water diversion site. “I offer to resign if claims made by Goa stating that Karnataka has illegally diverted Mhadei water to Malaprabha, JARKIHOLI SPEAK „„I extend an open and cordial invitation to the Goa chief minister to visit the Mhadei project site to see how Karnataka has built a retainer wall to prevent the diversion of water from Kalsa rivulet „„Perhaps, Sawant has made a statement out of political compulsion and political pressure „„Goa is unnecessarily engaged in politicising the issue „„We are following all rules and guidelines and will be implementing the project adhering to legal framework due to which Mhadei water has depleted,” Jarkiohli said. He was speaking to media persons after chairing a high level meeting of officials in Belagavi on Monday to discuss the implementation of various water diversion and irrigation projects in Belagavi district. “I extend an open and cordial invitation to the Goa chief minister to visit the Mhadei project site to see how Karnataka has built a retainer wall to prevent the diversion of water from Kalsa rivulet.” >Continued on P5