log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday TUESDAY FEBRUARY 21, 2023 GOA Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday The Goan (Playstore) 13 pages PRICE ` 8 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VIII, NO. 244 Colva creek gets all things right, but questions remain over STP 2 GOA Parsekar, Utpal re-entry for Central leaders to decide: Tanavade 3 Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 INFO Myths and facts related to obesity and reproductive health After spurt in road accidents, govt pushes pedal for safety TO BUY INTERCEPTOR VEHICLES, ALCOMETERS, SPEED GUNS GANESH JAWADEKAR PANAJI Concerned about growing number of road mishaps, the Transport Department has decided to focus on road safety management and will spend Rs 1.81 crore to purchase speed interceptor vehicles, radar guns and alcometers. The State has been witnessing an alarming rise in number of accidents, prompting Department to take decisive measures to curb mishaps. Director of Transport Rajan Satardekar said the Transport Department will stress on road safety management and bring about discipline among those who ride or drive vehicles. Rs 68 lakh for interceptor vehicles “The transport department has decided to purchase Maruti Ertiga Interceptor ve- IN SHORT >> Goa govt, Patanjali Ayurved ink deal PANAJI: The Goa government and Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurved signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for collaboration in potential areas like agriculture, floriculture, horticulture, farming, rural development, wellness tourism and dairy management >> See pg 3 Power tariff hike inevitable: Sudin PANAJI: Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar has said that Goans will have to bear with a certain amount of power tariff hike. He said JERC will submit its proposal to government in a month or two and the government will then decide on their proposal. Relief for ex-Pak prez Imran, HC grants bail LAHORE: Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan on Monday appeared before the Lahore High Court which granted him protective bail in a case linked to violent protests outside the election commission, amidst high drama inside the court premises. of accidents, Satardekar said the Traffic Police had started a campaign against those who drink and drive. “Fifty alcometers to check if the driver is drunk will be purchased at a cost of Rs 24.5 lakh. Besides these 50 alcometers, 20 more alcometers will be purchased for the Kadamba Transport Corporation Ltd at a cost of Rs 9.8 lakh,” said Satardekar. CHECKS & BALANCES „„Rs 68 lakh for 3 interceptor vehicles „„Rs 80 lakh for 8 speed radar guns „„Rs 24.5 lakh for 50 alcometers „„20 more alcometers for KTCL hicles to keep watch on the speed of vehicles. Three such vehicles will be purchased at a cost of about Rs 23 lakh each. These vehicles will be given to the police,” said Satardekar. “One vehicle will be kept at South Goa, another in North Goa and one will remain at the police headquarters. The vehicles will have features like Rs 80 lakh for 8 speed radar guns radar gun, screen, alcometer etc. The vehicle will cost Rs 7.65 lakh and the equipment will cost Rs 15 lakh. The total expense on each interceptor vehicles will be Rs 22.65 lakh.” Rs 24.5 lakh for 50 alcometers Stating that drunken driving is one of the main causes Focus on road safety Satardekar said the transport department will stress on road safety before working on the traffic management structure. “Road safety education, implementation of remedial programmes, road engineering and emergency system are four sectors to be emphasised. The structure would be implemented with the coordination of police, health and PWD department.” “The police have offered as many as 6,000 suggestions to the Transport Department to control accidents. The Traffic Police claims that 80% of the >Continued on P5 Women's T20 WC: India defeats Ireland by 5 runs; enters semis SUPPORTERS CRY FOUL, CLASH WITH POLICE THE GOAN I NETWORK VALPOI/OLD GOA The Revolutionary Goans Party’s (RGP) Padyatra to create awareness on Mhadei turned into a tense confrontation between the police and RGP supporters, after the Padyatra was stopped twice in Thane and Koparde in Sattari on Monday evening. Initially, the Padyatra was stopped by the police at the starting point in Thane-Sattari itself, with the police citing that complaint has been received from the local panchayat. The police informed that the panchayat has complained about the Padyatra to the deputy collector, based on which the Padyatra was stopped. The Padyatra was scheduled to start from the panchayat ground in Thane at 4 pm, but before the Padyatra could start, a Sattari police team, the Deputy Collec- Duo had kidnapped a 11-yr-old boy and demanded Rs 20 lakh as ransom for releasing him THE GOAN I NETWORK MARGAO The appeal filed by the two convicts serving life imprisonment in the 2011 Margao child kidnapping case did not find favour with the Supreme Court of India. The Apex Court has dismissed the appeals filed by the two convicts, Uday Rupesh Falkar and Vital Fernandes. The duo had moved the Supreme Court challenging their conviction for life sentence under Section 364-A of the Indian Penal code, which provide for sentence for life or death. The duo had contended before the Apex Court that the police had charged them under Section 364-A when it was a case of kidnapping under section 363 of the IPC. The Supreme Court, however, observed: “on the KEY APEX COURT OBSERVATIONS „„On the conspectus of the testimony analyzed, we are really not able to bring the case under Section 363 of IPC though we may have some consideration for the age of the appellants „„It is not really within the domain of this Court to go contrary to the legislative domain which prescribes the punishment for such an offence conspectus of the testimony analyzed, we are really not able to bring the case under Section 363 of IPC though we may have some consideration for the age of the appellants and this being a sole incident. It is not really within the domain of this Court to go contrary to the legislative domain which prescribes the punish- RGP supremo Manoj Parab and MLA Viresh Borkar along with their supporters at Thane-Sattari.  Uday Sawant tor and Mamlatdar rushed to the spot and stopped the Padyatra. RGP supremo Manoj Parab, St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar and other party office bearers strongly objected to the decision by officials to stop the Padyatra. Speaking to reporters, RGP supremo Manoj Parab informed that their Padyatra was stopped by the police upon complaint of the local panchayat to the deputy collector. “We questioned the mamlatdar and the police under AGENCIES M The 14 Indian states in the top 100 in the world for damage risk all share flooding as their main hazard - Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and policymakers. It is an attempt to price the risk of global warming in financial markets, given the amount of capital investment in assets at risk. It assesses the climate risk in over 2,600 territories around the world in 2050. The more built-up a state, the greater the risk. It's been created by Australia-based Cross Dependency Initiative or XDI, which counts global banks and companies as part of its clientele; it is a part of the Climate Risk Group of companies quantifying the costs of climate change. Flooding is only one of the eight different climate-related hazards the report has considered. These are riverine and surface flooding which is the biggest threat to built environment globally, coastal inundation (flooding), extreme heat, forest fire, soil movement (drought-related), extreme wind, and freeze thaw. Another stand-out point for India is that a glance at the global heat-map shows it to be one of the very few countries where most of the territory is at risk. which section of the Goa Panchayat Raj Act does the panchayat have powers to complain to the deputy collector. We are using the PWD road for the Padyatra and during our earlier Padyatra on coal, we faced no such objection. So how come we are asked to stop the Padyatra,” questioned Parab. After a delay of over two hours, the Padyatra started at Thane at about 7.30 pm and after walking for about 4 kms, the Padyatra was again >Continued on P5 King flanked by 2 Queens after commotion THE GOAN I NETWORK VASCO In an unusual situation, King Momo paraded two Queens at the Vasco Carnival on Monday following a commotion over the Carnival Queen before the float parade began in the port town. While the Vasco Carnival Committee had finalised Eva Fernandes as the Vasco Carnival Queen, another woman Adv Leona Barretto from Curtorim boarded the Carnival vehicle along with the King Momo and claimed to be the Carnival Queen. The sudden appearance of Barretto claiming to be the Carnival Queen did not go down well with the Vasco Carnival Committee and members asked Barretto to step down immediately as the Vasco Carnival Committee had already finalised Eva Fernandes as the Queen and that she had already arrived at the location. After an exchange of words, it was finally decided that Eva 13 SC upholds life sentence of 2 Margao child kidnappers RGP’s ‘Mhadei Padyatra’ King Momo has ‘lady luck’ stopped twice in Sattari at Vasco Carnival parade 14 Indian States among world’s top 100 facing big flooding risk NEW DELHI ost of India's major States, be it economic powerhouses like Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra, or those with high populations like Uttar Pradesh or Bihar, have been ranked among top 100 States for climate risk in the built environment. A new climate risk analysis says the biggest risk in India is from flooding in 14 States. That's about one billion people, or one in every eight people globally; each State is equivalent to a mid-size or small country ranging from Pakistan to the UK to Venezuela. China, the US and India dominate over half the list of the top 100. The report 'Gross Domestic Climate Risk' is a complex one, given the task it sets out to do, which is to be a measure for banks, investors, businesses To keep a check on the speed of vehicles, the transport department will purchase eight speed radar guns with night vision at a cost of Rs 80 lakh. “The Tripod mountable radar gun will be mobile and can be taken anywhere. These radar guns will also allow for testing in the dark and at night. While the cur- rent speed guns do not work well during the rains, the new speed radar guns can be used during the rains," said Satardekar. 9 SPORTS King Momo along with Vasco Carnival Queen Eva Fernandes (left) and Adv Leona Barreto (right) on the Carnival float in Vasco on Monday. Vikram Nayak REVELLERS THRONG STREETS TO WITNESS VASCO CARNIVAL PARADE >> See pg 3 Fernandes would be the Vasco Carnival Queen while Adv Leona Barretto would be allowed to remain on the vehicle alongside the King Momo. The sight of two queens added to the amusement among revellers, with many claiming that Vasco Carnival was a unique event where the King Momo had two queens on either side. Later speaking to reporters, a member of the Vasco Carnival Committee said the Queen had to be from Vasco. "The Queen must be from Vasco and is not selected by >Continued on P5 „„We do take note of the fact that the accused being driver, man of trust for the family, used to be so utilized, breached that trust while kidnapping a child of 11 years of age with special needs „„We are, thus, constrained to dismiss the appeals despite the best endeavour made by learned counsel for the appellants ment for such an offence”. While dismissing the appeals, the Court has further observed “we do take note of the fact that the accused being driver, man of trust for the family, used to be so utilized, breached that trust while kidnapping a > Continued on P5 Drugs worth `25L seized in Siolim MAPUSA: A Gujarat native was arrested on charges of possessing narcotics worth Rs 25 lakh, Anjuna Police said. The accused has been identified as Jayrajsingh Kiritsinh Chavda (33) of Ahmedabad but residing in a villa in Marna, Siolim.  >> See pg 2