log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday THURSDAY MARCH 2, 2023 GOA 13 pages Minor fire at Margao municipal bldg sparks panic; major damage averted Tourist’s electrocution: The shocker still needs answers >> See pg 3 IN SHORT >> Mock drill to tackle disasters tomorrow PANAJI: With disaster management infrastructure finally in place, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) in collaboration with the stakeholders in the State government will conduct a mock drill to tackle disasters such as floods and cyclones, on Friday.  >> See pg 3 HC stays construction work in Calangute MAPUSA: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has stayed the construction and excavation work in the property bearing Survey no 214/7A at Cobravaddo, Calangute and further directed the Calangute panchayat to immediately visit the site and file its say, giving much relief to the harried petitioner Anthony Lopes, a resident of Calangute.  >> See pg 3 Woman cheated with promise of job in UK MARGAO: The Margao police have registered a case of cheating against an accused posing to be William Jackson, a British National who cheated a woman from Navelim to the tune of Rs 1.75 lakh by promising a clerical job in the UK.  >> See pg 2 Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday The Goan (Playstore) PRICE ` 8 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VIII, NO.253 2 3 GOA ‘Unauthorised’ construction in Mapusa is in khazan land, will take action: GCZMA Feb was hottest month in last half century PANAJI: Goa experienced the hottest February month in more than 50 years, according to the IMD. The number of days on which maximum temperature exceeded 35C in Mormugao in February 2023 was also highest in 54 years. WEATHER >> Max: Min: Humidity: TIDES 35 C 24 C 41% Low: 03:40 13:27 High: 06:15 21:17 Are nightshade vegetables good or bad for health?  REFRAINS ASHVEM RESORT FROM HOSTING MUSIC EVENTS  ASKS FOR STEPS TAKEN TO PROTECT TURTLE NESTING SITES THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The Bombay High Court at Goa has restrained the authorities from granting any permission to Ukiyo beach resort in Ashvem to play loud music or host parties after the High Court observed that the establishment was repeatedly violating noise pollution norms. The High Court also asked the district authorities not to grant any permission to establishments along the Anjuna-Vagator belt that have been found to be repeatedly violating the noise pollution rules. “We restrain the authorities from issuing permits to this Ukiyo Beach Resort for music events. Further, we direct the concerned PI to be alert in ensuring that no music is played at this resort until further orders. Further still, if there is any issue of flickering lights, the same should also be ad- KEY HC RULING „„The authorities are restrained from issuing permits to this Ukiyo Beach Resort for music events „„The concerned PI is directed to be alert in ensuring that no music is played at this resort until further orders „„Further still, if there is any issue of flickering lights, the same should also be addressed „„Until further orders, Ukiyo Beach Resort is restrained from playing outdoor music or using flickering lights at their resort „„The order will operate until the next date, which is now March 21, 2023 dressed. This means that the flickering lights should be discontinued until further orders. Further, until further orders, Ukiyo Beach Resort is restrained from playing outdoor music or using flickering lights at their resort. This order will operate until the next date, which is now 21.03.2023,” the High Court bench of Justices M S Sonak and B P Deshpande, ruled. The High Court referred to newspaper reports which said that the club was playing loud Speed radar on Atal Setu: 3,000 violations in trial 9 13 SPORTS WTT Star Contender Goa: Manika shines for India with three wins in a day music during night hours in breach of the noise pollution rules in the vicinity of turtle nesting beaches. “According to us, these news reports refer to the dwindling numbers of the Olive Ridley turtles, which come during February and March for nesting. One of the news items refers to some statistics and points out how during the last 45 days, at other turtle nesting sites, there was no problem, but at the Ashvem beach, the number of the Olive Ridley turtles considerably dwindled. These turtle nesting sites are protected zones under the provisions of various laws and also the CRZ notification. These are highly vulnerable locations because there are very few places around the globe where such sites remain. Literature suggests that the Olive Ridley >Continued on P5 Goa reports robust GST revenues of `493 cr in Feb PANAJI The Bombay High Court at Goa on Wednesday, declined to quash the FIR of land grabbing lodged against MGP MLA and chairman of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation Jit Arolkar. In its order, the High Court ruled that it would not wish to interfere with the investigation, which the court observed was at an advanced stage. “At this stage, we are not inclined to exercise the discretion for the simple reason that it is not considered proper to scuttle the investigations carried out by SIT at this advanced stage. Similarly, it is not considered as a rarest of rare case as discussed by the Apex Court,” the High Court bench of Justices MS Sonak and BP Deshpande, ruled. “We make it clear that once the investigation is complete and if the chargesheet is filed, the petitioner would be having an opportunity to apply for discharge in case such material is not found sufficient to frame charge,” the High Court also said. CO U RT R U L I N G THE GOAN I NETWORK A speed radar on Atal Setu bridge to capture vehicles overspeeding on Wednesday. THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The Traffic Cell registered over 3,000 cases of overspeeding vehicles on the busy Atal Setu bridge. The total cases are booked on a single day on Wednesday in a special drive that will continue for the next couple of days. The department is aiming at reducing vehicle speed on the cable-stayed Bridge that runs for a stretch of 5.1 km. In a message to the public, Goa Police said “speed radar active on Atal Setu” while adding that 3,000 vehicles above the speed limit of 50kmph were caught on camera. “Today a speed radar was deployed for trials on Atal Setu. Motorists should avoid indulging in overspeeding,” Director General of Police Jaspal Singh said. It is however not known if the owners of the violating vehicles will be issued a challan given that the special drive is a trial test. Since speed-breakers or barricades could not be set up, a senior traffic officer said that they introduced speed radar guns to control the speed of vehicles and avert accidents. “Our aim is not only to control the speed that will avert road accidents but it will also bring discipline among the motorists to drive safely,” he added. Over a dozen accidents have occurred on the Bridge since it was open for vehicu- town of Tempe as the passenger train was emerging from a highway underpass. Rescue crews illuminated the scene with floodlights before dawn on Wednesday as they searched frantically through the twisted, smoking wreckage for survivors. After sunrise, they turned to heavy machinery that had been brought in to start moving large pieces of the trains. What appeared to be the passenger train’s third carriage lay atop the crumpled remains of the first two, where emergency crews were directing their focus. Officials said many of the passengers on board the Athens to Thessaloniki train had been university students returning home after celebrating Carnival over the long weekend. This is a terrible tragedy that is hard to comprehend, said Deputy Health Minister Mina Gaga. I feel so sorry for the parents of these kids. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was to visit the scene later in the day. lar traffic in 2019, maximum of which is due to overspeeding, and rash and negligent driving. The street lamp posts and divider have also been heavily damaged due to these accidents. The death of a 32-year-old police constable, Sandeep Naik as a result of a collision between his car and a tempo was believed to be the first fatal accident on the bridge. In a recent accident two car occupants were seriously injured after their car rammed into the divider. The tourists have also been violating the rules on the Bridge by taking their rental bikes which is banned. The department is also expected to run a similar drive across major highways. PANAJI Data released by the finance ministry has revealed robust Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue collection in Goa for the month of February at Rs 493 crore, recording a nearly three times higher year-onyear growth rate than the national average. Last year in February, Goa’s GST revenues were Rs 364 crore but it was Assembly elections time in the State then and finance department officials said it can therefore not be a barometer to assess the general economy on these numbers. In pure year-on-year terms, nevertheless, the GST collection growth is 35 % higher whereas it is just 12 per-cent nationally. The gross GST revenue collected across the country in February is Rs 1,49,577 crore --CGST (Rs 27,662 crore), SGST (Rs 34,915 crore), IGST (Rs 75,069 crore including Rs 35,689 crore on import of goods) and Cess (Rs 11,931 crore including Rs 792 crore on import of goods). „„At this stage, the court is not inclined to exercise the discretion for the simple reason that it is not considered proper to scuttle the investigations carried out by SIT at this advanced stage „„Similarly, it is not considered as a rarest of rare case as discussed by the Apex Court „„The court makes it clear that once the investigation is complete and if the chargesheet is filed, the petitioner would be having an opportunity to apply for discharge in case such material is not found sufficient to frame charge “Only because the petitioner belongs to some political ideology, which is opposing the present government, it cannot be said that such acts which were going on since the year 2013 can be ignored only on the specious premise of targeting the petitioner. He admittedly claimed to be a businessman involved in property transactions,” the Court also said. Arolkar has since joined the government after the MGP expressed support to the BJP led coalition government, though he was elected after defeating the BJP candidate to the chair. Adv Aires Rodrigues on 4th July last year had filed a complaint on behalf of Rawloo Khalap with the Special Investigation Team at Crime Branch giving details of the land grabbing by the Mandrem MLA. Jit Arolkar in March last year was elected on a MGP ticket and is now supporting the ruling government having been appointed as Chairman of the Goa Housing Board. Adv Rodrigues in his complaint stated that Jit Arolkar grabbed the land and created over 200 plots in the property while illegally and fraudulently executing sale deeds AS ROADS TURN ‘DEADLY’... Mauvin makes case for infra upgrade in meet with Gadkari THE GOAN I NETWORK STUDENTS AMONG PASSENGERS RETURNING HOME TEMPE A passenger train carrying hundreds of people, including many university students returning home from holiday, collided at high speed with an oncoming freight train in a fiery wreck in northern Greece, killing at least 36 people and injuring some 85, officials said on Wednesday. Multiple cars derailed and at least three burst into flames after the collision just before midnight of Tuesday near the INFO THE GOAN I NETWORK 36 killed, 85 injured in Greece trains’ collision PTI RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 Court slams authorities over Land grab: HC declines to quash FIR against MLA music permits to offenders CB arrests four cybercriminals PANAJI: The Goa Crime Branch arrested four cybercriminals of Delhi origin in connection with a case investigated by its counterparts in Hyderabad. Goa police were approached by the Hyderabad police to crack the case involving Kafil Ahmed, Mohd Jamal, Mohammed Asif, and Chirag Sohanlal.  >> See pg 3 Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday PANAJI Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho who met Union Minister of Roads, Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, on Wednesday made a case for infrastructural needs in the transport sector even as Goa struggles to cope with rising cases of mishaps claiming lives over the last several weeks this year. Besides issues related to road infrastructure and introducing road engineering corrections to make highways and roads in the State safer, Godinho also discussed matters related to enforcement and acquisition of latest equipment and gadgets for it. In the first two months this year, accidents have risen astronomically leading to widespread critic of the government forcing Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to hold a review of enforcement and policing on the roads recently. The State government also introduced some tangible measures to arrest the alarming road safety situation, including buying more equipment for the enforcement wing of the RTO as also the traffic police. SAFER ROADS TO DRIVE? „„Besides issues related to road infrastructure and introducing road engineering corrections to make highways and roads in the State safer, Transport minister also discussed matters related to enforcement and acquisition of latest equipment and gadgets „„Some tangible measures have been introduced to arrest the alarming road safety situation, including buying more equipment for the enforcement wing of the RTO as also the traffic police It also handed the power to issue challans for traffic violations to head constables earlier last week and the police are also planning to introduce drones for monitoring traffic as well as to check violations. To check drunken driving, suspected to be one of the major contributors to mishaps and road safety issues, the government has also decided to acquire more equipment. >Continued on P5 Domestic LPG cylinder price hiked by `50 PTI NEW DELHI Cooking gas LPG price on Wednesday was hiked by Rs 50 per cylinder -- the first increase in rates in almost eight months -- that came within days of end of polling in three northeastern states and was sharply criticised by the Opposition. A 14.2-kg LPG cylinder in Delhi now costs Rs 1,103, up from Rs 1,053, according to a price notification of stateowned fuel retailers. State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) said Rs 1,103 was the rate for a 14.2-kg non-subsidised LPG cylinder. The government pays Rs 200 per cylinder subsidy to the 9.58 crore poor who got free LPG connection under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana. The effective price for them would be Rs 903 per cylinder. State-owned fuel retailers are supposed to revise rates on a monthly basis in line with cost but they have not done so since 2020 and were in October last year given a one-time grant of Rs 22,000 crore to make up for losses they incurred between June 2020 and June 2022. They last revised domestic LPG price on July 4, 2022. SAFEGUARD HOUSES ALONG DOUBLE TRACKING ROUTE… No faith in Railways, MLA’s assurances: Locals THE GOAN I NETWORK VASCO group of villagers along with activists and leaders from different political parties on Wednesday said they had no faith in assurances by the Railways and Cortalim MLA Anton Vas over shifting of tracks and safeguarding the houses along the tracks. They insisted that Cortalim MLA Anton Vas should, instead, join hands with them to oppose the doubling of tracks in the villages of Velsao, Pale and Issorcim. Speaking to reporters at a news conference, Velsao Sarpanch Diana Gouveia said the people had gathered to CM likely to inspect Cansaulim-Velsao stretch A Chief Minister Pramod Sawant interacts with Cortalim MLA Antonio Vas and former Velsao panch Roquezinho D’Souza on Wednesday evening. express the issues of double tracking and pollution in the village. “As a Sarpanch, I am with the people and will support them because I am elected by them. Regarding the inspection by the MLA, the panchayat did not get any notice and we were not aware VASCO: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is likely to inspect sites for the doubling tracking along the Cansaulim-Velsao stretch during his visit to Sancoale on Thursday. According to sources, Cortalim MLA Antonio Vas along with former Velsao panch Roquezinho D’Souza and others met Sawant on Wednesday evening and apprised him of the issues pertaining to the double tracking and coal pollution. “Sawant expressed happiness at the steps taken by Vas in meeting Railway authorities and trying to resolve issues faced by the people of Cansaulim and Velsao villages,” said the source. “Sawant is also likely to inspect the doubling tracking sites along the Cansaulim-Velsao stretch during his visit to Sancoale on Thursday,” said the source. of the inspection. It would have been better if we were informed so that people could be aware of the inspection,” said Gouveia. “I feel the Railways must show us their plans and only then can we believe them >Continued on P5