Panaji::: December 07, 2018 … Directorate of  Art and Culture, in association with West Zone Cultural  Centre, Udaipur, Kala Academy – Goa and other Government agencies will be organizing annual National Folk Festival Lokotsav from January 11 to January 20, 2019, at Darya Sangam, Kala Academy Complex, Campal, Panaji. About 500 to 600 craft persons and traditional food vendors from various states of India and also from the State of Goa will put up their stalls to showcase and sell their Handicrafts, Handlooms, Traditional Jewellery Items, Cuisines etc. during the festival period.

In this regards, applications are invited from interested Goan craftspersons and Self Help Groups having the handicraft artist card/license and producing the Handicraft, Handlooms, Traditional Jewellery etc.for putting up their stalls for the Lokotsav festival.

Applications are also invited from the Goan Self Help Group, Agencies, and Individuals for putting up the Food Stall of Packed and Non-packed Food items such as Traditional Goan/Indian Recipes, Goan Traditional Snacks etc. during the festival.

The Registration charges for handicraft and food stalls will be Rs. 2000/- each. The stalls will be on sharing basis and the charges will be shared accordingly. Garbage charges of Rs. 500/- per day (i.e. Rs. 5,000/- for ten days) will be charged for Goan Served Food Stalls. Served Food Stalls from outside Goa will be charged Rs. 1000/- per day (i.e. Rs. 10,000/- for ten days) as garbage charges. The same has to be paid at the time of allotment of stalls.

Limited numbers of applications forms will be available at the Directorate of Art and Culture, Sanskruti Bhavan, Patto from December 10 to December 14, 2018, on first come first serve basis. The duly filled forms will have to be submitted to the department strictly on or before December 20, 2018. Late applications will not be entertained.  These application forms are only for Goan handicraft and food stall vendors. Application from other states will not be entertained.

Panaji: December 5, 2018 … The State Family Welfare Bureau, Directorate of Health Services, Panaji in coordination with the office of the District Collectorate, North and South Goa has successfully conducted competitions and State level function to celebrate the International Girl Child Day on October 11, 2018 at the Institute  of Menezes Braganza, Panaji.

The 1^st prize winning skit performed by SS Angle Higher  Secondary School, Maxem – Canacona will be telecasted on Doordarshan Kendra, Panaji on December 8, 2018 at 4.10 p.m. The skit has been written and Directed by Shri. Kavindra Phal Desai.

Margao:  December 05, 2018 … The District Magistrate and Chairperson of South Goa District Crisis Group, Dr. Tariq Thomas have decided to conduct the mock drill at the bottling plant of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., Verna Industrial Estate, Verna on December 13, 2018 between 10.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. as a part of the planned drills to be conducted in all the Major Accidental Hazardous Units (MAH) in South Goa this year.

The South District Magistrate, Dr. Tariq Thomas chairing a preparatory meeting of all the line agencies at Collectorate today stressed the need to conduct such drills with full evacuation of the entire areas likely to be affected to provide the much required confidence to handle real life situation and improvise on all the shortcomings, if any.

Dr. Thomas underscored the importance of response time of the stakeholders to attend emergency situations apart from ensuring that the SOPs are followed to the extent possible to oversee the effectiveness of the off-site emergency plan.

The drill is planned to check the response and capabilities of the various departments and agencies in the district to undertake emergency operations in the event of occurrence of such an accident.

It may be informed that the South Goa District Crisis Group have successfully conducted such drills in four of the  8 Major Accidental Hazardous Units (MAH) in South Goa this year to create awareness among the residents of the locality on how to take safety measures and prepare themselves during such incidences.

The industrialists and general public are informed that the traffic in and around Plot No M-19 to M35 in Phase II-B would be diverted through the appropriate by-lanes during the aforesaid time on the given day and appealed for co-operation with the authorities.

Dy. Collector & SDM, Salcete, Shri Uday Prabhudessai; DYSP’s, Shri Uttam Raut Dessai and Shri Prabhod Shirvaikar; Assistant Information Officer, DIP, Shri Allwyn Pereira and other stakeholders including representative from BPCL were present for the meeting.