The Chief Minister called upon the investors to invest in Goa as we have the required logistics to set up their ventures. He appealed to GCCI and Investment Promotion Board to assist investors in setting up their ventures and make Goa a preferred investment destination for investors. He also said that Goa has good connectivity by way of road, rail and air ways to cater to the needs of the industries.
The Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant was speaking after inaugurating the INVEST- GOA 2022 SUMMIT an event organised by GCCI in Association with Government of Goa, FICCI & Invest India.
The Chief Minister said although Goa intends to have investment in the industrial sector but would prefer eco-friendly industries. He urged the investors to partner in Goa’s industrial growth to work together in making the new India Mission successful.
Minister for Industries Shri Mauvin Godinho appreciating GCCI for organizing such an event on behalf of the Government said Goa has all sort of infrastructure required for the industrial growth. Shri Godinho urged investors from all over to invest in the industrial sector and become partners of Goa’s industrial growth. Let’s grow together to boost the nation’s economy, he added.
Ex-Union Minister of Railway and Keynote Speaker, Shri Suresh Prabhu said Goa has its own industrial policy which is investor friendly. Goa is the best place for investment and this is the right time to be here in Goa. Goa is a best place conducive for business and a place to relax as well, he remarked. He advised to make Goa as the first ESG compliant State. Goa is the right place to host events like the World Economic Forum. Goa has potential to become a startup forum. Goa being a small State is ideal to venture into World Design centres for the world, State would earn revenue out of royalty, he remarked.
Minister for Information & Technology, Shri Rohan Khaunte said investment and industry is something Goa is looking for. Government is endeavouring for its industrial growth wherein IT has a pivotal role in making Goa as a knowledge destination and to make mission Swayampurna Goa successful, he added.
Speaking further, he said Goa has its own policy and the Government has initiated steps to develop infrastructure right from reaching WIFI services in every constituency. Startup under IT policy is a game changer in the industry sector seeking right investment in the IT sector. Apart from Infrastructure for IT we seek to make Goa as a Tourism and Creative Capital in the Country, he added.
Ms. Nicole Faria a young entrepreneur from Navelim was felicitated at the hands of the Chief Minister.
MLA Reginaldo Lourence, Principal Secretary Finance Dr. V. Condavelou, IAS, Chairman of Gujarat Chamber of Chamber of Commerce & Industries Shri Pratik Patwari, Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce & Industries, Shri Lalit Gandhi, Stakeholders from industrial sector and others attended the function.
On this occasion the Chief Minister handover letter of intent to various investors which included are CMM Logistics Pvt Ltd, Mr. Dell Menezes; Director; KBR Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd, Mr. Muralidhar N Prabhu; Director; Mr. Kapil Borkar; Regional Sales and BD Manager; Air tech Composite Materials India Pvt. Ltd, Mr. Jacob Kuriakose Arieckal, Proprietor; Mr. Jacob Kuriakose Arieckal, Proprietor; Arieckal Industries, Mr Saji Pillai, Promoter; Samanvii Digimedia Art and Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Dr. Sagar Salgaonkar, MD; Geno Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Ms. Aprajita Singh from invest India; DC Spirits, Mr. Vithal Narvekar, CEO & Mr. Shivprasad, Project Head; Goa Glass Fiber Ltd., Mr. Saurabh Jain, Founder & Director Thinvent Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Mr. Anil Malani, CEO, Delta Corporation Ltd. Mr. Tej Naik, Promoter; Powerland, Mr. Pramod Rane, Promoter; La Cabana Senior Citizens Luxury Homes, Mr. Babu C Ghanta, CEO & Founder Big B Group, Mr. Mansingh, Manager on behalf of Mr. Sanjay Khanna, Director; Gold Coast Villas Pvt. Ltd, Mr. Yash Sawardekar, Promoter; Goenchi Industries Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Yogesh Joshi, Director; Rapid Organic Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Sachin Mirajkar; Netzsch Pumps, Mr Prashant Prasad Shivalkar / Mr. Michiel Wisburn; Teva Pharma, Mr. Prasad Dhakhankar, Bioshash Business Pvt.,
The proceedings of the said meet began with signing of MOUs between Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce & Industries and BITS PILANI Shri Lalit Gandhi and Dr. Suman Kundu did the honour.
The Chief Minister released the document of Goa Industrial & Investment Promotion Policy 2022.
Chairman GCCI Shri Ralph Dsouza welcomed the guests. Professor Dattesh Parulekar compered the function while Vice-Chairman GCCI Smt Pratima Dhond proposed the vote of thanks.

Goa State Central Library in association with Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation Kolkata, Ministry of Culture Government of India held an awareness rally on October 6, 2022 in memory of 250^th Birth Anniversary of Raja Rammohun Roy.

Present at the rally were the Chief Guest, Minister for Art and Culture,    Shri. Govind Gaude. The other dignitaries who graced the rally were Director of Art and Culture, Shri. Sagun Velip, Deputy Director, Shri. Ashok Parab, Curator – Incharge Smt. Sulaksha Kolmule, Deputy Director Accounts,        Shri. Sarvottam Satardekar. The Minister while addressing the students stressed on the importance of knowledge which is gained through good reading habits. Smt. Sulaksha  Kolmule  proposed the vote of thanks. Earlier Director of Art and Culture, Shri. Sagun Velip welcomed the participants of the rally. Students from 05 North Goa District schools namely Hedgewar High School, Mary Immaculate High School, Bal Bharti High school , People’s High School, Mushtifund High School participated in the rally. which began from EDC Patto and concluded at the Art Gallery, Central Library.

 Banners, posters / placards, flags, leaflets, caps were distributed to the participants. There was a street play on women empowerment performed by the staff of Central Library.

Minister for Environment Shri.Nilesh Cabral today stressing upon the need for identifying  proper machinery for scientific disposal of construction and demolition waste expressed that there has to be a policing system in place involving the people to prevent its haphazard dumping  causing  environmental problems.

Shri. Cabral was speaking at a workshop on Environment friendly handling and recovery of construction and demolition wastes in Goa organized by Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) Research Triangle Institute (RTI), India, Resilient Energy and SINTEF, Norway held at Goa State Pollution Control Board, Saligao.

Shri. Cabral further informed that, Government in collaboration with SINTEF, Norway is in the process to set up a Construction and Demolition waste treatment plant at Mapusa. The proposed treatment plant will be significant in scientific management and disposal of construction debris and other waste in the State, he said.

Shri. Cabral, who also holds the PWD portfolio, announced that, PWD Department will implement the measures and proper disposal techniques in its construction activities to curb the menace of construction waste.

Consul General, Consulate General of Norway in India Shri. Arne Jan Flolo in his address appreciated the efforts of  Goa Waste Management Corporation for adopting the Norwegian technology through SINTEF, Norway for scientific handling of C & D waste in the State.

Chief Scientist, SINTEF, Norway Dr. Christian J. Engelsen informed about various aspects about the  C&D waste handling, recycling and scientific management.

Secretary,  Science and Technology and Waste Management Shri. Ramesh Verma, IAS stated that, there has to be a holistic approach towards handling of C&D waste. Earlier people never considered C&D waste as separate waste, so did not treat this waste in a scientific manner. Now there is a lot of  awareness and we need to understand every aspect with the involvement of all stakeholders and have proper management of C&D waste in the State.

Chairman, Goa State Pollution Control Board appreciating the GWMC team for organizing the seminar on the subject stressed upon exploring the idea of recycling of mining waste into bricks for construction.

Managing Director, GWMC Dr.Levinson Martins gave welcome remarks.

Director, RTI Dr. GauravBhatianiproposed  vote of thanks.

The Tourism Department taking note of some misleading observations appearing in local media has clarified on the draft jetty policy inviting suggestions and objections from the public to do away with misunderstandings, if any.

Themed Cruises including evening Boat cruises are one of the popular tourism related activities in the State, which are conducted using existing tourism jetties in the State such as Santa Monica Jetty (at Panaji), COP Jetty in Mandovi river (at Panaji), Britona Jetty, Betim Jetty and Old Goa Jetty. As on date, there are several issues in conducting tourism activities from these existing jetties, which are summarized as follows –  Promotion of illegal tout culture and cash sales leading to revenue leakages to State exchequer; Non-uniform ticket pricing for similar types of tourism related activities; Lack of basic amenities to the visitors like toilets, seating arrangement, waiting rooms, etc. which often leave them with bad experience; Lack of safety and surveillance on jetties for visitor protection like safety railings, frisking, CCTV cameras etc; Complaints from tourists regarding cheating and fleecing and poor service by some operators.

To address the aforesaid issues, Jetty Management Committee under the Chairmanship of Principal Secretary (Tourism) is constituted by the Government vide order no. 3/1102/IDIHHT (2)/2014-DT/P.F./2460 dated 16.12.2016 with Director- Dept. Tourism, MD- GTDC, Captain of Ports, and industry representatives as its members had recommended for approval of “Jetty Policy” by the Government.

Department of Tourism, Govt. of Goa being a nodal agency for framing policies and programs for the development and promotion of Tourism in the State invited suggestions from the general public on the proposed Draft Jetty Policy.

The purpose of this Jetty Policy is to recommend streamlining the theme tours including the evening boat cruises – to ensure good quality at a reasonable price for the purposes of creating good experience to the tourists; ensuring proper jetty facilities for tourism related activities including specifying and ensuring basic and necessary infrastructure at these jetties, garbage management etc; ensuring safety and security of visitors including frisking, CCTV etc. to avoid any accidents at these jetties; ensuring fair competition among tourism activity providers, including transparency in ticket pricing and adherence to taxation by all operators at all of the said Jetties and implementation of single window ticketing system for all said Jetty users, and to avoid any tourism activities from non-jetty areas like Campal etc. to avoid any kind of accidents to the tourists.

It was observed that the said policy is being wrongly interpreted, and several misleading statements have surfaced. In this regard, the following clarifications were provided on scope of Jetty Policy and its salient features which are – Jetty policy is only applicable to vessel operators and jetties being utilized for tourism purposes only. It is not applicable to private jetties, Coal handling, fishing related or Casino activities.  The proposed Jetty Policy is applicable only for passenger cruise vessel operators utilizing the jetty for tourism purposes and not for water sports operators. The licensing authority of the said Jetties in Goa vests with the Captain of Ports and the Jetty Management Committee (JMC) shall not be the owner of any jetty in Goa. Policy is applicable for regulating the tourism activities at only three existing jetties viz., Santa Monica Jetty at Panaji, Captain of Ports Jetty at Panaji, Britona Jetty, Betim Jetty and Jetty at Old Goa and there is no proposal of constructing additional jetties under this policy. This policy is also applicable for any new jetty to be utilized for cruise tourism purposes, as proposed by any Government Department in Goa and upon obtaining all approvals in near future. The Jetty policy is not applicable to any jetties owned by private person(s) / entities, and it excludes casinos, personal boats, barges, ferries and other transport vessels which do not cater to tourism and leisure segments. The Policy excludes fishing or coal handling etc. that do not cater to tourism and leisure segments.  The Policy does not envisage construction of any new Jetties nor does it extend any permission for construction of the same. Captain of Ports will remain the licensing Authority for construction of any new jetties in the state in future too. As the scope of policy covers only tourism activities conducted from existing jetties and doesn’t deal approval for construction of jetty or introduction of any tourism activities, this policy, which is for the purposes of regulating the activities only, does not require prior environmental clearance. The Jetty Management Committee (JMC), with COP as one of its members, via Jetty policy does not issue any permission for construction of any jetty on rivers and khazans of Goa. It only acts as an advisory body for evaluating the carrying capacity of a river, either by itself or through competent entities.

The carrying capacity will consider various aspects such as environment, technical, safety and economical aspects of introduction of any new vessel in a river for tourism purposes. COP will still remain as the licensing authority for approving any new vessel on any rivers in Goa. The policy intends to introduce a single window ticketing system for all operators utilizing the jetty for tourism purposes, developed by GEL to ensure transparency, ease of booking and to prevent fleecing of tourists by illegal touts. The practice of unregistered commission agents / touts for sale of tickets for tourism-centric activities by any vessel operator is discouraged. Institutional clients / Intermediaries such as hotels, OTAs / booking portals, travel agencies, etc. are allowed to purchase tickets on a bulk basis, at retail price. COP, being one of the members of Jetty Management Committee, has been a party in all the meetings of the said committee in the past including the discussions related to introduction of this policy. The suggestions made by COP were also duly incorporated in the policy document.

As the last date for receipt of recommendations has been extended till October 15, 2022, Department of Tourism urges all the stakeholders to review and provide their recommendations for the finalization of the aforesaid policy on the basis of merit and relevance.