Panaji: February 17, 2016 … The Governor, Dr. (Smt.) Mridula Sinha, will inaugurate the ‘Clean Margao Mission’ on February 19^th and the Clean Vasco Mission’ on February 26^th, respectively, as part of the program initiated by her to make five cities – Panaji, Mapusa, Ponda, Margao & Vasco to be made model cities of cleanliness in order to achieve the objectives of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan .

The Governor is a brand ambassador nominated by the Prime Minister for this national program. The Co-ordination committee members of Margao and Vasco have been advised to participate in the events. The Governor has already inaugurated the Clean Panaji Mission, Clean Mapusa Mission and Clean Ponda Mission recently.

The Governor will also address 200 members of various Self Help Group from February 22, 2016 at Raj Bhavan as part of the continuing program of meeting and discussions with various sections of the society on this subject. In past, the Governor had addressed voluntary organizations, Sarpanchas, Hoteliers, Industrialists, Doctors, Real Estate Developers, Colleges Principals, and Headmasters etc.

 Panaji : February 16, 2016 …. Office of the Assistant Engineer, Sub Div. II & IV, Electricity Department, Aquem,  Margao has appealed to the Consumers under the Jurisdiction of Electricity Dept. Sub Div- II Fatorda, Comba, Borda, Mungul, Madel, Parts of Seraulim, KTC, Bolepayn, Ambaji, Davondem, Dongorwado, Chandrawado, Murida, Agalli, Gogol, Housing Board, and surrounding areas are hereby requested to clear the arrears towards energy bills by February 29, 2016.

Panaji, February 15, 2016 ….. Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar has said that the office of the Prime Minister has recognized the varied cultural forms of art in Goa and has taken cognizance of the contribution of renowned Harmonium player from Borim Pt. Tulshidas Borkar for conferring him the prestigious civilian honour of Padma Shri Award for this year for his dedication and immense contribution to Hindustani Classical music.

Defence Minister was speaking after felicitating Pandit  Tulshidas Borkar  a noted harmonium player and music maestro of Goa who has bagged  the prestigious civilian honour of Padma Shri Award  in the distinguished presence of Industries Minister Shri Mahadev Naik, Dy. Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly Shri Vishnu Surya Naik Wagh organized by Nagrik Sammittee at a function held at Shree Navdurga Mandir Sabhamandap, Borim, Goa recently.

Speaking further Shri Parrikar said conferring Padma Shri on  Tulshidas Borkar is a proud moment and prestige to Goans and added that after Bakibab Borkar Shri Tulshidas Borkar has bagged the Padma Shri for his dedicated efforts and love for Harmonium. Acclaimed as a performer par excellence, brilliant composer and revered Guru, Pandit Tulsidas Borkar is one of the most outstanding musicians of India, he added.

Dy. Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly, Shri Vishnu Surya Naik Wagh said, Shri Tulshidas Borkar has not forgotten  his birth place Borim who has given him name and fame. He said  though  Borkar achieved excellence and  toured many countries for his love and affection to Harmonium. The State of Goa has given number of  Harmonium players to the country as compared to other parts of the nation, he added.

Shri Wagh further said Pandit Borkar was inspired to take up  music by his mother Jaishreebai Borkar and sister  who listened  his classical singing in Bombay. In his quest  to acquire knowledge, he had the opportunity of receiving valuable guidance from some veteran vocalists like ‘Pt. S.C.R.Bhatt’, ‘Pt .K.G.Ginde’, ‘Pt. Rajaram Shukla’, ‘Pt. Murli Manohar Shukla’, ‘Pt. Ram Marathe’ and instrumentalists like ‘Pt. Devendra Murdeshwar (Flute)’ and ‘Pt. A.P.Phatak (Violin)’ from whom he got to learn the intricacies of the Khayal tradition of North Indian (Hindustani) Classical Music, Shri Wagh added. He said Pandit Tulshidas Borkar has extensively researched in terms of improving the tonal quality, tuning and other technical aspects of the Harmonium, thereby giving different visual and sound dimensions to the instrument.

Shri Wagh also complimented Industries Minister Shri Mahadev Naik for felicitating Pandit Borkar in his native  place which he said is indeed a laudable initiative which will go a long way in motivating the young and upcoming artist to develop their talents.

In his welcome address Industries Minister Shri Mahadev Naik expressed happiness for having accepted the felicitation invitation by Pandit Tulshidas Borkar from the people of Shiroda and said that Pandit Borkar has gained name and fame for his dedicated efforts in the field of Harmonium. He said, Government is making efforts with sincerity, zeal and enthusiasm, to further enrich the cultural treasure and heritage of the state. He said in  Shiroda area 14 Music teachers have been appointed for imparting training to the music students who should utilize their talents and time for bringing out some new themes in order to make a deep imprint on the minds of younger generation.

The function was also attended by Shri Vinay Tendulkar, President Bhartiya Janata Party, Shri Deepak Naik Borkar, ZP Member, Smt. Pratibha Borkar, Smt. Parimal Samant, Sarpanch, Shri Minanath Upadhye, Vice President of the Samittee, Shri Sudesh Borkar and others.

Students from Vivekanand Vidyalaya Borim presented welcome song. Shri Govind Bhagat and Shri Girish Velguenkar compered the function. Shri Sudesh Borkar later proposed vote of thanks.

Panaji : February 14, 2016 … The Department of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs has informed all the ration card holders that 3.5 litres of  Kerosene per ration card holder without LPG Connection will be distributed during the month of  Feb 2016.

All the cardholders who are not having LPG connection are therefore requested to draw their Kerosene quota as above from their respective retailers, whom their cards are attached.

Complaints, if any, in case of non-supply/ short supply of  Kerosene, over charging etc. may please be addressed to the Director of Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, 1^st Lift, 2^nd Floor, Junta House, Panaji, Goa- 403 001. Complaints may also be lodged/ registered through e-mail at dir-csca.goa@nic.in, or adi-csca.goa@nic.in or lodged on Helpline No.1967 or 18002330022 or at respective Taluka Civil Supplies office.

Panaji:  February 13, 2016 …. Agriculture should be considered as an enterprise asserted Chief Minister, Shri Laxmikant Parsekar and urged the educated youths to take to farming in a big way.

 Speaking at the day-long State Level Conference for farmers and entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector on the theme “Value Addition in Agriculture for better Marketing” organized by Directorate of Agriculture at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao today, Shri Parsekar urged the agriculturists to acquire the required knowledge and expertise to increase the durability, adding value apart from fetching high returns to their produce.

 Shri Parsekar stressed the need to make optimum use of the mechanized and hi-tech technical know-how for a higher yield and to get high returns from the produce.

 The Chief Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to bring more land under agriculture and provide the necessary impetus to the activity by providing the required support, be it financial assistance, technical know-how, support prices to various crops/fruits.  These initiatives are to ensure that agriculture is carried out in a sustained manner, he remarked.

 The Union MoS, Shri Mohan Bhai Kundariya speaking on the occasion underscored the need and importance to go for organic farming and pointed out the adverse effects on humanities of fertilizer and pesticides.

 Emphasizing the need to have krishi melas to educated and to make the farmers aware of the latest technological advances in the sector to enable them to get a higher yield and to add value to their produce to earn more returns the Union MoS said all initiatives of encouraging and motivating the farmers should be carried out at the place of the actual activity.

 Shri Kundariya also specially thanked the people of Goa for their wholehearted support, generous contribution and helping hand provided by adopting a village in his hometown in Gujarat during the 2001 earthquake.

 Minister for Agriculture, Shri Ramesh Tawadkar speaking on the occasion said that the agricultural sector has the potential to provide gainful employment opportunity to 8-10 thousand youths.  Youths should look to agriculture as an industry and take to agriculture, he added.

 He said government is making all efforts in the direction of making Goa self-reliant for all its vegetable and flower requirements.  Goa, he said, has for the first exported around 17 tons of chillies to the neighbouring state of Belgavi.

He urged the farmers to take maximum benefits of this day-long conference to learn the concept of adding value and marketing their produce to increase their margin of profit. This Government has provided the required impetus to agriculture, he remarked.

 Shri M.P. Singh, Director, ICAR also spoke on the occasion.

 Earlier, the Union MoS for Agriculture, Shri Mohan Bhai Kundariya launched the web portal of the Agriculture Department wherein all the activities and service related forms be submitted including effecting payments online.  Presently 11 services are made online while the other 60 services will be made in line at the earliest.

 Shri Satyawan Dessai presented a representation to Shri Kundariya on three specific demands, i.e to increase the funding pattern to 90:10; permission to utilize the amount given to procure the laboratory equipment for the building as well as procuring equipment within the allocated amount and increasing the project cost funding to 100% under RIY.

 Shri Ulhas B. Kakode, Director of Agriculture welcomed while Shri Nelson Figueiredo, Dy. Director proposed the vote of thanks.

 Top Scientists from ICAR, experts in the field of agriculture will guide and provide the required expertise to the farmers along with interactive session on the theme.

February 10, 2016 … Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Health  Shri  Francisco Dsouza will launch National Deworming Day on February 10, 2016 at 9:00 am  by administering the Albendazole tablets to student at Saraswat Vidyalaya High School, Telangnagar- Khorlim Mapusa.

Panaji, February 9, 2016 …. Australian Marathon runner and former Sports and Education  Minister, Pat Farmer, arrived in Goa at Polem and was accorded a grand welcome.

             Shri Farmer was received by Minister for Sports Shri Ramesh  Tawadkar, Director of Tourism Shri Saneev Gauns Dessai, OSD to  Director Tourism Shri Brijesh Manerkar. Large number of school students were also present to welcome him at the Pollem Border. He  was bought in a procession, accompanied by students of schools in Canacona.

            He is carrying on with his ‘Spirit of India Run’ started from Kanyakumari on January 26, to Himalayas, covering a distance about  4,600 km in 60 days.

Panaji: February 8,2016 …. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Director of Fire & Emergency Services , Shri Ashok Menon, Director of Education, Shri Gajanan P. Bhat, and Shri R. A. Venkitachalam, Vice President–Public Safety Mission, Underwriter Laboratories (India) in the presence of Chief Secretary, Shri R.K. Srivastava, I.A.S.,  today at Secretariat.

           As a part of raising the Fire Safety Awareness in Primary School in the State of Goa the “Safer School Safer India” Programme was unveiled by Chief Minister, Shri Laxmikant Parsekar recently.  

 The concept of ‘Safer School Safer India’ envisages building a safer India, to safe guard children and teach them how to stay safe.  The objective of this campaign is to enhance the awareness level of Primary School Children and through them the families on Safety Culture.

             The approach is to include Fire Safety Education as part of the school curriculum, with  one period a week dedicated for this purpose.  The Training module is designed to create interest in children at primary level and involve them in activities which will lead to Fire Prevention and Fire Safety learning.

 In the Phase I,  46 Primary School Teachers from 27 Schools of Tiswadi Taluka i.e. Mushtifund English Primary School, Nr. Mahalaxmi Temple, Panaji, Our Lady of Rosary Primary School, Dona Paula, Dr. K.B. Hedgewar Primary School, Bambolim, Sunshine Worldwide School, Baiguinim, Old Goa, Old Goa Educational Institute, Nandavan Primary School, Old Goa, St. Xavier Academy, Old Goa, Shri Saraswati High Shcol, St.Estevem, Santa Cruz Primary School, Santa Cruz, St. Tereza High School, St.Estevem, St. Lawrence High School, Agassaim, Madkaikar Navchaitanya High School, Corlim, St. Andrew’s High School, Goa Velha, St. Alousious High School, Piedade, Deewar, Jesus & Mary Sarvajanic High School, Carambolim, St. Bartholamew High School, Chorao, Sharada Mandir, Miramar, Bal Bharati Vidyamandir, Primary Section, Raibandar, Immaculate Heart of Jesus High School, Goa Velha, People’s High School, Mala, Panaji, Anjuman Nurul Islam High School, Panaji, Mary Immaculate Girls High School, Panaji, Don Bosco High School, Panaji Auxilium Primary School, Caranzalem, Santo Minguel Pre-Primary & Primary School, Taleigao, Our Lady of Merces School, Primary Section, Merces, Dayanand High School, Chorao and The Rosary School, 16-La Campala, Miramar,  were taken up for the ‘Training of Trainers’  Programme. 

Panaji: February 7, 2016 … The District Magistrate, North Goa under Section 144 of the code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 has passed an order for strict compliance on the owners of Cyber Cafes and other such Establishments in North Goa District.

The said order prohibits the use of Cyber Café by unknown person and whose identity has not been established by the owner of the Café;  maintaining a register for identity of the visitor/user; making an entry in the handwriting of the visitor/user mentioning name, address, telephone number and identity proof.  The visitor/user shall also sign the register kept for this purpose;  the identity of the visitor/user shall be established through Government Identity card only like Voter Card, Driving license, Passport etc.; activity server log should be preserved in main server and its record should preserved for at least six months; if any activity of the visitor is of suspicious nature, the owner of CyberCafé shall immediately inform the Police Station; records should be maintained about the specific computer used by each visitor/ person.

This order shall come into force with effect from February 6, 2016  and shall be effective for a period of 60 days that is upto April 5, 2016 (both days inclusive) unless withdrawn earlier.

            Any person contravening this order shall be punishable under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.