log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline SUNDAY JULY 14, 2024 Facebook.com/thegoan The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) Instagram.com/thegoanonline 16 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME X, NO.27 RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 MOVIES »PAGE 16 GOOD LIFE »PAGE 12 LIVE SMART »PAGE 14 Perfect Match Decoding vitamin B Workplace red flags SPORTS »PAGE 8 India seals series in style against Zimbabwe Anant-Radhika’s wedding to feature on ‘The Kardashians’ show Identifying true guru, overcoming anger Guide to filing income tax returns Delhi Capitals sacks head coach Ricky Ponting Ishitta Arun opens up about her top priority on her bucket list Understanding different types of vitamin B and their impact on health Work-life balance and setting firm boundaries Sunburn pushes for Quitol plateau KEY GOVT OFFICIALS, POLITICIANS SOUNDED, BUT Registrations begin GIDC CHAIRMAN REGINALDO SAYS HE HAS ‘NO IDEA’ on BookMyShow THE GOAN I NETWORK >> SEE PG 3 ISSUES GALORE, BUT WILL OPPN FIRE? MAGAZINE MAGAZ Revival? Some Goan youth embrace farming with zeal Maintainability of anticipatory bail application… Moisturising lip care during monsoon New standards for fracture and sprain treatment: 3D printed casts A century of refreshment: The legacy of Mahableshwar Cold Drinks Is social media making you unhappy? DGP Kumar likely to take charge today PANAJI: Goa’s new Director General of Police (DGP) Alok Kumar is expected to take charge on Sunday, just before the monsoon session of the Assembly begins on Monday. Sources revealed that the outgoing DGP Jaspal Singh, who is currently outstation, will arrive in Goa shortly to formally hand over the charge. “The handover will likely occur on Sunday despite it being a holiday in view of the Assembly session,” sources said. PANAJI The move to hold the controversial yet popular electronic dance music (EDM) festival ‘Sunburn’ in South Goa may have stirred a raging controversy on the cusp of vociferous opposition from politicians, social activists and NGOs but the organisers are seemingly determined to host it in Quepem on the Quitol plateau where the Defence Expo was held in the year 2016. Sources with knowledge of the matter told The Goan that the organisers have already sounded out key officials and politicians in the government of their intentions to hold Sunburn, which they flaunt as Asia’s biggest and the world’s 11th ranked music festival, at the Quitol plateau. Around 12 lakh square meters of the land on Quitol Plateau belongs to the Stateowned Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) of which 8 lakh square meters is clear. The balance 4 lakh Altone says not in my constituency square meters is under a dispute in the courts where a hotel company is staking claim that it was allocated the land in the past. The matter is still sub-judice. However, no official was willing to comment officially on whether the Sunburn organisers have officially communicated to the government their decision to host the event at Quitol. Curtorim MLA, Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, who heads Assembly by-polls: INDIA bloc wins big across 7 States Bags 10 of 13 seats, BJP wins just 2 PTI NEW DELHI In a boost to the INDIA bloc, its constituents won 10 of the 13 assembly seats where by-elections were held in seven States, while the BJP managed to bag two and an Independent pocketed one seat as votes were counted on Saturday. The Congress won four seats -- two in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand and two in Himachal Pradesh. The TMC bagged all the four seats in West Bengal while the AAP won the Jalandhar West seat in Punjab and the DMK emerged victorious in the Vikravandi constituency in Tamil Nadu. The BJP won the Hamirpur seat in Himachal Pradesh while Independent candidate Shankar Singh clinched the Rupauli seat in Bihar. Voting was held in these seats on July 10. The Congress hailed the results, saying they “reflect the GIDC as its chairman, meanwhile, declined to make any comment upfront. He said, he had no knowledge if the organisers had formally approached the Corporation with any such proposal for the use of the Quitol venue for Sunburn. Lourenco also did not wish to comment on the controversial EDM festival moving to the South where a number of politicians, NGOs and social activists have joined the cho- rus to oppose it. Despite hailing from Salcete, the political hotbed of South Goa and from where most of the opposition to ‘Sunburn in South Goa’ has erupted, Lourenco said he would rather wait and watch before commenting. “The news has just broken. Wait for a couple of days. Let us see how it develops and what stand the government takes. I will comment only after that,” Lourenco said. PANAJI: Reacting to the development, Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa said, “I have neither received any communication nor confirmation from either the organisers or govt regarding Sunburn at Quitol”. “Our panchayat also has no information. If the govt intends to proceed without our consent, we will vehemently oppose it. In any case, even if they file for approval, we will not extend any support. We will not allow it to take place in my constituency”. He further said, “I am aware of two properties -- 4 lakh sq mts & 8 lakh sq mts -- under IDC. Part of 4 lakh sq mts is under litigation and this is the same location where former IDC Chairman has an interest. The BJP may have consulted him, as they had formed a Betul hospitality group”. THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Undeterred by the fact that they still do not have a firm and formal go ahead from the State government, Sunburn organisers have already gone ahead with online registration of guests for the show “in South Goa” from December 28 to 30. On BookMyShow online portal, registrations took off from Friday itself and by Saturday evening more than 400 had confirmed they are “interested”. The registrations are slat- ed to go on until July 20 and on the following day (July 21) pre-sale of tickets only for “registered users” of BookMyShow will be done before public sale of tickets goes live on July 24. On Friday, in a statement posted on its verifed @ SunburnFestival handle on micro-blogging site ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) organisers said, “this year, immerse yourself into the ultimate blend of music and a surreal underwater experience in our stunning new South Goa home. From 28th to 30th December.” ON PAGE 2 > Sunburn will not be allowed against wishes of the people: BJP > People of South Goa bracing up to wear boxing gloves to take on organisers: Viriato > BJP should shift the festival to Gujarat, says Radharao > Take inputs from South Goa stakeholders before shifting Sunburn: GCCI for Goans, EURO FINAL SHOWDOWN Big reliefmediclaim govt ups SPAIN EYES RECORD FOURTH TITLE, SPAIN ENG LOOKS TO END 58-YEAR WAIT Spain and England are set to battle out in the Euro final with Yamal and his team aiming for glory against a resilient English side. Congress won four seats -- two in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand and two in Himachal Pradesh. TMC bagged all four seats in West Bengal while AAP won Jalandhar West seat in Punjab and DMK emerged victorious in Vikravandi constituency in TN FAVOURITES „„OptaAnalyst algorithm foresees a 60.38% possibility Spain will win „„England’s chance stands at 39.22% „„Bookies also put Spain ahead with 8/11 chance to win against England’s 13/10 YAMAL THE WONDER KID „„Lamine Yamal is the youngest player ever to appear and score in the Euros „„The Barcelona winger scored a brilliant leveller in semis against France changing political climate in the country” and it has now become clear that the web of “fear and illusion woven by the BJP has been broken”. West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee thanked the people and said the party will dedicate the by-election and the Lok Sabha poll victories to the “martyrs” on its July 21 Martyrs’’ Day rally. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin referred to the KANE EYES GOLDEN BOOT HEAD TO HEAD Spain & England clashed only 12 times in official games England fared better with five wins over Spain’s four. There were 3 draws >Continued on P6  With three goals, England striker Harry Kane is the tournament’s joint top-scorer and remains on course to win the Golden Boot  England’s other big star, Jude Bellingham, has scored two goals so far >>REPORT ON PAGE 8 benefit limit to `5L Family income limit also raised THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI In a major relief to Goan families with patients needing superspeciality or rare medical treatment, the State government has raised the upper ceiling of benefits under the Goa Mediclaim Scheme to Rs 5 lakh. The notification was issued by the Directorate of Health Services earlier this week in which the annual family income limit to be eligible has also been raised to Rs 8 lakh. Earlier the scheme used to cover medical treatment expenses to a maximum of  Rs 1.5 lakh and the annual family income of the beneficiary patient also had to be Rs 1.5 lakh. Now, with the new notification issued earlier this week, the annual family income limit has been raised to Rs 8 lakh and the medical expense re-imbursement  benefit  has also been raised to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh. The new notification issued earlier this week says the annual family income limit has been raised to Rs 8 lakh and the medical expense reimbursement benefit has also been raised to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh According to this scheme, if the treatment was not available in a government hospital, medical care in a private hospital in the State as well as outside was permitted. Advanced surgeries, plastic surgery, joint replacement, bone marrow transplant, cardio-vascular surgery, open heart surgery etc were some of the  super-speciality treatments allowed under the scheme and as many as 15 hospitals in Goa, 12 in Maharashtra, five in Karnataka and seven in other States were empanelled. Climate change causing frequent, Did PWD supply contaminated water in Agonda? deadly lightning strikes: Experts THE GOAN I NETWORK PTI NEW DELHI Increased heating due to climate change is leading to more thunderstorm activity and consequently, more lightning strikes worldwide, senior scientists said on Saturday. At least 43 people were killed due to lightning strikes in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday and 21 in Bihar on Friday. Most of the people killed were either transplanting paddy in fields, grazing cattle or taking shelter under trees to protect themselves from rain. Former Secretary in the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, Madhavan Nair Rajeevan, said climate change is increasing the formation of convective or thunderstorm clouds. “People have documented that the frequency of thunderstorms is increasing everywhere, including India, due to climate change,” he told PTI. “Unfortunately, we do not have long-term data for lightning flashes to confirm an increase in incidents. However, we can conclude that global warming leads to more convective activity, resulting in more thunderstorms and, consequently, more lightning strikes,” he said. Rajeevan explained that lightning is attributed to deeper clouds with large vertical extensions. “With climate change increasing the moisture-holding capacity of the air, more such clouds are forming,” he added. CANACONA as the water supplied by PWD to residents of Agonda prior to June contaminated and unfit for consumption? According to reliable sources, the Community Health Centre (CHC) at Canacona received a report on the analysis of water samples collected from Agonda, stating that the water has been unfit for human consumption. The CHC has reportedly submitted this report to the Canacona police, after a police complaint was lodged in the matter. The issue was highlighted in May, when some people Sources have told The Goan that a report sent to the CHC has stated that water supplied through taps to a section of people of Agonda was highly contaminated and unfit for consumption… it is, however, unclear if the water is still contaminated W A file photo of a worker cleaning a tank at the water plant in Parve-Betul in Agonda. from Agonda claimed they had been receiving muddy water in their taps. The locals had complained to Congress lead- er Janardhan Bhandari, after accusing the PWD of not doing anything in the matter. Subsequently, Bhandari and his team inspected the storage tanks used by PWD to store water pumped from a local source in Agonda itself, along with PWD (WS) engi- neers, who reportedly refused to accept claims of supplying muddy water. A team from the Vision & Mission, Progressive Canacona led by Bhandari had filed a police complaint against PWD officials, accusing them of supplying contaminated water to Agonda and surrounding areas through the water tank/ plant at Parve-Betul, Agonda. They had demanded that police register an FIR and investigate the matter, to protect the lives of thousands of unsuspecting innocent people. After receiving the complaint, Canacona police issued letters to the PWD (water supply) and asked the Canacona CHC to provide a report examining water samples to ascertain the quality of water in Agonda. Accordingly, CHC officials collected water samples and sent them for examination. Shortly after the police complaint, the PWD began cleaning the storage tanks and the pump house. Sources have told The Goan that a report sent to the CHC has stated that water supplied through taps to a section of people of Agonda is highly contaminated and unfit for consumption. It is, however, unclear if the water is still contaminated, since the water samples had been collected before the PWD had cleaned those tanks providing water supply to Agonda and surrounding areas.