log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline Facebook.com/thegoan The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) Instagram.com/thegoanonline Pg 14 THURSDAY JUNE 11, 2026 >> See PG 3 Probe going nowhere? Key reports still missing in Indore student’s drug overdose death case 15 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME XI, NO. 354 Bomb threat emails rock Maharashtra and Gujarat GOVT OFFICES, CIVIC BODIES AND RSS PREMISES EVACUATED AFTER CLAIMS LINKED TO KHALISTAN; SEARCHES FIND NO EXPLOSIVES; PROBE UNDERWAY THE BOMB SCARE AGENCIES >PG 6 BLESSED BEGINNINGS: 15 COUPLES TIE THE KNOT AT GOA’S FIRST MASS NIKAH CYBER TECH The missing chip in India’s AI strategy >PG 8 IN SHORT >> Teen drowns in abandoned well VASCO: What began as a monsoon outing with friends ended in tragedy when a 19-year-old youth drowned in an abandoned well at Zuarinagar on Wednesday afternoon, triggering a major rescue operation involving the Vasco Fire and Emergency Services and Drishti Marine lifesavers. >> See pg 2 HC seeks ATR on illegal borewells PANAJI: The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Wednesday directed the Water Resources Department (WRD) to place on record a comprehensive action-taken report by July 6 in the ongoing Public Interest Litigation concerning illegal borewells in Chimbel.  >> See pg 2 3 Indian crew missing after attack on ship NEW DELHI: Three out of 24 Indian crew members on board a commercial vessel that came under attack off the coast of Oman on Wednesday are missing, with India strongly condemning the strike. WEATHER >> Max: 31 C Min: 28 C Humidity: 79% TIDES Low: High: 00:18 14:19 07:05 20:30 MUMBAI/AHMEDABAD A wave of bomb threats sent under the name of the ‘Khalistan National Army’, an armed separatist group, put the security apparatus of Maharashtra and Gujarat on high alert on Wednesday morning. The threats allegedly targeted government offices such as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), the Gujarat Chief Minister’s Office, financial institutions, legislative buildings and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakhas, triggering evacuations and extensive searches. In Mumbai, the BMC headquarters received a bomb threat at around 9.21 am. In the email, sent from the ID loretta1963drake@gmail.com, Employees wait outside the Pune Municipal Corporation headquarters while the bomb squad conducts a search operation. the sender allegedly claimed allegiance to the Khalistan National Army and detailed a timeline of blasts. The email allegedly warned that a bomb blast would occur at Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde’s office at approximately 1.11 pm. It also claimed that several other civic offices would witness explosions lat- Govt moves to deactivate dormant email accounts THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI In a move aimed at cutting avoidable expenditure and streamlining digital governance, the Goa Government has launched a statewide exercise to identify and deactivate dormant official email accounts that are no longer in use. A preliminary review has identified 554 official government email accounts that have remained dormant for periods ranging from 90 days to more than 525 days. The Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (DITE&C) has directed all government departments, autonomous bodies, corporations and other government entities to review official email accounts that have remained inactive for more than a year and submit their findings within 15 days. The exercise comes in and various RSS shakhas. Responding to the incident, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “Such emails keep coming. Whenever one is >Continued on P9 SBM-GRAMIN DATA SHOWS NO STPs, DESLUDGING VEHICLES IN VILLAGES, RAISING QUESTIONS ON SANITATION SUCCESS CLAIMS SHWETA KAMAT MAHATME THE GOAN I PANAJI Goa’s much-publicised sanitation achievements under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (SBM-G) Phase II have been dealt a reality check, with official records exposing a startling failure in key faecal waste management benchmarks despite the State claiming near-universal ODF Plus coverage. Data available on the SBM-G Phase II dashboard shows that while Goa has 373 villages under the ODF Plus programme, the State has achieved zero villages linked to Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants (FSTPs) or Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) against targeted villages. The data further shows zero desludging vehicles and zero GPS-enabled desludging vehicles, raising questions about how faecal sludge from septic tanks is being scientifically managed in rural areas. THE KEY FINDINGS „„373 villages under ODF Plus, but zero linked to FSTPs/ STPs against programme targets „„Verification data showed less than half cleared the first-level audit, while none passed the second-level verification „„Only 10,894 rural households (5.65%) have household-level Grey Water Management assets „„Just 669 households (0.61%) use kitchen gardens for greywater reuse „„1.45 lakh households (52.11%) are covered through community GWM structures and drainage systems The figures assume significance as Goa recently announced that 325 villages have attained ODF Plus Model status, a claim that has already come under question after verification data showed less than half cleared the first round of verification and none passed the second-level audit. Yet another glaring gap is in household-level greywater management. Against a total rural household base of 2.61 lakh households, only 10,894 the wake of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) migrating government email services to a commercial subscription-based platform, under which each official email account now attracts an annual cost of approximately Rs 2,400. Officials said the government is seeking to ensure that public funds are not spent on maintaining email accounts that are no longer Dey, focusing on affordable, sensitive and field-deployable technologies for arsenic detection. According to a statement by the institute, the team developed a compact handheld arsenic detection device, named ‘ArsenSafe’, through a startup incubated at the Research and Entrepreneurship Park of IIT Bhubaneswar. Designed for rapid, cost-effective and on-site testing, the device enables accurate detection of arsenic contamination with- out the need for laboratory infrastructure or chemical reagents, making water-quality assessment faster and more accessible, it said. “ArsenSafe uses an rGObased sensing system and is designed for easy operation with minimal setup and training requirements,” the statement said. The device can be deployed by government agencies, environmental monitoring organisations, water treatment providers, and consumers, it added. operational or required. “The department requests all heads of departments and authorised nodal officers to verify the status of the listed email accounts and submit the required information within 15 days,” the circular stated. The department has warned that email accounts found to be inactive and >Continued on P9 households, or 5.65 per cent, are covered by household-level Grey Water Management (GWM) assets. Kitchen gardens, another component of greywater reuse, cover just 669 households, accounting for a mere 0.61 per cent. As per the Ministry, under the programme, wastewater management is one of the key components of ODF Plus. It seeks to address the unsafe >Continued on P9 GMC intern found dead at Hawaii Beach, probe on ROOTED IN FAITH THE GOAN I NETWORK presidents at Indira Bhavan in New Delhi. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will preside over the meeting. While the agenda has not been formally disclosed, the high-level gathering assumes significance as the Congress prepares for a series of PANAJI A 23-year-old intern doctor was found dead at Hawaii Beach in Dona Paula on Wednesday evening. The victim, who was interning at Goa Medical College after completing her medical degree, was found wearing a doctor’s gown bearing her name, which helped establish her identity. The circumstances leading to her death remain unclear and are being investigated, Panaji police said, while refusing to provide further details. Police said it was not immediately known whether the woman had arrived at the beach alone or in the company of another person. The police teams are also attempting to ascertain how she travelled to the location and whether any vehicle connected to her was found in the vicinity. Police personnel and forensic experts were seen combing the area around the scene in search of any medical >Continued on P9 >Continued on P9 STREAMLINING DIGITAL GOVERNANCE „„Goa Government has identified 554 dormant official email accounts during a preliminary review „„Departments have been directed to review accounts inactive for over a year and report within 15 days „„The move follows NIC’s migration to a subscription-based email platform, costing about Rs 2,400 per account annually „„Unverified inactive accounts may be deactivated or deleted „„The review is expected to help identify accounts linked to retired, transferred or former employees ‘ARSENSAFE’ ENABLES RAPID, LOW-COST TESTING OF DRINKING WATER WITHOUT LABORATORY SUPPORT BHUBANESWAR Researchers at IIT Bhubaneswar have developed a portable device for rapid detection of arsenic in drinking water, offering a low-cost and field-deployable solution to address a major public health concern. The research was carried out by a team from the Sensors and Spectroscopy Research Group of the School of Electrical and Computer Sciences (SECS), led by Sayan „„Threats targeted government offices, civic bodies, financial institutions and RSS premises „„Buildings were evacuated and bomb squads conducted extensive searches „„Police have registered cases and launched a multi-agency investigation „„Preliminary findings suggest the threats were likely a hoax Down the drain: Goa scores zero on faecal waste targets 554 IDENTIFIED; EXERCISE AIMED AT CUTTING COSTS, TIGHTENING COMMUNICATION OVERSIGHT IIT Bhubaneswar develops portable arsenic detector PTI er at 3.11 pm. The sender specified that the blasts would be carried out using cars rigged with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), police said. Along with the BMC headquarters, the email listed other locations in Mumbai, warning of explosions at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) India eves lose last WC warm-up match to England RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 A field in Taleigao is sown with symbolic ‘Cross’ and ‘Om’ patterns ahead of the agricultural season.  Narayan Pissurlenkar Girish heads to Delhi for crucial AICC meet amid Goa Cong unrest THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Amid continuing murmurs of discontent within the Goa Congress following the recent organisational reshuffle, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar will attend a crucial meeting in New Delhi on Thursday convened by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country. Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal has called an urgent meeting of all AICC General Secretaries, State in-charges and Pradesh Congress Committee FIFA WC: Kerala tourism on the ball, Goa on the bench THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI ven before the first whistle of the FIFA World Cup sounds across stadiums in the United States, Canada and Mexico on June 12, Kerala has already claimed a share of the global spectacle. Along beaches, roadsides and village junctions, towering cut-outs of football’s biggest stars have appeared across the State. Its tourism authorities have flooded social media with images of football grounds, beach matches and fan celebrations, weaving the World Cup into a wider campaign to showcase Kerala as a destination where football is more than a sport. “Hard to miss! World Cup season is in full swing in Ker- E WORLD CUP BUZZ, DIFFERENT RESPONSES „„Kerala is using FIFA World Cup fever to promote tourism through football-themed campaigns „„Social media posts, fan celebrations and football imagery feature prominently in Kerala Tourism’s outreach „„Goa Tourism has largely remained silent on the World Cup, focusing instead on monsoon tourism „„The contrast is striking given football’s deep roots in Goa and its status as the State’s official sport „„Goa had recently identified sports tourism as a key growth area „„The World Cup highlights differing approaches to leveraging football for tourism promotion ala,” read one tourism post. Another declared: “Kerala gets a little more colourful during World Cup season!” Yet another proudly proclaimed, “No one brings the World Cup home quite like Kerala.” Videos released by the State tourism machinery show youngsters playing football on beaches and village grounds, accompanied by the slogan, “One more World Cup. One more chapter.” The messaging is simple but deliberate – use football’s global appeal to market Kerala’s culture, communities and tourism experiences to both domestic and international audiences. The campaign has also highlighted the growing importance of sports as a tourism driver, an area in which destinations worldwide are increasingly investing. The contrast with Goa, a State where football enjoys near-religious status in many villages and remains the official state sport, is striking. Despite football’s deep roots in Goa and the arrival of another World Cup, the State’s tourism promotion machinery has largely remained silent on the tournament. Social media platforms managed by Goa Tourism have focused heavily on upcoming monsoon >Continued on P9