log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline SUNDAY MARCH 3, 2024 MOVIES »PAGE 16 SPECIAL MOMENTS OF LOVE Mukesh with Radhika Merchant Starry night moves: Rihanna grooves to Zingaat with Janhvi >> SEE PG 2 BRAKES ON AS RENTED VEHICLES GO INTO OVERDRIVE MAGAZINE MAGAZ 9 Positing Portuguese colonialism vis-à-vis Indian nationality Fruits for maintaining healthy, glowing skin 10 The benefits of stretching and why it feels good Navigating the onset of summer and rising heat 11 Auto Review Skoda’s ‘Simply Clever’ future plans in India IN SHORT >> Smart City work blocks access to St Inez cemetery PANAJI: Commuters and residents in Panaji suffered massive traffic snarls, particularly along the outer Dayanand Bandodkar Road where all traffic spilled to owing to the closure of the stretch of road from Taj Vivanta junction to the T-junction at the western end of the St Inez cemetery due to the ‘Smart City’ works.  >> See pg 3 Anjuna Police busts prostitution racket MAPUSA: Anjuna Police busted a prostitution racket in Arpora and nabbed two accused who are natives of West Bengal. The accused were caught red-handed while attempting to deliver two victim girls for prostitution activities. Locals nab 2 women stealing mangalsutra CANACONA: A brazen attempt by three women from Delhi to rob the mangalsutra of a woman boarding a bus at the Canacona bus stand was foiled by locals on Saturday. >> See pg 5 The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 16 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO. 255 PLAY & PAUSE »PAGE 13 Short & sweet TECH PLUS TOUCH SPORTS »PAGE 8 WPL: Mumbai Indians seal 7 wicket win over RCB Soirees & filmy nostalgia Financial products for women AIFF legal head accuses president Chaubey of corruption Elevate your everyday look with short hairstyles Is what the start ups in senior citizen space are concentrating on HEAVYWEIGHTS MODI, AMIT SHAH, RAJNATH SINGH & SMRITI Two BJP MPs opt out of Lok IRANI AMONG 34 UNION MINISTERS TO MAKE THE CUT BIG CHANGES IN DELHI NEW DELHI The ruling BJP on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani in the first list of 195 candidates. The list also included two former ministers as well as Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who will fight again from Kota in Rajasthan, and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Vidisha. Union ministers fielded by BJP through the first list also included Mansukh Mandaviya, Jitendra Singh, Sarbananda Sonowal, Gajendra Shekhawat, Bhupender Yadav, G Kishan Reddy, Kiren Rijiju, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Arjun Munda. „„Ramesh Bidhuri, Parvesh Verma, Meenakshi Lekhi and Harsh Vardhan dropped from their respective seats „„Pragya Thakur also dropped from Bhopal seat „„Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of the late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj to make poll debut from New Delhi seat „„Bhojpuri singer and actor Pawan Singh fielded from Asansol in West Bengal „„Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will fight again from Kota in Rajasthan „„Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan propped up from Vidisha Announcing the list, BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde said the party is confident that it would form the government for the third term under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a much bigger mandate. He also said that the party has been working on further expanding its footprint across various States and also to strengthen the National Dem- Bridge mishap case: Vehicle was illegally used as rent-a-car THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Investigation into the Mandovi Bridge accident could uncover a bunch of flaws surrounding the illegal operation of certain tourist taxis as renta-cars. The Transport Department has issued notices to both -the owner of the ill-fated car Shantaram Govekar and the accused driver, Ankit Triparty who is currently in judicial custody. Adding to this complex situation as the police and transport officials are inquiring into this aspect, the license of the Rent-a-Car Association, under which this LPV (Light Passenger Vehicle) GA-03-V-1709 was registered, had lapsed last year. This meant the Association had also been functioning illegally, as confirmed by a police officer. “The car owner had applied for rent-a-car status, a FACT CHECK „„Application for rent-a-car status was pending „„Had permit to be used as tourist taxi until then „„License of Association under which the car was registered had lapsed last year  „„Transport Dept issue notices to car owner & accused driver process facilitated by the Association. However, the Association’s license had expired, which led to the application being in limbo. While the approval process was pending, it was Govekar’s fault to allow the vehicle to be used as a rent-a-cab although knowing it was in blatant violation of the rules,” the source said. Until this approval, the car >Continued on P6 ocratic Alliance. The list included 28 women and 47 young leaders, he said. The announced names included those for 51 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 20 in West Bengal and five in Delhi. The list saw major changes for Delhi with Ramesh Bidhuri, Parvesh Verma, Meenakshi Lekhi and Harsh Vardhan being dropped from their seats, while Sadhvi Prag- Pakistan-bound ship with nuke cargo seized in Mumbai 1 Security agencies at Mumbai’s Nhava Sheva port intercepted and seized the consignment of a Karachi-bound ship from China carrying consignment for Pakistan’s nuclear prog. 2 Customs officials, halted the Maltaflagged ship en route to Karachi and during its inspection, found the consignment had a Computer Numerical Control machine, manufactured by an Italian company. 3 A DRDO team examined the consignment and confirmed its potential usage in Pakistan’s nuclear initiatives, notably in manufacturing crucial components for missile development, the officials said. >> See pg 6 But yet to catch up with other States across the country PANAJI he electric vehicle (EV) market in Goa is indeed expanding at an impressive level with sales quadrupling in the last financial year. However, it accounts for only 0.44 percent of the total sales in India. According to data from the Ministry of Heavy Industries compiled till July 14, 2023, Goa ranks 21st in EV sales with 12,139 vehicles sold, which is only 0.44 percent of the pan-India sales. Uttar Pradesh leads with over 5.56 lakh vehicles registered, capturing a 20 per cent market share. The Goa government is yet to release the figures for FY 2023-24, but, the FY 2022- T RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 LIVE SMART »PAGE 14 Zip, zap, zoom! Goa’s EV sales in top gear THE GOAN I NETWORK Instagram.com/thegoanonline BJP’S TOP GUNS IN FIRST LIST OF 195 CANDIDATES PTI World Wildlife Day: Harnessing digital innovation for conservation Facebook.com/thegoan SALE OF EVs: CENTRAL DATA „„Goa’s EV market expanding, sales quadruple in last fiscal „„Accounts for only 0.44% of total sales in India „„Goa ranks 21st in EV sales across the country, 12,139 vehicles sold „„FY 2022-23 saw a total of 7093 EVs purchased, a rise from 1816 in 2021-22, 230 in the Covid-19-impacted year of 202021 and a mere 39 in 2019-20 „„In last financial year, maximum of 6325 two-wheelers were sold compared to 1443 in 2021-22 „„UP leads with over 5.56 lakh vehicles registered, captures 20% market share 23 saw a total of 7093 EVs purchased, a rise from 1816 in 2021-22, 230 in the Covid-19-impacted year of 2020- 21, and a mere 39 in 2019-20. From the total figures for the last FY, a maximum of 6325 two-wheelers were sold com- pared to 1443 in 2021-22. The ‘Goa State Energy Vision 2050’ targets a minimum of 75 percent adoption for public transport, 100 percent for two-wheelers and taxis, and at least 50 percent for ferry boats, by 2050. In the State Budget 202324, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced the re-launch of the EV subsidy scheme, allocating Rs 25 crores for the purpose. However, it was only in February 2024 that the scheme was relaunched and hence the budgetary provision was extended for FY 2024-25. Under the just-announced subsidy policy, the government has decided to provide >Continued on P6 ya Thakur was also dropped from her Bhopal seat. Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of the late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, will make her poll debut from the New Delhi seat, Kamaljeet Sehrawat will contest from the from West Delhi, MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri from South Delhi, Praveen Khadelwal from Chandni Chowk, while Manoj Tiwari has been retained from the North East Delhi constituency. Besides Lekhi, John Barla is another Union minister who has been dropped. Bhojpuri singer and actor Pawan Singh has been fielded from Asansol in West Bengal. In Uttar Pradesh, the party has fielded former BSP MP Ritesh Pandey from Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha seat in UP, while Hema Malini, Ravi Kishan, Ajay Mishra Teni, Mahesh Sharma, SPS Baghel and Sakshi Maharaj are among those being repeated from their seats. Sabha race NEW DELHI: Two BJP Lok Sabha MPs on Saturday requested party president J P Nadda to relieve them of political duties. Gautam Gambhir while thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for giving him an opportunity to serve the people said he wanted to focus on his cricket commitments. BJP MP from Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh Jayant Sinha also asked Nadda to relieve him from direct electoral duties. While the party has not named a candidate for Gambhir’s constituency in its first list released today, Sinha has not been named as the candidate from his earlier seat of Hazaribagh in Jharkhand. It’s official! Shripad in North; ambiguity continues in South Massive public outreach to seek 50,000 manifesto inputs launched THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) officially named the incumbent, Union minister, Shripad Naik as its nominee for the North Goa seat again but the ambiguity over who its candidate in South Goa will be continues. Naik’s name was in the first list of 195 candidates for Lok Sabha seats from across  the country which the BJP officially announced in Delhi.  The party, however, refrained  from naming its candidate for the second seat from Goa -- Mormugao (South Goa) -- where the race for the party’s ticket is said to be tight between former Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar and former MP Narendra Sawaikar although some other names like that of party general secretary Damu Naik are still in the realm of consideration. Meanwhile, the ruling party on Saturday morning launched its ambitious pub- Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said talks are still on for the South Goa seat… it seems to be tight race between former Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant (Babu) Kavlekar and former MP Narendra Sawaikar lic outreach programme -- Sankalp Patra Sujhav Abhiyan (Programme to seek suggestions for Manifesto) -from the party headquarters at Panaji where Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, State president and Rajya Sabha MP, Sadanand Shet Tanavade, ministers and party leaders were present. Earlier, Sawant and Tanavade along  with other party leaders addressed a press conference where the chief minister said he was confident that both the seats in Goa will be won by the BJP candidates with a thumping majority.  >Continued on P6