Differently-abled vendors get platform at Purumentachem Fest at city mall

Times of India | 5 months ago | 30-05-2022 | 04:47 am

Differently-abled vendors get platform at Purumentachem Fest at city mall

Panaji: Mandos blasting off loud-speakers, coconut palm fronds woven into shade mats, the sale of festachem chonne (grams) and fresh organic produce. This may appear to be a scene straight out of a typical tinto in a Goan village on a hot summer afternoon however, such was not the case. This was at the two-day inclusive and accessible Purumentachem Fest held at the Caculo Mall, Panaji, over the weekend. Here, local street vendors were given the platform at the mall to sell organic spices, salt fish, pickles, vegetable seeds, clay pottery and other provisions that are traditionally sold prior to the monsoon. “Traditionally these foods were consumed in Goa. However, over the decades, we took to processed foods. People have realised the health benefits of eating clean organic food and are, therefore, returning to their roots. With very few people selling such traditional items in Goa, the Purumentachem Fest is a perfect platform for sale of such products,” said environmental activist Avertino Miranda. Organic brown rice and pulses, jams made from organically grown mangoes, cold-pressed coconut oil, coconut vinegar made without preservatives were some of the fast-selling products at the fest. A total of six table spaces were allotted to the differently-abled to sell products like chillies, coconut oil, carpentry products, etc. Seventy per cent visually impaired Akshay Kurade, who squats in the heat of the Mapusa market to sell handmade Kolhapuri slippers, was one such participant. “This is the first time, members of the differently-abled community got to sell their produce at the mall instead of the traditional market,” he said. Desmond Dias from Quepem, a speech and hearing-impaired carpenter, managed to sell every single one of his articles over the course of the two-day festival. Chandor-based John P, who bakes for a living, also managed to sell all his cakes on the first day of the festival itself. Similarly, Resha Vernekar, a partially visually impaired person also sold all her eatables within a day. Bastora-based Savio Mascarenhas and his wife Valency, both speech and hearing-impaired, extracted coconut oil to be sold at the event, all of which was purchased. Quepem-based Tukaram Gaonkar, who is partially visually impaired, sold every single one of his Khola chilies at the festival. “No one must be excluded from carrying out trade, especially if space is already accessibility-friendly. This is a step towards empowerment of persons with disability,” the festival organisers said.

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Court acquits woman in 14-yr-old case of SSC marksheet forgery
Times of India | 1 day ago | 28-11-2022 | 04:05 am
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1 day ago | 28-11-2022 | 04:05 am

Panaji: Fourteen years after a woman was accused of producing a forged SSCE marksheet and related documents before the passport authority in Panaji, a Panaji court has acquitted her for the offences after the prosecution “miserably failed” to prove its case.“The making of the false document is the basic ingredient of the offence of forgery. In the present case, the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the role of the accused in making a false document,” stated chief judicial magistrate, A Court, Panaji, Ram S Prabhu Dessai.The court found that the SSCE marksheet and school leaving certificate were not sent for scientific examination, and added that the investigating officer didn’t carry out any investigation in respect to the paper used for the marksheet, as well as the ink and machinery used to commit the offence.“…there is absolutely no investigation done so far as making of the false document is concerned. Although the investigating officer was aware that custodian of the blank marksheet was the director of education, the investigating officer deemed it fit not to investigate in that direction,” the court stated.The woman had allegedly produced a forged SSCE marksheet, passing certificate of Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education and a school leaving certificate before the passport authority to avail passport facilities through a travel agent.“It appears that the entire investigation is done by the investigating officer under the pre-supposition that the accused has forged the said documents,” the court added.From the evidence of the passport officer, the court found that the investigating officer collected documents from the passport office without conducting a panchanama.Advocate G Teles, representing the accused, submitted that the passport officer along with the travel agent are in connivance in issuing passports and that there is every possibility that the travel agent might have obtained the woman’s signatures on the form and arranged the forged documents without the knowledge of the accused by charging fees.

Court acquits woman in 14-yr-old case of SSC marksheet forgery