Greens hold protest at Azad Maidan against draft jetty policy

Times of India | 1 day ago | 31-10-2022 | 02:40 am

Panaji: Despite strong attempts by the state government to thwart the statewide motorcycle rally organised in protest against the jetty policy, activists, environmentalists and citizens gathered at Azad Maidan where they promised to continue the fight against the government’s policies. Copies of the draft jetty policy were burnt as a symbolic gesture while Goa police personnel kept a close watch on the proceedings. Citizens came in from Loutolim, Assolna, Velim, Cavellosim, Shiroda, Canacona, Old Goa and other parts of the state to participate in the bike rally in solidarity of rivers of Goa, which was scheduled for early evening.“We request the government to scrap the draft jetty policy and if the government really wants to promote jetties for tourism purposes, they must bring out a clear policy only for tourism jetties for that,” said environmentalist Abhijit Prabhudesai. “This government is trying to silence Goans.”He said that the activists will continue to protest not only against the policy for jetties but also against the government’s move to commercialise rivers and coastal areas.Opposition leader Yuri Alemao, Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas, Velim MLA Cruz Silva, St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar and Congress president Amit Patkar were also present for the protest.

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Goa has around 5,000 NGOs, most ‘not worthy’: Transport minister Mauvin Godinho

Times of India | 1 hour ago | 01-11-2022 | 11:31 am

Times of India

1 hour ago | 01-11-2022 | 11:31 am

PANAJI: Transport minister Mauvin Godinho on Monday slammed NGOs for frequently opposing projects in the state, stating that the number of NGOs in Goa are 3,000 to 5,000, which is disproportionately high to the state’s population. Majority of the NGOs are not worthy, and none can be seen taking any issue they have been taken up to its logical conclusion, he said. “Our population is 15 lakh and we have 3,000 to even 5,000 registered NGOs. Don’t you think this is too much for the population of Goa? You show me one case where a NGO has taken the issue to its logical conclusion. Why do they suddenly go silent after raising an issue for a while? What is the reason? It means they have some other intention. Some so-called NGOs have opened posh offices. How is it possible for them by just doing activism? This proves what is their intention,” said the minister. Most of the NGOs are creating an atmosphere in the state where no one wants to invest their money in Goa, he said. “Activism has to be there, NGOs have to be there. There are good ones. I am not painting everyone with the same brush, but most of them today are not worthy NGOs and not worthy activists. They want to oppose everything. Today they are creating conditions where no one wants to come to Goa. Do they want to worsen the situation further?” Godinho said. He also said that app-based taxi system plan cannot be put off only because taxi owners are opposing it. “If a child cries, it doesn’t mean we will stop sending her to school. Education is important so we have to send her, even if we may have to give her a slap. The same way we have to also convince taxi operators to embrace the app-based system,” said Godinho. If the taxi business is not regulated, then Goa may lose its tourists to other equally good destinations with better connectivity. Infrastructure is being developed in areas like Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, which can easily attract Goa’s tourists there, said Godinho. He also clarified on Monday that he had not said bar owners should pay for cab fare of drunk customers. “I never said that. It is the customer who has to pay. Once the app-based taxi system is in place, the bar owners only have to make a call and get the cab for the customer, and the customer will pay the fare. It is safer. What is wrong in saying that?” said Godinho.

Begging, hawking, touting: Goa lists ‘nuisances’ at tourist places

Times of India | 3 hours ago | 01-11-2022 | 09:07 am

Times of India

3 hours ago | 01-11-2022 | 09:07 am

PANAJI: The state government on Monday declared as ‘nuisance’ various tourism-related activities: begging and drinking in tourist spaces, operation of water sports outside designated zones, selling cruise boat tickets other than from authorised kiosks, littering and cooking in open spaces, and hawking at beaches and other tourist places. Director of tourism Nikhil Desai, who issued the order under the provision of Goa Tourist Places Protection and Maintenance Act, said that violators would be fined “Rs 5,000 which may go up to Rs 50,000”, in addition to action under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). “Such activities are likely to damage or deteriorate the tourism potential of tourist places,” said Desai in his order. Apart from drinking at public spaces including beaches, the order stated that breaking glass bottles and littering can attract penal action. Boating and watersports activities, the order said, has to be conducted within designated zones, while cooking in the open by tourists, which leads to littering, will not be permitted. During peak tourist season — December to January and April to May — when footfalls soar, low-budget domestic tourists often choose to cook along the roadside, a scene more prevalent in coastal parts of North Goa. Over the past few years, touting too has become rampant, and tickets for various activities are sold in the open even as the tourism department has made it clear that tickets should not be sold from counters other than those authorised by it. It has also warned against selling of tickets for watersports activities, and packages or services offered in Malvan or Karwar by unauthorised operators in Goa. Not just tourist places, even towns are now swamped with beggars, including children. The order has listed it as a nuisance. Deck beds and beach umbrellas placed on beaches without permission from the department, the order said, will also be treated as nuisance and confiscated. Driving of unauthorised vehicles on beaches will also be similarly treated. In the past few months, several incidents of people taking their bikes and four wheelers on beaches have come to light. The order has been sent to all police stations, directing them to take action as per Section 13 of the Tourist Places Act if they find violations listed in the order.

Goa has fifth best rural roads in country, 3 times the national average

Times of India | 1 day ago | 31-10-2022 | 11:49 am

Times of India

1 day ago | 31-10-2022 | 11:49 am

PANAJI: Goa is among the five top states and Union territories in the country with the best coverage of roads in rural areas at 4,336km of road for every 1,000sqkm, as per statistics of the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH). The state’s rural road density was found to be almost three times the national average for rural areas, which stood at 1,458km for every 1,000sqkm. Goa is placed fifth after Lakshadweep (7,589km), Puducherry (5,623km), Kerala (4,852km) and Assam (4,749km) in rural road coverage in India. Road coverage is seen as ‘a critical sector by MoRTH that generates employment and supports infrastructure and acts as feeder to other modes of transportation’. Also, in the case of Goa, of the 16,054km of rural roads in the state, 11,362km were found to be surfaced by MoRTH, which was 70.8% of all village roads, as against the national average of 58.8%. In the case of urban roads too, 89.6% roads in Goa were reported to be surfaced, while nationally this figure stood at 79%, as per Road Statistics of India 2019 data. Most of the surfaced rural roads in Goa also either had bituminous top or were made of cement concrete. “Right from the beginning the connectivity is so good in Goa that we barely have any rural areas, they are semi-urban areas. This connectivity has meant that the outlook, aptitude of people from these areas is on par with urban population. We have come out with a study where we have found that Goa has suitable manpower and infrastructure for logistics industries like cold storage, cargo terminal, warehousing. Because of its road network, the central government has also chosen Goa among regions to be developed as a logistics hub,” said Manguirish Pai Raikar, chairman, state council, Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). The MoRTH data also showed that Goa had the fourth highest rural road density for per population of 1,000 persons. Along with Meghalaya and Mizoram, Goa had 11km of road for every 1,000 persons. Arunachal (19km), Sikkim and Nagaland (14km) and Assam (12km) were ahead of Goa. However, MoRTH’s statistics also indicate that still around 4,000km of rural roads are yet to be surfaced in the state. Another 1,071km have water-bound macadam (WBM) surface, which are considered less durable.

Curti-Khandepar p’yat to oppose Murdi bandhara

Times of India | 1 day ago | 31-10-2022 | 07:40 am

Times of India

1 day ago | 31-10-2022 | 07:40 am

Ponda: Fearing that the proposed bandhara at Murdi in the Khandepar river would create environmental issues, the gramsabha of Curti-Khandepar village panchayat unanimously resolved to oppose the proposed BandharaDuring the last monsoon, there was flooding which caused several houses along the river bank to collapse. Locals said they would not allow the bandhara in their village in any condition.The Rs 100-crore proposed bandhara was planned to cater to the drinking water need of Priol constituency. Sarpanch Naved Tahsildar said the the NOC issued by former panchayat to the WRD for construction of the bandhara has already been revoked. The villagers also passed several other developmental works and various committees were constituted.

With Digambar’s switchover, town hopes stalled projects will get revived

Times of India | 1 day ago | 31-10-2022 | 04:58 am

Times of India

1 day ago | 31-10-2022 | 04:58 am

Margao: With Margao MLA Digambar Kamat assuring to make Margao a “model city” soon after his switching over to BJP, hopes of the town’s pending or shelved development projects have got revived – notwithstanding that Kamat has given the assurance umpteen times over the years, even when he was the chief minister from 2007 to 2012. Though his reiteration of the assurance has invited criticism from various quarters with many questioning his failure to deliver over the years, political observers feel that with BJP now netting the Margao seat, the government will be forced to revive projects that had been stalled as Margao was represented by an opposition MLA since 2012. Soon after taking over as chief minister Manohar Parrikar had, in March 2012, held deliberations over the traffic problems in Margao with senior police officials over short and long term measures. Several structural changes in the town’s traffic plan were suggested at the meeting. Construction of a foot-overbridge and subways at some places were also discussed to streamline traffic. However, the plans failed to make it even to the drawing board. The multi-level parking project proposed by the Margao municipality in 2011 got caught into a web of bureaucratic tangles and remained knotted until it was finally shelved. Days after he joined BJP, Kamat said that the parking project will be revived and taken up for execution by the government “soon”. Similarly, the proposed “ultra-modern” bus stand for Margao almost met the same fate as that of the parking project and awaits its revival. The foundation stone for the “transport hub” was laid in June 2011 by Kamat during his tenure as the chief minister when Congress was on a foundation stone-laying spree ahead of the 2012 assembly elections. Spread over 16 acres of land, the project was to include, besides a modern bus stand, a retail mall, a hotel block, corporate block for commercial space and parking facilities. The project has remained grounded since. Parrikar had also assured to provide “holistic solutions” for Margao’s development issues by formulating a master plan on the lines of ‘Imagine Panaji’ project. However, just when the groundwork for the project had begun, Parrikar shifted to Delhi, and Imagine Margao got relegated to the background and has remained there since.While Kamat is yet to spell out his vision for the “model city” that he has assured to convert Margao into, citizens hope that it entails revival of all these projects and more.

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