Margao News

In year of millet, agriculture department promotes the super food via Carnival route
Times of India | 3 months ago | |
Times of India
3 months ago | |

MARGAO: Amidst the Carnival revelry at Margao on Sunday, one tableau stood out.Even as this tableau produced by the state’s agriculture department grabbed eyeballs on account of its novel theme, the senior-level agriculture officers who accompanied the float, dancing down the parade route, drew loud cheers and applause. Leading from the front was the department’s director, Nevil Alphonso, attired in Carnival costume. He held a placard proclaiming the nutritional value of millets. “Eat nachnea bhakri (millet pancakes) to stay fit,” the placard read, and the message at once seemed to have found resonance among the spectators.The government of India has decided to celebrate 2023 as the International Year of Millets in order to popularise the superfood. Centred around the theme ‘Grow Millets, Eat Millets, Stay Healthy’, the float presented by the agriculture department had 45 officers participating in the Panaji and Margao Carnival parade.The tableau urged farmers to grow millets like ragi (nachani) and proso millet (vari) and to cash in on their nutritive value-added products like amil, tizen, ladoos, bhakri etc.“The float was aimed at conveying the message through creatively designed images, foot-tapping music, meaningful lyrics, well-choreographed steps, and catchy taglines on placards. This was an out-of-the-box idea for reaching out to farmers, and I am glad the initiative was widely appreciated,” Alphonso said.It was for the first time that the agriculture department participated in the float parade. The float was presented by its extension wing, State Agriculture Management and Extension Training Institute.“We plan to hold several programmes throughout the year with the view to promoting millets,” Alphonso said.

In year of millet, agriculture department promotes the super food via Carnival route
Margao: Health officer flags water seepage at Comba subway
Times of India | 3 months ago | |
Times of India
3 months ago | |

MARGAO: Health officer of urban health centre, Margao, has red-flagged a potential health hazard in the seepage of water through the subway at Comba, Margao.In a letter addressed to the deputy collector (DRO), South Goa, the health officer said that a site inspection of the Comba subway has revealed that the stagnation of water is a potential breeding ground for mosquitoes. “Water constantly seeps/leaks into the subway from both sides of the road and gets stagnated on the stretch ,” the letter read. Stating further that the source of seepage couldn’t be identified, the health officer requested the deputy collector to depute an expert technical team to troubleshoot the problem. Executive engineer, PWD (sewerage), Joaquim Fernandes, said that they have succeeded in tracing the source of the leakage to subsoil water drainage and that it has now been plugged. “There was a subsoil leakage in the subway (probably on account of the spring water finding its way through the subway). Last week we noticed traces of sewage seeping through the subway. The leakage has now been plugged. What remains now is the dried up stagnated water,” Fernandes told TOI.The waterlogged subway has turned out to be a nuisance for the road users, including the pedestrians, for the last several weeks, owing to the consistent flow of water emanating a foul smell. While water logging during monsoons was understandable, what caused to raise eyebrows among the public was the stagnation of water even during the dry season. What’s worse was that the problem lay unidentified for long .Margao MLA Digambar Kamat had inspected the subway last month and issued directions to the PWD to locate the source of seepage and plug it on an urgent basis.

Margao: Health officer flags water seepage at Comba subway
11 yrs later, SC dismisses appeals of two accused in kidnapping case
Times of India | 3 months ago | |
Times of India
3 months ago | |

Margao: Nearly 11 years after the crime, the Supreme Court has dismissed appeals of the two accused sentenced to life imprisonment for kidnapping an 11-year-old child from Fatorda for a Rs 20-lakh ransom.On September 19, 2011, the South Goa police rescued the minor boy after intercepting the vehicle in which he was being held hostage at Curti, Ponda.Rupesh alias Uday Falkar from Margao and Duliano alias Vital Fernandes were arrested, and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment by the sessions court. The conviction was upheld by the high court. After hearing the arguments filed by the applicants against their conviction under Section 364 A (kidnapping for ransom) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the court in its judgement expressed its inability to bring the case under Section 363 (kidnapping from lawful guardianship) of the IPC as contended in the appeal. While an offence under Section 364 A attracts death punishment or life imprisonment, that under Section 363 is punishable with imprisonment for up to seven years. Both the accused were employed as drivers by the child’s father.“On the conspectus of the testimony analysed, we are really not able to bring the case under Section 363 of IPC, though we may have some consideration for the age of the appellants and this being a sole incident, it is not really within the domain of this court to go contrary to the legislative domain which prescribes the punishment for such an offence, and we do take note of the fact that the accused being a driver, man of trust for the family, used to be so utilised, breached the trust while kidnapping a child of 11 years of age with special needs,” the court said in its judgement by justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay Oka. The boy was kidnapped by the accused while he was returning home from school, and hours later, his businessman father received a call demanding a ransom of Rs 20 lakh for the safe release of the child. Acting swiftly on the father’s complaint, the South Goa police constituted four special teams in plainclothes and proceeded in private cars carrying along with them the ransom amount to track down the kidnappers. The idea was to secure the safe release of the child after paying the ransom.However, the kidnappers kept calling the father frequently, changing the location where they could be contacted to pay the ransom. However, a police team led by then Margao PI Santosh Dessai intercepted the car near Curti. The police had to fire seven rounds to stop the car and overpower the kidnappers. The boy was rescued without being hurt.While granting the accused four weeks’ time to surrender, the court said that they can seek remission on completion of the minimum sentence as per norms.

11 yrs later, SC dismisses appeals of two accused in kidnapping case
Canacona edu society to tie-up with Kota institute for competitive exam coaching
Times of India | 3 months ago | |
Times of India
3 months ago | |

Margao: The Balram Education Society, which runs seven schools in Canacona, is in talks with a Rajasthan-based institute for a tie-up to help students from the taluka, especially those living in villages, crack competitive exams.Canacona MLA and speaker Ramesh Tawadkar, who heads the society, said that while the youths from rural areas of Canacona are high on talent, they lack the exposure to excel, and that is exactly what he intends to provide them through the coaching facilities that will help them excel.“By having a coaching centre in Canacona for competitive exams, we wish to target students from Karnataka and Maharashtra, besides Goa, by providing them residential facilities,” he said. Tawadkar told TOI that he is already in talks with a Kota-Rajasthan-based institute that has coaching centres for NEET-UG, IIT-JEE, JEE Main + Advanced, NTSE, Board, Olympiads, and other competitive exams.The Balram Education Society runs seven schools in Canacona — two primary schools, two pre-primary schools, two high schools, including one residential school, and one higher secondary school. The educational project, while equipping students with knowledge and techniques to prepare for competitive exams, will also provide employment to a large number of people from Canacona, he said. The Canacona MLA said that, because Canacona lacks the facilities, locals migrate to cities like Margao and Panaji to secure their children’s educational prospects. The proposed project would also help arrest this migration, he added.Tawadkar should know. For when he passed his graduation 30 years ago, in 1992, he turned out to be the first person from Gaondongrim-Cotigao to have achieved that distinction. That was the time when the village folk were yet to realise the significance of education. So when Tawadkar and like-minded people came together and formed the Adarsh Yuva Sangh in 1995, education was among the prime focus areas of their mission.With a view to providing quality education to the underprivileged section of the society, the Sangh constituted the Balram Education Society under the aegis of which a residential school was set up in a heritage home at Ordhofond, Poinguinim, in 2008. The school has now been shifted to a new complex at Adarsh Gram, Amone, Cotigao, on land donated by the Tawadkar family.

Canacona edu society to tie-up with Kota institute for competitive exam coaching
Traffic signal in Fatorda spawns slugfest in Margao
Times of India | 3 months ago | |
Times of India
3 months ago | |

MARGAO: The failure of the Margao municipality in restoring the damaged traffic signals at the Bolshe circle at Fatorda has unleashed a political slugfest. Though Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai is engaged in a war of words with the civic council led by chairperson Damodar Shirodkar, it’s obvious that it’s Margao MLA Digambar Kamat who is in Sardesai’s crosshairs.What triggered the battle was Shirodkar’s stance that the municipality wasn’t in a position to incur expenditure on repairs of the traffic signals as they haven’t been “handed over” to the municipality by Sardesai yet.“How can the municipality spend on things that aren’t in its possession,” was what Shirodkar said that led Sardesai to launch a broadside against Shirodkar, a henchman of the Margao MLA. Sardesai alleged that it is pure politics that’s coming in the way of the municipality in restoring the traffic signals. The Fatorda MLA reasoned that it was a ploy to sabotage his initiative in Fatorda as there aren’t traffic signals in Margao. “They were part of us before the Margao MLA defected to BJP. What great things have they done by going to BJP? There are no traffic signals in Margao, and so they don’t want to make the signals functional in Fatorda as well,” Sardesai charged. Stating that the traffic signals were installed by him five years ago through his private initiative ‘We for Fatorda’, Sardesai said that it was the municipality that ought to have signed an annual maintenance contract with an agency after the initial five-year operation and maintenance contract expired.“The municipality is duty-bound to repair the traffic signals as it is among the functions required to be carried out by the civic body. If I have to carry out functions that are essentially those of the municipality, what use is the municipality and for what purpose does it collect taxes?” Sardesai questioned.Throwing a gauntlet at MMC, Sardesai said if the civic body failed to repair the traffic signals within a week, he would repair them with his own funds but not before publicly shaming the municipality and the government.“Margao municipality refuses to fix traffic signals at Fatorda because I’d installed them with my own funds. Such petty politics is at the cost of public convenience and safety. If MMC can’t do it, I’ll fix them. People must come first!” he said. Significantly, the political brawl comes days after the municipality passed a resolution to shift the Carnival parade route to Margao.

Traffic signal in Fatorda spawns slugfest in Margao
Waste management corp races against time to clear Sonsoddo dump
Times of India | 4 months ago | |
Times of India
4 months ago | |

Margao: With the high court-mandated deadline of February 2023 for clearing the legacy dump at Sonsoddo closing in, the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC), which has undertaken the work, is racing against time to meet the target. While the authorities concerned have turned their focus on the task, exigencies of situations and constraints of space have posed challenges on the ground. Sources in the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) who are aware of the situation, told TOI that as per the report submitted by the contractor engaged for the task last month, 1.3 lakh cubic metres of legacy waste had been bioremediated and an estimated 50,000 cubic metres still left to be mined. However, on ground zero, not everything is going smooth for the authorities the enhanced focus of the authorities notwithstanding. If large heaps of inert material generated by bioremediation and dumped by the roadside are awaiting transportation, similar is the case of refuse derived fuel (RDF), large quantities of which lying at the site are awaiting to be moved to cement factories in Karnataka. “With the February 2023 deadline nearing, both the inert material and RDF need to be shifted immediately,” said a source associated with Sonsoddo. “At least the inerts need to be moved from there immediately, as it threatens to spill onto the roads. The Margao municipality has identified one site and the search is on for another. As soon as another suitable site is located, the inerts will be moved away from there.” With regard to RDF, municipality sources said that its transportation is slow on account of the decline in production in the cement factories of Karnataka.Besides, as construction of a retaining wall at Sonsoddo is also in progress, inert material lying at the site could pose a hindrance to the smooth movement of men and machines, sources said. The MMC is also currently facing a crisis of space management as there is hardly any space left inside the waste treatment plant to accommodate incoming waste.

Waste management corp races against time to clear Sonsoddo dump
Declared dead & even cremated, Kerala man shows up alive in Goa
Times of India | 4 months ago | |
Times of India
4 months ago | |

MARGAO: A 36-year-old man who was declared dead and even cremated eight months ago, surfaced in Margao on Tuesday night. After the town police found Deepak Balakrishnan Kandi in a hotel in the old station road area, they transferred him to the custody of Kerala police, who were on the lookout for him after they figured the body that was cremated wasn’t his. Police sources said that Deepak went missing on June 7 last year from Meppayur, and a missing person’s report was filed at the local police station. However, on July 17, a body of a man that was recovered from a beach in Kerala was wrongfully identified to be that of Deepak, as it bore resemblance to the missing Meppayur man. Deepak’s family performed the final rites and found closure. However, days later, Kerala police realised that the body that was cremated was in fact that of one Irshad, a native of Panthirikkara, who had also gone missing. A DNA test conducted on the samples of the remains of Deepak’s body confirmed the police’s “mistaken identity” inference, following which a manhunt was launched for Deepak. The investigation was taken over by the crime branch.On Tuesday, Margao town police were engaged in routine surveillance of hotels. During a random check of the guestlist of a hotel along the old railway station road, they stumbled upon an Aadhar number that gave away Deepak’s identity. He was nabbed and Kerala police informed, who arrived in Goa and took him into their custody.Deepak told police that he travelled to various places including Jaipur, Delhi, and Punjab, before arriving in Goa recently. He also did some casual work for a living in Bogmalo, he told police.Deepak shifted his base to the hotel in Margao, which eventually brought him under the radar of the police, thus ending his eight-month-long disappearing act.At the Margao police station on Wednesday, when reporters told him about his final rites already having been performed, Deepak just grinned and said he wasn’t aware, before he was taken away by the Kerala cops.

Declared dead & even cremated, Kerala man shows up alive in Goa
CM Pramod Sawant insists IIT campus will be set up in South Goa
Times of India | 4 months ago | |
Times of India
4 months ago | |

MARGAO: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Monday reiterated that the IIT campus will be set up in South Goa. “Search for the land is ongoing. The IIT campus will be set up in South Goa,” he said. However, he declined to comment whether it would still come up in Sanguem. Protesters in Sanguem had rejoiced after the Union education ministry said in November 2022 that the land identified by the state government at Cortali, Sanguem, will no longer be considered to set up the IIT campus.The Union ministry had informed Goa that the land identified in Sanguem was not suitable for IIT and that it had decided not to send a site selection committee to inspect the same. The 7 lakh sqm land was found to be insufficient.Following this, Sanguem MLA Subhash Phal Dessai had said more land adjoining the identified site would be added to the property to make it suitable for a permanent campus for IIT. IIT Goa became operational in 2016 and ever since the Goa government has been trying to find suitable land for a permanent campus for the institute.It is presently operating from its temporary campus at the Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi.

CM Pramod Sawant insists IIT campus will be set up in South Goa
  • IIT Campus Will Come Up In South Goa: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant
  • Ndtv

    Search for the land is going on, he said. (File photo)Panaji: A campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) will come up in South Goa and efforts are on to identify a suitable land for it, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has said.The state government had earlier identified a land for setting up the IIT campus at Shel-Melaulim village in Sattari taluka of North Goa district, but the project was then scrapped following violent protests by locals in 2021.Later, another piece of land was identified at Cotarli in Sanguem taluka of South Goa district but as it was insufficient, the project was dropped last year.The issue was discussed during the recently held winter session of the Goa Assembly.Talking to reporters on Monday, Mr Sawant said, "The IIT campus would be set up in South Goa. Search for the land is going on." The CM had earlier said in the state Assembly that some people were going around opposing the land acquisition for the IIT Goa campus.PromotedListen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.comHe had refused to reveal the area where the land was being identified, fearing “unnecessary protest". During a discussion in the House on the issue, Congress MLA Altone D'Costa, who represents Quepem Assembly segment in South Goa, had asked the state government to set up the IIT campus in his constituency.He had said land was available at Betul in Quepem constituency to set up the institute campus.Featured Video Of The DaySonu Sood Sings 'Dil Chori', Soldiers Love His Desi Swag

Amid opposition din, House passes Goa Municipalities Amendment Bill
Times of India | 4 months ago | |
Times of India
4 months ago | |

PORVORIM: Amid strong demands from opposition MLAs seeking its withdrawal, the state assembly passed the Goa Municipalities (Amendment) Bill, 2023, paving the way for the election of chairpersons and vice-chairpersons by show of hands. Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai said that if the government withdraws the Bill, he assured not to pull down the Margao Municipal Council. “Let the Bill be referred to a select committee. We will not allow this Bill to pass in assembly. If the Bill is passed then it would be a murder of democracy and local self-governing bodies,” Sardesai said.Sardesai said that if the Bill is passed then it would cause irreparable damage to democracy in Goa. Urging the government not to pass the Bill for the benefit of Margao MLA Digambar Kamat who recently joined BJP, Sardesai said, “When he can speak to God, why should the government change the law? Tell him to speak to God,” Sardesai said.Opposition leader Yuri Alemao said that the Bill is like a virus, and it will spread all over. “Withdraw the Bill as it will kill freedom of speech and right to secrecy,” he said.While speaking at the passing of the Bill, urban development minister Vishwajit Rane mentioned Congress and Bofors, prompting Alemao to rush to the well of the House demanding the speaker to expunge both the words. While the opposition was demanding a division of vote while passing the Bill, speaker Ramesh Tawadkar placed the Bill before the House, which was subsequently passed with a voice vote.The assembly also passed the Goa Private Universities (Amendment) Bill 2023 for effective and smooth implementation of the Goa Private Universities Act 2020 within the state. The Bill allows universities to lease a land instead of owning the same and reduction is fees. The state government also passed the Goa Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2023 empowering BDOs to hear appeals.

Amid opposition din, House passes Goa Municipalities Amendment Bill
Scrap Margao ODP 2031 for breach in procedure: Greens
Times of India | 4 months ago | |
Times of India
4 months ago | |

Margao: Goyche Fudle Pilge Khatir, an organisation of environment activists, has demanded that the draft Outline Development Plan (ODP) 2031 for Margao be scrapped on the grounds that the document was in breach of procedural requirements and contained cartographical errors. Pointing to the Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and lmplementation (URDPFI) Guidelines published by Union ministry of urban development, the organisation in its objections submitted to the South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) said, “These 2015 guidelines require preparation and finalisation of Perspective Plan, Regional Plan, Development Plan and Land Use Policy for the state before getting Into micro-city level planning like this draft ODP. This procedural breach is a serious procedural blunder committed by your office. ”Pointing to some cartographic errors in the plan, the organisation said, “It is clear that the private company has no cartographic competence and allowing such a company to prepare Margao draft ODP is another major blunder.”Stating that there was no public consultation while preparing the plan, it pointed out that the draft ODP has “done away with projection of heritage sites in Margao instead of promoting and protecting them”.“The draft ODP signals reduced green lungs of the town, filling up of low-lying areas and comunidade paddy fields for the vested interests of real estate lobby,” the letter further adds.“Paddy fields behind MLA Vijai Sardesai’s residence in Fatorda is shown as settlement zone, defying yet another recognition for green and cultivable land,” states the letter further, adding that part of Rajendra Prasad stadium is shown as commercial (C2) with 150 Floor Area Ratio (FAR) while paddy fields at many places are marked as commercial zones.

Scrap Margao ODP 2031 for breach in procedure: Greens
‘Serving in Army is a way of life’
Times of India | 4 months ago | |
Times of India
4 months ago | |

Margao: ‘Serving in the Army is not just about a career, it’s about the way of life’, is how a high ranking army officer chose to describe an Indian soldier’s life as he gave a guided tour to reporters of the training being imparted to new recruits under the Agnipath scheme at 3 Military Training Regiment (MTR), Ravanfond, Margao. “The training, the focus, and the discipline, that a fouzi (soldier) learns on the drill square shapes his inner and outward personality that stays with him through his life.”Currently, over a 1,000 cadets selected through a rigorous recruitment process and allotted the Corps of Signals are learning the rudiments of Army training that will eventually become their way of life. After the Agnipath scheme for recruitment of youths in the Indian Armed Forces was unveiled on June 14, 2022, Agniveers were selected by various Army Recruitment Offices (AROs) and regimental centres across the country. The first batch of Agniveers for the Corps of Signals reported at 3 MTR, Margao, on December 24, 2022, for the pre-training formalities. The Agniveers then underwent the process of documentation, medical examination, military kit issue, orientation and familiarisation sessions to prepare them for the military training.Specially tailored to ensure early availability of trained soldiers to the field formations, Agniveer training requires a recruit to go through the basic military training and the advance military training as part of the curriculum.“The Agniveer training schedule starts early in the day with physical training, drill and weapons training, followed by academic and military subject classes. Night training is also a part of the programme,” a handout read.After successful completion of their training, the cadets will be attested as Agniveers in the Indian Army.

‘Serving in Army is a way of life’