Not quiet, giving just-formed govt time to perform, says opposition leader

Times of India | 1 week ago | 13-05-2022 | 01:03 am

Calangute: Leader of the opposition MLA Michael Lobo said he is not under any pressure to stop criticising the BJP-led government. Asked why he is keeping quiet about the government functioning, Lobo said they have decided to give the government some time. “It’s not that we are keeping quiet. The government has just been formed. To criticise a government which is there because they won (the election) is not right. We have decided to give the government a couple of months, to see what they’re going to do. The assembly session is coming up next month, we will see then,” he said told reporters at Calangute on Thursday. Lobo said that Congress has been raising issues like the rise in prices of essential items like fuel, cooking gas and food items. “We had given a memorandum when LPG prices went up. These issues concern us all, irrespective of which party we belong to. Even BJP workers should raise these issues,” the leader of the opposition said.

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No illegalities, leased Ajgaonkars premises: Calangute bar mgmt

Times of India | 21 hours ago | 20-05-2022 | 04:18 am

Times of India

21 hours ago | 20-05-2022 | 04:18 am

Calangute: A day after Calangute residents demanded that a bar and restaurant be shut down for operating as a dance bar, the management, on Thursday, denied any illegal activities and stated that the premises have been taken on lease from former tourism minister Manohar ‘Babu’ Ajgaonkar. Management representative Dinesh Yadav told reporters that the entire controversy is a fallout of an assault wherein three sons of a woman security supervisor were assaulted by some locals. One of the sons has received serious head injuries following which police registered an offence of attempt to murder under Section 307 IPC against the locals. “It’s because an offence under Section 307 IPC has been registered that the locals are upset,” Yadav said. The assault had nothing to do with the bar or its customers, but was because of some quarrel between them, he said. Asked about permissions to operate the bar, Yadav said the Calangute panchayat had revoked the licence last year, but they have a stay order from the director of panchayats, so they can continue to operate. “We have been here for a long time and nobody made any complaints. It’s only because of this assault that we’re being unnecessarily dragged into a controversy,” he said. Locals who had gathered in front of the nightspot on Wednesday alleged that the place only has a bar and restaurant licence but operates as a dance bar.

Candolim woman seeks justice for injured son

Navhind Times | 23 hours ago | 20-05-2022 | 02:02 am

Navhind Times

23 hours ago | 20-05-2022 | 02:02 am

Calangute: Shainaz Saudagar, a resident of Orda-Candolim and mother of the teenage boy, who was assaulted in a fight that broke out in Calangute, told the mediapersons that on the fateful night she was in the club on duty while her sons who had come to see her were waiting outside.“My teenage son is grievously injured and is in GMC hospital, while the main accused is absconding; I want justice for my son,” she said.Vivek Sharma, owner of the Devil’s Dance Bar said that there are CCTVs installed on the premises and there is no illegal activity going on. “The fight took place outside the premises and it can be verified through the CCTV footage,” he said.Speaking further, he said the property owner is someone else who has rented out the premises.When asked about the licence, he admitted saying that “we do not have the panchayat licence but we had moved the directorate of panchayat but it did not grant the licence.”Sarpanch Shawn Martins said that the panchayat of Calangute has revoked licences of 13 dance bars. “However the owners are well connected and through influence they operate the dance bars. When the new PI Laxi Amonkar came to Calangute all dance bars were shut but such establishments started operating again,” he said.Calangute PI Amonkar said that “the police have written to the authorities requesting a rethink on issuing licences to operate dance bars till 4 a.m. This is the main reason for illegal activities happening in Calangute.”When asked how dance bars started operating again when he had cracked down on them, PI Laxi said that “he landed in trouble because of it. The dance bar owners took me to court and also the human rights court.”North Goa DySP Karpe said that the police do take action against illegal activities and FIRs are filed.Regarding the demand for dance bars to be shut down, he said there is no law banning women from dancing in clubs. “There is a Supreme Court order allowing the dance bars to operate. Dance bars owners have licences to run their business,” he said.

BJP and Revolutionary Goans fight for credit over Goa Shipyard Ltd ‘jobs to locals’

Times of India | 1 day ago | 20-05-2022 | 01:18 am

Times of India

1 day ago | 20-05-2022 | 01:18 am

Vasco: Revolutionary Goans (RG) and BJP are engaged claiming credit for getting locals employment at the Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL). Even as RG said that GSL has assured them of giving jobs to Goans, Vasco BJP MLA Krishna ‘Daji’ Salkar and BJP functionaries stated that it was their efforts that played a major role in highlighting the employment issue. On Wednesday, RG’s Tukaram ‘Manoj’ Parab and St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar met the management of GSL to discuss the matter of employment opportunities for Goans. Parab and Borkar said that the shipyard’s management has assured them to give priority to recruiting Goans. They said that, according to available information, over 600 jobs had opened up at GSL, but only 30% Goans were employed. In other central government shipyards in other states, local people with knowledge of the local language are given preference during recruitment, but at GSL this is not happening, RG said. Parab and Borkar also stressed on the need for imparting training in technical skill to Goan youth. Meanwhile, the Vasco MLA posted on his official social media page: “Grateful to chief minister Goa Pramod P Sawant for calling this meeting on our request with T N Sudhakar CMD (addl charge) and HR head Goa Shipyard Ltd to address long-pending issues pertaining to local employment.”

Candolim roads get solar streetlights

Times of India | 1 day ago | 19-05-2022 | 04:57 am

Times of India

1 day ago | 19-05-2022 | 04:57 am

Calangute: Calangute panchayat has installed 15 solar-powered streetlights at major junctions and tourist spots in Candolim. Panchayat members said this decision was taken as a safety measure against power failure during the monsoon and in bad weather conditions. “When there’s a blackout, there’s always the possibility of danger to tourists and locals. Hence, we decided to install solar streetlights. They have a back-up battery and can function even during overcast days,” one member said.

Locals want cops to shut down dance bar at Calangute

Times of India | 1 day ago | 19-05-2022 | 04:53 am

Times of India

1 day ago | 19-05-2022 | 04:53 am

Calangute: A large number of Calangute locals gathered in front of a bar on Wednesday, alleging that it is a hub for illegal activities on the Baga road. They demanded that it be shut down. The trigger for Wednesday’s gathering was an alleged assault during the first week of May, following which two local residents were arrested by Calangute police. According to Nitesh Chodankar, executive member of the North Goa Rent-a-Cab Association, the nightspot at Khobrawaddo only has a bar and restaurant licence, but operates as a dance bar. “Tourists are lured here by pimps and touts who promise them women. The tourists are then taken inside and looted of their money and beaten up if they resist. A few days ago, one tourist escaped from inside and ran around 50m for safety to a restaurant run by a local. The dance bar workers came there and assaulted the locals when they were told to stay out. Later, the dance bar workers filed a police complaint against the locals and they were arrested,” Chodankar said. Locals said such incidents, wherein tourists are lured to the nightspot and beaten up and looted, have been going on for years with the police allegedly failing to take any action. “There will be a few girls inside. Tourists will be charged Rs 1,000 to touch their hands and then told that they have to pay Rs 10,000 for other features. If they don’t cough up the money, they get beaten up, their phones and gold ornaments snatched,” a local said, adding, “If the police come, the women escape from the back door.” Locals alleged that there are around 13 such nightspots. They demanded that the authorities shut them down by the end of this month. Further, they threatened that if authorities failed to do so, they would mobilise villagers and forcibly shut the nightspots down themselves.

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