log on to thegoan.net FRIDAY MAY 26, 2023 GOA @thegoaneveryday No power supply to Bardez, Pernem talukas on May 28 PANAJI: There will be no power supply to electricity consumers of entire Bardez and Pernem talukas on May 28, from 6 am to 12 noon due to pre-monsoon maintenance work of Tivim sub-station. However, power supply will be available to essential services like Assonora water works, district hospital, etc. Davorlim land grab second accused held MARGAO: Margao police on Thursday arrested the second absconding accused Salim Doddamani in the case of selling plot using forged documents at Davorlim. His accomplice Rajdeep Kundaikar is already in police custody. The duo had misappropriated property papers of one Moosa Salemohammad and sold two plots at Davorlim by making forged power of attorney.  >> See pg 2 One booked for rape of minor MARGAO: The Colva police has booked an offense of rape against a 28-year old man for allegedly raping a minor girl and impregnating her.  >> See pg 2 Water woes: Harmal women threaten stir PERNEM: Unhappy over constant water shortage in their area, women from Varcha wada area in Harmal have threatened to agitate if their water woes are not resolved within four days. They claimed that Varcha wada in Harmal has been facing water scarcity issue since the past few months.  >> See pg 3 6 booked for assault on youth at Pomburpa MAPUSA: Six persons have been booked for attempt to murder after two youth from Nachinola were severely assaulted with hockey sticks and bottles at Olaulim-Pomburpa in the wee hours of Thursday.  >> See pg 5 Mariamma takes charge of Goa Post PANAJI: Mariamma Thomas has taken charge as the new Postmaster General of Goa Postal Region. The region comprises 2272 post offices spread across Goa State and Kolhapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts of Maharashtra State. WEATHER >> Max: Min: Humidity: TIDES 33 C 28 C 70% Low: 08:32 22:18 High: 01:32 16:13 The Goan (Playstore) 14 pages PRICE ` 8 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VIII, NO. 338 Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 3 14 2 10 1 occasion, 2 events: Tribal split wide open Fishermen in quandary over shelter for their vessels during monsoon IN SHORT >> Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday GOA INFO Lesson learnt? Officials for tighter traffic rules at Cujira Complex Kidney stone diet: Which foods can cause kidney stones SPORTS Shuttlers Sindhu, Srikanth, Prannoy enter quarterfinals of Malaysia Masters GOVT COMMEMORATES DEATH ANNIVERSARY OF TRIBAL YOUTH AT RAVINDRA BHAVAN ST ACTIVISTS ON HUNGER STRIKE OBSERVE THE DAY AS ‘BLACK DAY’ AT LOHIA MAIDAN THE GOAN I NETWORK MARGAO The 12th death anniversary of the two tribal leaders, Manguesh Gaonkar and Dilip Velip, who had lost their lives in the famous UTAA agitation at Balli on May 25, 2011, was observed in contrasting fashion on Thursday indicating deep division in the ST movement – an official programme at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao and a hunger strike at the historic Lohia Maidan. The official programme commemorating the deaths of the two tribal youth saw the presence of Ministers Govind Gaude and Subhash Faldesai, with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who is away in Delhi, sending a recorded message to members of the tribal community, while the ST activists sitting on a hunger strike at the Lohia Maidan observed the day as a black day. At the Ravindra Bhavan, Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude went hammer and thongs at the Tribal group Political reservations for STs find no mention in CM’s message At Ravindra Bhavan: Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude lighting the lamp to inaugurate the Prerana Din at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao on Thursday. At Lohia Maidan: ST leaders attired in black observing ‘Black Day’ on the 12th death anniversary of two tribal leaders at the Lohia Maidan, Margao.  Pics Santosh Mirajkar fighting for political reservations under the banner of Mission Political Reservations for the Scheduled Tribes, who had staged the hunger strike at the Lohia Maidan, by terming the mission as Mission Politics and Mission hidden agenda. Without taking names, Gaude said the political reservations movement is being taken forward with vested interests, even saying those community since the time of the Congress-ruled UPA government. “UTAA delegation had even called on then UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and had presented the charter of demands,” he said. Saying that anyone is free to hold an agitation in a democratic set up, Gaude, however, took exception to the criticism of UTAA by some leaders. “We also support agitation, but now the mode of achieving STs DEMAND CENTRE ISSUE NOTIFICATION ON SEAT RESERVATIONS >> See pg 2 who are criticising UTAA chief Prakash Velip are not worthy even to sit near Velip’s slippers. He pointed out that UTAA has been agitating to achieve the demands of the tribal Expert panel to scrutinise pleas for correction of land-use in RP TCP MINISTER SAYS CASE SCRUTINY BEFORE CTP ACTION THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Town and Country Planning Minister Vishwajit Rane on Thursday said the department will have an "expert committee" which will scrutinise all cases before the Chief Town Panner (CTP) exercises his power under a recent amendment to "correct" erroneous land-use zones in the Regional Plan 2021. The committee will scrutinise all the cases under Section 17(2) of the TCP Act which was enacted during the budget session in March this year, and which gave powers to the TCP to alter land-use in the Regional Plan, he said. The committee to be notified by the government will have on board members such as the Chairman of the Environment Appraisal Committee, scientists from the Centre for Environment Education, architects, engineers, legal experts, the President of GCCI and officials from the Government of Goa. It will assist and work in tandem with the TCP Department, Rane said. The move comes in the face of growing protests against the amendment from greens THE GOAN I NETWORK real estate and builders lobby. The government last month already exercised this power PANAJI In a bid to instill road discipline in the face of rising mishaps, the State government has notified speed limits on 21 stretches across the State including some of the major bridges. For the new Zuari bridge, the maximum speed limit is 30 kilometres per hour. For four other bridges -- Old and New Mandovi Bridge, Banastarim Bridge and the Siridao Bridge -- it is 40 kilometres per hour. Also, for all roads in the capital city of Panaji, the speed limit has been pegged at 40 kilometres per hour except for the DBB Marg which outlines the city on the northern side hugging the Mandovi river. Road cutting ban in North: As is the norm, the North Goa Collector has issued a notification banning cutting and excavating all roads during the monsoon from June 1. National Highways, State highways, major district roads, road-shoulders, lanes, thoroughfares and other motorable roads will be out of bounds for any work that requires cutting and digging, the notification states. >Continued on P5 >Continued on P5 THE ‘EXPERT COMMITTEE’ The committee to be notified by the government will have on board members such as the Chairman of the Environment Appraisal Committee, scientists from the Centre for Environment Education, architects, engineers, legal experts, the President of GCCI and officials from the Government of Goa Six crore sqmt land is wrongly converted to settlement: Rane PANAJI: In yet another decision, TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane said that land “wrongly” converted in the Regional Plan 2021 will be reversed. Rane, who claimed the quantum of such land is to the tune of six crore square metres across the State, said it will again be scrutinised by the ‘expert committee’ on a caseto-case basis. He said the TCP department will form an expert committee to scrutinise the discrepancies and get them corrected and reversed. “We will conduct a case-by-case inquiry, and the survey numbers of each land will be reversed,” Rane said. He also said, the committee report will be made public in the next three months and the names of the members and minutes of the meeting will also be put in public domain. Also, the officers involved in such acts will be punished, if required, suspended before the next assembly session, Rane said. and environmental NGOs, who have expressed fear that it is a tool to promote largescale conversion of land to settlement at the behest of the Govt caps speed limits on 21 road stretches the target should be different. We don’t need the advice of these people to take the movement forward,” he said, while calling upon the tribal community to unite and not fall prey to these vested interests. Asserting that UTAA is not aligned to any political party, Gaude said that only UTAA will succeed in making the dream of the tribal community for political reservations a reality. UTAA chief Prakash MARGAO: The contentious issue of political reservations found no mention in Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s recorded message at the Prerana Din programme organised by the Directorate of Tribal Welfare and United Tribal Alliance Association (UTAA) to observe the death anniversary of tribal youth Manguesh Gaonkar and Dilip Velip, who were killed in the UTAA-led agitation at Balli on May 25, 2011. The Chief Minister, however, said the BJP-government has set in motion the process to resolve the issues plaguing the tribal community, and urged the people to remain united and support the government in taking the community forward. “Today, we are remembering the sacrifices made by Manguesh Gaonkar and Dilip Velip with the sole purpose >Continued on P5 Velip called for support from all the organisations to achieve the demands of the tribal community. Saying that UTAA is a firebrand force amongst the tribal community, Prakash said the organisation will do whatever it can to achieve the just demands of the tribal community. On the occasion, Social Welfare Minister Subhash Faldesai, who represents the tribal-dominated Sanguem constituency, publicly supported the political reservations for the ST community, as he acknowledged the support of the tribal community over the years. PWD notifies re-exam for scrapped recruitment Process to take off from stage of re-examination THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The controversial recruitment process of the Public Works Department (PWD) junior engineers before the 2022 assembly elections which was later scrapped after it was challenged before the Bombay High Court, has now been revived. The office of the PWD Principal Chief Engineer has issued a notice which says that the PWD has “re-initiated” the process of recruitment for filling up the vacant posts of 368 junior engineers and technical assistants. The re-initiation of the recruitment process, according to the notice, will take off from the stage of re-examination. The original recruitment process to fill these 368 posts of junior engineers and technical assistants was initiated in the runup to the last assembly elections during the tenure of the then PWD Minister Deepak Pauskar. The latter was accused of corruption and interference in the process and the issue blew up into a major controversy. Some candidates challenged the process before the THE NOTICE: RE-INITIATION PROCESS „„The list of applicants eligible for the re-examination will be the same who had applied and were eligible to answer the exam following the process advertised in August-September 2021 „„The date, time and venue along with the seat nos/ roll nos, for the re-exam will be uploaded on the government and PWD website „„Communications with the candidates will only be by SMS or email on the number and email ID provided at the time of the 2021 recruitment process Bombay High Court and midway through the High Court’s adjudication, the State government informed it is keeping the process on hold and also ordered a vigilance enquiry. The Vigilance probe reportedly indicted Pauskar, who was also denied a renomination by the ruling BJP in the February 2022 elections. After coming back to power following the elections, the State government said it had scrapped the entire process. Now, as per the schedule released in the notice on Wednesday and published as an advertisement in sections of the media, the re-examination for technical assistants (civil) will be held at four cen- tres in Panaji and Porvorim on June 11 – Don Bosco College/High School in Panaji, V M Salgaonkar College of Law at Miramar, L D Samant High School at Porvorim and Vidhyaprabhodini Higher Secondary School, Porvorim. For technical assistants (mechanical/electrical), the re-exam will also be held on June 11 at the following four centres at the Cujira-Bambolim school complex – Vasantrao Dempo Higher Secondary School, Dr K B Hedgewar Higher Secondary School, Mushtifund High School and St Rosary High School. Again on June 11, the re-exam for technical assistants >Continued on P5 Wildlife Board reconstituted; ‘Disease X’ raises concern after WHO’s warning THE NEXT PANDEMIC? CM to chair, Rane is deputy AGENCIES 3 MLAs IN; ENVIRONMENTALIST KERKAR KEPT OUT THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The Goa State Board for Wildlife, chaired by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, has been reconstituted, including bureaucrats from relevant departments of the State and Central governments besides representatives of related NGOs. Apart from Sawant, the 31-member board has Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane as vice-chairman, and three more legislators – Ganesh Gaonkar, Deviya Rane and Anton Vas. Statutory functions of board Assisting the government in selection and management of areas to be declared as protected areas, formulating policy for protection and conservation of wild life and specified plants, measures for harmonising the needs of tribals and other dwellers of forests with protection and conservation of wild life A noted exclusion from the board is reputed green activist Rajendra Kerkar. Assisting the government in selection and management of areas to be declared as protected areas, formulating policy for protection and conservation of wild life and specified plants, measures for harmonising the needs of tribals and other dwellers of forests with protection and conservation of wild life are some of the statutory functions of the board. Some of the expert >Continued on P5 WASHINGTON fter three years of Covid-19 pandemic, a sense of normalcy has returned but scientists are wary of the next outbreak, especially after World health Organisation (WHO) chief's recent statement that the world must get ready for the next pandemic, which might be "even deadlier" than Covid-19. After this remark, there is a renewed interest in the list of 'priority disease' on the health body's website. The short list has the names of the disease that could cause the next deadly pandemic. While most of the diseases are known to us - Ebola, Sars and Zika - the final entry named 'Disease X' has caused concern. Covid-19 posed unprece- A „„Disease X refers to unknown pathogens with pandemic potential that emerge in the future „„It could be a new agent - a virus, a bacterium or fungus - without any known treatments „„Many experts claim that Disease X will be zoonotic, like Ebola and Covid-19 „„Others say the pathogen could also be created by humans „„The other priority dis- eases are Marburg virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Nipah and henipaviral diseases, Rift Valley fever and Middle East respiratory syndrome dented challenges before the world, and caused thousands of fatalities. Scientists scrambled to create a vaccine to take on the virus that spread quickly since its outbreak in 2019. According to WHO website, the term "represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease". It could be a new agent - a virus, a bacterium or fungus without any known treatments. The WHO started using the term in 2018. And a year later, Covid-1 began to spread across the world. "It is not an exaggeration to say that there is potential of a Disease X event just around the corner," Pranab Chatterjee, researcher at the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, told The National Post. "The recent spate of H5N1 bird flu cases in Cambodia is just a case in point," he added. The term has led to delib- erations across the world, with many experts claiming that the next Disease X will be zoonotic, like Ebola and Covid-19. Others said the pathogen could also be created by humans. "The possibility of an engineered pandemic pathogen also cannot be ignored," said the authors of a 2021 article in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. The other priority diseases on the WHO list include Marburg virus, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Lassa fever, Nipah and henipaviral diseases, Rift Valley fever and Middle East respiratory syndrome. For now, health experts want surveillance to be increased and additional funds provided to develop counter measures.