log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday SATURDAY MARCH 11, 2023 GOA St Francis Xavier statue, Cross desecrated near Margao page 7 Goan radio channel makes waves across UK, globe ‘Important to make profit, but Goans must help each other’ IN SHORT >> Depts notified of Central schemes PANAJI: The government has asked departments to make provisions for Central sector schemes in the budget. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said it should not happen that funds cannot be sought because there is no provision. System to support panchayats and municipalities based on their revenue generation will also be put in place in the Budget, he said. 7 officers promoted to senior grade PANAJI: Seven selection grade officers of Goa Civil Service have been promoted to Senior Administrative Grade (Group ‘A’ Gazetted) by government. The promoted officers include Gopal Parsekar, Gurudas P Pilarnekar, Shabari Manjrekar alias Ruhi Redkar, Meghanath P Porob, Venancio Furtado, Derrick P Neto and Srinet N Kotwale. Agrawal is CCI’s Goa council chief PANAJI: In a change of guard at the Goa State Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (Western Region), Anirudh Agrawal, a gen-X scion of the South Goa based Agrawal group, has picked up the baton from Swathi Salgaocar.  >> See pg 3 Road over bridge in Chandor thrown open MARGAO: The Rs 20 crore Chandor road over bridge, expected to shorten distance between Margao and Curchorem, was thrown open for vehicular traffic on Friday. While the railways have built the bridge at a cost of Rs two crore, the government has spent around Rs 14-18 cr on approach roads.  >> See pg 2 Phones, cash worth `  .07 lakh burgled 5 VASCO: Burglars decamped with five mobile phones and wallets with cash amounting to Rs 5.07 lakh from an apartment hotel at Upasnagar-Velsao on Thursday. WEATHER >> Max: 37 C Min: 21 C Humidity: 70% TIDES Low: High: 06:59 19:05 00:34 13:21 Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday 14 pages PRICE ` 8 2 The Goan (Playstore) PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VIII, NO. 262 GOA Beneficiary not denied vehicle, but he must be punctual: Sardinha 3 Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 INFO The best anti-ageing beauty hacks for you Faced with cash crunch, govt may scrap loss-making PSEs TO REVIEW PERFORMANCE OF ALL STATE-OWNED CORPORATIONS THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday took a tough stand on State-owned Corporations suggesting perpetually loss-making ones will be done away with after a thorough review by Finance department. “We will take a review of all State-owned corporations. Those that are not required will be shut down,” Sawant who also holds the  finance portfolio said. Speaking at an event where he received a dividend cheque from Economic Development Corporation, Sawant said some of these Corporations have no tangible purpose and are only a financial burden on the State exchequer. “Only profit-making and self-sustaining Corporations will continue. EDC is one of such self-sustaining corporation,” Sawant said, adding that although all these gov- SAWANT’S TOUGH TALK „„Some of these Corporations have no tangible purpose and are only a financial burden on the State exchequer „„Only profit-making and self-sustaining Corporations will be allowed to continue… EDC is one of such self-sustaining Corporation ernment  enterprises have scope many of them aren’t exploring their potential.  BJP State president, Sadanand Shet Tanavade, who heads the EDC as chairman presented the dividend cheque of Rs 86.2 lakh to Sawant at the event held at the Corporation’s headquarters in the capital city. KTC to take private buses on board; operators not excited THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Financial crunch of the government has prompted Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited (KTCL) to tie up with the private buses instead of procuring a new fleet of buses. The pilot phase of the scheme will be commissioned only after a discussion with the private bus operators, majority of who have however rejected the offer. The government had directed the KTCL to release a scheme to “hire” private buses on a temporary basis given that purchasing new buses is not feasible with a drained treasury. Around 100 Kadamba buses will be tentatively phased-out on April 1, 2023, after completing their eight-year service period. “As an alternative to buying new buses, we will hire private buses. The operators will be paid km-wise. Each bus should complete 120-170 km per day to avail T >Continued on P5 THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Air quality in Goa has slipped to ‘poor’ on a national weather meter, beating the otherwise polluted cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.  The real-time Air Quality Index for Panaji stood at 123 around 9 pm on Friday while the coastal areas of Mapusa and Pernem recorded 125, and Ponda at 133. The overall air quality was classified as ‘poor’.  Even the capital Delhi and India’s financial capital Mumbai recorded 109 and 115 air quality whereas Bangalore recorded 54.  An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”; 51 and 100 “satisfactory”; 101 and 200 “moderate”; 201 and 300 “poor”; 301 and 400 “very poor”; and 401 and 500 “severe”. Panaji, which has been reporting AQI at 100 or above for the last few days, is already facing the heat of the haphazard works undertaken by Smart City. The dust pollution owing to the ongoing works Tracking, keeping watch on cases, says Centre PTI NEW DELHI India has recorded its first two deaths due to seasonal influenza subtype H3N2, one each from Karnataka and Haryana, with the Union health ministry on Friday saying it is keeping a close watch on the situation and cases are expected to decline from month end. “It can be seen that Influenza H3N2 is the predominant subtype among the samples testing positive for influenza, since the beginning of this year,” it said. The ministry is also tracking and keeping a close watch on morbidity and mortality due to the H3N2 subtype of the seasonal influenza, according to a statement. “Young children and old age persons with comorbidities are the most vulnerable groups in context of seasonal influenza. So far, Karnataka and Haryana have confirmed one death each from H3N2 influenza,” the ministry said. Seasonal influenza is an acute respiratory infection caused by influenza viruses which circulate in all parts of the world, and the cases are seen to increase during certain months globally. The cases arising from seasonal influenza are expected to decline from March end. State surveillance officers are therefore fully geared to meet this public health challenge,” the ministry said in the statement. It said the ministry is monitoring and tracking cases across states through the In- tegrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) network on real-time basis. In Karnataka, 82-year-old Hire Gowda died due to the H3N2 virus on March 1, a state health department official said. In Haryana, a health department official said a 56-year-old man, a lung cancer patient who died recently, had tested positive for the H3N2 virus in January. Sewerage contractors get deadline to complete work MARGAO: Sounding a warning to PWD contractors executing sewerage works to either complete the works on schedule or face termination, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral said the sewerage works underway in Margao should be completed in May before the onset of monsoons. He, however, said the sewerage works in neighbouring Navelim will take some more time to complete, given that pumping stations need to be installed at some places. When his attention was drawn to the ongoing sewerage works in Margao, Cabral said “We assistants have been lying vacant when he took over the PWD reigns last year. He said there are junior engineers in the department who have now have given enough opportunities to contractors to complete the work as per schedule. “We are in the process of completing the sewerage works in Margao. The ongoing works should be hopefully completed by May”, he said. Cabral warned that contractors who fail to meet the deadline will be removed and new contractors appointed to execute the work. Meanwhile, the PWD Minister said the second phase of Zuari bridge will be completed soon, which will further ease congestion along the Margao-Panjim route. got the promotion after putting in 35 years of service. “This has happened because the system pertaining to recruitment and promotions was defunct”, he said. The PWD Minister said JEs who have got the promotions as Assistant engineers have been asked to continue to offi- The real-time Air Quality Index for Panaji stood at 123 around 9 pm on Friday while the coastal areas of Mapusa and Pernem recorded 125, and Ponda at 133 and vehicular pollution has added to the pollution.  A report from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for the year 2021 indicated alarming level of pollution despite Panaji being a coastal city with the advantage of sea breeze to clear the air.  The capital city ranked 230 among 389 cities of the country in  terms of Particulate Matter 10 (PM10) concentrations while eight other places including two industrial unit zones and a sub-town also had PM 10 levels above the safe 60 µg/m3.  These places included Cuncolim 67, Usgao-Pale 64, >Continued on P5 THE GOAN I NETWORK No need to panic, say experts NEW DELHI: As India confirmed its first two deaths due to the H3N2 influenza virus on Friday, experts called for increased monitoring and precaution measures but also reassured that there is no need to panic yet. From January 2 to March 5, 451 cases of the H3N2 have been reported in the country, according to the data shared by the ministry. It also said it is keeping a close watch on the situation and cases are expected to decline from month end. As concerns mounted and some people wondered whether this could possibly turn out to be another Covid, pulmonologist Anurag Agrawal said he doesn’t expect to see a massive wave. “Admission to hospital has not been very common and only about 5 per cent cases have been reported to be hospitalised,” added Tarun Sahani, senior consultant, internal medicine, Apollo Hospitals. 14 Panaji struggles to breathe, quality of air slips to ‘poor’ India records first 2 cases of H3N2 influenza deaths SMOKED OUT: A fireman attempts to douse the blaze that swept paddy fields in Taleigao on Friday. Thick clouds of smoke affected visibility and disrupted traffic movement besides affecting residents. ( Report on pg 3 ) Narayan Pissurlenkar Focus on Tambdi Surla temple, Bondla zoo as fires continue THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The historic Tambdi Surla temple in the dense forest and Bondla zoo could be at risk of the raging fire though the government has allayed fears claiming that 11 active fires reported till Friday evening are “minor.” There is no alert issued but an updated bulletin released Claims staff shortage, says JEs, AEs, EEs have to juggle with double duties MARGAO erming the PWD recruitment and promotion system as defunct, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral on Friday conceded that Junior Engineers promoted as Assistant Engineers and Executive Engineers promoted as Superintending Engineers continue to discharge the duties of both positions due to staff shortage. That’s not all. The PWD was candid in admitting duplication of work when the files are cleared after receiving the administrative approval, but had to then follow the process to obtain expenditure sanction. In fact, Cabral was on record saying that around 450 posts of junior engineers and technical the scheme benefits,” KTCL MD Derrick Neto said while explaining the proposed scheme to The Goan. The government will pitch in for viability gap funding, he added, claiming that the initiative will not only help the Corporation to tide over the shortage of buses but also private bus operators who are struggling to make ends meet post-Covid. Under the scheme, around 700 buses will be taken on board with phase-wise induction, subject to the demand from passengers. In the first phase, Neto Healy smashes 96, powers UP Warriorz to 10-wicket win over RCB Private forests now on govt records; land rules amended Cabral cries foul over PWD recruitment, promotions THE GOAN I NETWORK 10 SPORTS ciate as junior engineers since the vacant posts of JEs have still not been filed up. Similar is the case with the SEs, who have been advised to official as EEs till the posts are filled up”, he said. Cabral made the observation after Opposition MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao and Cruz Silva complained of delay in the preparation of estimates of road works in their respective constituencies for want of junior engineers. While complimenting Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for his help and assistance in clearing PWD files, Cabral said he has requested the Chief Minister to cut down the delays in obtaining administrative and expenditure sanction. ‘WE WERE FOCUSED ON OVERCOMING CRISIS TO SAVE OUR FOREST IN MORLEM’ >> See pg 3 by Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane indicated fires are reported in the close vicinity of Tambdi Surla and Bondla. As of 4 pm on Friday, fires were reported in Satrem Par- od, Satrem Sidichikon, Satrem Bridge, Krishnapur Pendral beat, Derodem Dongor, Sigao beat, Salay, Anmod Ghat, Tambdi Surla, Mollem;Gurkhem, Dharbandora-Usgao, Ponda and Piliem in Bondla. All of these are in government owned forests. Rane disclosed that a thorough report had been >Continued on P5 PANAJI In a move to bring all privately owned forests onto government records, the State government on Friday notified the amendment to the Goa Land Revenue (Record of Rights and Register of Cultivators) Rules, 1969. These rules called the Goa Land Revenue (Record of Rights and Register of Cultivators) (Amendment) Rules, 2023 add the clause “entry is made to indicate the land as private forest”, in rule 10 of the Goa Land Revenue (Record of Rights and Register of Cultivators) Rules. It may be recalled that the Pramod Sawant-led government had released the draft amendment in January this year and had invited suggestions and objections from parties who had stakes in private forests across the State. The notice issued had said that draft rules shall be taken into consideration by after the expiry of a period of 15 days from the date of notification in the official gazette. However, no objections or suggestions were received on the draft Rules within the stipulated period. Spike in drugs, gambling cases, reveals police data THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Goa Police’s monthly crime statistics have revealed that offenses like drugs and gambling were on the rise in February 2023 as compared to the corresponding month last year. Data released by Director General of Police Jaspal Singh on Friday, also mentions a 67 per cent decline in the reported crime last month. “There has been a 10 times increase in the Public Gambling and NDPS Act cases. A total of 184 cases of gambling were booked last month as against 16 cases in the corresponding period in 2022. Similarly, 15 drug cases were de- There has been a 10 times increase in the Public Gambling and NDPS Act cases. A total of 184 cases of gambling were booked last month as against 16 cases in the corresponding period in 2022 tected in the previous month compared to seven cases in February 2022,” he said. Under various heads of crimes, Singh further revealed that 284 offenses were reported in February 2022 which has dropped to 170 cases in the last month while the detection percentage has been 79 per cent. Against the backdrop of a sudden spike in road accidents this year, the department has stepped up enforcement with additional staff deployed to ensure adherence to traffic laws. In a special drive launched last month, 6592 Challans were issued to the violators in the north district as compared to 4863 in the corresponding month last year. Similarly, South district police booked 7771 challans against 4662 in February 2022. “Various Traffic Cells booked 33434 challans and collected a fine of more than Rs 2 crores in February itself,” the DGP said, adding that strict enforcement resulted in >Continued on P5