log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline FRIDAY APRIL 26, 2024 GOA HC cracks down on Usgao illegalities PANAJI: Cracking down on yet another set of alleged illegal structures, the Bombay High Court at Goa directed the Village Panchayat to investigate illegal constructions in Usgao and issue show cause notices to cease construction or face demolition if deemed necessary. The VP is also directed to reply as to why it failed to initiate action earlier. >> See pg 5 9-year-old special child drowns in canal MARGAO: In a tragic incident, a nine-year-old special child drowned in an irrigation canal near Cuncolim Industrial estate on Wednesday. Cuncolim police said there is no foul play and that the child might have accidentally fallen in the canal. The body was later handed over to the relatives after post mortem examination. HC slams delay in razing Siolim hotel MAPUSA: The High Court of Bombay at Goa has come down heavily on the State administration, criticising a nearly two-year delay in demolishing an illegal hotel in Siolim.  >> See pg 5 Patto boardwalk shut for public PANAJI: The mangrove boardwalk along the Rua de Ourem creek in Panaji has been partly shut by the Corporation of the City of Panaji reportedly due to concerns of safety of citizens and tourists using it as portions of it are damaged and could lead to users falling.  >> See pg 5 KR to start special summer train PANAJI: A sudden spike in travellers to Goa during the summer has prompted the Konkan Railway Corporation to introduce another special train which will run thrice a week between the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and the Tivim stations. The train is being run in collaboration with Central Railway.  >> See pg 6 1 held for running prostitution racket PANAJI: A 56-year-old man was arrested by Crime Branch for running a prostitution racket at Calangute. One woman was rescued in the raid and sent to protective home. The accused is identified as David Chettiyar. WEATHER >> Max: 34 C Min: 26 C Humidity: 76% TIDES Low: High: 05:49 18:24 12:44 23:43 The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 14 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO. 309 20 years on, demand for separate postal circle still eludes Goa IN SHORT >> Facebook.com/thegoan 2 GOA HC slams State over rampant sand mining, warns of action 3 Instagram.com/thegoanonline RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 INFO Distinct ways to include salt in your skin care routine 9 India votes in Phase-II of LS polls; all eyes on heatwave n 88 SEATS UP FOR GRABS n OVER 16 LAKH OFFICIALS ON DUTY PTI NEW DELHI Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 States with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala. All 20 seats of Kerala will go to polls besides 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, 8 seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, 6 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 5 seats each in Assam and Bihar, 3 seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and 1 seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir. Though voting was to be held for 89 seats in the second phase, polling for the Betul seat in Madhya Pradesh has been rescheduled to the third phase due to the death of a candidate from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The Election Commission (EC) said more than 16 lakh polling officials have been deployed across 1.67 lakh polling stations for over 15.88 crore KEY NAMES IN SECOND PHASE RAHUL GANDHI: He is the sitting MP from Wayanad and is pitted against CPI’s Annie Raja and BJP’s K Surendran SASHI THAROOR: Aiming to win the Thiruvananthapuram seat for the fourth time and is pitted against Chandrasekhar from BJP and CPI’s Raveendran HEMA MALINI: Represented Mathura since 2014 and is contesting against Congress’s Mukesh Dhangar OM BIRLA: A two-time MP from Kota is facing Prahlad Gunjal of the Congress GAJENDRA SHEKHAWAT: Eyeing a third win from Jodhpur and is pitted against Cong candidate Karan Uchiyarda TEJASVI SURYA: The sitting MP for Bangalore South will face Congress’s Sowmya Reddy BHUPESH BAGHEL: Contesting from Rajnandgaon, a stronghold of the BJP for over 30 years voters. Voters include 8.08 crore male, 7.8 crore female and 5,929 third gender electors. As many as 34.8 lakh first-time voters are registered to cast their votes. Additionally, there are 3.28 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years, the poll authority said. Keeping in mind the heat- wave, EC has extended time in several polling stations of 4 constituencies in Bihar. The India Meteorological Department has also warned of heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the next High Court upholds EC issues notices over speeches disqualification of by Modi, Rahul Goa Dairy BoDs 1 THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI In a major setback to the disqualified Board of Directors of Goa Dairy, the Bombay High Court at Goa has upheld the order of the Registrar of Co-operative Societies disqualifying several past and present members of the Board. The quasi-judicial order had held them guilty of irregularities that caused losses as they also acted detrimental to the milk Cooperative. The disqualified members including the then chairman had thereafter filed a plea before the High Court challenging the Registrar of Co-operative Societies order, which was dismissed on Thursday.  The Registrar of Co-operative Societies had ruled that there were irregularities in matters related to milk procurement from outside the State, procurement related to the protein-enhancing ingredients and also cattle-feed IRREGULARITIES THAT WERE CITED „„Matters related to milk procurement from outside the State „„Procurement related to protein-enhancing ingredients  „„Irregularities in cattle-feed plants run by the dairy plants run by the dairy. It had further appointed a three-member committee of administrators to manage the Goa Dairy for six months or until elections were held to fill up the vacancies following the disqualification. The Goa State Milk Producers Union Ltd, the co-operative that markets and sells products under the ‘Goa Dairy’ brand had been plagued with administrative >Continued on P6 Taking cognisance for the first time of a model code violation complaint against a prime minister, the Election Commission on Thursday issued a notice to BJP president J P Nadda on Opposition charge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a divisive speech in Rajasthan’s Banswara. IMD FORECAST „„IMD has warned of heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and UP „„It said high humidity could add to people’s inconvenience in Tripura, Kerala, coastal Karnataka & Assam „„Keeping in mind the heatwave, EC has extended polling time in several polling stations of four constituencies in Bihar five days. The Met office said high humidity could add to people’s inconvenience in Tripura, Kerala, Karnataka and Assam. Of the 1,202 candidates in the fray, 1,098 are men, 102 are women and two are from the third gender category. At least three helicopters, four special trains and nearly 80,000 vehicles have been deployed to ferry poll and security personnel. Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar and actor-turned-politician Arun Govil, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s brother DK Suresh (Cong), and former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy (JDS) are among the key candidates while BJP’s Hema Malini, Om Birla and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat seeking a hat-trick of wins from their respective constituencies. The first of the seven-phase elections held last Friday across 21 states and Union territories saw a voter turnout of around 65.5 per cent. After Friday’s phase, polling will be over in Kerala, Rajasthan and Tripura. In the first phase on April 19, polling was completed in all seats of TN (39), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1) and Lakshadweep (1). 14 SPORTS RCB thumps SRH to end six-match losing streak ‘Fasting’ cause of Aquem bros’ death, reveals autopsy Mother recovering in hospital THE GOAN I NETWORK MARGAO Post mortem examination on the bodies of the two brothers who were found dead in mysterious circumstances at Aquem has revealed that the duo had died due to “fasting”. Sources pointed out that it is apparent that the two brothers were not starved to death by someone, but were on a fast for unknown reasons, saying it is for the police to investigate and find out the reasons behind the fasting by the two brothers. The autopsy has further shed light on the timing of the death, indicating that both did not die at one time. While one of the two brothers had died 36 hours before his body was removed from the apartment, the second brother is believed to have breathed his last 24 hours before the incident came to light. “We cannot say that it is a case of starvation since no one has starved them to death. It appears to be a clear case of fasting. Why the two brothers had resorted to fast is for the police to investigate”, sources AUTOPSY FINDINGS „„Both brothers did not die at the same time „„One of the two died 36 hours before his body was removed from the apartment „„The second is believed to have breathed his last 24 hours before the incident came to light said. The two brothers -- 29-yearold Mohammad Zuber Khan and 27-year-old Afan Khan -- were found dead at their apartment at Aquem-Margao on Wednesday evening. The fire brigade was requisitioned to break open the door of the apartment after the father, who is staying at Khareband, found the door locked from inside for many days. The mother of the deceased, who was found in a critical condition is recuperating at the hospital. Margao police are conducting further investigating. THE RICH LEGACY OF SARASWAT CUISINE WITH CELEBRITY CHEF SHUBHRA SHANKHWALKER 2 Separately, the poll panel also issued a notice to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, asking him to respond to the complaints filed by the BJP against him and the main Opposition party’s senior leader Rahul Gandhi regarding their remarks. 3 In the notice sent to Nadda, the Election Commission sought his response by Monday to the complaints filed by the Congress, CPI, CPI (ML) and civil society groups regarding the remarks made by Modi on April 21 in Banswara. >> See pg 7 US report highlights rights abuses in India AGENCIES WASHINGTON he US State Department’s annual human rights assessment found “significant” abuses in India’s northeastern Manipur State last year and attacks on minorities, journalists and dissenting voices in the rest of the country. Manipur has seen fierce fighting between its tribal KukiZo and majority Meitei populations after a court order a year ago suggested the Kuki’s minority privileges be extended to the Meitei. More than 200 people have been killed. The State Department report said over 60,000 people were displaced between May and November in Manipur. There was no immediate comment from Indian embas- T US report deeply biased: MEA NEW DELHI: India on Friday described a US State Department report citing alleged incidents of human rights violations including in Manipur as “deeply biased” and said it reflects a poor understanding of India and it attach no value to it. “This report is deeply biased and reflects a poor understanding of India,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. “We attach no value to it and urge you to do the same,” he said at his weekly media briefing. sy in Washington. In the rest of India, the State Department reported “numerous instances” in which the government and its allies “allegedly pressured or harassed media outlets critical of the government.” For example, the Income Tax Department searched the BBC’s offices in early 2023 after it released a documen- tary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Indian government said at the time the search was not vindictive. Reporters Without Borders ranked India at 161 out of 180 countries on its press freedom index in 2023, the country’s lowest position ever. The US assessment said religious minorities in India reported discrimination in- cluding calls for violence and spread of misinformation. Modi, who is favored to win a record-equaling third term, denies abuse of minorities, and says his policies aim to benefit all Indians. Human rights groups allege the climate has deteriorated under Modi. They point to rise in hate speech, the revoking of Muslim-majority Kashmir’s special status, a citizenship law that the UN calls “fundamentally discriminatory” and the demolition of Muslim properties in the name of removing illegal construction. While the US report hit on themes similar to recent years, political analysts say Washington is restrained in its public criticism of New Delhi because the US hopes India will act as a counterweight to an expansionist China. Relive time-honoured recipes of the Konkan at MIGUEL ARCANJO 27th to 28th April | 12:30 pm to 3:00 pm | 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm For reservations, call: +91 83266 83333