log on to thegoan.net Facebook.com/thegoan @thegoanonline SUNDAY NOVEMBER 19, 2023 The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) Instagram.com/thegoanonline 16 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO. 152 RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 MOVIES »PAGE 16 PLAY & PAUSE »PAGE 13 LIVE SMART »PAGE 14 AWESOME TWOSOME Broken but beautiful Behind the Firewall SPORTS »PAGE 7 ATP Finals 2023: Sinner beats Medvedev BLESSED WITH THALAIVA: Actress to reunite with Madhavan Films v/s OTT: The great divide AI: Assessment integral part of student’s learning VAR likely from 2025-26 domestic season: AIFF The two actors will perform at The International Film Festival of India How we can apply the Japanese concept of Kintsugi to our daily life President & global head for Cybersecurity Advisory talks about Digital Personal Data Protection bill IT’S SUPER SUNDAY! WORLD CUP FINAL BUZZ GRIPS INDIA 3 INDIANS TO WATCH OUT >> SEE PG 3 Protecting houses on Comunidade land: A paradox VIRAAT KOHLI: Leads the tournament batting with 711 runs including three hundreds and has surpassed Tendulkar’s record of 49 tons ROHIT SHARMA: The next best with 550 runs with his leadership getting praise from all MOHAMMED SHAMI: He is the tournament's over leading bowler taking 23 wickets in six matches, including 7-57 against the Kiwis MAGAZINE MAGAZ 9 SLOW TRACK LIKELY Homemade face packs enriched with honey 10 Promoting dietary shifts for stomach cancer prevention Men, the backbone of life’s journey 11 Auto Review Nissan Magnite EZ-Shift AMT: Easy as you want! IN SHORT >> Power dept staff killed in accident VASCO: In a tragic incident, a 41-year-old Electricity Department staff Yoganand Bandodkar from Vasco was killed in a mishap reported at Kurpawada in Cortalim on Saturday. Sources said that the mishap involved a head on collision between two bikes.  >> See pg 5 Cuncolim fish units flayed over pollution MARGAO: Underscoring the need to save Cuncolim from pollution, the Cuncolim Industries Association has charged that certain fish processing industries do not show any respect or rather scant respect to the Goa State Pollution Control Board due to political patronage.   >> See pg 2 24-year-old Sattari girl missing PANAJI: A 24-year-old girl from Sattari Anupama Gaonkar has been reported missing since last two days. Bicholim fire force personnel have launched a search and rescue operation after her two-wheeler was found on Amona bridge. KEY BATTLES ROHIT V/s STARC: Indian skipper’s aggressive intent in the Power Play has set the tone for strong batting performance. Starc will look to dent India by nabbing Rohit early KOHLI V/s HAZLEWOOD: India’s run-machine will face a stern test against Josh Hazlewood’s consistency of line and length SHREYAS/RAHUL V/s ZAMPA: Battle against Shreyas and Rahul -- one of the best batters against spin in this tournament -- promises to be a tantalising contest ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson spent nearly 30 minutes inspecting the playing surface. The pitch is likely to be on the slower side, similar to India V/s Pakistan fixture The 48 hours, 40 years ago that transformed Goa tourism Can consent forms diffuse medical negligence? Rohit Sharma’s undefeated India will look to end a 10-year global title drought in front of 130,000 fans in the World Cup final against five-time champions Australia on Sunday Cabinet shake-up on cards; Aleixo to replace Cabral n Cabral to voluntarily put in his papers n Sequeira to be sworn-in immediately THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI After over a year of speculation and intermittent media reportage there is again intense speculation that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will soon make changes in his Cabinet team. BJP sources say Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Nilesh Cabral will be replaced in the Cabinet by Nuvem MLA Aleixo Sequeira. Cabral, who has been sounded out about the decision, will voluntarily put in his papers soon and Sequeira will be sworn-in immediately, the BJP sources said. Apart from Sawant and other top State BJP leadership, Cabral was also spoken to by the Central party leaders, including National general secretary B L Santosh. The development could take place as early as Sunday, the sources said, adding that backhand talks and negotiations to pave the way for the shake-up in the Cabinet had been initiated by Sawant a few days ago. Apparently three ministers from the minority community -- Mauvin Godinho, Nilesh Cabral and Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate -- were sounded out about the party’s decision to replace any one of them with Sequeira in the Cabinet. Finally, it was Cabral that the party zeroed in on to replace. The spectre of a cabinet Cabral slams reports of ‘job scam’ PANAJI: Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral slammed reports of a “job scam” speculated against him. “Let anyone come forward and prove it, I will resign even as an MLA, and I am firm about it”, he charged. Cabral stated that he had scrapped those posts when there were irregularities detected, and the vacancies were re-advertised. However, Cabral was quick to add that he was not told by anyone to resign as a minster. “I have not done any corruption or scam, let the CM tell me”, Cabral added. Speculations were doing the rounds that Cabral would be asked to step down over the “PWD job scam” to make way for Nuvem MLA Aleixo Sequeira. Earlier this year, the Congress alleged a Rs 70 crore “cash for job scam” in the PWD. shake-up has been hovering over Goa’s political stage for over a year ever since eight Congress MLAs, including then Opposition Leader Michael Lobo, defected to the BJP within six months of the general election results in mid-September last year. Sequeira and former chief minister Digambar Kamat were part of that group admitted to the BJP and it was speculated then that two of the eight were promised ministerial positions.  But both Sawant and BJP State President Sadanand Shet Tanavade refuted the reports even as five other defector MLAs were accommodated with positions as chairpersons of State-owned Corporations. Now, the party has taken the decision to accommodate Sequeira in the Cabinet. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, meanwhile neither denied nor confirmed the reports doing the rounds since Saturday morning that BJP high command had instructed PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral to resign as minister saying everything will be known once a decision has been taken. “You will come to know when the high command takes a decision on this”, the chief minister told media when asked about such reports. 6,000 Nightclub staff extorts `  6,000 1 from tourist at Calangute, held THE GOAN I NETWORK MAPUSA Calangute Police arrested a staffer of a popular nightclub in Calangute for harassing a tourist and extorting Rs 16,000 from him. According to the tourist hailing from Maharashtra, two staff members of Mehfil club lured him with a false promise providing “massage” and “ladki”. In his complaint, he said that once inside the club, the staff threatened him and extorted Rs 16,000 minus the promised facilities. After receiving the complaint, police registered a case. A police team then traced one of the accused Yogendra Behera (23) residing at Umtavaddo, Calangute but native of Orissa. He was arrested and later remanded to two days police custody. Further investigation is in progress under the supervision of Calangute PI Paresh Naik and overall supervision of DySP Vishwesh Karpe and SP North, Nidhin Valsen (IPS). WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE „„The finals will be played at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad and will begin at 2 pm „„Match will be televised on Star Sports Network in India „„The finals will also be streamed live on the Disney+ Hotstar app and website in India Nearly 6,000 security personnel will be deployed in Ahmedabad city and the Narendra Modi stadium during the finals >> Details on pg 8 2 women killed in LPG cylinder blast at Vasco n Mother and pregnant daughter were scheduled to travel to their native place later in the day THE GOAN I NETWORK VASCO In a tragic incident, two women including a pregnant lady were killed in a LPG cylinder explosion at New Vaddem, Vasco on Saturday. According to information, Shivani Rajawat (26) and her mother Jaidevi (50) died in the cylinder blast reported at their rented flat near Rashtroli Jai Santoshi Mata temple, New Vaddem. Disclosing details of the incident, Ward councillor Sudesh Bhosle said the incident occurred at around 8.45 am. “There was a loud sound in the flat and the window panes and other items were shattered”, he said. Shivani was four-and-half months pregnant and was staying with her mother Jaidevi and her husband Anurag at New Vaddem. The LPG cylinder found in the kitchen.  Shivani’s husband works in the Navy and was not at home at the time of the incident. Sources said the women were supposed to leave for their native place in Gwalior later in the day. Disclosing more details of the incident, PSI Swapnil Naik of Vasco police station said they got a call about the blast initially but were later informed of the two deaths. “When we reached the spot Vikram Nayak both the women were lying dead in the kitchen. The windows of the kitchen, bedroom and all the doors were closed. We feel that the cylinder may have been accidentally left open at night and the blast may occurred after one of them tried to light the gas in the morning”, he said. “We could still smell the gas in the flat and this could >Continued on P5 Govt seeks report on liquidated coop banks THE GOAN I NETWORK MAPUSA Expressing concern about liquidation of cooperative banks and societies, Minister for Cooperation Subhash Shirodkar on Saturday directed the department of registrar of co-operative societies to prepare a status report of such liquidated banks/societies in the State. Shirodkar has also urged the cooperative sector to engage the younger generation so that the youth get exposed to the cooperative movement. He directed the deputy registrar of co-operative societies to prepare a comprehensive report of the societies that are liquidated within 15 days. “I have sought a detailed re- port about the status of these societies which have gone under liquidation so that we can either revive those societies or close them down forever. I will always prefer to revive these societies,” Shirodkar said. The Minister for Cooperation was addressing a gathering during a function to celebrate the 70th  all India co-operative week in Mapusa. Chairperson of Mapusa Municipal Council Priya Mishal, Registrar of Cooperative Societies Manuel Baretto and others were also present. Shirodkar informed that 35 credit societies went into liquidation in Bardez and Pernem talukas. “This is a problem which is >Continued on P5 Deepfakes: Govt warns platforms on immunity Goa bolsters security, culinary vigilance for IFFI VIPs PTI THE GOAN I NETWORK NEW DELHI Amid serious concerns over ‘’deepfake’’ videos, the government is all set to meet social media platforms on the issue, with IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday asserting that safe harbour immunity clause will not apply if platforms do not take adequate steps to remove deepfakes. Vaishnaw told reporters that the government had recently issued notices to companies on deepfake issue, and while the platforms have responded, companies will have to be “more aggressive” in taking action on such content. “They are taking steps... but we think that many more steps will have to be taken. And we are very soon going We are very soon going to have a meeting of all the platforms. Maybe in the next 3-4 days, we’ll call them for brainstorming session — Ashwini Vaishnaw to have a meeting of all the platforms. Maybe in the next 3-4 days, we’ll call them for brainstorming and make sure that they make adequate efforts for preventing it and cleaning up their platforms,” Vaishnaw said. Asked if big platforms like Meta and Google would be called for the meeting, the minister replied in the affirmative. LEAVING NOTHING TO CHANCE… PANAJI eaving no room for compromise, the State agencies have enhanced security measures as well as meticulous screening of the culinary offerings for VIP invitees including movie stars and IFFI officials, during the upcoming International Film Festival of India (IFFI). As an integral part of the comprehensive security protocol, officials from the Food & Drugs department will be deploying a dedicated team to taste-test all food before it is served to the national and international VIPs, protected persons, dignitaries, delegates, and film personalities participating in the festival. The specially appointed L Intelligence warns of potential terror threats at crowded places  PANAJI: In the recent past, central intelligence reports have indicated Goa, particularly its crowded areas, could be on the terror radar. Past explosions at Verna and Margao have been examples of when Goa faced threats during public functions.   A State intelligence report mentions that of late, there are several inputs received from the teams will also be in action on both the opening day, November 20, and the closing day, November 28, at Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium in Bambolim. These teams will also be deployed during the screenings at the ESG Complex in Panaji on all event central agencies indicating the possibility of terror attacks in Goa, especially in the crowded tourist areas.  “So also there are several incidents of bomb explosives in Goa in the past, that is, at Verna and Margao on the eve of festival and hence threat to Goa State during public functions cannot be ruled out,” it said. days.  “They will scrutinize the snacks, meals, and refreshments intended for the esteemed VIP invitees to ensure the highest standards of quality and safety,” an official revealed to The Goan wishing anonymity. Whereas, police personnel deployed for food testing at the venues concerned will be responsible for liaising with the Officer of Food and Drugs Administration, deployed for testing the foodstuff, snacks and drinks that will be served to the invitees. “The cops will A prop being set up for the ensuing film festival at the Inox Courtyard on Saturday. ensure the testing procedures are well guarded against any mischief till these are served,” the official said. On the security front, although there is no specific intelligence report, Goa Police have put in place strict measures considering that the coastal State records huge footfalls during the tourist season which coincides with IFFI.  “…There may be the possibility of undesirable elements sneaking into Goa in the guise of tourists. The Film Festival is >Continued on P5