log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline THURSDAY JANUARY 25, 2024 GOA Facebook.com/thegoan The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 13 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO.218 Margao’s storm water drain clean-up uncovers ugly depth of sewage crisis 2 GOA More illegal structures found in Arambol’s Girkar wada 3 Instagram.com/thegoanonline RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 9 INFO Does cucumber garlic salad curb BP? Mary Kom announces retirement from all competitions Govt’s study team on Mhadei picks holes in Karnataka’s DPRs, questions approval SLAMS CENTRAL BODY FOR IGNORING IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY, HUMAN LIFE SHWETA KAMAT MAHATME PANAJI The Goa Government appointed 14-member study group on Mhadei river diversion, finds no merit in the Central Water Commission’s (CWC) technical approval to the Karnataka’s Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) as it slams Central body for ignoring the critical issues like impact on environment and ecology and human life due to the proposed Kalasa – Bhandura Nala diversion schemes. The study group also observed that CWC granted its approval to Karnataka in the absence of mandatory clearances under the Wild Life Protection Act 1972, Forest Conservation Act 1980, Environment Protection Act 1986 and the Biological Diversity Act 2002. Following CWC approval to Karnataka’s two DPRs in January 2023, the State government constituted a study group under WRD Chief En- FINDINGS OF THE STUDY GROUP PANAJI The Bombay High Court at Goa directed the Margao Municipal Council to make the bio-methanation plant at Sonsodo operational within 15 days after the Court was told that despite earlier assurances the plant was not yet operational. The High Court in its order dated December 5, 2023 had directed the MMC to make the plant operational within 15 days, however on Wednesday, the Council informed the High Court that the plant was not yet operational due to “some difficulties.” Ultimately, however, counsel for the MMC told the Court that “they will make necessary payments towards obtaining consent to operate today itself.” “We direct the MMC to now make this bio-methanation plant operational within 15 days, after obtaining necessary consent to operate from the GSPCB,” the High Court said. Regarding remediation of the municipal solid waste, the Advocate General told OTHER ISSUES „„Remediation of municipal solid waste: HC has been told that about 1500 cubic metres of waste is already remediated and that the work is going on as per the time scheduled provided to the contractor „„Construction of retaining wall: The authorities offered a new deadline of March 7 „„Sanitary waste at site: A contractor has been engaged to remove the waste and transfer it to Kundaim hazardous waste management and ignored the critical observations of the MWDT which had rejected the justification of drinking water requirement to Hubli – Dharwad and Kundgol town and enroute villages „„CWC has failed to point out misleading statements inserted in the DPR to the effect that the diversion scheme is for drinking water supply of Hubli-Dharwad twin cities, town and enroute villages. It is CWC’s domain to judge with due diligence and verify whether these are indeed purely drinking water schemes „„Environmental flow is not worked out in accordance with latest directives instructions from the MoEF&CC „„CWC in contravention with laws of the land have appraised the DPRs, without seeking prior requisite and mandatory clearances under the Wild Life Protection Act 1972, Forest Conservation Act 1980, Environment Protection Act 1986, the Biological Diversity Act 2002, and violating Eco-sensitive zone requirements „„CWC failed to address the issue of recurring landslides and its effects on human habitation, as water is proposed to be withdrawn from the river system „„CWC conveniently left out the issue of laying of both underground and overhead transmission lines, which will cause large-scale disturbance in the ecology of the fragile forest land „„CWC failed to insist on EIA despite the fact that the project is located in the Eco-Sensitive Area of Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary gineer to study the DPRs. The group submitted its report in November, last year. “The Study Group, after detailed deliberations and dis- cussions, is of the considered opinion that CWC in its appraisal of both the DPRs has unfortunately ignored critical issues thereby causing grave injustice & injuries to the State of Goa which is an ecologically vulnerable lower riparian State,” the report stated. “The Study Group finds no merit in the technical appraisal of the DPRs submitted by Chief Engineer, KNNL, by the CWC and finding both DPRs acceptable. Therefore, the Blow for INDIA bloc: TMC, AAP to go solo in Bengal, Punjab Cabinet clears move to drop ‘Section 16B’ from TCP Act PTI IN SHORT >> PM’s visit: Tweak in Assembly session schedule on cards PERNEM: A 43-year-old Russian was found dead in a water body at Mandrem on Wednesday. According to reports, the Russian, identified as Alexander, is reported to have accidentally fallen in the water body. He was later taken to GMC hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. Pernem Police are conducting further investigation. THE GOAN I NETWORK „„CWC limited the appraisal of the DPRs to the extent of Hydrology and Inter State Aspects only and ignored other vital dimensions. By doing so, CWC has failed to consider important observations and reasoning of the Mhadei Water Dispute Tribunal (MWDT) award on the issue of Water allocations, its use and faulty master plan of Malaprabha reservoir „„Appraising the DPRs for Non-irrigation purpose: CWC has erred in identifying the misguiding facts by the project proponent Curtorim firing case: Probe continues amidst questions and CCTV clues Russian found dead in Mandrem HC sets 15-day deadline to start bio-methanation plant Ops at Sonsodo Study Group strongly recommends the Government of Goa to reject the technical appraisal,” it added. The Study Group has treated all the data presented in DPRs as “claims” made by the project proponent as Goa has no machinery to verify these claims and reserves its right to challenge all these claims. The state of Karnataka had submitted two modified DPRs captioned Kalasa Nala Diversion Scheme (Lift Scheme) and Bhandura Nala Diversion Scheme (Lift Scheme) to CWC for appraisal in November 2022. The State of Goa being a lower riparian state was not intimated about the submission of such modified DPRs either by the State of Karnataka or the CWC. The State of Goa received information about this development only after the CWC had appraised the two DPRs and had communicated its acceptance only on Hydrology and InterState aspects. >> See PG 3 PANAJI: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday hinted that the schedule of the six-day budget session of the Goa legislative assembly may be altered due to the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Goa on February 6. However, decision will be taken in the Business Advisory Committee meeting on Thursday morning. >> See pg 3 13 SPORTS CELEBRATION OF FAITH & CULTURE: Devotees from different parts of the State participated in the zatra of Shree Dev Bodgeshwar in Mapusa, on Wednesday. The 11-day festival commenced on January 24. (Related report and photos on Pg5) Narayan Pissurlenkar Forest rights cases: Govt directs to hold special gram sabhas on Jan 26 THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI With almost 10,000 claims under Forest Rights Act pending for settlement, the State government has directed the panchayats to hold special Gram Sabhas on January 26 to scrutinise the claims and submit it to the sub-divisional level committee for disposal. The Government has set a March 31 deadline to dispose of all PENDING CASES: THE DATA 2,342 In Canacona 1,651 in Quepem 1,229 in Sattari 953 in Sanguem the pending cases. The Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had recently raised concern over huge pendency of Forest Right Claims and implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (FRA, 558 in Dharbandora 227 in Sanguem 2006) in Goa. As per the government data, as on date, of the 10,136 claims made, spot verification has been completed in 6,543 cases, 3,293 have gone through Panchayat Gramsabha while >Continued on P5 NEW DELHI In a major setback to the opposition INDIA bloc, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday announced that their parties will go alone in their states in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. “I had given them (Congress) a proposal (on seat-sharing), but they refused it at the outset. Our party has now decided to go alone in Bengal,” Banerjee said amid the seat-negotiation tussle between the Congress and the TMC. According to sources, the TMC's offer of two seats to the grand old party based on its 2019 Lok Sabha election performance, triggered tension among them, as the arrangement was deemed insufficient. When questioned if it was clear that the AAP will not have an electoral alliance with the Congress, Punjab chief minister said, "We are not going with them (Congress)." He further said discussions have already taken place on the AAP's probable candidates for Punjab's 13 Lok Sabha seats and the names of 40 probables have come up. the High Court that about 1500 cubic metres of waste is already remediated and that “the work is going on as per the time scheduled provided to the contractor.” As regards the construction >Continued on P5 INCLUDES PROVISION ALLOWING OUT OF TURN MODIFICATION OF REGIONAL PLAN, ODP THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The State cabinet on Wednesday approved a move to repeal the controversial 'section 16B' from the Town and Country Planning Act, 1974, and insert yet another provision which will give the government to modify the regional plan and outline development plan (ODP) of a region, out of turn. The proposal, moved by TCP Minister Vishwajit Rane cites the perennial growing demand and need for housing, commercial and other infrastructure in Goa as the reason requiring the amendment to the TCP Act, to arm the government with the power to amend the RP and the ODPs so as to carry out changes in the land-use zoning. Under the new provision, the government proposes to give itself powers to make the changes in the RP and/ or ODPs after giving a 30-day notice to invite objections and suggestions from the public. According to the proposal, currently there is no provision in the TCP Act by which the government has power to make such changes as the THE NEW PROVISION „„The government proposes to give itself powers to make the changes in the RP and/or ODPs after giving a 30-day notice to invite objections and suggestions from the public OTHER CABINET APPROVALS „„A proposal to convert the Goa Motor Vehicles Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 2023 which slashed the tax on high-end vehicles and also rationalised the tax structure for purchase of new vehicles, into a Bill which will be put before the Goa legislative assembly in the budget session slated to begin on February 2 „„An amendment to the law governing the Goa Labour Welfare Fund „„Changes in the Judicial Services Rules and the GST law so the State law is compatible with the Centre's GST guidelines High Court has barred giving final approval to changes under 'section 16-B'. Section 16-B was introduced in August 2018, when Goa Forward Party's (GFP) Vijai Sardesai was the TCP Minister. It had given rise to a major controversy with allegations of corruption for converting land-use zones and its validity challenged before the Bombay High Court. The petition is still pending before the High Court even as it had passed an interim order which restricted the government from granting final approvals to the proposals for land-use change under the section 16-B. Interestingly, the current proposal approved by the Cabinet, does not make any mention of another controversial amendment to the TCP Act enacted in August last year by which 'section 17(2)' was inserted in the Act to make "corrections" in the >Continued on P5 Khell tiatrists keep fingers Catholic Connect: Indian Catholics to get unique ID Cardinal Ferrao to launch App in Bengaluru on January 30 crossed over GSPCB fees THE GOAN I NETWORK THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Khell tiatrists and stage artists have kept their fingers crossed on the issue of imposing of hefty fees by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) for shows at the upcoming Carnival festivities. In its recent decision, GSPCB had announced that the khell tiatrists would have to pay Rs 3,000 per show to the board as fees. Most khell tiatrists had called this decision arbitrary and claimed that it is unfair to slap such a steep fee on this traditional form of community entertainment that has been continued for During the day there is no noise pollution, more so, because most of the times there is no sound system used. The use of a mike is only required if the crowd is large or if there are songs. Since the shows are usually during the day, the rule of noise pollution should only apply if the show continues after 10 pm,” —Menino de Bandar, a veteran tiatrist decades in Goa. According to tiatrist Arnaldo Costa who led the delegation of the khell tiatrists to approach the Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira, a resolution is being worked out. The delegation had appealed for either exempting from the payment of fees or imposing a nominal fee. Speaking on the latest development in the matter, Arnaldo stated, “The environment minister has assured us that the issue will be resolved, >Continued on P5 PANAJI n a significant development, Catholics in India will be assigned unique identification numbers, akin to Aadhaar Cards. Fr Stephen Alathara, Deputy Secretary General of Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI), announced this while inaugurating a diocesan administration course for Vicar Generals and Chancellors at Shanti Sadan in Benaulim on Tuesday. Fr Duming Gonsalves, Administrator at Shanti Sadan, Goa, said the initiative, facilitated through the Catholic Connect App, aims to generate I CONNECT WITH THE CHURCH „„These unique IDs will serve a dual purpose, enabling individuals to access various services within the Catholic Church and fostering connectivity and collaboration with different parishes and dioceses „„The unique ID is optional, but those who wish to enrol could find it immensely helpful „„This system aims to provide support for migrant workers and students, allowing them to connect with the Church for assistance, particularly in emergency situations distinctive identification number for the Catholics in India. CCBI President Cardinal Filipe Neri Ferrão will launch the Catholic Connect App in Bengaluru on January 30. “These unique IDs will serve a dual purpose, enabling individuals to access various services within the Catholic Church and fostering connectivity and collaboration with different parishes and dioceses,” stated Fr Gonsalves. “The unique ID is optional, but those who wish to enrol could find it immensely helpful. This system aims to provide support for migrant workers and students, allowing them to connect with the Church for assistance, particularly in emergency situations.” Fr Gonsalves said the “innovative approach not only signifies a technological leap for the Catholic Church but also enhances the efficiency of administrative processes within the Church, fostering a more connected and accessible network for its members.” The CCBI organised a diocesan administration training at Shanti Sadan for officials of the diocesan curia, aiming to enhance the quality of ecclesial administration and equip them for effective diocesan management with a mission-oriented approach. The course, which commenced on January 23, will conclude on January 27 and it is attended by 22 participants from 17 dioceses. The training sessions featured resource persons, including Justice Filomeno Manuel Reis, Fr Roland Coelho, SJ, Sunil Gonsalves, CA, Rev Dr Stephen Alathara, Rev Dr Jose Remedios Fernandes, Rev Dr Aleixo Menezes, Rev Dr Romeo Monteiro, Rev Dr Rosario Oliveira, Rev Dr Nelson Siqueira, Fr Barry Cardozo, and Fr Duming Gonsalves. >Continued on P5