Goa CM Manohar Parrikar: Alemao supported fake degrees racket

Panaji: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Wednesday accused former PWD minister Churchill Alemao of patronising a fake degree racket, recently busted by police, saying the illegalities eroded the sanctity of the department.

“Alemao, during his tenure as PWD minister, was directing various candidates to this academy (which operated the racket), giving fake certificates before recruiting them as engineers in PWD department”, Parrikar said in his reply to a question on affairs of PWD Department in Legislative Assembly. The crime branch recently exposed the racket after raiding a private academy in Margao.

According to police, the racketeers used to provide bogus educational certificates, purportedly of various recognised universities, including the Board of Secondary Education, Gwalior.

“The bogus certificates were bought from this academy by candidates who have now become engineers”, Parrikar said, adding that the illegalities committed by Alemao has eroded the sanctity of PWD department. Alemao, a senior Congress leader was PWD minister in Digambar Kamat-led government.

SOURCE: PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Goa Congress slams BJP for paying sacked miners

Panaji : The Goa Congress lashed out at the Manohar Parrikar-led government Tuesday for paying mining firm employees who had been sacked after the ban on mining in the state.

Leader of opposition in the state assembly Pratapsing Rane said that instead of doling out money, the government should ask the mining companies to re-hire the workers they have sacked.

“How long is the government going to give them money? These are employees of private organisations. Today it is the mining companies, tomorrow it will be some other private companies,” Rane told the assembly during a discussion on the motion of thanks to the Goa governor’s speech.

“We can take an assurance from the companies that they (employees) should be taken back at the same post they had,” Rane said.

Goa’s Governor B.V. Wanchoo in his speech Monday had announced that the state government was working out a financial package for people affected by the mining ban, through which each affected individual would receive about Rs.6,000 per month as dole until the mining impasse was resolved.

Four months ago, the Supreme Court enforced a mining ban in Goa after a judicial commission unearthed a Rs.35,000 crore illegal mining scam being carried out by an unscrupulous nexus comprising politicians, bureaucrats and mining companies.

SOURCE: IANS

 

Mining lobby attacks Goa Governor for ignoring their plight

Panaji: The mining lobby on Wednesday attacked Goa Governor Bharat Veer Wanchoo, calling him an “agent” of the Central government and accusing him of being callous to those affected by the ban on iron ore mining in Goa.

Lobbyists seeking revocation of the ban on iron ore mining in the state spoke to reporters after Wanchoo “snubbed” the pro-mining lobby protesters who have been camping near the Martyrs’ Memorial here for the last two weeks.

On Wednesday morning, the Governor and other leading political dignitaries, including Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, arrived at the memorial in the capital to pay their tributes to Goa’s freedom fighters. However, the Governor returned to Raj Bhavan without speaking to protesters at the site.

“He did not have the courtesy to address us. We have been protesting here for the last two weeks. The Governor is not concerned about the sufferings of the people of his state,” Communist Party of India (CPI) state general secretary Christopher Fonseca told reporters here.

Fonseca heads the Goa Mining Affected People’s Front, which is protesting the loss of jobs caused by the Supreme Court-imposed mining ban. Fonseca also said that the Goa government was not taking convincing steps to resolve the mining crisis in the state.

“It has been four months since the ban has been in place. The government has not given a single convincing argument to the Supreme Court to ensure that the ban is removed,” Fonseca said.

Fonseca’s comments come only a couple of days after the Governor, in his inaugural address to the Goa Legislative Assembly, said that the Manohar Parrikar-led state government was working to introduce a financial package for people living in the mining belt, who had lost employment due to the mining ban.

The package involves giving out monthly dole to the tune of Rs 6,000 per head to those who have lost their mining jobs. The dole, however, has been criticised by the Opposition, which has said that instead of dishing out money, the state government should crack down on mining companies to ensure that workers are not laid off without any pressing reason.

SOURCE: IANS

 

Mopa Airport: Process begins for green signal to proposed airport at Mopa in Goa

PANAJI: The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has started the process of giving clearance to the proposed greenfield airport at Mopa in Goa, the state Assembly was informed today.

“The matter was discussed at the meeting of the Environment Ministry on January 28. There are further studies which are still required and they would be taken now,” Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the Assembly.

Independent legislator Vijay Sardesai had raised the issue of environment clearance to the airport at Mopa, about 70 km from here.

The MLA, who heads the movement involving locals against the airport, claimed that various preconditions suggested by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had been ignored by the Goa government which appears in a hurry to go ahead with the project.

“ICAO had suggested that a comprehensive strategy should be put in place before going ahead with the project as another airport already exists in the state,” Sardesai said.

The Chief Minister, quoting an ICAO report published in 2007, said there was a need to have two airports in Goa as the existing one at Dabolim would get saturated due to increasing flow of passenger traffic in the tourist state.

Parrikar rejected the notion that Mopa airport would benefit Maharashtra, more than Goa, due to its close proximity with the neighbouring state.

“The airport is 25 kms away from Maharashtra border,” he said and requested the Assembly Speaker to allow half an hour debate on the issue so that “Goa Government’s stand on the issue can be clarified”.

SOURCE: THE ECONOMIC TIMES

CM Manohar Parrikar pacifies fishing trawler owners in Goa – Govt offers subsidy on diesel

Goa Newz Network

The Manohar Parrikar-led BJP government in Goa today assured the agitating fishing trawler owners in the State that they would be given subsidy on diesel, the price of which was recently hiked by the Centre.

The trawler owners had anchored their vessels since Saturday protesting against Rs 11 per litre hike effected by the Central government on bulk purchase of diesel. From 29th January all unions and associations of fishing workers in Goa joined the strike causing a huge shortage of the essential commodity in the State. Prices of meat and poultry sky-rocketed in Goa on Monday and Tuesday with most restaurants running out of sea food in the capital city of Panaji. Fishing trawlers from all the coastal states like Maharashtra and Karnataka had called a strike to protest against the decision of the Oil companies to re-classify fishing as an industrial activity instead of an agricultural activity further adding to the shortage of fish in the entire western coastal belt of India.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told the assembly that the government would give subsidy to trawler owners on diesel purchases and asked the trawler owners to purchase from retail outlets. The mechanism is yet to be announced.

The issue was raised by BJP legislator Benjamin D’Silva on the floor of the House.
Parrikar said,”Agitation by trawler owners is pan-India. We will try to ensure that the Goan fishermen are at comfort and they will not have to suffer due to the hike imposed by the Central government,”.

Goa has 1,200 trawlers operating from five different jetties and fishing is the third largest segment of economic activity in the state after mining and tourism. The tourism industry is heavily dependent on the fish catch as almost 50 per cent of the foreign tourists prefer sea food to red meats in Goa.

The shortfall in the supply of fish has had a collateral effect on vegetables and milk products which also saw a hefty increase in price over the last two days. Many tourists from Maharashtra and north India were shocked at the price of fish and decided to go in for a vegetarian or chicken menu thus increasing the demand for vegetables and chicken. Wholesalers and distributors of vegetables, meat and poultry products decided to make hay while the sun shines and hiked the prices of food stuff forcing establishments to pay more.

While it is not sure if the governments of the neightbouring states will offer the fishing community in their respective states the same subsidy, but the astute and seasoned politician Manohar Parrikar has won his party brownie points among the Goan populace with his quick response to the pressing issue.