log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline THURSDAY MARCH 7, 2024 GOA Safety concerns loom as plans for new market building in Aldona stall IN SHORT >> Goa-based FLY91 gets air operator permit PANAJI: Goa-based airline FLY91, received its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Ministry of Civil Aviation on Wednesday. The grant of the AOC is the final step of a rigorous process laid down by the DGCA and marks the completion of all regulatory and compliance requirements for the airline to begin its operations. Shop gutted in fire at Margao MARGAO: A massive fire in the wee hours of Wednesday completed gutted a stationery-cum-gift shop near the Loyola school complex, destroying property worth lakhs of rupees.  >> See pg 2 Double parking woes in Margao MARGAO: Double parking along the busy Woodland-Margao police station road during the peak school leaving hours for want of vehicular parking seemed to have become the order of the day, aggravating the traffic congestion in the commercial capital.  >> See pg 2 The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 14 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO.259 2 Govt teams working in top gear on rehab package for slum dwellers at Moti Dongor >> See PG 3 Facebook.com/thegoan 3 GOA Govt firm on speed governors despite operators’ grievances THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI In the first signs of unity, the Opposition Congress convened the first joint meeting of constituent political parties of the INDIA bloc where a decision was taken to form a ‘coordination committee’ to strategise the electoral battle for both the Lok Sabha seats in Goa. All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge of Goa, Manikrao Thakare, who addressed a press conference in the presence of leaders and MLAs of the Congress, AAP and Goa Forward Party, besides office bearers of the NCP (Pawar faction) and Shiv Sena (UBT), also said that the Congress will announce the names of both the candidates The constituent political parties of the INDIA bloc at the first joint meeting held in Panaji on Wednesday, to strategise the electoral battle for the Lok Sabha seats in Goa. in one go very soon. GFP’s Vijai Sardesai was the only legislator who was not present at the meeting and later at the press conference as he is in Delhi to attend a friend’s wedding, according to his party leader Durgadas Kamat, who was present. Thakare, a former Mahar- ashtra minister, also denied that indecisiveness in the Congress over candidate selection was causing the delay saying the party has completed State level deliberations which is part of the process of choosing candidates. “The Central Election Committee and Congress Working Sri Lankan national to face trial for rape MALE: Maldives will not renew an agreement with India to conduct hydrographic surveys and plans to acquire the facilities and machines required to do the exercise by itself, President Mohamed Muizzu has announced. WEATHER >> Max: 29 C Min: 22 C Humidity: 57% TIDES Low: High: 03:01 08:14 14:58 22:16 PANAJI: Leader of the Opposition, Yuri Alemao, who was also present at Thakare’s press conference dismissed the BJP’s publicly announced move to scout for a woman candidate in South Goa as a ploy meant to distract the public devoid of any real intent to promote ‘nari shakti’ or women’s empowerment. “If they really had intentions to promote women’s empowerment they should prove it by elevating their three women legislators to cabinet status,” Alemao said. “Why aren’t they doing it? It is the prerogative of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. He can do it right now. It proves that they (BJP) have no real intent to promote women and their public search for a woman candidate in South Goa is only a ploy,” Alemao said. PTI PATNA Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday left for a nearly week-long vacation, during which he will spend a few days abroad, sources close to him, said. The Janata Dal-United president, who excused himself from attending a rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in West Champaran district, boarded his Delhi flight in the evening. Kumar, accompanied by former cabinet colleague and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha, is likely to leave for the United Kingdom on Thursday. According to sources, the longest-serving chief minister of Bihar, who is an engineer by training, had been plan- 13 Setting the field: Another round of police transfers THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Less than a month after the transfer of 28 police inspectors, the Goa Police executed another round of transfers including 13 PIs. Interestingly, two of these officers, who were previously transferred but allegedly failed to report to their new postings, are now included in this latest order. In what seems to be a peculiar situation, PI Sunil Gudlar finds himself returning to the Konkan Railway Police Station, which he allegedly did not vacate after his transfer last month. According to the February 14 order, Gudlar was transferred from Konkan Railway Police Station to Colva Police Station, while the March 6 order relocates him from Dabolim Airport Traffic Cell back to Konkan Railway Police Station. In fact PI Vikram Naik was transferred to the Dabolim Airport Traffic Cell which he reportedly did not assume. Scrapping of DySP recruitment: HC issues notice to govt PANAJI: The Bombay High Court at Goa has issued notice, on a plea filed by one Shubham D Phadte and others who were among those who had responded to the State government’s advertisement for the recruitment of Junior Scale Officer (Deputy Superintendent of Police) was cancelled. The petitioners have sought directions from the High Court that the selection process be reinstated and taken to its conclusion. The Wednesday’s order had posted him from Colva Police Station to Tiracol Coastal Security Police Station. Meanwhile, in a separate order, 67 sub inspectors, head constables and constables have been transferred from their current to new places of posting. Committee will now take the decision and the names will then be announced,” Thakare said. Thakare hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IN BID TO IDENTIFY ORE DUMPED LOCATIONS… PTI Nitish goes on week-long vacation, skips Modi rally Maldives ties with India sever 9 ISL: Noah gets FC Goa back to winning ways Centre must be concerned about states’ finances: SC PHEW! HERE COMES CASHEW Cashew apples on a tree at a plantation in Marcel, Cumbharjua, on Wednesday. Come summer, it is cashew season in Goa and the trees are laden with fruits. Narayan Pissurlenkar NEW YORK: Indian-American Nikki Haley suspended her presidential campaign on Wednesday after being defeated in 15 states across the United States on Super Tuesday, paving the way for a rematch between her rival Donald Trump and incumbent Joe Biden in the November elections.  >> See pg 8 Remedies to prevent premature greying of hair SPORTS Woman candidate for South Goa ploy to distract public: Yuri Woman killed in Pernem mishap Nikki Haley suspends prez campaign INFO TO FORM CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE; THAKARE DENIES INDECISIVENESS OVER CANDIDATE SELECTION, SAYS WILL SOON ANNOUNCE BOTH CANDIDATES IN ONE GO PANAJI: The scheduled tribe (ST) leaders under the banner ‘Mission Political Reservation for Scheduled Tribes’ on Wednesday began their chain hunger strike demanding immediate notification to reserve four assembly constituencies.  >> See pg 3 PANAJI: A Sri Lankan national, Mohd Nasoordeen Mohd Ismath will face trial for rape after a directive from the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Mapusa on Wednesday.   >> See pg 3 RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 Cong holds joint Oppn meet in show of unity for LS polls STs begin strike over political quota PERNEM: One person died while another was seriously injured when two scooters collided with each other at Casarvarnem-Pernem on Wednesday.  >> See pg 3 Instagram.com/thegoanonline ning to visit a science museum in the UK for quite some time. He is likely to return only next week and speculation is rife that the JD-U supremo, whose recent return to the National Democratic Alliance took all by surprise, may also meet Bharatiya Janata Party top brass for discussion on seat-sharing, with Lok Sabha polls round the corner. NEW DELHI Fiscal mismanagement by states is an issue the Union government has to be concerned about as it impacts the nation’s economy, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday and advised the Centre and the Kerala government to iron out their differences on a cap on net borrowing by the southern state. The apex court made the observation while it was hearing a suit filed by the Kerala government accusing the Union of India of interfering in the exercise of its “exclusive, autonomous and plenary powers” to regulate the state’s finances by imposing a ceiling on borrowing. The dialogue between the Centre and the state must not stop merely because of the pending suit, the court said while stressing on the need to resolve the issue. “Let all the senior officials who are capable to take decision and who are already involved in decision making sit together and resolve this,” a bench of Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan said. The Kerala government had told the top court on February 19 that a meeting held on February 15 failed to make much headway in resolving the contentious issue. >Continued on P5 Pollution Control Board plans drone survey of mining leases THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI In a bid to identify the iron ore dumped locations, topography of mines, water bodies in and around leases, transportation routes and village boundaries, the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has proposed to undertake drone surveys of the mining leases. The survey, which is still in the draft stage, will cover all the mining leases, spread across iron ore rich talukas in North and South Goa. The GSPCB has moved a financial proposal before the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) seeking funds of around Rs 95 lakh for the project. The data will be processed into digital elevation models, contour maps, 3D point clouds and orthomosaic images using the photogrammetry software. According to the pollution authority, the survey will help in identifying the locations for setting up air and water stations for monitoring of Ambient Air Quality and Water quality of the mining affected areas. Speaking to The Goan, GSPCB chairman Mahesh Patil said that the survey will basically help us to understand the topography, leases, water bodies, sewage discharge points, transport routes and THE ROAD AHEAD „„The survey will cover all the mining leases, spread across iron ore rich talukas in North and South Goa „„A financial proposal has been moved before the District Mineral Foundation seeking funds of around Rs 95 lakh for the project „„The data will be processed into digital elevation models, contour maps, 3D point clouds and orthomosaic images using the photogrammetry software Board to conduct aerial survey of North coastline for database of structures PANAJI: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has initiated a process to conduct an aerial survey of the North Goa coastal belt to map and prepare a database of the structures that have come up along the 80kms long coastline. The survey area will span 500 metres seawards from the coastline and extend up to 1.5 kms inland along the mainland. The Board has already invited bids to undertake the drone survey, which will also help the Board to ascertain the violations pertaining to Consent to Operate and Establish under Air and Water Act by the structures or establishments. >Continued on P5 community location of each mining lease or mineral blocks. “The proposal is still in the pipeline. The idea is to get a clear picture as to where and what all we need to monitor in the mining areas,” he said. Patil said that with the State government now proposing to e-auction the dumps, it is very important from the pollution point of view to know where these dumps are lying and what could be its transportation route. Since March 2018, there has been a ban on iron ore mining >Continued on P5 Century-old trees chopped, compound walls razed for Siolim road-widening PWD not following procedures, carrying out bulldozer development, allege residents P R I CE O F D E V E LO P M E N T ! AGNELO PEREIRA THE GOAN I MAPUSA R ecent development efforts in Siolim-Marna have created a sense of unease among locals as several trees, some over a century old, have been felled ostensibly to widen the main road. The stretch from Chopdem bridge to St Anthony’s church, up to Soro’s junction, is expected to see significant alterations, including the demolition of private compound walls to facilitate road expansion. While authorities assert the necessity of road widening to alleviate traffic congestion, dissenting voices within the Huge mango trees axed for road widening work in Siolim-Marna. A JCB in action to clear debris of a demolished compound wall. Workers busy chopping a mango tree near the SFX School, Siolim-Marna on Wednesday.  Agnelo Pereira community raise concerns about the methods employed. A resident, Lourenco Braganza, who is directly affected by the ongoing work, criticises the lack of consideration for alternatives to overcome traffic congestion. “This development agenda looks suspect. The road widening is definitely not required. Improve the public transport system which will reduce the number of private vehicles on road,” Braganza opined. Locals also questioned the process adopted by the PWD (Roads) to carry out the road expansion work without following procedures. “Where are the procedures? There is no land acquisition. No layout plan. No approvals. This is nothing but bulldozer development,” an affected resident said, requesting anonymity. The affected resident was ready to knock the doors of the court but held back as none of the neighbours wanted to join forces. “I can’t fight it out alone. These people are against the haphazard development work but are getting scared to challenge the authorities,” he said. Interestingly, senior PWD officials remained mum when questioned on the road works in Siolim-Marna. Amidst the controversy, Amrut Agarwadekar, Chairman of the Biodiversity Management Committee, emphasised adherence to legal procedures and community involvement in development initiatives. “Nobody is above the law. All works have to be taken up as per laid down procedure following the law of the land. We understand that water, electricity and roads are basic >Continued on P5