Commuters inconvenienced with open extension joints of Ardhofond bridge

Times of India | 2 months ago | 28-11-2022 | 04:57 am

Canacona: Public using the recently repaired Portuguese-era Ardhofond bridge in Canacona are facing health risks with the open extension joints of the bridge. The repairs of the bridge was taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 8 crore around six months ago and its extension joints were opened up and replaced at six places. The jonts were subsequently filled by a single layer of hotmix. “Some joints are as broad as six to eight inches, and light vehicles plying on the bridge can get stuck in these,” a senior citizen said, adding that if the joints are not filled in on priority, They will cause damage to the spinal cords of the users.Public works department’s technical assistant Sagar Shet, who was inspecting the work when it was taken up six months back, said he will bring it to the notice of the higher authority. Shet said that fresh hotmixing work in some areas of Canacona will be taken up in a week’s time, so the joints can be filled in then to ease the inconvenience to the commuters as of now.

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40 yrs before Liberation, Mallikarjun institute stoked Liceum revolution

Times of India | 3 days ago | 28-01-2023 | 02:40 am

Times of India

3 days ago | 28-01-2023 | 02:40 am

Margao/Canacona: Forty years before Goa’s Liberation, a group of young people from Canacona aspired to have the intellectually liberating force of Liceum (higher secondary education) spread to the southern-most taluka.Their mission fructified on December 28, 1922, with the establishment of Centro Promotor de Instrucao de Canacona or Centre for Promotion of Education of Canacona (CPI). On September 3, 1923, the initiative got the stamp of approval from the then governor of Portuguese Goa, Dr Jaime Alberto De Castro Moraes. The CPI’s Institute Liceal Shree Mallikarjun, which later evolved into Shree Mallikarjun High School and Higher Secondary School, is celebrating its centennial year of inception.Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai will inaugurate the year-long celebration of the institution on Saturday.“That was a time when students of Canacona had to travel to Ponda using antiquated transport facilities,” said Vikas Desai, a former president of the institution. “They had to travel by bullock cart to Sanvordem via Quepem. From Sanvordem, they had to board a ‘vapor’ (ferry boat) that would take them across to Durbhat, from where they had to walk a few miles to the school.”In 1918-19, the influenza pandemic broke out which claimed the life of a young lad from Canacona. Struck by fear, the people of Canacona didn’t let their children travel to Ponda to school. “Fortuitously,” added Desai, “that led to the setting up of the institution.” Somnath Komarpant, a writer and former head of the department of Marathi, Goa University, is among the alumni of the school. Reminiscing about the days spent in the school soon after Liberation, Komarpant said that the school functioned from a structure sans walls and covered by tarpaulin sheets. The facilities were rudimentary. “But the dedication of our teachers was legendary,” said Komarpant, who made a special mention of his principal, H R Prabhu and Nayak Sir from Sadolxem, Kanta Bhaireli, Nanda Gaitonde and others. “Nayak Sir had to cross the river on a canoe to come to the school. And often when the only boatman was unavailable, Nayak Sir would himself row the canoe using a bamboo stick as an oar,” Komarpant said. “Such was his humility that he would bow to the students in his peculiar style soon after entering the classroom.” Expressing his gratitude to the school for sowing among the students the seeds of nationalism, Komarpant said he owes it to his teachers for “making a man” out of him.

Canacona Municipal Council asks occupants to vacate unsafe structure

Times of India | 2 weeks ago | 16-01-2023 | 09:00 am

Times of India

2 weeks ago | 16-01-2023 | 09:00 am

CANACONA: The Canacona Municipal Council (CMC) has recently asked occupants to vacate an old structure at Chaudi along NH 66 as it has been declared unsafe. Chief officer Madhu Narvekar said that the council inspected the structure and found that the roofing tiles of the ceiling is in a dilapidated state and about to collapse. It also said that a portion of the side wall has given way. The notice said that the building is “utterly unsafe” for human habitation and may cause loss of life and property of its occupants as well as to the adjacent shops, and pedestrians are at risk. There are five traders and business operators inside or alongside the dilapidated structure.Narvekar also asked the traders to stop their activities and to vacate it within 15 days from the January 3, when the notice was issued. He said failure to do so will result in action under existing laws of the Municipalities Act 1968. Copies of the notice served by the municipality on most of the establishments have also been marked to the relevant authorities.

Canacona locals end day-long hunger strike at lunchtime

Times of India | 2 weeks ago | 14-01-2023 | 04:40 pm

Times of India

2 weeks ago | 14-01-2023 | 04:40 pm

CANACONA: The hunger strike by Canancona locals on Friday demanding halts of express trains at Canacona railway station, was called off around 1pm after Canacona mamlatdar Manoj Korgaonkar assured them to hold a meeting with the railway authorities.The strike was called by senior citizens, members of Swabhimani Jagruth Canconkars, Janasena warriors and Vision and Mission Progressive Canacona. The senior citizens were seen at the forefront in the hunger strike.Canacona mamlatdar visited the agitators at 11am and promised them to make a stop-gap arrangement. He also requested them to withdraw their day-long hunger strike. Keeping in mind the old age and health issues of senior citizens and to avoid any eventuality due to the same, the mamlatdar at 1pm assured the agitators of the meeting between them and the railway authorities to amicably resolve the issue. Following the assurance from the mamlatdar, the agitators have temporarily suspended their agitation.

2nd Olive Ridley lays eggs at Agonda beach

Times of India | 3 weeks ago | 06-01-2023 | 07:14 am

Times of India

3 weeks ago | 06-01-2023 | 07:14 am

CANACONA: The second Olive Ridley turtle arrived at Agonda beach at 10pm on Wednesday and laid 92 eggs, which were transferred to the turtle hatchery at Agonda, by the duty staff of the Marine range of the forest department. With this, Canacona has three Olive Ridley pits protected, two at Galgibaga nursery and one at Agonda.The first turtle had appeared on December 18 at Talpona beach and had laid 93 eggs, which were shifted to Galgibaga nursery. Ten days later, an Olive Ridley turtle had laid 89 eggs at Agonda beach, said range forest officer Anant Velip.The staff on duty at Galgibaga and Agonda have intensified their watch against any poachers or animals who might destroy the eggs. TNN

‘Leadership rift setback for tribal movement’

Times of India | 4 weeks ago | 02-01-2023 | 02:40 am

Times of India

4 weeks ago | 02-01-2023 | 02:40 am

Margao: Speaker of the Goa legislative assembly and a leader of the tribal community in the state, Ramesh Tawadkar, has acknowledged that the tribal movement in the state has suffered a setback primarily owing to a rift among the leadership of their associations.“It’s true that groupism among the tribal community has led to the tribal movement losing its momentum,” Tawadkar said in a conversation with TOI. “The tendency of one upmanship among some leaders has led to this situation. Our strength lies in the coming together of the tribal communities and working as one.” While the differences among the tribal leaders have come to the fore of late, this is the first time that a prominent leader of the tribes has candidly admitted to the rift. Tawadkar recently, in his capacity as the chairman of Adarsh Yuva Sangh, a social and cultural organisation, successfully organised the 22nd edition of Lokotsav, an adivasi festival, in his home town, Amone, Poinguinim. It was under the banner of the United Tribals Associations Alliance (UTAA) that the tribal people had launched an agitation demanding their rights. It had resulted in the infamous agitation of 2011 at Balli, which claimed two tribal lives. Tawadkar was among those who led the agitation from the front.Asked to comment on the criticism that several leaders who had led the tribal movement in the past had now come to hold important positions in the government or had gotten government jobs, which led to the weakening of the tribal movement, Tawadkar said that what was unfortunate was the incitement by some tribal leaders to agitate against him.“I was the tribal MLA in the opposition when the UTAA agitation happened. When BJP formed the government in 2012 and I became the tribal welfare minister, there was a growing expectation among our community that all benefits should be accrued to the scheduled tribes. But it doesn’t work that way in the government. When they speak in terms of agitating against me, the movement loses its meaning. I remained out of the government after 2017, the movement suffered, and the rift is now visible,” Tawadkar said. The Canacona MLA stressed that the tribal movement beginning from the Gakuved agitation — demanding that Gawda, Kunbi, Velips and Dhangars be included in the scheduled tribes category — was championed by him from Canacona. While most of the demands of UTAA have been fulfilled, Tawadkar sounded optimistic that the demand for 12% reservation of assembly seats would be met by the 2027 assembly election. “The biggest challenge now,” Tawadkar said, “is giving back to the tribal community what they have been deprived of. There are many schemes on offer through the tribal subplans in every government department. However, on account of bureaucratic hurdles, the schemes fail to percolate down to the deserving people. Implementation has now begun, and we are closely monitoring it.”

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