log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline MONDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2024 GOA 77-year-old found dead in villa; 2 held PANAJI: A 77-year-old man from Punjab was found dead under suspicious condition in a rented villa at Marra, Pilerne. A man and woman have been detained by police in Mumbai in connection with his death. The deceased identified as Nims Badal Dhillon had rented the villa at Marra.  >> See pg 3 LS elections: MGP to support BJP PANAJI: The Maharashtrawadi Gomantak party (MGP) has resolved to support the BJP candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls 2024. The MGP Central committee on Sunday held its meeting under President Deepak Dhavalikar. The committee also accepted the resignation of its member and former MLA Naresh Sawal.  >> See pg 3 23-year-old dies in accident at Mollem PANAJI: A 23-year-old man from Madhya Pradesh succumbed to injuries in hit-andrun accident at Palaskatta, Mollem. The deceased is identified as Shivkumar Singh. A speeding truck allegedly hit the two-wheeler on which Shivkumar was travelling. One more MP native has also been grievously inured in the accident. Musical fountain at Ana Fonte garden MARGAO: Margao’s famous Ana Fonte garden, beautified and renovated by the Goa State Urban Development Agency, was inaugurated on Sunday, with the agency installing a new musical fountain at the garden.   >> See pg 5 Preacher detained for hate speech MUMBAI: Gujarat Police probing a hate speech case on Sunday detained Islamic preacher Mufti Salman Azhari in Mumbai and left with him in the evening, an official said. Police resorted to mild lathicharge as hundreds of supporters of the Mufti gathered outside Ghatkopar police station demanding his immediate release, bringing traffic to a standstill in the area, the official said. Crucial Jharkhand floor test today NEW DLEHI: Some 40 MLAs of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and its alliance partners returned to Ranchi to attend the floor test on Monday. >> See pg 7 WEATHER >> Max: 33 C Min: 22 C Humidity: 88% TIDES Low: 12.32 High: 04.33 ---20.32 The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 12 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO.228 Preparations in full swing for Modi’s meeting at Margao tomorrow IN SHORT >> Facebook.com/thegoan 2 GOA GEC students’ election victory rally may earn ex-minister’s son reprimand 3 Instagram.com/thegoanonline RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 INFO How to reduce hair damage if you use straighteners often PANAJI anyan and other large trees felled along the national highway near the Margao KTC bus-stand where Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend a government function on Tuesday, has upset nature lovers who have questioned the move. It comes a couple of days after a Salcete Block Development Officer (BDO) issued a memo directing panchayats of all villages through which Modi’s cavalcade will pass to ensure that the area is clear. According to the memorandum signed by Block Development Officer Nimisha Fal Dessai “all village B India sets England 399-run target after Gill’s ton Big boost for Goa’s fight against breast cancer  NEW DRUG INTRODUCED, FIRST INJECTION ADMINISTERED TO PATIENT AT GMC  CANCER HOSPITAL IN 16 MONTHS, SAYS RANE THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI In a significant push for Goa’s fight against breast cancer, the Pertuzumab-Trastuzumab combination injection has been included in the ‘free treatment’ for Goan patients and the first injection was administered to a patient at the Goa Medical College and Hospital at Bambolim on Sunday. Incidentally, World Cancer Day is observed on February 4 across the globe. The injection, which costs Rs 4.20 lakh is a  monoclonal antibody for HER2+ breast cancer patients.  It is administered subcutaneously and enhances the efficacy of treatment in newly diagnosed patients in the pre-surgery stage and is convenient as it is quickly administered compared to the previously intravenously administered drugs. Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said, the new dedicated cancer hospital proposed at the GMC complex will be built in collaboration with Tata Memorial Hospital and will be ready in 16 months. He said, the hospital’s design has been modified following recommendations made by Tata Hospital.  Loliem comunidade gives approval for Film City RESOLUTION PASSED BY 50-4 VOTES BY COMPONENTS THE GOAN I NETWORK CANACONA In a major boost to the government and a set-back to the environmentalists and villagers (gram sabha members), Comunidade of Loliem-Polem has given its consent to the proposed 250 acres/10 lakh sq mts of land on Bhagwati plateau for lease-out to the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) for setting up a film and entertainment city. The resolution passed by 50-4 votes by the components of Loliem-Polem Comunidade states, ‘Resolved that the consent of components is hereby accorded to the proposed 250 acres/10 lakh sq mts of uncultivable land as explained in the meeting and tentatively marked in the map. The land belongs to the comunidade of Loliem-Polem and the same is to be leased to Entertaining Society of Goa (ESG) for setting up a film and entertainment city/industry.’ Loliem-Polem Comunidade president Vishwajeet Warik further stated that the “Managing committee is author- Loliem residents with banners and placards participate in a silent march on Sunday. ised to sign the documents for this project. Total 54 members were present and 50 members supported, 4 members opposed, while resolutions were signed by all members present at the end of the meeting”. To a specific query, Warik informed that ‘Power project is not yet processed’, amidst residents’ claims that Comunidade had also given consent for another 750 acres /approximately 30 lakh sq mts of land to WAPCOS company to set up a Hybrid Solar Project in the village. Incidentally, Om Prabhugaonkar, one of a few components who is in the forefront to oppose any developments other than its traditional usage on the eco-sensitive Bhagwati plateau said, ‘It is a sad decision by the members of Comunidade. We four have opposed it. They have still not realized the importance of this Bhagwati plateau”. “Also, during the meeting, they didn’t allow botanist Dr Ashish Prabhugaonkar to >Continued on P5 WHAT THE BDO’S MEMO TO P’YATS SAYS… All village panchayat secretaries through which the NH-17 is passing should ensure that all the roads and surrounding area along the route of the Prime Minister of India entourage from Nuvem to Betul and vice-versa is maintained free from stray dogs, stray cattle, garbage and roadside buses to avoid any untoward incident during the period 05/02/2024 and 06/02/2024 panchayat secretaries through which the NH-17 is passing to ensure that all the roads and surrounding area along the route of the Prime Minister of India entourage from Nuvem to Betul and vice-versa is maintained free from stray dogs, stray cattle, garbage and roadside buses to avoid any untoward incident during the period 05/02/2024 and 06/02/2024”. Reacting to the memo, noted lawyer and environmentalist Norma Alvares stated that the overzealous official sends a message that Narendra Modi, our Prime Minister, does not like trees, cattle and dogs. The BDO of Salcete issued the memo on February 2 and Alvares who is a member of the State Board for Animal Welfare, said, as a consequence, authorities have already felled several large banyan trees at both the KTC bus stand in Margao and the Ponda bus stand. She also said, animal welfare organizations are getting calls from the Collector and from panchayats to remove all cattle and stray dogs “from visible view” of the Prime Minister’s entourage. Alvares said, the number of stray dogs and stray cattle in the areas through which the PM’s entourage will pass through, will be in hundreds raising doubts whether they can all be caught and transported out in two days. She said, the mad scramble Says will go ahead with pending proposal in accordance with Niti THE GOAN I NETWORK MARGAO Health Minister Vishwajit Rane on Sunday again publicly batted for a private medical college at the South Goa district hospital, saying the pending proposal will be taken forward by the government after complying with the codal formalities laid down by Prime Minister’s Niti Ayog. The Health Minister’s statement assumes significance and is seen as another flip flop in a series of change in stand on setting up a private medical college at the South district hospital. For, during his visit to the South Goa District Hospital on December 27 last to launch the Prime Minister Jan Aushadhi Kendra on the hospital ground floor, Rane had announced in the presence of Fatorda MLA and Goa Forward Chief Vijai Sardesai that the top two floors of the South district hospital, reserved for the private medical college, will be utilized to open a government-run nursing college to meet the growing requirements of nurses. On Sunday, however, during his visit to the city for the RANE’S FLIP FLOP Over the last half a decade, the Health Minister had backed a private medical college at the South district hospital and also supported the long pending proposal to set up a nursing college on the district hospital’s top two floors ISI agent working at Indian Embassy in Moscow held Centre clears MPA proposal for development of port, infra These vaccines highlight specific protein markers on the cells of a cancerous tumour to the immune system of a patient. The patient’s own immune system then builds up a defence and attacks the cancer, which was previously undetected. The patients at the Hammersmith Hospital, in west London are the first in the UK to be tested with these jabs. The study will focus on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine against lung cancer, skin cancer and other “solid tumours”, researchers told UKbased news media outlets. Rane claimed that the Pertuzumab-Trastuzumab injection is a ‘wonder drug’ and its availability for free in Goa is a unique initiative.  He said, it can  treat breast cancer in its early stages and marks a big change in how we fight breast cancer. Rane props up private med college in South district hospital again According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), about 15 to 20 per-cent of breast tumors have higher levels of the protein known as HER2 and these cancers are called HER2-positive breast cancers.  However, the ‘triple-negative’ breast tumors don’t have Breakthrough: Cancer vaccine trial begins in UK LONDON: Several UK patients have received a revolutionary cancer vaccine as part of a global trial. Scientists are using the mRNA technology used to make the Covid vaccine to create new vaccines that can treat and even cure cancer. The early-phase Mobilize trial led by scientists at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust and Imperial College, London, is part of the British government’s partnership with Moderna to develop mRNA cancer vaccines in the UK. 12 too much HER2 and are HER2 negative. Drugs that target HER2 are not helpful in treating these cancers, ACS states, adding however that the triple-positive breast tumors are HER2-positive and are treated with drugs targeting it. In Goa, breast cancer is the most common of cancers across the entire populace of the State with as many as 300 new cases being detected every year on an average. Meanwhile, taking to micro-blogging site ‘X’, Rane tweeted: “I’m happy to announce that on World Cancer Day, @DHS_Goa has unveiled the Pertuzumab-Trastuzumab combination, a state-of-theart monoclonal antibody for HER2+ breast cancer patients at GMC. This wonder drug is now available free of cost for patients, marking a unique initiative in India and creating an opportunity for curing the disease and curbing patients at an earlier stage, ultimately saving lives.” PTI LUCKNOW The police in Uttar Pradesh have arrested an Indian national working at the country’s embassy in Moscow for allegedly spying for Pakistan’s ISI, an official statement on Sunday said. The Meerut field unit of UP’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) called Satendra Siwal, who was working as the IBSA (India Based Security Assistant) in the Indian Embassy in Moscow from 2021, for interrogation, the statement said. Siwal, a resident of Shahmahiuddinpur village in Hapur, could not give satisfactory answers and confessed to his crime during “questioning”, it said. He was arrested after an FIR was registered against him at ATS police station, Lucknow, under Section 121A of the IPC (waging war against the country) and the Official Secrets Act, 1923, the statement said. The ATS said that he was providing important confidential information and documents regarding the strategic activities of the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian military establishments in exchange for money. Row over memo on dogs, cattle along PM’s route THE GOAN I NETWORK 9 SPORTS to comply with the memo will only result in immense cruelty to the hapless animals. “We firmly believe that such cruelty to animals because he is visiting Goa, simply cannot be what our Prime Minister desires. In his Mann ki Baat addresses to the nation he has often spoken eloquently about the need to be kind to the smallest of non-human creatures – the birds, the cows, the dogs,” Alvares said. Obviously the Prime Minster is aware that there are stray dogs and stray cattle which share space with humans in the country’s cities, towns and villages and Alvares wondered why the State’s administration is seeking to hide it from him. THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has cleared Mormugao Port Authority’s (MPA) Rs 570 crore project of modernisation and expansion of port infrastructure by constructing fishing and passenger jetty, coastal cargo berth and development of berths for Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard. inauguration of the beautified Ana Fonte Garden, Rane referred to Prime Minister’s Niti Ayog scheme, which provides for attaching government hospitals with private medical colleges. “I have in mind to go ahead with the proposal to set up a private medical college at the South Goa district hospital under the Niti Ayog scheme after consultations with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and after following the laid down codal formalities”, he said. Batting for the private medical college at the South district hospital, Rane further said the setting up of a private medical college will help provide better manpower services >Continued on P5 The EAC while recommending the proposal for grant of Terms of Reference (ToR) for Environmental Clearance, has directed MPA to conduct a detailed study on the impact of proposed activity on marine ecology.  >> See pg 3