log on to thegoan.net Facebook.com/thegoan @thegoanonline SUNDAY MAY 26, 2024 The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) Instagram.com/thegoanonline 16 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO. 339 RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 MOVIES »PAGE 16 PLAY & PAUSE »PAGE 13 LIVE SMART »PAGE 14 ANOTHER CHEERS TO YEAR ‘Almost feels like my youth was a lie’ Mastering the digital shift SPORTS »PAGE 7 Man United beats Man City to win FA Cup NISHA’S MUMBAI: AN ENERGETIC WEEK INDEED 3 TIPS: Make positive changes in our life Classic FA Manipur win AIFF U-17 Youth League title On 51st birthday, filmmaker Karan Johar announces his new ‘untitled’ directorial project French filmmaker Claire Denis opens up about her journey and more Defending against criticism >> SEE PG 3 Social Media: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly MAGAZINE MAGAZ 9 Monsoon in India: A season of life, joy and renewal Ungentlemanly etiquette of advocates representing State government Natural tips That help in Battle Against Body odour 10 Understanding multiple sclerosis: Symptoms and treatments D’Silva Fast Food serving delights since the 90s 11 Bike Review Bajaj Pulsar NS 400Z: A powerful and capable beast IN SHORT >> Vasco murder accused hit wife several times VASCO: Chaloba Kesarkar, who has been arrested in connection with the murder of his wife, Vaishali, in their house at Shantinagar-Vasco on Friday afternoon has now admitted having struck his wife 2-3 times with an iron rod on her head, which led to her death.  >> See pg 5 1 dead, 2 hurt in separate mishaps PONDA: A youth died while two others were seriously injured in two separate mishaps in Bethora and Dharbandora on Saturday evening.  >> See pg 5 Govt to provide aid to Bicholim victims BICHOLIM: Stating that preliminary estimates of the losses to property in the thunderstorm in Navelim-Sankhali on Thursday night could be as high as Rs 1 crore, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has assured that the State government would provide all possible assistance to the affected families. >> See pg 5 Crucial role of AI upskilling in today’s modern world EC releases seat-wise data of first 5 phases amid row SAYS FALSE NARRATIVES AND MISCHIEVOUS DESIGNS TO VITIATE ELECTORAL PROCESS, ALTERATION IN NUMBER OF VOTES POLLED NOT POSSIBLE POLL PANEL ALLAYS APPREHENSION PTI NEW DELHI The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday came out with the constituency-wise data on the number of votes cast in the first five phases of the Lok Sabha polls and said there is a pattern in creating false narratives and mischievous designs to vitiate the electoral process. It also asserted that any alteration in the number of the votes polled is not possible. The poll panel came out with the absolute number of voters on its own a day after the Supreme Court refused to issue directions to it on an NGO's plea for uploading the polling booth-wise voter turnout data on its website. „„The absolute numbers are discernable constituency-wise by all citizens by applying the turnout percentage to the total number of electors, both already made available in the public domain „„To further expand the format of the turnout data to include the absolute number of voters in every constituency The EC said it has decided to further expand the format of the turnout data to include the absolute number of voters in every constituency. The absolute numbers are discernable constituency-wise by all citizens by applying the turnout percentage to the to- tal number of electors, both already made available in the public domain, the poll panel said. Electors are those on the electoral roll and eligible to vote. Voters are those who actually cast their votes in an election. While the EC had KKR, SRH FACE OFF FOR ULTIMATE IPL GLORY HEAD TO HEAD RECORD In the 27 SRH vs KKR head to head meetings in IPL, it’s KKR, who has the advantage with 18 wins against SRH, who have won 9 such encounters. In the last 6 meetings also, it’s 4-2 in favour of KKR. Record at Stadium It’s time for round 3 as Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad battle for the title in the IPL 2024 Final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday The two sides will face each other for the second time at the Chennai venue, where KKR defeated SRH by 10 runs, defending a total of 187 Last encounter KKR beat SRH by eight wickets on 21 May, in Ahmedabad IN PLAYOFFS KKR and SRH have faced each other four times in IPL playoffs contests; Sunrisers Hyderabad won two times, Kolkata Knight Riders also won two times Detailed report on pg 8 No big names The final surprisingly features no players from India's main T20 World Cup squad ADVANTAGE KKR KKR might hold an edge playing the final in Chennai, where they won a title in 2012 Now, Cipla cancels Vapi interviews THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Yet another pharma company, Cipla, has cancelled walk-in interviews scheduled at Vapi in Gujarat on Sunday to recruit personnel for all its facilities including the ones in Goa. Citing ‘business exigencies’ for the cancellation, Cipla also said that they conducted walk- Citing ‘business exigencies’ for the cancellation, Cipla said that they conducted walk-in interviews in the past year at Goa on seven occasions in interviews in the past year at Goa on seven occasions and has planned one on May 31, the company said in a letter to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday. Earlier this week, two other companies – Indoco Remedies and Encube – had similarly dropped their outstation recruitment drives following an uproar by Opposition poli ticians alleging denial of employment opportunity to locals. NEARLY 60% POLLING IN 6TH PHASE, BENGAL'S JANGAL MAHAL LOGS 78.27% NEW DELHI: An estimated voter turnout of 59.92 per cent was recorded in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday in 58 constituencies across six states and two Union territories with the polling percentage in the Jangal Mahal region of West Bengal touching 78.27. >> See pg 6 been issuing the turnout percentage, there were demands to make the actual number of voters in every phase public. Referring to the apprehension expressed by some opposition parties that the turnout data can be fudged, the poll panel said the process of collection and storage of the votes polled is rigorous, transparent and participative. Verification drive: 10 passengers held in Tivim; 8 without docs at Chimbel 1 Ten passengers were arrested at the Tivim railway station on charges of entering the State without documents 2 All passengers alighting at the Tivim railway station were screened and 10 of them were detained as they could not explain why they had come to Goa and did not have the necessary documents. 3 4 The 10 passengers were arrested under Section 41 CrPC Act and were later were released Eight persons were found residing at Indira Nagar-Chimbel without proper documents in tenants verification drive held by the Old Goa police on Friday evening Detailed report on pg 5 The entire exercise of releasing the turnout data from the date of commencement of the Lok Sabha polls on April 19 has been “accurate, consistent and in accordance with election laws and without any discrepancy whatsoever”, the EC said. Explaining the details, >Continued on P6 Online admissions to UG from Monday; DHE gets requests for more seats THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Admissions for first-year undergraduate aided and self-finance programmes are set to commence on Monday, May 27 with the Directorate of Higher Education (DHE) already receiving requests from institutions to increase the seats across various streams. Government sources told The Goan that the decision to increase the number of seats is pending and will be finalised after the completion of the admission process. “Let’s wait till the admission deadline. If there’s a genuine need for increasing seats, it will accordingly be granted to those colleges after following due process,” the source said. To facilitate a smooth online admission process at 38 colleges, the DHE has instructed to set up help desks to assist students who encounter difficulties with the online GMC doc assaulted on duty, plaint filed against 2 women THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI An on-duty doctor at Goa Medical College was allegedly assaulted and abused by two women, prompting a police case. Zinia Fernandes, a resident of Mapusa and another unidentified woman are charged with assaulting Dr Shubham Prabhudesai while he was attending to patients in ward number 142. The Agassaim police stated that lack of communication about the treatment of Zinia’s father, who was admitted to the ward, was the cause for assault. “The women confronted the doctors asking what medication was given to the patient as there were certain problems. One of them pulled his shirt and hand, and another gestured to hit him with slippers. A complaint was subsequently filed and registered,” the police said. The women are booked under sections 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), 352 (assault or criminal force otherwise than on grave provocation), 186 (obstructing public servant in the discharge of his duty), 353 THE CASE „„The women confronted the doctors asking what medication was given to the patient as there were certain problems „„One of them pulled his shirt and hand, and another gestured to hit him with slippers. A complaint was subsequently filed and registered (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty read with 34 (common intention) of Indian Penal Code. No arrests were made. In 2019, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane had sought for stringent laws to protect doctors and other medical staff against violence, in response to nationwide protest by doctors against assault on doctors in West Bengal. Around two years ago, a senior doctor at Porvorim was assaulted. The alleged assailant had surrendered to the police after pressure from the doctors who launched a protest demanding quick action. NEP to follow old system of marks for sports activity PANAJI: The weightage to sports in academics at the school level is unlikely to change much in the New system under the National Education Policy and the old process of adding the earned marks to a student’s aggregate or individual subjects score to either let them pass or achieve qualification benchmarks is likely to continue.  >> See pg 2 procedures. The DHE has been annually receiving requests from certain institutes for seat expansions, particularly in BCom and BA programmes. A total of 17,511 students cleared their Class 12th exams for 2023-24, a decrease from the previous year’s count of 18,497. 4 children among 27 killed in Rajkot game zone fire; SIT probe ordered PTI RAJKOT At least 27 persons, including four children under the age of 12, were killed in a massive fire that swept through a game zone teeming with people enjoying a summer vacation outing in Gujarat's Rajkot city on Saturday evening, officials said. The death toll is likely to go up, they said. Police have detained the owner of the TRP Game Zone and the manager while the state government assigned the probe to a Special Investigation Team. Relief and Rescue operations have been underway at the affected game zone for more than six hours after the blaze erupted at a structure built using metal and fibre sheets for gaming activities at around 4:30 pm, officials said, adding that the structure collapsed due to the huge fire. “So far we have confirmed the death of 27 persons in the fire incident. The bodies are charred beyond recognition and hence their identification is difficult,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Radhika Bharai. ACP Vinayak Patel said the >Continued on P6 3-day power outage at Pissurlem, Goa records power surge amid demand this summer RECORD DEMAND: THE DATA Honda industries disrupts Ops VIBHA VERMA THE GOAN I PANAJI FACTORIES FORCED TO SHUT DOWN, SUFFER HUGE LOSSES; HUNDREDS OF WORKERS GO WITHOUT WORK THE GOAN I NETWORK VALPOI In a shocking situation, there has been no power supply in the industrial estates at Honda and Pissurlem in Sattari taluka, causing huge losses to dozens of factories and no work to thousands of employees. Some factories have even been forced to shut down operations during these three days in the absence of power supply. According to estimates, there are about 50 factories at the Honda Industrial Estate and about 50 factories at the Pissurlem Industrial Estate, which employ thousands of workers. An official at the Sukraft paper mill at the Honda Industrial Estate said they were forced to shut down operations at their unit due to non-availability of power supply for the last three days. “This situation has arisen for the first time in the history of this industrial estate. Senior power officials have been contacted several times but till now, power supply has not been restored,” the official said. “Due to this disruption in power supply, the company has sustained losses worth crores of rupees. Many workers are working in this unit on a daily basis and since the unit has been closed for three days, they are also unable to earn their livelihood.” Most of these factories at the two industrial estates do not have their own generators and depend entirely the government for power supply. >Continued on P6 T he peak power demand across the country is expected to surpass 260 GW this summer, and likewise, Goa’s power consumption has also reached record levels, influenced by persistent high temperatures and humidity. Goa’s power usage has surged from the usual 670680 MW to a record peak demand of 820 MW this summer, surpassing last year’s peak of 780 MW, according to the Electricity Department. Among 7 lakh electricity consumers, both residential and commercial zones have seen maximum usage. “Around 750-800 MW demand is being recorded at every given point of time throughout this summer. The consump- „„Goa’s power usage has surged from the usual 670680 MW to a record peak demand of 820 MW this summer, surpassing last year’s peak of 780 MW „„Around 750-800 MW demand is being recorded at every given point of time throughout this summer tion has spiked due to increased use of air conditioners and other electronic appliances,” a senior official told The Goan. While residential areas have undoubtedly seen a rise in power usage as most people, apart from the working class, preferred to stay indoors due „„The consumption has spiked due to increased use of air conditioners to heat wave-like conditions; commercial areas, especially along the coastal belt, also experienced increased power consumption. The official revealed that the influx of tourists has contributed to higher power usage, which, in turn, has boosted revenue also as the tariff per and other electronic appliances „„The influx of tourists has contributed to higher power usage, which, in turn, has boosted revenue also as the tariff per unit for commercial use is higher than that for residential areas unit for commercial use is higher than that for residential areas. However, the power consumption in industrial areas has remained stable throughout the year. “It's an annual trend,” he said, further explaining, “Commercial and industrial sectors account for 20 per cent of total power consumers, while residential areas make up the remaining 80 per cent. Nevertheless, nearly 80 per cent of the revenue comes from the industrial and commercial category.” As per a national study, air conditioning can contribute to 30-50 per cent of a household or company’s yearly energy expense. With the monsoon fast approaching, power consumption is expected to drop by around 100 MW from the current levels. Besides generating power units daily, Goa purchases a major portion from the central generating station as well as private. Pan-India, the highest supply in a day rose to 221.70 GW in March 2024 as against 208.92 GW in March 2023 and 199.43 GW in March 2022.