log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline TUESDAY JANUARY 2, 2024 GOA Pastor Domnic arrested again PANAJI: The Mapusa police arrested Pastor Domnic D’Souza early Monday for allegedly practicing religious conversion and black magic. This is the eighth First Information Report registered against the Five Pillar Church Pastor, who was shifted to the hospital as he complained of “chest pain” soon after his arrest.  >> See pg 3 Goa’s December tax collection up by 20% PANAJI: The GST revenue collection in Goa for December 2023 is claimed to be Rs 553 cr which is nearly a 20% rise from the Rs 460 crore collected in the same month in 2022. Nationwide, the nine month April-December period of 2023 saw a 12% year-on-year growth. Youth asked to avoid border forest trips BELAGAVI: Forest officials have warned youngsters to avoid adventurous trips in forests, after one group lost their way in the dense forests between Goa and Khanapur. About 9 students had sneaked into the forest area near Kankumbi bordering Goa on Friday.   >> See pg 3 Leopard sighted at Ponda, traps laid PONDA: The forest department has laid traps in Curti, Borim and Ponda, after receiving five complaints regarding the presence of a leopard in the past four days. Besides laying traps at Curti, Borim and Shantinagar-Ponda, forest teams hve also decided to patrol the area at night.   >> See pg 5 Youth falls into well at Mapusa, rescued MAPUSA: A youth was rescued by fire fighters after he lost his balance and fell into a well at Shetyewada-Mapusa on Sunday night. The rescued youth, Prabhakar Shinde (29) of Cansa-Tivim, is being treated at the Mapusa District Hospital. Centre designates Goldy as terrorist NEW DELHI: Canada-based gangster Satinderjit Singh alias Goldy Brar, who was the alleged mastermind of the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, was on Sunday designated terrorist by the government under the anti-terror law UAPA.   >> See pg 7 WEATHER >> Max: 32 C Min: 21 C Humidity: 88% TIDES Low: 09.13 High: 02.46 20.20 14.28 The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 13 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO.195 Sonsodo conundrum: Will MMC manage to get rid of its albatross in New Year? IN SHORT >> Facebook.com/thegoan 2 GOA 29,000 applications received for PM Vishwakarma Scheme 3 Instagram.com/thegoanonline RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 INFO Hair loss in teenagers: Coping strategies and remedies LONDON nternational students, including Indians, starting courses at British universities this month will no longer be able to bring family members on all but postgraduate research courses and courses with government-funded scholarships under tougher UK visa norms effective from Monday. The UK Home Office said the changes, first announced by former home secretary Suella Braverman in May last year, are aimed at clamping down on people using the student visa as a backdoor route to work in the UK and will see an estimated 140,000 fewer I Warner announces retirement from ODI ahead of Test swansong 13 Tragic start to New Year, mishaps kill 4  21-YEAR-OLD RIDER FALLS IN PIT DUG FOR ‘SMART CITY’ WORK  BIRTHDAY BOY SUCCUMBS TO INJURIES AT BHOMA  CHHATTISGARH YOUTH DIES IN TALEIGAO THE GOAN I NETWORK Inquiry is on in Mala case: CM PANAJI New Year’s Day on Monday, like in several past years, turned out to be tragic amid revelries across Goa with as many as four persons killed in separate road mishaps, including a ‘birthday boy’ being counted among the victims. Accidents were reported at Mala-Panaji, Bhoma-Ponda, Taleigao and Valpoi. MALA-PANAJI Call it negligence or otherwise, the life of a 21-yearold Ribandar youth Ayush Halarnkar was lost on New Year’s Day early Monday morning when he along with his Enfield ‘Bullet’ bike landed in a deep pit dug by ‘Smart City’ contractors at Mala near the People’s High School. Halarnkar, who is the son of the husband-wife Halarnkar duo from Ribandar who were councillors of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) in its previous term, was returning home when the tragic incident occurred. Nearby residents blamed the haphazard execution of the ‘Smart City’ work and negligence of contractors to put up proper barricades and cau- The pit in which the 21-year-old rider fell at Mala early Monday.  Narayan Pissurlenkar tionary signages. The contractors on the other hand denied any negligence claiming there were wooden barricades put up. Rashmi Shirodkar, the Assistant Engineer supervising the Sewerage work claimed that necessary measures are being taken at the work sites to prevent such accidents. Shirodkar claimed that the contractor was not responsible for the accident as after the day’s work was over, bar- ricades are installed at the site and the soil which spreads alongside the road is removed. Water is also sprinkled along the road, she added. “A board giving information about the work was also installed. We are taking all precautions at the work sites. It is wrong to blame the contractors for Monday’s accident,” Shirodkar said. Incidentally, the Mala-Panaji stretch, which is to be concretised as part of the PANAJI: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said that an inquiry is in progress to probe the circumstances in which Ayush Shirodkar died after falling into a pit dug up for the ongoing ‘Smart City’ work at Mala. “An inquiry is on,” is all Sawant said when the media questioned the absence of proper lighting and cautionary signage at all these sights where roads have been dug up for the ‘smart city’ work across Panaji and its periphery. ongoing ‘smart city’ work, is being worked upon to build sewerage channels in this first phase which is expected to take another two-three months. The CCP, meanwhile, got into action after the accident which claimed Ayush’s life. Revenue Minister Atanansio (Babush) Monserrate, who is Panaji MLA and who’s son Rohit is the Mayor, reportedly called Shirodkar and discussed the accident. Monserrate is said to have instructed them to plan better safety measures at the work sites. Meanwhile, residents of the locality in Mala have claimed that there has been no street lighting for the last couple of days where Ayush and his bike landed in the pit. BHOMA-PONDA Plans for his party ended in tragedy when the birthday boy died in a road mishap at Bhoma-Ponda barely an hour before the New Year. A native of Assam but residing at Muslimwada-Bhoma, Pratim Roman Bora (31) was preparing to celebrate his birthday with family and friends, and had gone out to purchase some alcohol at about 10.25 pm. As he was riding a two-wheeler, he lost control and the vehicle rammed into an electricity pole near the Mahanandu High School. He was seriously injured and died on the way to hospital. Bora was working at the Corlim Industrial Estate. He had been living at Dhulapi in a rented room, and had recently shifted to Muslimwada >Continued on P5 Cop dies in road mishap at Valpoi THE GOAN I NETWORK VALPOI A 32-year-old constable attached to Ponda police station died in a road mishap at Velus-Valpoi on New Year’s day. The mishap took place along the Valpoi-Thane road at about 8 am as Ulhas Gaonkar of Dongurli-Thane was proceeding on a motorcycle. The driver of a car lost control at a sharp curve at Velus and rammed into the motorcycle. The impact was such that the car rammed into a pillar and fell into a roadside canal. Gaonkar was seriously injured and was admitted to Valpoi CHC, from where he was referred to GMC and died while undergoing treatment. Residents of Thane village were shocked over Gaonkar’s sudden and untimely demise. Gaonkar was married a few years ago and he is survived by his wife and their threeyear-old son. Valpoi PSI Nanu Thakur is The motorcycle which was badly damaged in the mishap at Velus-Valpoi.   Uday Sawant conducting further investigation under the guidance of Valpoi Police Station Inspector Rahul Naik. Goa awaits Central nod to set up IIT campus at Rivona State has 51 Covid cases of JN.1, 2nd highest in country THE GOAN I NETWORK THE GOAN I NETWORK SITE INSPECTION ALREADY DONE, SAYS CM PANAJI The Goa Government is awaiting a nod from the Union Ministry of Education for the 10 lakh sq meters land at Rivona-Sanguem as the permanent site for IIT campus, the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Monday. Sawant said that the IIT selection committee has already inspected the site proposed at Rivona by the State government and that their nod is awaited. “Inspection is done and now the proposal is before the highest level at the Central Ministry. Once we get their approval, we can say that the site is finalized,” he said. The IIT site selection committee inspected the site, spread across an area of 10.5 lakh sq mts at Rivona in November. Earlier, the site selected in Sanguem was rejected by the Union ministry as being unsuitable for the project. There were also series of protests The IIT site selection committee inspected the site, spread across an area of 10.5 lakh sq mts at Rivona in November. Once we get their approval, we can say that the site is finalised. — Pramod Sawant from farmers who said that they had been cultivating in the area. The Rivona gram sabha recently passed a resolution welcoming setting up IIT campus in their village. IIT Goa became operational in the state in 2016 and has been functioning from a temporary campus at the Goa Engineering College, at Farmagudi. Several land parcels identified for the permanent campus project over the years >Continued on P5 INSACOG DATA SAYS 197 CASES IN INDIA AFTER THE BASH, COMES THE TRASH: Tourists walk past the litter on the iconic Colva beach after a night-long New Year’s Eve party. (More photos on page 2)  Santosh Mirajkar Thieves make merry, rob 190 mobiles during festive week THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Around 190 mobile phones were reported stolen from both visitors and locals in Calangute and Anjuna, which recorded a footfall of several thousand visitors from Christmas weekend to New Year’s Eve. As close to 200 complaints were registered, the north district police busted four gangs of 37 mobile thieves and recovered around 90 stolen phones of Rs 70 lakh approx, all within one week.   Addressing a press conference at Police Headquarters on Monday, Superintendent of Police (North Goa) Nidhin Valsan said that over the last weekend, Calangute police and Tourist Police jointly cracked down three gangs hailing from West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan-Del- Tougher UK student visa norms come into force PTI 10 SPORTS TOUGH ROAD AHEAD ON THE FLIP SIDE… „„Foreign students, including Indians, starting courses at British universities this month will no longer be able to bring family members „„Only those on postgraduate research courses and courses with government-funded scholarships under tougher UK visa norms excluded „„Move aims to clamp down on people using student visa as a backdoor route to work in UK „„To see an estimated 140,000 fewer people come to the UK „„Migration to also fall rapidly by tens of thousands Salary thresholds across the Skilled Worker route to be increased by nearly 50% to GBP 38,700, a figure to be matched for British or permanent UK residents sponsoring family members to join them in the UK by early next year people come to the UK. The tougher rules are geared towards cutting what Home Secretary James Cleverly dubbed as an unreasonable practice of overseas students bringing dependants, which official figures show have risen by more than 930 per cent since 2019. “This government is delivering on its commitment to the British public to cut migration. We have set out a tough plan to rapidly bring numbers down, control our borders and prevent people from manipulating our immigration system, which will come into force throughout this year, Cleverly said in a statement. “Today, a major part of that plan comes into effect, ending the unreasonable practice of overseas students bringing their family members to the UK. This will see migration falling rapidly by the tens of thousands and contribute to our overall strategy to prevent 300,000 people from coming to the UK,” he said. The UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that in the year ending September 2023, as many as 152,980 visas were issued to dependants of students, a massive rise from the 14,839 in the year ending September 2019. hi. The operation resulted in the arrest of 20 accused thieves and recovery of 60 mobile phones, worth around Rs 45-50 lakh. “These gangs specifically came to Goa with the sole intention of targeting visitors in crowded areas during the festive season. Our police teams were already posted >Continued on P5 PANAJI Goa figures in the second spot behind Kerala among ten States where Covid cases of JN.1 sub-variant have been detected so far tallying 51, according to the latest data released by the Indian SARSCoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) on Monday. As per the data, a total 196 cases of the JN.1 sub-variant have been detected in India with as many as 10 States and Union Territories listed. Kerala tops the list with 83 cases followed by Goa with 51. There have been 34 JN.1 cases in Gujarat. Neighbouring Karnataka and Maharashtra have reported eight and seven cases respectively. Rajasthan has had five, Tamil Nadu (four) and Telangana (two). Odisha and Delhi have had just one case each of the JN.1 sub-variant, the INSACOG data shows. The INSACOG’s data showed 180 Covid cases recorded in the country in De- cember had the presence of JN.1, while 17 such cases were detected in November. World Health Organisation has classified JN.1 as a separate “variant of interest” given its rapidly-increasing spread, but said it poses a “low” global public health risk. The JN.1 sub-variant of the coronavirus was previously classified as a variant of interest (VOI) as part of the BA.2.86 sub-lineages, the parent lineage that is classified as a VOI, the world body said. However, in recent weeks, JN.1 cases continued to be reported from multiple countries and its prevalence has rapidly increased globally. Centre has asked States and Union Territories to maintain a vigil amid an uptick in the number of Covid cases and the detection of the JN.1 sub-variant in the country. India has recorded 636 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases stood at 4,394, according to the data released by the Union health ministry on Monday. Huge earthquakes trigger tsunami waves in Japan RESIDENTS FLEE AREA, TOLD NOT TO RETURN PTI TOKYO Japan dropped its highest-level tsunami alert, issued following a series of major earthquakes on Monday, but told residents of coastal areas not to return to their homes as deadly waves could still come. The quakes, the largest of which had a magnitude of 7.6, started a fire and collapsed buildings on the west coast of Japan’s main island, Honshu. It was un- The quakes started a fire and collapsed buildings on the west coast of Japan’s main island, Honshu. It was unclear how many people might have been killed or hurt clear how many people might have been killed or hurt. The Japan Meteorological Agency reported more than a dozen quakes in the Japan Sea off the coast of Ishikawa and nearby prefectures shortly after 4 pm. At least six homes were damaged by the quakes, with people trapped inside, government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said. A fire broke out in Wajima city, Ishikawa Prefecture, and electricity was out for more than 30,000 households, he said. The agency initially issued a major tsunami warning for Ishikawa and lower-level tsunami warnings for the rest of the western coast of Honshu.