07-05-2013 … In a way to protest against the withdrawal of six per cent transaction fee in air tickets by all the airlines in the country Travel agents all over India on Tuesday close down their establishments which were also supported by some of the travel agents in goa …

The fee withdrawal is the result of the Supreme Court order where in travel agents expect the civil aviation ministry to work out a solution, following the token strike and however, if the deadlock still persists then the agents have decided not to sell tickets for 18 June …

According to the Travel Agents’ Association Travel agents sell almost 80 to 85 of tickets of over 1000 flights operating on domestic routes.

Speaking to goanreporter past chairman of travel agents association of india goa chapter nilesh shah said they were fighting for the commission that had been stopped given by airlines while some domestic airlines have reduced their commission given to agents

Shah said he failed to understand if they were any product in the world sold without any commission given to its agents

With no action coming forth from the asi authorities in goa The parishioners of st see cathedral parish situated at old goa has raised concerns over the ancient old paintings that having gone missing in the various chapels and altars in the Se-cathedral church of old goa in the last few months

It may be noted that the parishioners led by its parish priest fr leonard corriea in a letter on 1st of February 2013 written to dr shivanand rao superintending archeologist of asi goa circle had brought to the notice of the asi officials that many paintings were missing in the various chapels and altars in the  Se-cathedral church which were been removed by the asi authorities without informing the church authorities

The letter which has also been addressed to his grace rev Felipe neri ferrao, along with fr joseph salema of pastoral institute and fr santumino dias of see cathedral informs about several difficulties faced by the parishioners of old goa who have mentioned that no proper inventory of religious articles, holy pictures, furniture’s, fictures, paintings etc were being maintained by asi and church authorities and that there was no proper coordination maintained between the asi and church authorities whenever such paintings, anti crafts, religious items are removed for restoration

The altar of our lady of good hope and other in the se cathedral are in a dilapidated condition for the past several months and no restoration work whatsoever has been initiated in spite of several oral requests and reminders on the ground that no budgetary provision have yet been made

  While we appreciate the demolition of the rooms near the see cathedral the shed behind the museum still remains and the parishioners would like to draw the attention against the conversion of the arches of st Francis of Assisi church in to rooms provided for accommodation to the asi staff

The parishioner’s have brought to the notice of the asi in the past that there have been serious instances where huge pieces of plaster and stone have collapsed from the ceiling of blessed sacrament chapel in the see-cathedral during the religious services thereby rendering the chapel unsafe to conduct religious services and the same has not been attended yet

Meanwhile speaking over the phone on the issue of the letter written dr shivanand rao superintending archeologist of asi goa circle said that he was not aware of any letter that had been written to his office till date and since he was out of the station once come back would find out the details and take would take necessary action on it

05-05-2013 … With no action coming forth from the asi authorities in goa The parishioners of st see cathedral parish situated at old goa has raised apprehensions and concerns over the ancient old paintings that having gone missing in the various chapels and altars in the Se-cathedral church of old goa in the last few months …

 It may be noted that the parishioners led by its parish priest fr leonard corriea in a letter on 1^st of February 2013 written to dr shivanand rao superintending archeologist of asi goa circle had brought to the notice of the asi officials that many paintings were missing in the various chapels and altars in the

Se-cathedral church which were been removed by the asi authorities without informing the church authorities

 Speaking to goanreporter one of the parishioner said “it’s just only another eighteen months left for the exposition of the relics of st francis Xavier to begin here and the asi officials are least bothered to take a note of the issues which we have brought to their notice and now we the parishoner’s of old goa are concerned as how things would work out for the 2014 exposition if such type of issues are there to be solved”

 The letter which has also been addressed to his grace rev Felipe neri ferrao, along with fr joseph salema of pastoral institute and fr santumino dias of see cathedral informs about several difficulties faced by the parishioners of old goa who have mentioned that no proper inventory of religious articles, holy pictures, furniture’s, fictures, paintings etc were being maintained by asi and church authorities and that there was no proper coordination maintained between the asi and church authorities whenever such paintings, anti crafts, religious items are removed for restoration 

 The altar of our lady of good hope and other in the se cathedral are in a dilapidated condition for the past several moths and no restoration work whatsoever has been initiated in spite of several oral requests and reminders on the ground that no budgetary provision have yet been made

 While we appreciate the demolition of the rooms near the see cathedral the shed behind the museum still remains and the parishioners would like to draw the attention against the conversion of the arches of st Francis of Assisi church in to rooms provided for accommodation to the asi staff

 The parishioner’s have brought to the notice of the asi in the past that there have been serious instances where huge pieces of plaster and stone have collapsed from the ceiling of blessed sacrament chapel in the see-cathedral during the religious services thereby rendering the chapel unsafe to conduct religious services and the same has not been attended yet

 The asi has also built structures near the cemetery which was initially used to store construction material but is now being used to park their staff vehicles while the compound wall around the cathedral is incomplete starting from the public toilets behind the cathedral to the chapel of st Catherine

 The security employed by the asi is a waste of taxpayer’s money as they fail to maintain the decorum and sanctity of the complex as it is noticed that gardens are used for unlawful activities such as smoking and consumption of alcohol etc and the security staff creates hurdles for the parishioners when they seek to enter the premises for prayers or meetings with the parish priest

04-05-2013 … The state congress party has written to the comptroller and auditor general of india asking for an immediate inquiry and audit in to the misuse and diversion of central funds done by the government of goa  ..

 In a letter written to the cag office in new delhi on 22^nd of april last month congress spokesperson sudip tamankar had mentioned that eve after being in financial crisis the present bjp led government has misused and diverse the finances received from the planning commission which had adversely affected the development of the state

Stating that huge funds from the state government treasury were spent lavishly during the iffi festival Tamankar has also charged the departments of transport, pwd and idc as some of the major corruption departments during the present tenure of bjp led government

04-05-2013 … In a bit to oppose the state government idea of setting up an ultra modern mix garbage plant coming up at old goa the old goa village panchayat on Sunday decided to hold up a Special meet on 26th of may for the villagers of old goa to discuss the issue of the garbage treatment plant coming up at baigunim in old goa

 The decision was taken at the old goa village panchayat special gram sabha meet on last Sunday where

in sarpanch vishal volvoikar informed the gram sabha members about the village panchayat not receiving any intimation from the state government on the issue of setting up an ultra modern mix garbage treatment plant till date …

The issue was brought up at the gram sabha meet by a local village siddesh naik and son of north goa mp shripad naik who in his proposal asked the village panchayat at the gram sabha meet as what stand the village panchayat had taken over the baigunim issue when the locals had opposed the baigunim garbage treatment plant tooth and nail and still then the state government had gone and announced about their decision of setting up a mix garbage treatment plant …

Sarpanch volvoikar also informed about the village panchayat taking a resolution for asking the state government to invite pope francis for the 2014 exposition at old goa …

03-05-2013 … As a part of its corporate social responsibilities Syngenta Santa Monica Works on Tuesday distributed supplementary food packets to 45 tuberculosis patients from Corlim, Mangado and Carambolim at the primary health centre in corlim village.

 Cumbarjua mla pandurang madkaikar was the chief guest for the function along with manager of corporate social responsibility manager sakharam borkar, Andrew dsouza, medical officer corlim primary heatlh centre dr kedar raikar and others ..

 Speaking on the occasion cumbarjua mla pandurang madkaikar applauded the various programmes conducted by the state health department for tb patients due to which a number of tb cases had decreased in to the village of corlim and surrounding areas

Manager of corporate social responsibilities sygenta sakharam borkar said that sygenta in association with the primary health centre corlim were conducting many health programmes for the villagers of corlim and surrounding areas which were important for a common person in their day to day life

02-05-2013 … The gram sabha of corlim village panchayat has now decided to appoint village volunteers to keep an eye of those people trying to throw garbage along the side of the village roads and also to act strict on on sand trucks entering inside the village jurisdiction

 The decision which was taken at the recent held gram sabha meet where in the gram sabha members were of the opinion that locals were facing a threat to their life due to sand trucks passing from the village jurisdiction to other places and therefore demanded to immediately stop sand trucks from passing inside the village areas

Addressing the gram sabha members acting sarpanch victor Pereira said that the garbage collection drive which was started by the village panchayat was running successfully and were now in the process of putting up pits in all the seven wards of the village panchayats if the villagers permitted to do so

 Victor asked the gram sabha members to form a village level monitoring committee so as to keep a check on sand trucks entering inside the village as well as on those outsiders trying to thow garbage in plastic bags inside the village roads

 Meanwhile Secretary of corlim village panchayat oswin mascarenhas said that since there was a major power problem in the village area the panchayat had resolved to write to the electricity department for allotting more transformers for the village panchayat

01-05-13 … Stating that the church at old goa as well its surrounding locals were kept in dark over the nh4a expansion work Church authorities of the basilica of bom jesus church at old goa on Tuesday raised concerns over the state government proposal of expansion of the nh4a from panaji to old goa road alleging that the expansion plan was done for the purpose of builder’s lobby so to open up the jungles located on both sides of the old goa-kadamba highway road …

It may be noted that the pwd minister sudhin dhavlikar had recently informed the state legislative assembly that the state government was in the process of preparing a detailed project report on the widening of the Old Goa-Panaji road with a dedicated lane for two wheelers after which the government were to float a tenders mentioning that the work on NH4A widening was to start in start in small stretches.

Speaking to goanreproter rector of basilica of bom jesus fr savio baretto said “the main problem today here is that a lot of secrecy is going on the issue of the nh4a highway expansion as everyone want to know as from which side the highway is coming but for a sure we do not know till date as what are the plans of the state government on the nh4a highway expansion along the old goa side road and since old goa is a world heritage site there are certain rules which the state government has to follow as one cannot have a highway coming within the 300 meters of the world heritage monument due to which I feel that the government should take in such consideration but presently there are certain things which are being done here so that areas which are not accessible now specially the jungles along the old goa-kadamba highway are being opened up for the builders in the pretext of the highway expansion due to which I feel that it is the building lobby which are interested in making this highway road so that the whole area along the kadamba side in old goa could be an urban paradise and this is the secretive motive behind all this

Fr baretto said “ we have to know as what is going on and therefore the state government should put up the complete information on the internet, conduct meetings with the locals, take the panchayat, gram sabha, the church, asi, people in general ig to confidence as old goa is not only of gram sabhas of old goa but it’s the concern of whole goa and inform them as what is going on here as we want old goa to be like panjim city or should we maintain the separate identity of old goa and therefore I do feel that we do require a master plan for old goa which is a necessity at the moment

Fr baretto also stated that “there had to be more transparency on what is happening in old goa as  the main problem is here that I myself is not sure of what is happening here and my problem with this highway expansion is who would benefit from this and the main problem here is that people come to me and keep on asking me as father what is going on and then I myself tell them that I only don’t know as what is going on and why this highway is passing through old goa side and therefore I fell that the public can take a decision only when we know things and things are put up in open

30-04-13 … Facing a huge shortage of drinking water for the past ten years Locals from keri priol on Tuesday met the chief minister manohar parrikar asking to lay a water pipe line to their keri village in ponda constituency …

 More than forty locals from keri area on Tuesday assembles in front of the assembly gate at porvorim and later met the chief minister with their grievances and asking to lay a water pipeline from pachme to keri village from opa water treatment plant …

 Speaking to goanreporter former sarpanch of keri village panchayat rohidas kerkar said the issue of keri village has been going on for the past ten years where in locals from his village have been facing a major problem of drinking water and therefore had come in front of the chief minister asking to lay a water pipe line for drinking purpose in their village

29-04-13 …. The strike called on by the Goa Hotel and Restaurant Association received a good response with over 90 percent of establishment remaining close in support of the one day strike called on by Hotel and Restaurant Associations across India for shutting down the establishments in protest against service tax imposed on the hospitality industry.

 Most of the hotels and restaurants in the capital city were noticed close throughout the day the hotel and Restaurant Associations across India and Goa, decided to close down their Establishments to protest against the newly imposed levy of Service Tax on sale of Food in all air -conditioned restaurants including partly air-conditioned.

 Goa presently has more than 4000 restaurants and hotels located with various places of the state

 Service Tax was first imposed on banquets, thereafter on air-conditioned restaurants serving liquor and now proposed to be imposed on all restaurants with air- conditioning including partly air-conditioned.

Speaking to media reporters president of Hotels and Restaurants Association, Goa gaurish dhond said that the central government imposed service tax specially on the smaller hotels would put up an additional burden of five percent tax which would be put on a guest entering the hotel or a restaurant when there is already a vat of the state government

 Dhond said if the service tax was implemented by the central government then every customer would have to shell out five percent more from his pocket