OLD GOA: In a shocking incident which has taken place at fair area at the ongoing feast of st francis Xavier at old goa the duty of allotting stalls at various areas in and around old goa seems to be taken over by outsiders instead of old goa village panchayat …

In a incident which could raise fingers on the working system of the old goa village panchayat body a bengali women labourer was seen collecting money from various stall allotted which have been sublet by the original allottes that too in thousands of rupees though the original price of stall allotment given by the village concerned old goa village panchayat was 1,100 for 2 in to 2 meters and 2,200 for four in to four meters …
It may be noted that this time the old goa village Panchayat has also warned those who would be given a chance to put up a stall would not be allowed to sublet the space to any other persons during the ten day feast …

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“At the same time as far as keep the old goa area clean and garbage issue is concerned the panchayat had also asked the stall owners not to throw their garbage all over but to keep it at old place so that the panchayat labourers could collect it during night time every day and get it cleaned and if any one was found throwing garbage here and there than that person would be strictly fined with a fess of rs 2,000 each day”

One of a outsider stall allotte who has taken the stall from a goan person told GOANREPORTER “we had come here to do some garment business at the feast of st francs Xavier at old goa but the price in which I had to buy these three stalls at one place were surprising as I had to pay a price of around fifty six thousand in together to a Bengali lady who had done the deal to the concerned person who had sublet the stall to us though at present I have only paid twenty four thousand to her while for the remaining money she would come and collect it”

But even more suprising was that the concerned Bengali lady came to the same shop which is situated along the old goa-diwar road side and started asking the remaining amount of money and even stated that she had nine more such stalls in her hand which could be given for such huge amount  and also removed a bunch of 500 rupees note from her pocket and gave it to one of her person in front of the concerned stall owner ..

Though the concerned stall owner kept on saying that it was a big amount for him to pay as there was no business that he had done in the past few days the Bengali lady in her conversation with the concerned stall owner said “you do not have to get worried as there are three more days left and in the next  three days you would get your money of the amount of fifty six thousand rupees recovered as well as you would be able to do a good business at the fair” and when the stall owner asked for a receipt of his fifty six thousand amount the lady said ‘I would also give you the receipt of the same amount which you have given me for the rent of the shop”

When the same incident was brought to the notice of the sarpanch if the old goa village panchayat vishal volvoikar he said “well the panchayat has followed proper procedures while allotting stalls specially given to locals first and if they have sublet it then the panchayat has no role to play in it though one of the criteria was that the concerned person who has been allotted the stall could not sublet his stall to any other person but still we would try to investigate in to the matter as how this things were done”

Rector of basilica of bom jesus fr savio baretto said “this is a surprise to us that even there is a local body who has done the stall allotment procedure an outside lady seems to have control on subletting the stalls and such issue need to be investigated and therefore I would urge the state government to seriously look in to the matter and get the issue investigated as soon as possible

Meanwhile heavy security has been tightened up in and around the old goa area for the next three days with more than 300 police personnel’s along with cisf force which would guard the place round the clock from Saturday to Tuesday ….

OLDGOA: on 3^rd of December all roads would be packed with devotees of st Francis Xavier as the nine day’s novena’s of st Francis Xavier which started on 24^th of November last month would end up with the December 3^rd being celebrated as the feast day of st Francis Xavier who is also know as goa’s patron saint …

Masses on Monday would start as early as 4am after which it would be followed by 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 with the feast mass being celebrated at 10.30 am in the morning where in would bishop of Jalandhar bishop anil couto would be the main celebrant for this year’s feast mass along with goa’s arch bishop felipe neri ferrao, rev bishop raul goansalves and hundreds of other priest from goa and round the world …

Eminent dignitaries from the state government side as well as from other professions are also expected to be a part of the feast mass …

Later on the feast day masses would also be held at 12.30 in the afternoon which would be followed by 4.15pm, 5.15pm and 6.15pm in the evening …

This time it seems  with iffi festival coming to an end before the feast of st francis Xavier the state government have taken enough care to see that proper law and order along with traffic arrangements are maintained in and around old goa with hundreds of police personnel’s as well as traffic personnel’s are seen deployed all around old goa …

It may be noted that the feast of st francis xaiver on which lakhs of devotes ask for blessings and miracles draws lakhs of crowd to the basilica of bom jesus at old goa every years on 3^rd December

OLDGOA: Stating that the locals at village levels had to be more concerned about Secretaries’ Sarpancha’s or Pancha’s asking for Bribe’s which had to be brought to the notice of the Law Enforcement Authorities Panchayat Minister Laxmikhant Parsekar on Saturday expressed concerns over the arrest of the Sarpanch and Village Panchayat Secretary of Ucassaim Village Panchayat who were caught red-handed, while accepting a bribe of Rs 70,000 by The Goa Police Anti-Corruption Bureau on Friday …

It may be noted that Sarpanch Rajesh Dabhale and Secretary Uday Naik of Ucassaim had allegedly demanded Rs 2.35 lakh from architect Rahul Deshpande to issue a construction licence for the renovation of a house for which both the sarpanch and the secretary had demanded Rs 2.35 lakh to issue the licence – Rs 30,000 for each of the seven panchas and Rs 25,000 for the secretary.

Speaking to Goan Repoeter on the sidelines of a function held at the Corlim Primary Health Centre in Tiswaddi Taluka, where in a Multi Purpose Van was donated by Sygenta India Limited to the Corlim Primary Health Centre as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibilities Panchayat Minister Laxmikhant Parsekar said “When our government had come in to power in the State My Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had said that our Government would be of zero tolerance though it was not only for his Cabinet Minister and for Government Officers but also for Municipalities and Panchayat to obey that and since Goa being a tourist place number of construction and builders are approaching various Panchayats and certain Panchayats are doing malpractices like this and the Ucassaim Panchayat example is a unique example and I was sorry to learn that a Sarpanch and a Secretary were trapped red handed which is a good lesson for rest of other Panchayats I would say though it is very unfortunate but it is a good lesson too ..

On asked what about some of the Panchayat’s passing huge construction projects in certain villages even after they were opposed by the locals gram sabha parsekar said “It is the people who have to take care of all this as, as a minister and department we would act only when it comes to our notice as such things are not done in public and as every one have learnt or read through the media about this incident one could understand as how the spots were changed in this case and no one can keep a track of such things and therefore it is for only public to decide and act upon it.

Parsekar also stated that though it was a fact that even some Panchayat were giving permission to certain project even after it was opposed in gram sabhas, there were also some gram sabhas where in there were people with ulterior interest where in a group of locals do come and try to get their things passed though I do believe that it should not happen

OLDGOA: Best Hotels Near Beale Street Memphis Health Minister Laxmikhant Parsekar on Saturday said that there was a need for Corporate as well as Business houses to come forward in helping the State Government in carrying out Developmental Works of the Society at Large

Mr Parsekar was speaking at a function held at the Corlim Primary Health Centre in Tiswaddi Taluka, where in a Multi-Purpose Ambulance  Van was donated by Sygenta India Limited to the Corlim Primary Health Centre as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibilities …

Also present for the function were Site Manager of Sygenta India Limited Martin Gosh who handed over the keys of the Ambulance to the Heatlh Minister in the presence of Directorate of Health Services Sanjeev Dalvi, Officer Incharge of Corlim Primary Heatlh Centre Dr Kedar Raikar, Heads of Corporate Social Responsibilities Sygenta P S Jagdesha, Sakharam Borkar and other digintatires …

Presently the Corlim Primary Health Centre covers a distance of  areas such as Borbot, Diwar, Mangado, Ela, Merces, Bambolim, Nagalli, Siridao and Bhatim in which there are over Eleven Sub-Centre’s along with one Non Bedded Primary Health Centre and One Rrural Medical Dispensary covering a population of over ninety thousand people with the addition of migrant laboureres coming to a total of over a lakh of population under the Health Centre …

Speaking during the Function Health Minister Laxmikhant Parsekar praised the efforts of the Officer Incharge of Corlim Primary Health Centre stating that Praising the efforts of the Health Officer Incharge of Heatlh Centre Dr Kedar Raikar for being able to get help from Sygenta India Limited for donating the Ambulance to Corlim Primary Health Centre

Health Minister Laxmikhant Parsekar said that he had asked his Health Director Sanjeev Dalvi to carry out an Audit Report of those Health Officers who had performed in their Services in Community Heatlh Centre’s and Primary Health Centre’s with honesty and sincerity and like Dr Raikar who had transformed the Corlim Primary Health Centre in one of the best Primary Health Centers of the State …

The Vehicle which has been donated by Sygenta India Limited has cost over a three lakh of rupees and would be used for Mass Communication, Site Inspection, Educating Communities, Conducting Elocution Competition on Health Arena’s, School Health Competition’s, Spraying and Fogging of Malaria in and around the areas coming under Corlim Primary Health Centre

Site Manager In-Charge of Sygenta India Limited Martin Gosh said “Sygenta has been in Corlim for more than forty years now and we always had a close relation with the Community and we see that from our side we should always give a helping hand to the Community and a donation of an Ambulance is more of a help in that respect and we hope that the Ambulance is not used more often and hope that everyone is healthy and fine and if in case of emergency we would certainly like to have all the facilities available at the Village in Corlim…

Mr Gosh also said as Dr Raikar has been in touch with PHC and the idea has come from PHC and we are happy to support them as we just see this as a beginning in supporting the Community at Large”

In Charge of Corlim Primary Health Centre Dr Kedar Raikar said “earlier the concerned Health Centre had only a single vehicle to cover vast areas coming under our Corlim Health Centre jurisdiction and we used to hire vehicles to carry out their programmes and site inspection and in and around the area and with Sygenta coming forward to help the Corlim Primary Health Centre we would surely be able to work more better helping out the common people of the society in and around our jurisdiction

After being ticked off by the Supreme Court-appointed Centrally Empowered Committee over “erroneous and incomplete data” on mining, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has sought to deflect the blame on erstwhile Congress regime for the “mess-up”.

“The former government had miserably failed to maintain the records, including the number of operational mining leases, exports and productions. This mess is inherited by my government which is now working overtime to put in place all the records,” Parrikar told PTI.

In a strong-worded letter to the state chief secretary, the Centrally Empowered Committee, which is inquiring illegal mining in Goa, had complained about “erroneous and incomplete data”.

Justice M B Shah Commission also investigating into the illegalities had expressed similar complaint in the past.

Clearing the air on the issue, Parrikar said, “A total of 130 mining leases were operational in the state for last five years. There is no proper record of all these mines. The mines department was also unaware about 400-odd traders who were involved in the business”.

He said the state Mines and Geology department, which saw some tainted officers being sacked, went through a tough time as it had to reconstruct all the details.

“Now since the matter is in the SC, we have time to clear this mess and get things in place before mining resumes,” the Chief Minister said.

On resumption of mining activity which has been halted for over last two months post the Supreme Court order, Parrikar said the state government was awaiting directions from the apex court.

Goa is the country’s largest exporter of iron ore with 43 million metric tonnes of ore shipped abroad during last financial yea

Even as cinema buffs are busy catching up with Brazilian Hair Extensions in Memphis movies at the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, two ‘serenading’ friends here are re-bonding over music, which united them over a decade ago before they parted ways for a better livelihood.

Musicians George Cartt and Joao Zinto went their separate ways 13 years back for a living. Now they have come together again for the sake of music at a IFFI stall.

“I went to Dubai to earn my livelihood. Fifteen years after working there, I came back to Goa this year and found Cartt again. We are now back playing music together,” said Zinto, who is his late 50s.

“We had no friendship initially. It was necessity that brought us together then. Our bonding became strong and when he left for Dubai, we became thick friends,” Cartt, who continued pursuing music all these years in Zinto’s absence, explained.

The duo watch no movies at the festival although they serenade the guests every day for three hours. Zinto is on the Goan percussion instrument ‘Ghumat’ with a ‘mouth organ’ mounted on his chest. He plays both theinstruments together.

Cartt is on the guitar singing Konkani songs of the yesteryears which inspired many musicians in the Hindi film industry. Among the musical scores that they play comprise some of the best compositions by Minguel Rod, M Boyer and Chris Perry, all legendary names in Konkani music.

Cartt, hailing from Loutolim village is a neighbour of Emiliano D Cruz, a well-known serenading artist who has even played for former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) in India.

“Most of the times people ask us what is the meaning of song that we play. We have to construct the story and explain it to them,” he said.