log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline TUESDAY JUNE 4, 2024 GOA Without facility to anchor boats, Benaulim fishermen all at sea IN SHORT >> Lineman touches live wire, injured PANAJI: Yet another Electricity Department employee was injured when he came in contact with a live wire at Ponda. Line helper Siddhesh Naik from Marcaim fell from the transformer at Sapna Town, Prabhunagar, Ponda while repairing it allegedly after he caught a live wire. Beach shacks granted extension PANAJI: Tourism Department has decided to grant extension to shack operators, subject to weather conditions. As tourists are visiting the State in large numbers over the last few days, operators had sought extension in time for operating shacks beyond the shutting down date on May 31. Mercedes gets stuck at Bogmalo beach VASCO: Tourists on Monday evening drove a Mercedes car at Bogmalo beach and the vehicle got stranded on the shore. Eyewitnesses said the high-end car almost entered the water but got stuck on the beach barely a few metres away from the sea.  >> See pg 3 Amul, Mother Dairy hike price of milk NEW DELHI: Mother Dairy on Monday announced Rs 2 per litre hike in milk prices due to a rise in input cost. The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, which markets dairy products under the Amul brand also increased milk prices by about Rs 2 per litre from Monday across the country. Indian student goes missing in US WASHINGTON: A 23-year-old Indian student is missing in the US state of California since last week and police have sought public help in finding her, the latest case in the country as the community grapples with a string of such incidents involving students. SC stays premature release of Gawli NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed till further orders the premature release of gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli, who is serving life imprisonment in a murder case. >> See pg 7 WEATHER >> Max: 35.6 C Min: 25 C Humidity: 85% TIDES Low: High: 02:40 15:08 09:48 20:30 Facebook.com/thegoan The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 12 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO. 348 2 GOA GCZMA team inspects filling of Khazan land at Galgibaga 3 RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 INFO Treat heat boils with these milk remedies 9 SPORTS ICC T20 World Cup: South Africa make light work of Sri Lanka 12 Battle of the ballot: D-Day for India Fate of over 8,000 candidates to be Anxious moments in Goa; known today; Modi eyes 3rd term results expected by 4 pm PTI NEW DELHI The fate of over 8,000 candidates in fray for the Lok Sabha polls 2024 will be decided on June 4 when the counting of votes will be taken up amid tight security in States like West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi eyes a record-equalling third straight term. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said that a total of 64.2 crore voters, who included 31.2 crore women, had exercised their franchise in these polls, which was the highest in the world. Over 68,000 monitoring teams and 1.5 crore polling and security personnel were involved in the electoral exercise. On preparations made for counting, Kumar said, “there is a very robust system. There are around 10.5 lakh booths. Each booth will have 14 tables. There are observers and micro-observers. Nearly, 7080 lakh people are involved in the process.” Counting of postal ballots first: CEC NEW DELHI: Citing the Conduct of Election Rules, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday said the count of postal ballots will start first across all counting centres and asserted that there was “no doubt about it”. He said after half-an-hour of the start of the postal ballot count, the counting of votes recorded in the electronic voting machines will commence. A delegation of the opposition parties had on Sunday met the Commission to demand that postal ballot count should start first and the results of postal ballots should be announced first. Kumar, however, came down heavily on the Opposition parties for making allegations that Returning Officers and District Magistrates (DMs) were influenced to vitiate the poll process. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi along with Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and S S Sandhu, Kumar said the Opposition should also tell the poll body about those trying to influence the process before the counting of votes begins. “You cannot spread a rumour and bring everyone under a cloud of suspicion”. He the commission had provided Central forces to many States to prevent any post-poll violence, based on assessment provided by the Central observers in these States. Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal are the two States which have been provided with security forces for 15 days from the day of counting. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh have been provided with security forces for two Calangute nightclub sealed, two touts held for extortion Back to school for children, new academic year starts today 48,000 after being lured by promises of girls during his walk at Baga beach. After his video narrating the ordeal went viral, the Calangute police booked an offense and arrested two staff of the restaurant. The FIR is registered under sections 386 (extortion by putting a fear of death or PANAJI Nearly 2.70 lakh students will begin their new academic year 2024-25 on Tuesday amid hectic activity due to the counting for the Lok Sabha elections coinciding on the same day and high humidity. The Education Department has maintained its decision not to postpone the reopening despite a request from Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar and demands from the Opposition. “Children are excited to go back to school. Except for a few schools in South Goa that will remain closed to avoid traffic congestion, all other schools will reopen as scheduled. There will be no inconvenience in and around Panaji since the counting is in Altinho,” Education Director Shailesh Zingde said. Four schools in Margao and all educational institutions and establishments of the Samaj Seva Sangh Committee will remain closed to avoid >Continued on P5 >Continued on P5 GUJ TOURIST WAS LOOTED OF `48K THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Two days after reports surfaced that a Gujarati tourist was looted of Rs 48,000 at a Calangute nightclub, the Chief Minister’s Office on Monday stated that the premises had been sealed for unauthorized operations and assured further action against the owners. “After reports of extortion by touts for illegal activity in Calangute, two suspects have been arrested and the club has been sealed. Further action against the owners of the club is being initiated,” the CMO said. The CMO assured that the State administration had previously acted tough against such establishments and will continue to crack down on any illegal activity. Tourist Bhavin Patel from Gujarat was robbed of Rs THE GOAN I NETWORK ON PAGE 3 Sarpanch vows not to allow nightclub ops in Calangute ‘Calangute will be free of touts from new season’ Tourists who come in search of ‘ladki’ slammed Banned from Maldives, Israeli embassy suggests Goan beaches to its citizens Says India has beautiful beaches where Israelis are welcomed PTI NEW DELHI day after Maldives banned Israeli passport holders from travelling to the country, the Israeli Embassy in India on Monday highlighted several Indian beaches for Israelis to visit instead. In a post on X, the embassy posted, “since the Maldives is no longer welcoming Israelis, here are some beautiful and amazing Indian beaches where Israeli tourists are warmly welcomed and treated with utmost hospitality. Among the recommendations were the beaches of Instagram.com/thegoanonline A Lakshwadeep, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar islands and Kerala. The Israeli consul general in Mumbai Kobbi Shoshani also responded to a January post by PM Narendra Modi, in which PM praised the natural beauty of Lakshadweep. Shoshani said, “thanks to the Maldives Government's decision Israelis can now ex- plore the beautiful beaches of #Lakshadweep.” This comes following the Maldives' decision on Sunday to ban the entry of individuals with Israeli passports. Maldives Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihsaan announced this decision during a news conference at the President's Office. Maldives President's Office said, "President Dr Mohamed Muizzu, following a recommendation from the Cabinet, has resolved to impose a ban on Israeli passports." It added, “the Cabinet decision includes amending necessary laws to prevent Israeli passport holders from entering the Maldives and establishing a Cabinet subcommittee to oversee these efforts.” On Sunday, Israel's foreign ministry advised Israeli citizens against travelling to the Maldives since the Maldivian government banned visitors with Israeli passports. This advice also applies to Israelis who have dual citizenship. “For Israeli citizens already in the country, it is recommended to consider leaving, because if they find themselves in distress for any reason, it will be difficult for us to assist,” it said in a statement. days after counting. On another Opposition demand that postal ballots should be counted first, the CEC said the postal ballot scheme rule was formed in 1964. “There are not many postal ballots then. For an inclusive election, it is necessary that we extend this facility to senior citizens and people with disability.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi eyes a record-equalling third straight term amid the INDIA Opposition bloc's hope of springing a surprise. While most experts have long seen the BJP-led NDA as the favourite, a lot is at stake for the ruling combine in terms of the scale of victory it can pull off and new territories it can conquer. The Opposition's stakes are higher still amid its reducing footprint. Exit polls have been, however, unanimous in their prediction that the NDA is closer to realising Modi's ambitious target of “400 paar” for his alliance than the INDIA bloc is to crossing even the 180 mark, one-third of the total number of seats. THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI As anxiety among the candidates and cadres will be at the highest level with the counting for the Lok Sabha polls set to begin at 8 am on Tuesday, counting for the two seats in Goa is expected to conclude by 4 pm. The postal ballots will be counted first followed by the EVMs. A total of 318 tables have been arranged in each hall designated for every assembly constituency. In North Goa, the counting will be conducted across 157 tables, while in South Goa it will take place on 161 tables. The Election Commission of India has appointed 236 micro observers for North Goa and 242 for South Goa whereas 282 and 220 counting supervisors are already on duty for the respective constituencies. A total of 282 counting assistants will be stationed in North Goa and 210 in South. ECI has further appointed 376 returning officers for North Goa and 210 for South COUNTING SHORT TAKES „„Counting for both constituencies to begin at 8 am „„478 micro observers have been appointed in North and South „„Counting to take place in max seven rounds „„CAPF & Goa police to man three-tier security around counting centres „„Over 2,000 officials including observers to oversee the process „„More than 50% of total police force deployed Goa. Besides, 454 counting agents in North Goa and 495 in South Goa will be present to monitor and oversee the proceedings. “We have trained our staff for the counting process. Ob- servers are also present to monitor the entire process. We expect the counting to finish by 4 pm. There are separate halls for EVM counting and ballot counting. Announcements will be made frequently after each round of counting, followed by the final results,” North Goa Collector Sneha Gitte told reporters on the eve of the counting, giving an overview of the preparations. She also stated that there would be restricted entry around the counting station at Altinho. The Goa Police have also maintained strict vigil across both the counting centres in the North and South with hundreds deployed round the clock, in addition to the central paramilitary forces already guarding the strong rooms. “We have maintained watertight security ever since the EVMs were securely stored in the strong rooms. Our officers had been supervising the security… On the counting day too, maximum police force has been deployed at the centres,” a senior officer said.