log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday THURSDAY DECEMBER 1, 2022 GOA Restricted water supply in Pernem from Dec 2 to 6 PANAJI: Entire Pernem taluka will have restricted water supply from Dec 2 to 6 due to repair and interconnection work of water pipelines. “Due to shifting & interconnection of 300mm conveying main at Sukekulan & Varkhand and for replacement of damage air valves on conveying mains, installation of sluice valves at Korgao shut down of 15 MLD Water Treatment Plant has been proposed on December 2, 2022, so there will be restricted water supply to entire Pernem Taluka from December 2 to 6,” states a release by PWD. International Lusophone fest PANAJI: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in partnership with Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Government of Goa is organising the International Lusophone Festival in Goa from December 3 to 6. The festival will include discussions, deliberations and performances by visiting cultural troupes from the CPLP countries (approximately 70 artists) at several venues in Goa namely ESG complex, Azad Maidan, Sanskruti bhavan, Institute Menezes Braganza among others. 2 PFI offices in Salcete searched MARGAO: Crime Branch sleuths on Wednesday descended at the offices of the banned Popular Front of India at Fatorda and Margao. The sleuths led by DySP Suraj Harlankar were holed up at the two offices for quite some time. They are believed to have conducted a search for documents during their visit to the two offices.   >> See pg 2 Rao appointed Secy to Gov PANAJI: M R M Rao, IAS has been appointed as Secretary to Governor, with effect from December 1, 2022. R Mihir Vardhan, IAS (Retd) who was currently holding the post has been relieved from November 30. Guj first phase elections today AHMEDABAD: The stage is set for the Gujarat assembly election as the polling for the first phase will be held on Thursday on 89 seats spread across 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state where 788 candidates are in the fray. WEATHER >> Max: Min: Humidity: TIDES 33 C 23 C 46% Low: 11:38 22:53 High: 17:26 ---- PANAJI Goa’s road network has been mapped and some two dozen locations across the State have been identified as ‘accident prone zones’ by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). North Goa Collector Mamu Hage, IAS, said as many as 24 locations across Goa have been identified as accident prone zones. Hage was speaking to the media after emerging from a meeting she held of the Road Safety Committee. It was the second meeting Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 3 2 9 HC slams authorities for failing to monitor noise pollution GOA INFO Food grain scam: CB tries to uncover Borkar’s strategy Health benefits of Red Cabbage SPORTS Goa’s chess player Bhakti Kulkarni presented the Arjuna Award AUTHORITIES DIRECTED TO CHECK FOR PERMISSIONS AS PETITION CITES 15 ADVERTS OF PARTIES IN DECEMBER K E Y O B SE R VAT I O N S THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The Bombay High Court at Goa has pulled up the authorities for a lack of monitoring of sound pollution rules especially against commercial establishments along the coast which have advertised parties that will go on until the wee hours of the following morning. Hearing a contempt petition filed by one Sagardeep Sirsaikar of Siolim and one Arnold D’Sa the High Court observed that “the Authorities are not taking serious actions, thereby resulting in breach of the Rules by such parties/entities.” “From the advertisements, it is obvious that such events/ shows are held commercially. Although the Authorities are duty bound to take actions against the violators, no such actions are forthcoming,” the High Court observed. “The Authorities must expedite the issue of sanction and acquisition of these equipment because it is no- „„From the advertisements, it is obvious that such events/shows are held commercially. Although the Authorities are duty bound to take actions against the violators, no such actions are forthcoming „„The Authorities must expedite the issue of sanction and acquisi- tion of these equipment because it is noticed that the violations of the Noise Pollution Rules are at their peak during months of November, December and January „„The authorities are duty bound to ensure that no such music is played outdoors beyond 10 pm. Accordingly, we direct the officials from the GSPCB, concerned Deputy Collectors and SDPOs to firstly verify whether any permissions are at all granted to the above 15 organisers to hold such shows/events outdoors and, if so, to ensure that under no circumstances they continue with such events/shows beyond 10 pm ticed that the violations of the Noise Pollution Rules are at their peak during months of November, December and January. There is no point in locking the stables after the horses have bolted,” the High Court also said. During the hearing, Aldona MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira who represented the petitioner, placed before the High Court a bunch of fifteen advertisements announcing parties during the month of December, and expressed the apprehension that they will blatantly violate the sound pollution norms. These advertisements are about music shows or programmes held outdoors, including in the coastal areas of Anjuna, Vagator, Chapora, Arambol, Morjim, Mandrem, etc. These advertisements state that such shows are held either 8 pm onwards or 7 pm onwards and so on. There are some advertisements which referred to such shows being held even from 10 pm on- wards. The advocate told the court that some events have already taken place in open, where loud music was played outdoors beyond 10 pm and that despite complaints no action is forthcoming from the Authorities who are duty bound to take such actions. “The authorities are duty bound to ensure that no such music is played outdoors beyond 10 pm. Accordingly, we direct the officials from the GSPCB, concerned Deputy Traffic to move one-way on old and new Zuari bridges NEW BRIDGE WILL OPEN IN DECEMBER: CABRAL Anjuna p’yat given a week to submit action plan on illegalities PANAJI: The Bombay High Court at Goa has given the Anjuna panchayat additional time -- this time until December 6 to give a “precise timeline” and the course of action by which they plan to act on the 275 “prima facie illegal structures” that are located within the No Development Zone along the coast of Anjuna village that is currently under the scanner of the High Court.  >> See pg 3 Collectors and SDPOs (Sub Divisional Police Officers) to firstly verify whether any permissions are at all granted to the above 15 organisers to hold such shows/events outdoors and, if so, to ensure that under no circumstances they >Continued on P5 14 ‘Goa Taxi’ app to be launched on Dec 19 THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI/MAPUSA The State government will make yet another bid to bring Goa’s chaotic taxi service sector, crucial to its tourism market, under some level of regulation by introducing a taxi aggregator service on December 19. Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho said on Wednesday that the taxi aggregator app ‘Goa Taxi’ will be jointly launched by the Tourism and Transport Departments and that the State-owned Goa Electronics Limited (GEL) will operate it. In a bid to get the various taxi associations on board, Godinho said, members of all seven associations will be formally asked to join the service. Earlier on Tuesday officials of both the tourism and transport departments deliberated on ironing out the finer details of the app. Godinho and Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte were part of the meeting which discussed and finalised the finer details of the service. “All seven taxi associations in Goa will be asked to join the app which will be in the hands of the taxi business operators,” Godinho said, adding that they will be running the service. He also said, that the Transport department will be the All seven taxi associations in Goa will be asked to join the app which will be in the hands of the taxi business operators,” — Mauvin Godinho, Transport Minister owner of the taxi aggregator app and profits made will be ploughed back to deliver benefits of welfare schemes to the taxi operators who are members of the service. Meanwhile Khaunte said, it is crucial that the experiment succeeds as Goa is competing with other destinations for tourist footfalls. “We have to ensure that people visiting Goa carry proper experiences with them back,” he said, adding that even locals will benefit from the service. He further said that it will be an aggregator not only for tourists but also for the local public which will be used to transit from point to point. “Taxi has a very important role to play as far as the tourism sector is concerned. When we get mails from tourists that they are charged Rs 4,500 from Baga to Candolim, how do we face it,” he asked. >Continued on P5 Step up efforts to prevent crimes in tourist-frequented areas, police told THE GOAN I NETWORK THE GOAN I NETWORK VASCO Stating that the new Zuari bridge would be thrown open to motorists only after all safety measures are checked and adopted, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral on Wednesday said traffic would be distributed across the old and new Zuari bridges. Speaking to reporters after overseeing the final load testing operations of the New Zuari Bridge, Cabral said the new Zuari bridge and the old Zuari bridge would act as oneway routes for traffic, with an exception that one lane of the new Zuari bridge would be dedicated for heavy vehicles which would not be permitted to travel on the old bridge. ROUTES “Regarding the traffic movement when one side of the new Zuari bridge is opened, we have decided in principle that traffic moving from Panaji to Margao and Vasco side will use the old bridge as one-way for light An aerial view of the load testing on the new Zuari Bridge on Wednesday.  Narayan Pissurlenkar vehicles and one lane of the new Zuari bridge will be kept open for heavy vehicles moving from Panaji to the other side.” “All vehicles moving from Margao and Vasco side towards Panaji will use the three lanes of the new Zuari bridge. We will put this on paper and have a notification to see on a trial and error basis for 15 days and work out a plan. This new bridge will be used in principle for traffic moving from 24 sites in Goa mapped as accident prone zones THE GOAN I NETWORK The Goan (Playstore) 14 pages PRICE ` 8 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VIII, NO. 164 Margao’s busy ring road shut to put brakes on rampant waste dumping IN SHORT >> Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday THE ROAD AHEAD „„Some two dozen locations across the State have been identified as ‘accident prone zones’ by the MoRTH „„The committee to come up with measures to curb Goa’s high road accident ratio which on an average claims nearly 300 lives annually „„One measure that the Committee has already decided to implement is to distribute Road Safety booklets to students in all schools in the State of the committee which comprises of officials drawn from multiple departments, including the Goa Police’s traffic cell, the Public Works Depart- ment (PWD) which manages maintenance of roads among others and also members of >Continued on P5 Margao and Vasco towards Panaji,” said Cabral. INAUGURATION Cabral clarified that the new Zuari bridge would be inaugurated only after all safety measures and safety parameters are checked. “We have been hearing for a long time on the dates for the inauguration of this new bridge. The DBL will tell us the dates though we will maintain >Continued on P5 PANAJI With Goa inching closer to the peak tourist season, Director General of Goa Police Jaspal Singh has directed his force to analyse the crime pattern in tourist-frequented areas and step up efforts to prevent the occurrence of such crimes. Addressing a joint meeting of Tourist Police, Coastal Police and Police personnel of coastal areas along with Inspector General of Police Omvir Singh, Deputy Inspector General of Police, and SP North Nidhin Valsan, Singh also urged them to ensure their continued presence in the areas with heavy footfalls. “Tourist and Coastal Police should ensure patrolling on the beaches and at high tourist footfall areas. Analyse the crime pattern in tourist >Continued on P5 WHATSAPP GROUP OF PUB OWNERS TO REPORT DRUG CASES >> See pg 3 England’s Marcus Rashford celebrates after scoring his side’s third goal. THREE LIONS ROAR England’s forward Marcus Rashford scored a brace against Wales at the WC, starting off a 3-0 victory that sent his team into the round of 16. Phil Foden scored the other. Pulisic sinks Iran as US reach knockouts Christian Pulisic fired the United States into the last 16 of the World Cup on Tuesday as the Americans downed Iran 1-0 in their politically charged grudge match. France loses to Tunisia 0-1 Australia advances into RO16 but still wins WC group Australia advanced to the round of 16 at the World Cup, beating favoured Denmark 1-0 on Mathew Leckie’s 60th-minute goal. It is Australia’s first time in the knockout stage since 2006 Defending champion France won its World Cup group despite losing to Tunisia 1-0 Wednesday. Wahbi Khazri scored in the 58th minute to give the Tunisians the victory, but it wasn’t enough to get them into the round of 16. >>Reports on page 11 IFFI head of jury speaks his mind on ‘The Kashmir Files’ controversy, says he’s not govt property THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI sraeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid has strongly defended the comments he made from stage at the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India here in Goa on Monday in which he stirred a row by calling ‘The Kashmir Files’ a “propaganda, vulgar” movie. In a live interaction with the India Today television channel, Lapid, who headed the Jury at the IFFI, said he was a private person and not the property of the Israeli government or anyone else. He was invited to be the head of the jury by IFFI I LAPID IN DEFENCE „„As an artist and filmmaker, I commented on the film and not on the Kashmir tragedy nor was my intention to hurt anybody’s sentiments „„Politicians have a way of manipulating and using such cases (controversies) for political gain „„I am a private person and owes no explanation to the Israeli government or the Ambassador, for the comments which I felt was my job at the IFFI because of his expertise as a filmmaker and that he had been on juries of film festivals across the world “many, many” times including at Berlin, Venice and Cannes. Lapid said, as an artist and filmmaker, he commented on the film and not on the Kashmir tragedy nor was his intention to hurt anybody’s sentiments. At the closing ceremony of IFFI, Lapid who headed the jury along with four others including one Indian filmmaker, had expressed surprise that “The Kashmir Files” had been included in the list of 15 films of the competition section of the festival. When told by India Today’s Rahul Kanwal that his comments had stirred a huge con- troversy prompting the Israeli Ambassador to India to condemn it and apologise, Nadav shot back: “Politicians have a way of manipulating and using such cases (controversies) for political gain.” He went on to add that he is a private person and he owes no explanation to the Israeli government or the Ambassador, for his comments which he felt was his job at the IFFI. “I was invited by the IFFI and it was my duty to give my opinion on the films in the festival,” Lapid said, adding that he is aware that there will be many who think it is a great >Continued on P5