log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday SUNDAY JANUARY 15, 2023 MOVIES »PAGE 16 Woman of substance Riddhi Dogra talks about her recent release Lakadbaggha, upcoming projects, and more The glamorous gambit MAGAZINE MAGAZ 9 Pee-gate, fights and the other horrors from airlines in India Electronic media: Applicability of Sec 509 in 21st Century Tips for preventing Acne in winter 10 Intestinal malrotation: What is it and how can it be treated? Remote EVM: How will it help and its concerns Auto Review 2023 Auto Expo: Future-ready MGverse 11 >> SEE PG 3 INDUSTRIAL SAFETY - THE BURNING ISSUE IN SHORT >> Father held for minor daughter's murder PANAJI: Mohammad Salim, a daily wager and father of eight children, was on Saturday arrested for killing his minor daughter, metres away from their rented residence. The 34-year-old tried to mislead the police but later confessed to strangulating his daughter out of anger as he suspected her of complaining to their house owner that he physically abused his family.  >> See pg 5 No water in parts of Sanguem for 4th day SANGUEM: Villagers from Kumari, Bombdimol and Villian in Bhati-Sanguem continued to remain without drinking water supply for the fourth day. The department however made alternate arrangement to supply drinking water to the villagers from the bore well at Valshem village.  >> See pg 4 WEATHER >> Max: 31 C Min: 20 C Humidity: 56% TIDES Low: High: 10:26 21:48 03:15 17:01 Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday The Goan (Playstore) 16 pages PRICE ` 8 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VIII, NO. 208 RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 PLAY & PAUSE »PAGE 13 LIVE SMART »PAGE 14 FESTIVE OUTFIT IDEAS THE WORKINGS OF A MOTHER FPJ brings you some elegant fashion that sets you apart from the crowd this season Let the drum roll BEIJING hina on Saturday reported nearly 60,000 coronavirus deaths in hospitals across the country over the last 30 days, amid criticism from the WHO that Beijing was heavily under-reporting the magnitude of the pandemic. The death toll included 59,938 Covid-19 related deaths at hospitals from December 8 to January 12, the National Health Commission said on Saturday, official media here reported. Jiao Yahui, director of the National Health Commission’s medical affairs department, said medical institutes recorded 5,503 deaths as a result of respiratory failure triggered by Covid-19 infections and 54,435 fatalities with underlying C SPORTS »PAGE 8 Many working mothers are still battling with the guilt of leaving their children home as they go to work 3rd ODI: India takes on Sri Lanka in dead rubber FC Goa looks to return to winning ways against NorthEast Utd The art of sharing All’s not well after paint factory inferno, well water contaminated in Candolim OIL-LIKE SCREEN FOUND FLOATING IN WELLS VILLAGERS DEMAND FACTORY RELOCATION AGNELO PEREIRA MAPUSA Four days after the firefighters used nearly 2 lakh litres of water besides foam to douse a deadly fire that engulfed a warehouse of a paint factory at the Pilerne Industrial Estate, residents of Saipem-Candolim were in for a shock when they noticed a thin layer of oil-like screen floating in their well water which had also turned darkish in colour. The villagers also found the water “frothy” with a typical “nail polish” like smell. The unfortunate fire incident has also rekindled old wounds, when around 15 years back the residents under the banner of Saipem Villagers Anti-Pollution Front had unsuccessfully fought for re-location of the paint factory after several of their wells had got contaminated. Most wells in Saipem, Orda contaminated: Sarpanch One of the wells at Saipem, Candolim, the water of which is found to be contaminated. The word that water in at least two wells has got contaminated caused panic in the (Saipem) ward, with around 1,500 residents who are now planning to take up the cudgels against the paint factory. “Till some days ago, everything seemed fine. But suddenly on Friday evening, the water that we pump from our well came with an unusual frothy flow and had a smell of nail polish. On Saturday morning we saw an oily film in the water and with a little darkish in colour,” said Lydia Lasrado. “A lot of my neighbours also use the water from my well. As it is, very few wells remain with good water in the MAPUSA: Candolim Sarpanch Fermino Fernandes admitted that most of the wells in Saipem and Orda areas have been contaminated some years back and with the current fire tragedy, the situation has aggravated further. “We have written to the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) and health authorities to test the air quality and the well water in the village. We are with the villagers and object to the existence of the paint factory. We are all demanding re-location of the company. Very soon we will meet both the Calangute and the Saligao MLAs and handover a memorandum to the Chief Minister,” Fernandes said. village and this phenomenon has cast further shadow on its existence,” she added. Another local, Godwin Noronha, also came up with a similar complaint that his well water too had turned blackish in colour and had a foul smell. “We use the well water for washing and gardening. For drinking we use Bisleri water. Govt files interlocutory plea in SC ahead of Mhadei meet SEEKS DIRECTIONS TO KARNATAKA NOT TO CARRY OUT ANY PHYSICAL CONSTRUCTION BASED ON DPR APPROVAL THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI With pressure mounting over the recent flare-up of the Mhadei imbroglio, Goa government has knocked the doors of the Supreme Court of India with an interlocutory plea asking for directions to Karnataka not to carry out any physical construction based on the recent nod of the Central Water Commission (CWC) for two of its detailed project reports (DPRs) for dams at Kalasa and Bhandura. The State government is hoping to get the IA heard early through a mention by a senior counsel on Monday. Goa is already before the Apex court with a challenge to the August 2018 award of the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) which is the basis for the CWC nod to the two DPRs proposed by Karnataka. It is also banking on its strategy to put spokes in Karnataka’s plans through the UNITED WE STAND...: Opposition political party leaders coming together to support the meeting on Mhadei on January 16. Wildlife and Sanctuaries statutes and Goa’s Chief Wildlife Warden has already served the neighbouring State a ‘stop work’ notice on grounds that any diversion of water is prohibited since Mhadei is part of the Wildlife Sanctuary. On the political front too, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has formally lodged a protest with the Centre. Earlier this week he led a delegation of ministers and MPs to Delhi where he placed demands for revocation of the CWC consent as well as constitution of the Water Management Authority on Mhadei. Meanwhile in the State, pressure on the BJP-led government is mounting with the Opposition bracing up for a show of strength on the Mhadei issue with a mega-rally at Sanquelim which is Sawant’s home constituency on Monday. All the Opposition parties having representation in the House -- Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Goa Forward Party (GFP) -barring the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP), have formally extended their support to the mega rally being organised by the Save Goa Save Mhadei Front. Other political parties like the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), TMC and Shiv Sena have also supported the January 16 rally. Congress State president, Amit Patkar, AAP State convenor, Amit Palekar, GFP president Vijai Sardesai, NCP State president Jose Philip D’Souza, TMC convenor Samil Volvoikar and Shiv Sena leader Jitesh Kamat attended an all-party meet at the Azad Maidan on Saturday to publicly express their support. The RGP meanwhile announced that they will hold a separate protest meeting under the ‘Together for Mhadei Movement’ banner on Sunday at Pissurlem. China reports nearly 60,000 Covid deaths since Dec ʼ22 PTI Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday DEATH TOLL STATS „„The death toll included 59,938 Covid related deaths at hospitals from December 8 to January 12 „„Medical institutes recorded 5,503 deaths as a result of respiratory failure triggered by Covid-19 infections and 54,435 fatalities with underlying conditions, such as cancer or cardiovascular diseases, combined with Covid „„The average age of those who died was 80.3 and 90 per cent of the fatalities were aged 65 or over conditions, such as cancer or cardiovascular diseases, combined with Covid-19. The average age of those who died was 80.3, and 90 per cent of the fatalities were aged 65 or over, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. With this, China’s official death toll climbed to 65,210 since the coronavirus first broke out in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. China has stopped providing daily Covid statistics since abandoning its strict zero-Cov- id strategy. China also reopened its borders to international travellers on January 8 after nearly three years. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday that China is “heavily underreporting” the number of COVID-19 deaths from the current wave of infections sweeping the country. “WHO still believes that deaths are heavily underreported from China. This is in relation to the definitions that are used but also to the need for doctors and those reporting in the public health system to be encouraged to report these cases and not discouraged,” Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO Health Emergencies Programme said in Geneva. The new death toll figures come as videos and reports in the social media showed that hospitals, morgues and crematoriums were being overwhelmed with bodies. Families where deaths have taken place told the media that they were simply asked to leave the bodies at the morgues without mentioning dates for cremation and they would be handed over the ashes after cremation. Since the virus broke, China was cagey about revealing the number of cases, especially the deaths in view of the political ramifications. The stringent zero-Covid policy, which was lifted last month after rare anti-government protests against President Xi Jinping, who was re-elected for an unprecedented third term in October last year. This incident has further increased our travails as now we won’t have well water or PWD water since we are located at a height,” Noronha exclaimed. The recent fire incident which threw up toxic fumes and left a strong smell all around has given fresh ammunition to the concerned villagers who have renewed ISSUES WERE RESOLVED PROMPTLY IN THE PAST: BERGER OFFICIAL MAPUSA: Stating that the fire incident was very unfortunate, the spokesperson of the Berger Becker Coatings Pvt Ltd said the company followed all protocols and set up precautionary measures of the highest standard which can be compared to the best at the international level. Brahamanand Parab, HR Manager of the company also admitted that in the past there were some issues which were later taken care of. “We have set up maximum safety procedures in place. Apart from having a four-lakh litre water storage facility, there is a >Continued on P5 their demand to relocate the paint factory. “Almost 90 percent of the wells in Saipem and Orda areas in Candolim are contaminated. For the last 15 years we have been fighting because of the water pollution in our area against the company. This fire is the last nail in the coffin of the villagers. Our vil- lage existed before the factory set shop. We want the factory to be relocated to some other place,” said Assis Cardozo, a resident and a businessman of Saipem. According to another local, Vishnu Naik, who shares a common boundary with the >Continued on P5 Fissures in RGP over decision to go solo on Mhadei issue Parts of Penha de Franca omitted from Panaji Planning Area THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The Town and Country Planning Department has issued a revised notification excluding parts of Penha de Franca village but retained some pockets that have the Assembly complex, Secretariat and the Bombay High Court buildings in the Panaji-Chimbel Planning Area. The revised notification issued by the TCP department specifies the survey numbers of the land from Panaji, Taleigao, Calapur (St Cruz), Merces and Chimbel besides those parts of Penha de Franca which house the Assembly-Secretariat complex and the new High Court building as forming part of the new Panaji Planning Area. The previously issued notification defining limits of the Panaji Planning Area to include areas from the village of Penha de Franca had raised the heckles of villagers there. The move was also redflagged by the Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte who represents the Porvorim constituency of which Penha de Franca village panchayat is a part. OLD GOA Upset by the decision of the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) to go solo on the Mhadei issue, several of its leaders have decided to sever ties with the party over the decision. Among these leaders included some candidates who contested on the RGP symbol in the Assembly polls. Speaking to reporters, former RGP leader Gauresh Gaonkar said as far as Mhadei is concerned, the fight of the Goans is with Karnataka to SCIENTIST KAMAT KEY SPEAKER AT SATTARI MEET TODAY >> See pg 2 stop the diversion of the river. “We had great expectations that RGP would fight for the right of the Goans. But at the party’s last Sunday meeting, it became amply clear that RGP was only trying to create a divide among Goans by targeting various political parties like the Congress, AAP, Goa Forward and others,” Gaonkar stated. “We feel that at this mo- DISGRUNTLED LEADERS SPEAK “We had great expectations that RGP would fight for the right of the Goans. But at the party’s last Sunday meeting, it became amply clear that RGP was only trying to create a divide among Goans,” — Gauresh Gaonkar, former RGP leader “On Mhadei, there was a need for all political parties to get united on a common platform. The fight should be fought keeping in mind the future,” —Andre Viegas, Vasco candidate ment, everybody has to forget their differences and come on a common platform in the fight for Mhadei. However, >Continued on P5 THE GOAN I NETWORK Govt hikes fees for major events in State by 10% THE GOAN I NETWORK MAPUSA The State government has hiked the fees for organising major events in the State by 10 percent. For music festivals organised in non-licenced premises the existing fees of Rs 10 lakh for up to 5,000 attendees has been hiked by 10 percent while festivals with between 5,000 and 10,000 attendees the fees have been hiked by 10 percent from the existing Rs 15 lakh. Similarly, for musical festivals above 10,000 attendees the fees have been hiked by 10 percent from the existing Rs 20 lakh. REVISED FEE „„For music festivals organised in non-licenced premises the existing fees of Rs 10 lakh for up to 5,000 attendees has been hiked by 10% while festivals with between 5,000 and 10,000 attendees the fees have been hiked by 10% from the existing Rs 15 lakh „„For musical festivals above 10,000 attendees the fees have been hiked by 10% from the existing Rs 20 lakh „„For night/handicraft bazaars the old fees of Rs 50,000 has been increased to Rs 60,000 per tourist season For night/handicraft bazaars the old fees of Rs 50,000 has been increased to Rs 60,000 per tourist season. According to the Tourism department, the off season fees will be 1/5th of the season fees while peak season fees will be five times the fees applicable during the season. Likewise, for events like motorbike weeks, car rallies, non-ticketed music fests, MICE exhibitions and other >Continued on P5