The Voice of Goa Since 1900

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JAN 1

Even as the political crisis withinthe State Nationalist CongressParty enters into the New Year,chief spokesperson of the partyTrajano DMello on Saturday saidhe feels that Cong-NCP alliancewill continue and there will beno problem whatsoever.

Answering questions by themedia on the alliance on thesidelines of a private function,DMello said non-inclusion ofthe Benaulim legislator MickkyPacheco into the State cabinetas per the demand of NCPs highcommand was no reason for thealliance to break.

When questioned further whyhe felt so, the spokesperson an-swered, The Goa Tourism De-velopment Corporation is withthe NCP by virtue of the Tourism

Ministry being with us. But theCongress never gave it to us.Did the alliance break over this?No.

Again, he elaborated, whenDr Carmo Pegado was the actingpresident of the NCP, the deputychairmanship of the PlanningCommission was supposed tobe given to him. The Congress

never gave this too, but the al-liance remained, he observed.

He explained the same hap-pened with the North Goa Plan-ning and Development Authoritywh i ch was w i th N i l kan tHalarnkar. After he became thetourism minister, it was givento someone else and not to any-one from the NCP, he mentioned.

He said by virtue of the al-liance many of the NCP leaderswere supposed to be placed asdirectors of boards of many cor-porations. Till date nothing hashappened, but has the alliancebroken, he questioned.

DMello said he was of theview that the high commandsof both parties will make a rec-onciliatory effort to sort outpending issues, including theinclusion of Mickky Pacheco intothe State cabinet.

Goas Heartbeat: Emraan Hashmi bowled over by Shruti Pg 4

Sports: Sreesanth cautionedby Dhoni Pg 16

Goa: 9 held for kidnapping Khareband resident Pg 3

IN BRIEF

(Continued on page 2)

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PTI

NEW DELHI, JAN 1

Within two months of takingcharge, Communications and ITMinister Kapil Sibal today setabout putting his house in orderby announcing work on a newtelecom policy for greater trans-parency, tackling cyber crimeand leveraging the vast postalnetwork for rural services.

Sibal, who was given chargeof the ministry after A Raja re-signed over allegations of a scamin 2G spectrum allocation, saidthat a new and comprehensiveNational Telecom Policy 2011will be formulated and wouldspell out clear and transparentguidelines.

Eleven years have passedsince NTP99 and many changeshave taken place thereafter. Ac-tion will be initiated to formu-late a comprehensive NTP2011, the minister told re-porters after releasing the 100-day agenda for his ministry.

He, however, did not elabo-rate if changes would be madeto the existing NTP99 policy inrespect of allocation of spectrumon the basis of first-come first-served. Sources, however, saidthat revenue share would con-tinue to be the regime for pay-ment of licence fee by operators.

The Department of Telecom(DoT) will hold consultationswith key stakeholders to evolve

a clear and transparent regimecovering licencing, spectrum al-location, tariffs/pricing, linkagewith roll-out performance, spec-trum sharing, trading and merg-ers and acquisition.

The announcement comeson the heels of the controversysurrounding the allocation of2G spectrum in 2008 at 2001 prices.

On the increasing complaintsover pesky calls from telemar-keters, he said regulator TRAIsrecommendations on ending thenuisance would come into effectfrom February 1.

For the Department of Post,Sibal has plans to collaboratewith leading banks to providecards (on the line of credit cards)to rural people in order to fa-cilitate non-cash based transac-tions for purchase of productsand services.

The card White label Pre-paid Cards will come withpre-determined cash value andcould be operated at merchantlocations, ATMs and designatedpost offices subject to approvalby the RBI.

New telecomplan on theanvil: Sibal

Alliance with Cong will be intact: NCP

The Goa TourismDevelopmentCorporation is withthe NCP by virtue ofthe Tourism Ministrybeing with us. But theCongress never gaveit to us. Did thealliance break overthis? No.

RAUL FERNANDES

The new year has dawned.And while I extend the tra-ditional greeting of Happy NewYear with a fond wish of 2011being great for all those wholove Goa, we should realise thatthe future really is in our hands.

The wish of a great year aheadand a great future thereafter isactually a choice that we needto make and undertake and nota wish which will drop from upabove. And the biggest choicewe need to make is picking theright men and women to sendto the Goa assembly in the nextelections. 2011 will clearly be a

watershed year when the count-down to the assembly elections

begins. E lec t ions a re a l l about

choices. But this time we do nothave a choice. We cannot sit onthe fence and reserve thatchoice till the end. We needhonest, hardworking, simple,non-manipulative candidates ir-respective on which party sym-bol he or she contests from. Andthis is where we have no choice.

We either select the rightpeople or embrace jungle raj.Let us look beyond the currentcrop and throw up a shorlist ofcandidates who will really servefrom each constituency. As oneof our esteemed letter writershad suggested in response to

Elect right, or face jungle raj

RAUL FERNANDES

Herald is Goas oldest, largest circulated and most respectednewspaper. It has always held the interests of this Stateand its people closest to its heart. Its readers know this, andrely on Herald for accurate news and balanced views.

As Editor-in-Chief of Herald, I would like to assure the peopleof Goa, that the Editor of Herald, Ashwin Tombat, is not goinganywhere. He remains in charge of the newspaper and respon-sible for its contents under the Press and Registration of Books(PRB) Act. It is true that Sujay Gupta will be joining Herald, aseditor of its forthcoming weekend editions, to be publishedon Saturdays and Sundays, starting Saturday 5 February andSunday 6 February. On other days of the week Mondays toFridays, Ashwin Tombat remains in charge.

Herald is always trying to give greater value to its readers,who are this newspaper greatest asset. The weekend editionsare one such effort. We are sure that they will be a hit with oneand all. The daily newspaper will continue to reflect the concernsand issues, worries and joys, of the ordinary Goan. Herald isthe peoples newspaper, and it will always stay that way. Thatis my eternal assurance to my readers.

Herald is poised to have a great new year, and we trust thatall of you will too. Happy New Year!

The more we change,the more we stay

the same

Deadly NewYears Dayfor sevenHERALD NEWS BUREAU

PANJIM, JAN 1

Seven persons lost their lives inthree different mishaps on NewYears Day.

MARCEL CORRESPONDENTADDS: Three youth died on thespot on New Years Day, whenthe two-wheeler on which theywere travelling rammed into astationary truck along the high-way near the Banastarim bridgeat Bhoma.

Ponda police has identifiedtwo of the deceased as Surad-hish Natekar of Divar, ManoharPatil, a native of Khanapur-Bel-gaum and a resident of Old Goa.The third deceased is yet to beidentified.

The mishap took place atabout 3 am, when the the threeyouth were travelling on a mo-torcycle (GA-07-D-1309) fromPonda towards Old Goa.

When they reached Bhoma,the motorcycle rammed into therear of a truck (KA-16-A-7436)along the route.

PORVORIM CORRESPON-DENT ADDS: A trip to beautifya bride ended in tragedy on NewYears day when a 21-year-oldbeautician from Revora waskilled in a road mishap atGuirim.

Five other persons were alsoinjured in the mishap.

According to Mapusa police,Kirti Bhalchandra Chodankerwas proceeding in a car (GA-06-A-1017) towards Guirim to beau-tify a bride.

At Pestacho Wado nearGuirim, Chodankar stopped her

Visit us at:www.oheraldo.in panjim, sunDaY, januaRY 2, 2011 postal Reg. no. Goa 101 pRiCE Rs. 3.00 (air surcharge Rs 2.00) pages 16 + 4

Headley wasa spy for ISI LeT operative David Headley,who scouted targets inMumbai for 26/11 attacks,was a Pakistani spy workingfor ISI, whose chief Lt GenAhmed Shuja Pasha was pos-sibly aware of the plot tostrike Indias financial hub,claims an investigative newsreport.In essence, US and Indianofficials say, Headley wasmore than a terrorist: Heserved as a Pakistani spy,investigative Americanjournalist Sebastian Rotellawrote in ProPublica.Com. (PTI)

OHERALDOS U N D A Y

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GOAOHERALD

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Pg2GOA, SUNDAY, 2 JANUARY, 2011

More oBituaries on Page 10

froM Page 1Elect right, or face jungle rajmy earlier editorial, monitoring committees should be in placein each ward to look at the work of MLAs. On this note, I callupon voters of every constituency to have a committee toselect a long-list and finally prune it down to a shortlist of can-didates. Forget the party symbols. Let this be a vote for honestyand whichever party can get 21 honest men elected, shouldrule Goa.

Reject shrewd and cunning candidates who use the platform ofchurches, temples and mosques, make their enemies their bestfriends, keep the concerned priest happy, give the people in needmoney, visit the sick, stop the cars to wish those for whom theyhave no love lost, volunteer to build your roof, mend your heartand stock your kitchen. Beware of this falsehood. Because whilethey transfer their money to Swiss bank accounts, Goans wait forthem to transfer their hollow words into deeds, which never hap-pen.

When we reject these candidates and elect clean ones, eachone of us will get our own rights of getting basic amenitieslike shelter, power and other necessities by approaching theconcerned departments and not by begging ministers whomwe have elected.

We should be in a position to demand our work from the con-cerned department and if not done bring down the concernedminister by agitating against him. Do they want ten thousandpeople in front of their door to implement work they should bedoing in any case? If that is needed, so be it. But for people to dothis, they first need to elect honest people and demand account-ability.

2010 was a year of national scams. The spectrum scam baffledall of us for its sheer extent, but it was the onion scam (the

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

CORTALIM, JAN 1

Displaying of banners, cardboards with messages and pic-tures of politicians, is a commonsight during the festival season.

Cortal im assembly con-stituency too had its share ofpoliticians including its MLAMauvin Godinho greeting peo-ple on Christmas. But what hasstruck the peoples eye is thebanners displaying BJP leaderswith a local Panch Anthony Vazin Cortalim constituency.

While rumours are rife thatBJP would field its candidate inthe coming hustings after havinglent support to Matanhy Sal-danha in the last election, whathas perplexed the voters iswhether BJP would field Vaz onlyto give a back door entry forSaldanha.

Admittedly one of the reasonsfor Godinhos defeat in 2002 elec-tions was the anti-incumbencywave. Other reason which alsocontributed to his defeat, was thelarge chunk of Godinhos vote es-pecially the ST community whichwas polled by Vaz who belongsto the ST community. Vaz polledaround 4700 votes in the 2002

elections.In fact, the BJP as a gratitude

to Saldanha for his unflinchingsupport to the saffron party hadnot fielded a candidate in Cor-talim constituency and went allout to support Saldanha. Butdespite the BJPs support andbeing a sitting MLA having astint as minister as well in theBJP-led government, Saldanhalost the elections.

Saldanha who is habituatedin contesting elections is likelyto try his luck for this comingelection also, given the fact thatthe constituency has been de-

limitated with Bogmalo and Chi-calim panchayats forming partof newly carved Dabolim con-stituency. However, his base inother parts of the constituencyis also not all that good giventhe fact Jose M Furtado, the ZPcandidate to whom he pledgedsupport lost even in his strong-hold of Ramponkar-dominatedDando in Pale-Velsao.

Vaz who is also a sitting panchwhen contacted said that he hasbeen told by the State top partybrass to start activities in theconstituency.

I have been told to begin

movement in the constituency,although there has been no talkon the question of contestingelection, Vaz told Herald.

Vaz was however not com-mittal on his stand if the partydenied him a ticket.

State BJP President LaxmikantParsekar however was not an-swering his cell phone whencontacted for comments.

What could make a major dif-ference this time around isMickky Pachecos threat to goin a big way and even field can-didates in all 40 constituencies.

While his plans to field can-didates in all constituencieswould be illusionary, the factremains that he has made animpact in Cortalim constituencyhaving total control overCansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim Pan-chayat.

But despite Mickkys holdover the panchayat, Mauvinsvictorious candidate CynthiaDSilva who although hails fromCortalim polled significant num-bers o f votes in a reas o fCansaulim panchayat, therebyindicating that mere hold overpanchayats would not necessar-ily translate into votes.

Will BJP strike deal with Matanhy in Cortalim?

Banner displaying photos of BJP leaders Manohar Parrikar, ShripadNaik and Anthony Vaz at Church Street, Cortalim.

Photo by Alvaro Colaco

huge price rise is nothing but a scam) which hit every kitchenand brought tears to my eyes. But while Goa did not have asingle one that matched the spectrum scam for its degree, therot of corruption has set in every core of Goas business andin every pore of most politicians. Every rule is broken andevery law purchased.

Governance is a wholesale business which needs to betaken from the market and put back into the hands of thepeople.

Meanwhile, even as we do all this, we should also look at thecore of our existence. Our Goan identity, our roots and our culture.Much of our heritage is synonymous with the Portuguese rule. Itsbuildings, its monuments, its churches are Goas treasures. Thosewho seek to destroy this should be crushed. Our alliance remainswith the State of India and we proudly call ourselves Indian, butthe heritage of the past, reflected in the Latin quarter of Fontainhas,preserved as a heritage zone has to be protected. If this is destroyedand replaced by multi-storeyed buildings, will you call it nation-alism?

Our culture also includes our festivals and our customs.Goas traditional dances have stopped, music is no longerplayed at night and those who still try and maintain a bit ofthis beautiful tradition do it behind closed doors. Yes root outevils, but do not root out our culture in the garb of rooting outevils.

The traditional sport of bull fighting, enjoyed over the ages hasbeen sought to be banned. To my view, it should be brought backand politicians who have promised this should make good theirpromise or be held accountable.

Importantly, all the above aspects-culture, identity, heritage andcustoms are linked to tourism, because these are very facets thatattract people to Goa.

But tourism needs to go beyond haphazard developmentand crowding the beaches. While chaos reigns in thenorthern belt, the beautiful hinterland of Goa is not seen.Goas hinterland needs to be showcased for a more completeview of the land.

At the same time, infrastructure needs to be augmented torealize the potential of tourism and industry. One of this is rede-veloping a crucial mode of transportation- through the rivernetwork. This network should be used for the transportation ofgoods leading to better services. At the same time various scenicspots along the river banks can be used to set up cafes and smallguest houses to further boost tourism. I saw this on a trip toVenice. Its the finest example of how inland waterways are usedfor both tourism and trade.

Finally, before I conclude, I have a message for the ChiefMinister. Please get a hold of your government and functioning.Punish the guilty, but do not use your police and law and ordermachinery to settle personal scores. And a Chief Minister whosays that he does not look after the Home Department whenquestioned on any issue related to it should become a depart-mental minister. Our CM should instill a culture of accountabilitywhich he has failed to do. A CM who does not hold his ministersaccountable should go. If governance is a collective responsibility,he is the first among equals.

But fear not. It is in our hands now. We have the capacity togovern and take charge of our own destinies and this time we willget it right. WE HAVE TO GET IT RIGHT.

Deadly New Years Day car by the side of the highway to pick up her assistant.

Around that time, the driver of a car (GA-01-E-3957), proceedingfrom Panjim towards Mapusa, lost control of his vehicle and hitthe stationary car (GA-06-A-1017) and another stationary bus (MH-07-C-7077).

The impact of the crash was so severe that the rear portion ofthe car (GA-06-A-1017) was smashed completely and Chodanker,who was seated on the rear seat, was grievously injured. Twoother occupants, Annapurna Kholker and Kalpit Nadkarni, mirac-ulously escaped with minor injuries.

Chodanker was rushed to the Asilo Hospital at Mapusa, butwas declared dead on admission.

The driver of the car (GA-01-E-3957) Shounak Pai and two oc-cupants, Sanjeet Gupta and L Braganza, who sustained injuries,are undergoing treatment at Asilo Hospital. Police has registeredan offence against Shounak Pai on charges of rash and negligentdriving.

BELGAUM CORRESPONDENT ADDS: A New Years party in Goacame to a tragic end for three youth from Belgaum, when theylost their lives in the wee hours of Saturday.

According to police reports, Shanki Shantilal Porwal (23), MehulPrakash Porwal (25) and Dheeresh Anand Khoda(24) were returningto Belgaum from Goa, reportedly after attending a late night NewYear party there.

The Chevrolet Optra car (KA-22-MD-18) rammed into a culvertwall along the Belgaum-Vengurla Road near Sulga, about 8 kmsfrom Belgaum at around 5.30 am killing all the three youngsters.

Police Inspector Viswanath Kulkarni of Belgaum Rural policestation told Herald that the youth lost control of the car due toover speeding and drowsiness.

GOAOHERALD

OPg3

GOA, SUNDAY, 2 JANUARY, 2011

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JAN 1

Margao police have arrestednine persons in connection withthe complaint of kidnappinglodged by one Mohammed AsifInamdar on Saturday.

Margao PI Santosh Desai saidthe police registered the offenceof kidnapping after Asif allegedthat he was forcibly taken fromKhareband by the accused andtied to a chair on a building, be-fore being mercilessly beatenup by the accused persons.

The complaint stated that theaccused called up his uncle anddemanded a ransom of Rs onelakh for his release.

This appears to be the caseof technical kidnapping. The ac-cused persons have contendedthat the complainant allegedlyowes them money amountingto Rs one lakh when he wasworking in their shop. But, thathas not given them any right tomercilessly assault the victim,PI Desai said.

He informed that the accused

9 held for kidnapping Khareband resident

The victim convalescing at the Hospicio Hospital, Margao. Photo by Santosh Mirajkar

was working in a cell phoneshop owned by the accused andhad had left the establishmentto take up a job in another shop.The victims uncle told newsmenat Hospicio that the shop ownerhas called Mohammed back forwork in the establishment,which was turned down, antag-

onising the owner.The accused has contended

that the victim has left the es-tablishment as he owed themoney, PI Desai said, addingthat this has not given the ac-cused the right to forcibly takethe victim and assault him tohand over the money.

Pune tourist attacked

at CandolimHERALD CORRESPONDENT

CALANGUTE, JAN 1

A tourist from Pune was bru-tally attacked by two youthat Candolim on New Yearsday.

According to Calangute po-lice, the incident took placeas the tourist was proceedingin a car, while the youth werer id ing a Honda Ac t i vascooter.

The Activa scooter damagedthe side mirrors of the car, whichirritated the occupants in thecar, who chased the duo forsome distance.

An altercation then tookplace between the twogroups and the duo allegedlystabbed Prakash Pandey (32)in the back and fled from thescene.

Pandey sustained grievous in-juries and was rushed to GMChospital at Bambolim in a criticalcondition.

No arrests have been madeso f a r and PS I Na rayanChimulkar is investigating thecase.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JAN 1

The PWD will have a meeting withNHAI later next week to reviewthe road alignment of the NH-17passing through South Goa.

PWD Minister, Churchill Ale-mao said that the NH-4 align-ment has been finalised and theprocess to effect changes to theNH-17 alignment will be set inmotion later next week.

I have convened a meeting withthe PWD, NHAI and other officialsto discuss the NH-17 alignment. Themeeting will deliberate on the ap-prehensions raised by the peopleon the highway passing throughresidential areas, he said.

Saying he is committed to save thehouses and other structures of thepeople, Alemao said that the reportof the meeting will be placed beforethe MLAs for their final approval.

The government has no inten-tion to bulldoze the NH-17 proj-ect. We have received complaintsand fears from the public. Wher-ever possible, the alignment willbe changed to save the struc-tures, he assured. Referring tothe huge traffic snarls witnessedon the highways and road leading

to the coastal belt of the State onNew Years eve, Alemao said thetime has come to do a serious in-trospection on the highway. Thetime has come to widen the high-ways to meet the growing trafficrequirements. At the same time,the government is committed tosave and protect the houses ofthe citizens, he added.

Residents of Nuvem and Vernalast year came on the streetsopposing the NH-17 alignment,saying the present alignmentwould destroy the water bodies,including the River Sal.

Similarly, residents of Dan-deavaddo in Chinchinim hadbeen demanding a bypass roadfor the highway as the presentalignment would destroy resi-dential houses along the high-way. It had been the consistentargument of the residents ofDandeavaddo that they had justa few years ago shifted theirhouses to make way for the ex-isting highway and wonderedwhether the people are ex-pected to raze down theirhouses and shift their structuresevery time the highway is beingwidened by the government.

Meet to review NH-17 alignment next week

A float parades through the streets of Santa Cruz as part of the New Years serenade on Saturday. Photo by Rozario Estibeiro

2 held for molesting

minor girls HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MARCEL, JAN 1

Two men ended the old year gettingassaulted by an irate mob and ush-ered in the New Year in police lock-up, when they were arrested oncharges of molesting minor girlsfrom Khapsha-Panchawadi in Shi-roda on Friday night.

According to Ponda police,the two accused, Adolf Ro-drigues and Mohammad Christy,were arrested after locals com-plained that both were filmingvideo clips of minor girls andallegedly molested them.

According to reports, the twoaccused began recording videoclips of minor girls on their cam-era at about 9 pm. Sensing trou-ble, the girls ran home andreported the matter to their fam-ily. A group of villagers rushedto the site and confronted thetwo youth. When the accusedcould not give them a satisfac-tory explanation, an irate mobassaulted them and also dam-aged the car allegedly used bythe accused.

They were later handed overto Ponda police.

4 accused in Moti Dongor

case still at large

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JAN 1

The remaining four accused inthe Moti Dongor attack case arestill in hiding, stated Margaopolice on Saturday.

Margao PI Santosh Desai in-formed that the accused mighthave fled the State and headedtowards Mumbai as raids onpossible hideouts in the Stateproved futile.

He said the mobile phones ofthe main accused Bashir Sheikhis found switched off, addingthat information suggests thathe might have fled to Mumbai.

The Margao police have al-ready arrested four persons inthe case for attempt to murderMaqbool and others at MotiDongor earlier this week. Thefour persons are still behind thebars, even as sources said theyare expected to move for regularbail in the South Goa Sessionscourt on Monday.

Austrian nabbed for drugpeddling

HERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JAN 1

Anti Narcotic Cell (ANC) lastnight arrested a 25-year-old Aus-trian national for possessingbanned LSD tablets worth Rs 3lakh.

The raid conducted by policesub inspector Tushar Lotlikarfound that the accused OliverPinz was selling drugs near An-juna gram panchayat at around8 am.

Police said that the accusedhad arrived in Goa a month backand was staying in the coastalbelt.

The accused was producedbefore Judicial Magistrate FirstClass, Panjim today and re-manded to seven days policecustody.

HSS lab asst booked for

cheating bankHERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JAN 1

The Margao police have regis-tered a case of cheating againsta laboratory assistant employedwith the higher secondaryschool for allegedly cheating anurban cooperative bank.

Margao PI Santosh Desai in-formed that the employee ob-tained loans from the Aquem andMargao branches of the bank bysubmitting salary certificate whichdid not reflect any deductions onaccount of loan repayments.

He said the police have re-ceived two complaints againstthe lab assistant from the bankmanagers after the accusedfailed to repay the loans.

One is free to take many loans,but the deductions of loan repay-ments should reflect in the salarycertificate. This was not compliedin this instant case, PI Desai said.

Meanwhile, the Margao po-lice have registered a case ofmisappropriation against a man-ager of a city petrol pump forallegedly misappropriating Rs1.6 lakh.

HERALD NEWS BUREAU

PANJIM, JAN 1

Two persons were injured whiletwo cricketers had a lucky es-cape in two separate mishapsat Porvorim and Dabolim onNew Years Day.

PORVORIM CORRESPON-DENT ADDS: Two motorcycleriders were injured in a mishapnear the Mandovi Bridge on Sat-urday morning.

According to Porvorim police,Sushant Pal was proceeding to-wards Panjim on his motorcycle(GA-03 - J -8419 ) . When hereached near the MandoviBridge, a motorcycle rider,Dhansing Rajput, who was alsoproceeding towards Panjim onhis motorcycle (GA-07-D-0763)collided with the vehicle ofSushant Pal.

Both riders sustained injuriesand were admitted to Goa Med-ical College Hospital at Bam-bolim for treatment. ConstableVithu Subhedar is investigatingthe case.

VASCO REPORTER ADDS: Two

Duo wounded, 2 cricketers escape unhurt in mishaps

The ill-fated Santro car by the roadside near the MES College junc-tion at Dabolim. Photo by M Prabhav

cricketers miraculously escapedunhurt in a road mishap nearthe MES college junction atDabolim early Saturday morn-ing.

Speaking to Herald, Sher Ba-hadur Yadav said he along withHemant Shetgaokar, a cricketerwith Sarvodaya Royals Sanguemin the present Goa PremierLeague (GPL), were driving in aHyundai Santro car (GA-06-D-0723) towards Vasco.

Yadav is a prominent cricketerwith the Al-Fatha team, after hewas snapped by PVG WarriorMargao for a staggering Rs 4.25lakh. He is also a player in theongoing GPL.

One tyre burst and the carwent out of control and rammedinto a roadside fender. We werelucky to have escaped unhurt.However, I am fit to play in thesemi-final tomorrow againstMacvek, said Yadav.

Ktaka couple held fortheft of ornaments

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

CALANGUTE, JAN 1

The Anjuna police have arrested a couple from Karnataka oncharges of stealing gold ornaments worth Rs 3 lakh from the res-idence of Maria Mendonca, when she had gone for the midnightmass.

According to Anjuna police, the couple was employed with theMendonca family for last three years and are suspected to havecommitted the offence.

The husband-wife duo was arrested by Anjuna police based ona complaint by Maria Mendonca, who suspected their involvementin the theft of gold and other ornaments.

Anjuna police are investigating.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

SANGUEM, JAN 1

A recent circular issued by theSouth Goa Collector is expectedto greatly benefit those whohave applied for mutation ofsurvey records and whose ap-plications were kept pendinginordinately by mamlatdars andtalathis due to one reason orthe other.

In most cases, the circular islikely to put an end to all thefrequent visits otherwise madeby applicants to get to knowthe status of their mutation ap-plications.

The circular has simplified thelengthy procedure that needsto be followed in certain cases.

If the officers concerned fol-low the circular in the rightearnest, it would take barely 30days for a person to get his/hername included in Form I & XIV.

The collector was compelledto issue the circular given thenumerous complaints received

by his office regarding a delayin processing mutation cases.

The various instructions issuedin the circular have clear cut spec-ifications for the officers con-cerned to take note of the same.Additional powers have been con-ferred on the deputy collector tocomplete the mutation processand certify the mutation caseshimself in cases of delay in muta-tion process by the mamlatdar.

The circular has directed allthe mamlatdars of South Goadistrict to ensure that they directthe talathis to return all the mu-tation files back to the mamlat-dars office within two days withproper account. The circular hasalso directed the mamlatdars todispose the applications expe-ditiously.

The instructions issued in thecircular states: If the person sell-ing the property is the samewhose name is appearing in FormI & XIV, there shall be no necessityof issuance of any notice if the

seller is identifiable with a photoidentity on the instrument. In suchcases, the mamlatdar shall imme-diately certify the mutation. If thedeed is executed through Powerof Attorney than notices be issuedas is the practice.

Further, if the person sellingthe property is the heir/succes-sor of the person whose nameis appearing in Form I & XIV andreference to that effect is madein the Deed of Sale referring toDeed of Succession/Relinquish-ment/Inventory proceedings,etc. and if the seller is identifi-able with photo identity on theregistered instrument, the mam-latdar shall immediately certifythe mutation without issuanceof any notices. If required, themamlatdar may ask for indem-nity from the applicant.

In cases where proper linkis not available to establish therelation between the sellers andthe person whose name is ap-pearing in Form I & XIV, the

Collectors circular likely to benefit mutation applicantsmamlatdar shall issue noticesto persons whose names appearin Form I & XIV and follow themutation procedure. However,if the applicant produces No Ob-jection in the form of an affidavitof the persons whose names ap-pear in Form I & XIV than noticesneed not be issued. If required,the mamlatdar may call for in-demnity letter.

Pg4 GOAGOA, SUNDAY, 2 JANUARY, 2011

OHE

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Portuguese basic course PANJIM (HND): The Xavier Centre of Historical Research,

(www.xchr.in) at Alto Porvorim will organize a Portuguese BasicCourse from January 3 to March 20 from 6 pm to 8 pm on Mon-days, Wednesdays,and Fridays. For further details contact theoffice at Ph: 2417772.

Pharmashree awardsPANJIM (HND): Pharmashree Awards will be presented by

President of All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists JS Shinde, to senior members of Chemists and Druggists Asso-ciation of Goa on their completion of 100 years in pharma tradeat a function to be held on January 2 at International Centre,Dona Paula, at 10.30 am.

Museum Week from Jan 3 PANJIM (HND): Directorate of Museums will celebrate the

Museum Week 2011 from January 3 to 7. The week will be in-augurated by Chairperson of Goa State Law Commission AdvRamakant Khalap on January 3 at 11 am.

Freedom fighter and chairperson of Marg Trust of Goa Gu-runath Kelekar will be the guest of honour while Museum Sec-retary V P Rao will preside over the function. An exhibitiontitled A retrospect of living tradition of Goan folks will be or-ganized on the occasion.

On January 4, there will be a lecture by Poornima Kerkar onthe topic Loksanskrutil Stri-man at 3.30 pm. On January 5,Cosma Fernandes will deliver his lecture on Mando at 3.30pm. On January 6, Sonia Naik will give talk on Role of Museumin Tourism.

The film shows will also be arranged on January 4 to 6, from10 am to 12 noon.

On January 7, there will be a painting competition for thehigh school students of South Goa at 10.30 am. A valedictoryand prize distribution function will be organised at 3.30 pm.

Public and students are requested to visit the museum onthe occasion and participate in the programmes during theweek.

Comments or queries? Bouquets or brickbats? Talk to us!Email Junior Herald at junior@herald-goa.com or join our Facebook fan page. Our readers are invited to

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Literature and Language

Origin

The IPA wasfirst pub-lished in1888 by theAssociationPhontiqueI n t e r n a -tionale (In-ternationalPhonetic As-sociation), agroup ofFrench lan-guage teach-ers founded by PaulPassy. The aim of the or-ganisation was to devisea system for transcribingthe sounds of speechwhich was independentof any particular lan-guage and applicable toall languages. A phoneticscript for English createdin 1847 by Isaac Pitmanand Henry Ellis was usedas a model for the IPA.

Uses

The IPA is used in dic-tionaries to indicate thepronunciation of words.It has often been used asa basis for creating newwriting systems for pre-viously unwritten lan-guages.

The IPA is used in someforeign language textbooks and phrase booksto transcribe the soundsof languages which arewritten with non-Latinalphabets. It is also usedby non-native speakersof English when learningto speak English.

NATO Phonetic Alphabet

The NATO phonetic al-phabet is a list of wordsused to identify letters ina message transmitted byradio or telephone. Spo-ken words from an ap-proved list aresubstituted for letters.For example, the word"Navy" would be "No-vember Alfa Victor Yan-kee" when spelled in thephonetic alphabet. Thispractice helps to preventconfusion between simi-lar sounding letters, suchas "m" and "n", and toclarify communicationsthat may be garbled dur-ing transmission. Thewords chosen to repre-sent some letters havechanged since the pho-netic alphabet was intro-duced. When these

changes occur, they aremade by internationalagreement. The currentphonetic alphabet wasadopted in 1957.

International PhoneticAlphabet (IPA)

Letter CodeA AlfaB BravoC CharlieD DeltaE EchoF FoxtrotG GolfH HotelI IndiaJ JuliettK KiloL LimaM MikeN NovemberO OscarP PapaQ QuebecR RomeoS SierraT TangoU UniformV VictorW WhiskeyX X-rayY YankeeZ Zulu

JANuARy 2 SANVORDEM: From 9 am to 2 pm. Areas affected are Sanvordem,

Tisk, Mapa and Panchawadi and surrounding areas.

POWER SHUTDOWN

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

OLD GOA, JAN 1

Archbishop-Patriarch FelipeNeri Ferrao has appealed tothe people to give an oppor-tunity to the differently-abledpersons, so that their worthycontribution could enrich thesociety.

He was speaking at the An-nual Day of St Xaviers Acad-emy School Complex at OldGoa, where an exhibition cumsale was conducted of thehandmade articles by the dif-ferently-abled students.

The beautiful items at theexhibition by the differently-abled children is a powerfultestimony of the tremendouswealth of talents that God hasblessed them with, said Arch-bishop Ferrao.

The exhibition had severalstalls consisting of a varietyof flowers and paper bags,thermocol decoration and penstands, coconut articles, ar-borics and hard brooms, can-dles, thread and wool work,jewellery, clothing, crochet,embroider y, painting andscenery, cards and envelopes,bakery products, sweets andpickles.

There were even plants forsale along with the PTA stallswhich had several food itemsprepared by parents of the

students.Speaking on behalf of the

birthday celebrations of Fr Va-lerian Vaz, Manager of StXaviers Academy, ArchbishopFerrao said: Every child whocomes in this world comeswith a message from god. Aswe celebrate Fr Valeriansbirthday I think God is givingthis message to us that Fr Va-lerian is a witness of His com-passionate love along with acompassionate heart l ikeJesus and has his hands eager

to reach out to every one.In his speech, Fr Valerian

thanked the teaching andnon - t each ing s t a f f whocontr ibute generously tothe institution. He also ex-pressed his gratitude to theparents for reposing theirfaith in the institution forthe overall growth of theirwards.

Earlier, the school Head-mistress Sr Monica presenteda report on the achievementsof the institution. She in-

Give opportunity to differently-abled persons to showcase talent: Bishop

Manager of St Xavier Academy Fr Valerian Vaz guides Archbishop Felipe Neri Ferrao during the exhibi-tion.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JAN 1

Union Minister for MinoritiesAffairs, Salman Khurshid, visitedCongress House on Saturdayand interacted with the Con-gress workers. He was wel-comed by GPCC President

Subhash Shirodkar and appre-ciated his address at the AICCplenary in New Delhi.

Addressing the Congressworkers Salman Khurshid spokeabout the political situation inUttar Pradesh and also promisedMuslim workers that he will take

up the Kabrastan issue with theChief Minister. A delegation ofMuslims from Margao also calledupon the Union Minister anddiscussed the Kabrastan issuewith him. The programme wascompered by M K Shaikh, whoalso proposed the vote of thanks.

Khurshid assures to take up Kabrastan issue with CM

GPCC President Subhash Shirodkar welcomes Union Minister for Minorities Affairs Salman Khurshid,during his recent visit to Junta House, Panjim. Also present are vice President M K Sheikh, AICC mem-ber Shambhubhau Bandedkar, general secretary Arthur Sequeira and others.

Rajesh takes over as KR

DirectorHERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JAN 1

Rajesh Tripathi, ME (Civil Engi-neering), an Officer of IndianRailway Service of Engineers,has taken over as Director (Way& Works) on Konkan Railway re-cently.

Prior to joining KRCL, Tripathihas held various important andprestigious assignments such asProject Director of IRCON atMalaysia, Executive Director(Public Grievances) to HonbleMinister of State for Railwaysand Director (Works) as well asDirector (Track Modernization)in the Ministry of Railways.

Besides, Tripathi has alsoworked as Chief Engineer (TrackManagement System) on North-ern Railway, Chief Engineer (Con-struction) on North EasternRailway and as Senior DivisionalEngineer and Deputy Chief En-gineer on Western Railway andin various capacities at RailCoach Factory, Kapurtala andDahod Workshop of WesternRailway.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JAN 1

The 19th Konkani drama fes-tival will be inaugurated bysenior drama artist RajaramNaik on January 4 at Bandora,Nageshim at 6.30 pm in pres-ence of Transport MinisterSudin Dhavalikar as the chiefguest and Madkai SarpanchSukhanand Kurpaskar asguest of honour.

The drama festival will beheld from January 4 to 9 byGoa Konkani Akademi in col-laboration with Antruz Lalli-tak, Bandora, Nageshim.

Four Konkani dramas andone tiatr will be staged in

this festival according to fol-lowing schedule daily at 7pm: On January 4, GraminKala ani Sanskritik Saunstha,Valpoi will stage the dramaHomkand; on January 5,Sree Santeri Krida ani Saun-skritik Mandal, Ustem-Sattariwill stage the drama Ran-n g e m ; o n J a n u a r y 6 ,Goenkranchi Konkani Bhas,Sangeet Kala ani SanunskritikKendra, Merces, will stagethe tiatr Korta ti Vatt; onJanuary 7, Abhiyan Arts,Povorim, will stage the dramaAass; and on January 8,Antruz Lallitak, Bandora,N a g e s h i m , w i l l s t a g e

Ashench ani Etkench. OnJanuary 9, from 1 am to 1pm, GKA will organise a dis-cussion on dramas and tiatrstaged in the festival.

Madhukar Joshi, JawarharBarve and Narayan Dessaihave been spec ia l l y ap -pointed by GKA to observethis festival.

Writers, directors, artists,observers and selected spec-tators of the drama are ex-pected to participate in thediscussion and will presenttheir views.

The festival is open for alland no tickets will be chargedfor watching the dramas.

One booked for poisoning

stray dogsHERALD REPORTER

PANJIM, JAN 1

Panjim police have filed a caseagainst a person from Miramarfor poisoning stray dogs.

Officials stated that AngelaQazi, animal lover and officebearer of Peoples Animal Wel-fare Society, has lodged a com-plaint against one Bharat (fullname not known) staying atLake View colony Miramar.

Qazi has said that Bharat inpast had poisoned four straydogs and in a recent instance,he poisoned a dog who was latertreated at veterinary Dr Ma-hadeo Naik.

Police have registered caseunder section 429 of IPC andfurther investigations are on.

GKA to organise drama festival

formed that six students hadappeared for the SSC exams,of which five secured a firstclass and one got a secondclass.

Later, prizes were also givento the differently-abled kidsfor the various efforts in ed-ucation and other extra-cur-ricular activities by the chiefguest of the function.

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

SANGUEM, JAN 1

A legal literacy camp organised

by Sanguem Taluka Legal Serv-ices Committee in associationwith District Legal Services Au-

thority, South Goa, was con-ducted for SSC students atUnion High School, Sanguem.

Advocates Anand Gaonkar,Abilasha Naik and Anjali Phaldes-sai were the resource personsat the camp.

Anand Gaonkar spoke on theRight to Information Act andoutlined the various authoritiesand departments that comeunder the purview of the Act.

Anjali Phaldessai provided thestudents with the provisions re-lating to the newly envisagedAnti Ragging Act, while AbilashaNaik spoke of free legal aid andthose entitled to get benefitsunder the scheme constitutedby the Legal Cell.

Earlier, A Fernandes wel-comed the students while Abi-lasha Naik proposed the vote ofthanks.

Sanguem students made aware on RTI Act

Advocate Anjali Phaldessai addresses the Legal Literacy Camp atUnion High School, Sanguem. Photo by Alfred Fernandes

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JAN 1

Directorate of Art and Cultureis conducting a Logo designingcontest with the theme GoldenJubilee Year of Goa Liberationto give symbolic form to the50th Year of Goas Liberation.The best logo will be used asofficial logo. The contest is openfor any citizen of Goa or a firm.The winner will be awarded Rs50000.

Each participant can submitmaximum of three logos, inblack and white as well in colour,on the prescribed theme ofGoas Liberation. The logos must

be original and should not re-semble any existing logo or de-sign. They could either by doneby hand or by the aid of com-puter.

A jury constituted of distin-guished personalities will assessand select the prize winninglogo.

Application forms and de-tails of the contest will be avail-able from January 3 at theOffice of the Directorate of Artand Culture, Shram Shakti Bha-van, 5th floor, Patto-Panjim,2438103. Entries must be sub-mitted to the Directorate byJanuary 14.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JAN 1

Rajan Savio Ghate has been de-clared the fifth winner in BestRTI Citizen of the National RTIAwards 2010 declared recentlyby National RTI Awards Secre-tariat, New Delhi.

Rajan was awarded for his re-lentless fight against illegal buy-ing of Goan land by foreignnationals in violation of ForeignExchange Management Act(FEMA). He raked up the issueusing RTI Act. As a result, fouryears down the line, the gov-ernment has started to take ac-tion and issue strict directionsto the Registrar not to registerland in the name of foreigners.

Rajan with four other winnerswas shortlisted after severalrounds of scrutiny out of 726applications that were received

by the Secretariat. The otherwinners are Vinita Kamte of Ma-harashtra, Manoj Kumar Kar-wasra and Ramesh Kumar Vermaof Haryana and Athar Shamsi ofUttar Pradesh.

Citizens urged to join civil

defenceHERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JAN 1

President of State ex-CadetsNCC Association (SENA) AdvAvinash Bhosle has said that onemust be prepared with plans forprotection of life and propertyof the people in any eventuality.

Our best insurance for peaceis to prepare for war and to beready for all contingencies. Wemust also build up our strengthas to prevent an enemy to riskwar with us. Our civil defencemust be in a fortified position asour military potential, he added.

Adv Bhosle said that in manystates, NCC cadets work handin hand with the civil defenceauthorities and therefore urgedall the NCC cadets, NSS volun-teers ex-NCC cadets and othercitizens to join the civil defenceorganisation. Adv Bhosle saidthat those interested my contactJohn Aguiar on 9822159705.

Logo contest on Goas Liberation

RTI Citizen award for Rajan Ghate

Rajan Savio Ghate

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JAN 1

The State Election Commissionwill conduct bye-elections onJanuary 30, to fill up vacanciesthat have arisen in followingwards and municipal council:Ward 5 of Cana Benaulim Pan-chayat and Ward 5 of Verna Pan-chayat in Salcete, Ward 1(reserved for women) of MollemPanchayat in Sanguem, Ward 6(reserved for ST women) of Am-baulim Panchayat in Quepemand Ward 9 (reserved for ST) ofPernem Municipal Council.

Nomination papers will beaccepted by the Returning Of-ficers between 10 am to 1 pmfrom January 3 to January 11

except on January 8 and January9. Scrutiny of nomination pa-pers will be done on January12 from 10 am onwards. With-drawal of nomination paperscan be done on January 13 from10 am to 2 pm. Polls will beconducted on January 30 from8 am to 5 pm.

Counting of the votes will betaken on January 31 from 8 amonwards at the offices of therespective Mamlatdars whohave been appointed as the Re-turning Officers to conduct thebye-elections.

Nomination forms will beavailable in the office of the Re-turning Officer during officehours.

Polls to pyat wards, PMC ward on Jan 30

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

COLLEM JAN 1

The Sangeet Meera drama byPaikdev Bholanath Saunstha ofMollem bagged first prize in the50th drama contest at Sangli-Maharastra.

Individual prizes were alsoawarded to Appa Bablo Gaonkar,Madhura Lala Shirodkar, ManojGanpule, Arjun Arondekar,Nagesh Ganesh Fadte and Sind-

hiya Babuli Chari.The other artistes in the

drama were Pradeep Harmalkar.Ramkrishna Gaonkar, Dinanath,Pratksha Pilankar, Shivaji Dessai,San tosh Sawant , Apa rnaGaonkar and Anant Redkar.

Appa Gaonkar, president ofthe Saunstha, informed that theSaunstha has been participatingin this drama contest since thepast 26 years.

Sangeet Meera wins in Mrashtra

Pg5GOA, SUNDAY, 2 JANUARY, 2011

GOA OHERALD

O

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JAN 1

Acceding to the demands of thefishing community, the Ministryof Environment and Forests hasagreed to drop or modify manyprovisions of the Draft CoastalRegulation Zone (CRZ) 2010 no-tification.

The dra f t not i f i ca t ion ,brought out in September 2010,had drawn the ire of the fishingcommunities for its failure toreverse the liberal permissionsthat are provided for industriesby the much amended CRZ no-tification of 1991 that is cur-rently in force. The provisionsfor fishermen housing were alsofelt to be grossly inadequate.Though the draft notificationcame in the wake of a series ofpublic consultations in all coastalstates, most of them personallyattended by Minister of Envi-ronment Jairam Ramesh, fishingcommunities strongly felt thattheir views were not properlyreflected in the draft.

The coast wide mobilisationagainst the draft notificationunder the leadership of the Na-

tional Fishworkers Forum (NFF)found significant support fromleaders cutting across the po-litical spectrum and State Gov-ernments, notably Tamil Naduand Kerala.

Recognising the importanceof fishing community coopera-tion for coastal protection,Jairam Ramesh personally inter-vened to break the deadlock.He invited leaders of the fishingcommunity for a dialogue. This

resulted in two rounds of dis-cussions between the NFF anda Ministry representative atMundra (Kutch) and Delhi thathelped to narrow down the dif-ferences.

A NFF team led by its chair-person Matanhy Saldanha andgeneral secretary Rambhau Patilmet the Minister for a finalround of discussions on Decem-ber 29 at Delhi. Others who par-ticipated in the discussion were

T Peter, Pradip Chatterjee,Gilbert Rodrigo, Kiron Koli, VVivekanandan and ChandrikaSharma.

While recognising that someimportant differences remain,the Minister agreed to many ofthe fishing community demands.He announced that the new no-tification will come out in thefirst week of January after mak-ing the modifications agreedupon. In a significant policy pro-nouncement, he also agreed thatthe Ministry will start workingon replacing the notificationwith an Act of Parliament.

Matanhy Saldanha appreci-ated the openness of the Min-ister for dialogue and thankedhim for accepting most of thedemands put forward by thefishing community. However, hesaid that the NFF has strong ob-jections to some of the provi-sions that will remain in thenotification like the installationof nuclear power plants on thecoast. He said that the NFF willmake a more detailed commentonce the notification is finalisedand brought out by the Ministry.

Ministry accedes to demand on changes to CRZ notification

Matanhy Saldanha in discussion with Environment Minister JairamRamesh.

Tiswadi survey plans launched

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JAN 1

Chief Minister Digambar Kamatinaugurated commissioning ofsurvey plans for Tiswadi talukaincluding Panjim city. RevenueMinister Jose Philip DSouza alsograced the occasion.

With the launching of newsurvey plans for Tiswadi, citizenscan now set survey plans fromDirectorate of Settlement andLand Records within 3-4 days ofapplying for them.

Speaking on the occasion,Chief Minister expressed satis-faction for launching the surveyplans. He said Goa was the onlyState in the country to providesuch computer generated landrecords.

Chief Minister complimentedthe Department for the work.He said this facility will benefitcommon man.

The work of commissioningof the resurvey plans for Bardezwill be taken up next and willbe completed within a year. Thework of resurvey of Tiswaditaluka has cost Rs 80 lakhs.

Collector Mihir Vardhan andDirector, Directorate of Settle-ment and Land Records alsospoke on the occasion.

HERALD REPORTER

VASCO, JAN 1

It should have been supplyingwater to various parts of the porttown, but a brand new watertanker of the Mormugao Munic-ipal Council (MMC) has been idlesince the past four months.

Reason? Faulty specificationsof the water tanker haveprompted the road transport au-thorities to withhold the regis-tration of the vehicle.

In a desperate bid to replaceits three-decade old water tanker,the MMC had to struggle pasttwo ministers before it was givena new water tanker.

The MMCs happiness was,however, short-lived. The tankersupplied to the MMC was flawedin its specifications and the RTOrefused to register the vehicle.

As a result, the water tankerhas been lying idle in the MMCpremises since the past fourmonths.

During an RTO inspection, thetank was found overweight onthe chassis of a Tata Turbo EX ve-hicle. When the tank is filled withwater, it should weigh around 7.5tonnes. However, this tank wasfound to be weighing around 10.3tonnes. The overweight tankcould lead to accidents and hence,

Brand new MMC water tanker tanked due to faulty specs

The faulty MMC tanker lying idle at the Mormugao Municipal Council.

we have not registered the vehi-cle, explained Assistant TransportDirector Digamber Savoikar.

When contacted, MMC Chair-person Suchita Shirodkar admit-ted that the water tanker has beenrefused registration by the RTO

due to faulty specifications.The council has written to the

company supplying the vehicleand it has agreed to reduce thesize of the tank, said Shirodkar.

Shirodkar, however, came downheavily on a former chairpersonas well as chief officer GopalParsekar for procuring the vehiclewithout an inspection.

This only suggests that theMMCs technical department hasfailed in its duties, she said.

HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, JAN 1

Stars of Navelim, a young andenerget ic group recent lyarranged a special programmeby a group that sang carols andother traditional songs to cel-ebrate the Christmas for thesenior citizens of RecreationCenter, Pedda-Margao. This is

a yearly event held at the Cen-ter.

Tulsidas Malkarnekar wel-comed and appreciated the tal-ents of the singers and praisedthem for keeping entertainingsenior citizens who attendedthe evening function. The groupwas presented with mementoas a token appreciation.

Stars of Navelim sing carols for senior citizens HERALD NEWS DESK

PANJIM, DEC 31

The 9th special general meet-ing of Goa-IDC Employees Co-operative Credit Society Ltd,Panjim was held recently at TBCunha Memorial Hall, Panjim.

While addressing the gath-ering, chairman of the SocietyJayant H Shirwaikar lauded therole of the society in mouldingthe lives of its members andin turn, the employees of Goa-IDC all these years. He in-formed that the Society hasbeen in operation for over aperiod of 20 years with theco-operation of its membersand Board of Directors.

General secretary P N Parabpresented the statutory auditreport before the members.He highlighted the variousachievements of the societyover the year and informedthe members that Society hasbeen successful in retaining

A Audit classification this yeartoo. He further informed themembers that Society hasmade a net profit/surplus ofRs 1,81,472 as of March 31,2010. It was therefore unani-

mously decided to declare div-idend and patronage refundto members.

Two ret i red employeesJanba R Hule and RomaldinaBogot were felicitated.

Goa-IDC employees hold meet

Goa-IDC Employees Co-op Credit Societys Chairman J H Shir-waikar felicitating retired employee Janbe Hule at a function organ-ised at T B Cunha Memorial Hall, Panjim.

Honda school excels

HERALD CORRESPONDENT

MARCEL, JAN 1

Shr i Mahalaxmi ShikshanSamitis High School at Honda-Sattari has excelled at variouscompetitions during the year.

A press note issued here statesthat the school secured the thirdprize in the 5-km walk at theUnder-17 taluka level competi-tion organised by the Directorateof Sports and Youth Affairs.

The school also won the five-over tennis ball cricket tourna-ment organized by VividhaHigher secondary school atNaveli-Amona.

The school bagged threeprizes in the essay writing com-petition (Sattari taluka) organ-ized by the Gomantak MarathaSamaj to commemorate birthcentenary celebration of Bahusa-heb Bandodkar and the secondprize in another Marathi essaywriting competition organisedby the Department of Art andCulture.

A mechanical crib at St Lawrence Church, Agassaim, which will remain open for public viewing till Janu-ary 26, from 6 pm to 11 pm. The crib was prepared by Hilario Pereira, Xavier Gracias, George Gonsalves,Steven Vaz, Victor Gracias, Andrew Lopes, E Dias and other parishioners.

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JAN 1

GOACAN will observe the 22ndNational Road Safety Week fromJanuary 3 to create awarenessamong the consumers on theneed for their participation toimplement solutions in trafficmanagement and reduce roadaccidents in Goa.

During the week, GOACANalong with the consumer forumswill promote the importance ofsetting up road safety & trafficmanagement committees by thevillage panchayats and municipalcouncils to ensure citizens par-ticipation at the grass root level.

GOACAN will also promotethe usefulness of the Traffic War-den Scheme which ensures theparticipation of citizens in man-aging traffic and reducing acci-dents at the city and villagelevels.

In the wake of the large num-ber of deaths of pedestrians inroad accidents in 2010, con-sumer forum volunteers will pro-mote the benefits of notifiedbus stops, bus bays, footpaths,zebra crossings, subways, properparking, maintenance of speedbreakers and proper signages.

The safe transportation ofhazardous substances by roadwill also be highlighted by GOA-CAN during the week so as to

reduce the number of accidentsand avoid the subsequent dis-astrous consequences.

GOACAN coordinator RolandMartins said the NGO would pur-sue with the Directorate of An-imal Husbandry & VeterinaryServices, Directorate of Panchay-ats, Directorate of Municipal Ad-ministration and the DistrictMagistrates to initiate a cam-paign to free the roads of straycattle. This would involve thevillage panchayats and municipalcouncils taking steps to maketheir cattle pounds effective onone hand while identifying thestray cattle danger zones withproper signages on the other,he added.

He said GOACAN will con-tinue to highlight the need forcomfortable, affordable, safeand effective public transportwhich would include bus serv-ices provided by Kadamba Trans-port Corporation Ltd and privateoperators so as to limit the useof personal vehicles for com-muting daily, reduce traffic con-gestion and road accidents.

During the week, the NGOwill also highlight the specialneeds of the disabled in the con-text of road safety, which in-cludes special signages, parkingspaces, training and awarenessprograms.

National Road Safety Week from Jan 3

HERALD REPORTER

MARGAO, JAN 1

Art exposure may have beenrather limited to Panjim andCalangute area, with Margaolagging far behind. Now in afirst of its kind, an art exhibi-tion is being held in Chin-chinim, at the ChinchinimCommunity Centre, showcas-ing artworks of local, nationaland international artists.

In all eight veteran Goanartists, UK and Japan basedartists are putting up theirworks for public viewing onfourth and fifth instant. Dr JW Malenkos, a US-basedphysician, will inaugurate theexhibition. The artists Ralphde Loyola Furtado, JohnPereira, Savia DCosta, Dr MrsSavia Viegas, Betty Braganza(UK), Dr Susheela Fernandes,Akero Barros Pereira (Japan)and Dr M de Loyola Furtado,will participate in the exhibi-tion.

Works on display will consistof oil, acrylic, water colours,felt, charcoal, pastels, crayons,and mixed media, says thepress release.

The organisers said that artand art paintings in the pasthad been exclusive activity ofthe rich and privileged sections

Chinchinim art expo features local, international artists

of society both abroad and inIndia. In the last few yearshowever, art galleries mush-roomed in the metros and thecities. Goa has had a late startwith galleries like Gitanjali,Sunaparanta, Ruchika coming

up in Panjim, besides KalaAcademy and some inCalangute areas showcasinglocal talent through exhibi-tions and art competitions,stated a press note issued byDr Max de Loyola Furtado.

INDIAPg 6 OHERALDO

GOA, SUNDAY 2 JANUARY, 2011

Passengers wait for their trains at a railway station in Amritsar on New Years day. Thick winter fog disrupted travel across northern India causing delays on trainand flight schedules.

Activists and college students pose with a banner proclaiming 'No Honking Day' on a street of New Delhi on Saturday. With unnecessary honking becoming a men-ace for Delhi and many other metropolitans across India, an NGO in collaboration with the Delhi Traffic Police observed January 1, 2011 as a no honking day sig-nalling stricter implementation of rules, including slapping of penalty on violators.

PTI

NEW DELHI, JAN 1

Avalanche threat loomed largeover some areas in HimachalPradesh on Saturday as heavysnowfall affected life in theState, while thick fog was backat many places in Punjab andHaryana on New Years Day.

Himachal Pradesh remainedunder the grip of cold wave asmercury dipped after snowfallin mid and higher hills led to adip in night temperatures bythree to five degrees. Day tem-peratures also stayed four to sixdegree below normal.

Several areas in capital Shimlaand other mid and higher hillswent without water in the morn-ing as water pipes were frozenand vehicular traffic affecteddue to the thick ground frost.

The threat of avalanche loomsover tribal areas of Lahaul andKinnaur where people have beenwarned against venturing outduring the day time.

The Manali-Leh road wasblocked due to heavy snow

while Hindustan Tibet NationalHighway was opened upto Ma-tiana. Vehicular traffic to Rampurwas being routed via Basantpurand Kingal.

Lahaul, Darcha, Dhundhi, Kok-sar and other high altitude tribalareas were covered under thickblanket of 150 cm to 200 cm ofsnow while Rohtang Pass worea 200 cm thick blanket of snow.

Keylong, the headquarter oftribal Lahaul and Spiti district,recorded minimum temperatureat minus 9.7 deg C while Kalpain Kinnaur recorded a low ofminus 8.5 deg C.

The high altitude tribal areasgroaned under biting cold waveconditions with night tempera-ture ranging between minus 12and minus 18 deg C.

The minimum temperaturehovered around freezing pointin lower hills with Solan, Sun-dernagar, Bhuntar, Mandi andPalampur recording a low of 0.2deg, 1.1 deg, 1.3 deg and 2.7deg C, respectively.

While Kalpa received 16.8 cm

of fresh snow, Palampur waswettest in the region with 50.6mm of rains and Naina Devi andBaijnath received 30 mm and20 mm rains.

It was a chilly end to 2010 inthe national capital as a coolbreeze blew across the citywhere the minimum tempera-ture was recorded at 11 deg Cin early morning from Fridays11.8 deg C while the maximumwas at 17.8 deg C.

While the minimum was fourdegrees above normal, the max-imum was four degrees belownormal.

An unidentified man died todaydue to cold in Jammu city, policesaid. The maximum cases of cold-related deaths have been reportedfrom Uttar Pradesh where the tollon Friday stood at 17.

Thick fog was reported fromPunjab and Haryana, even asminimum temperatures in thetwo states settled a few notchesabove normal.

Fog prevailed early Saturdayat many places, including Am-

bala, Hisar,Rohtak, Kurukshetra,Amritsar, Ludhiana and Patialawhile misty conditions persistedat Chandigarh, the Met said.

Chandigarh recorded a mini-mum temperature of 8.2 deg C,three above normal.

In Haryana, Ambala registereda low of 7.8 deg C, up by twonotches while the minimum atHisar was 7.1 deg C, also twoabove normal.

Ludhiana and Patiala in neigh-bouring Punjab recorded respec-tive lows of 8.2 deg C and 7.9deg C, both up by two degreeseach.

Extreme cold conditions pre-vailed in several parts of Ra-jasthan with mercury dippingmuch below the freezing pointin Mount Abu, the states onlyhill station.

Mercury dipped to minus 3.4deg C in Mount Abu while Sikarin the planes recorded the lowof 4.5 deg C. Other placesrecorded night temperatures inthe range of 7.5 deg C to 10deg C.

Avalanche threat in parts of HP; fog in Punjab, Haryana

PTI

SRINAGAR, JAN 1

Traffic on the Jammu-SrinagarNational Highway, the only roadlink between Kashmir and therest of the country, was on Sat-urday restored partially after re-maining closed for two days dueto snowfall.

One way traffic from Jammuto Srinagar has been restoredtoday as the snow clearance op-erations were completed lastevening, an official of the PoliceControl Room said.

He said vehicles from Jammuwere allowed to ply towards Sri-nagar on priority as most of thetrucks carrying essential itemsto the Valley were stranded on

the 294-km road connecting thetwin capital cities of the state.

A police official in Jammu saidthat over 2000 vehicles werestranded at various places onthe highway and over 1300 ve-hicles have been cleared. 700vehicles are in the process ofbeing cleared, he said.

The Highway was closed onThursday morning followingmoderate snowfall on eitherside of Jawahar Tunnel nearQazigund, the gateway town toKashmir.

Most parts of the Valley wit-nessed temperatures close tozero degrees Celsius while themercury plunged to as low asminus nine degrees Celsius in

Pahalgam.The temperature fell 8.6 de-

grees below freezing point inGulmarg skiing resort also,which is three to four degreesbelow normal for this time ofthe year.

Srinagar city recorded a min-imum temperature of 0.8 degreesCelsius, which has resulted inmelting of the snow accumulatedon Thursday. Kupwara town innorth Kashmir recorded a mini-mum of 1.0 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, dense fog inJammu has disrupted the move-ment of trains due to fog sincelast night.

However, air operations werenormal today.

Traffic on Jammu-Srinagar NH partially restored

PTI

BADAUN (UP), JAN 1

Senior BJP leader Rajnath Singhhas said that the Congress washolding Sanjay Gandhi respon-sible for the emergency as hiswife and son are now in the saf-

fron party.Indira Gandhi and her gov-

ernment were responsible foremergency as her membershipin the Parliament was underthreat at that time, Rajnathtold reporters while rejectingCongress claim that SanjayGandhi was responsible foremergency.

The former national presidentalso said that Congress is nowholding Sanjay responsible asManeka Gandhi and VarunGandhi are in the BJP.

Sanjay Gandhi s widowManeka and son Varun are nowBJP MPs and the latter is also anational secretary and electionin-charge of the party for

Assam.The then PM Indira Gandhi

imposed emergency to save hermembership in the Lok Sabha,Rajnath alleged.

He said that the BJP will soonexpose scams of Rs 3 lakh croreduring Congress regime.

He was referring to a Con-gress publication titled Con-gress and the Making of theIndian Nation on completionof 125 years of the party. Thebook, edited by Finance MinisterPranab Mukherjee, states thatSanjay Gandhi acted in an au-thoritarian and arbitrary man-ner on issues of family planningand slum clearance during theEmergency.

Rajnath flays Cong for remarks on Sanjay Gandhi

Lalu, Naveenvisit Jagannath

templePTI

PURI, JAN 1

Lakhs of devotees includingOrissa Chief Minister NaveenPatnaik and RJD supremo LaluPrasad on Saturday visited theLord Jagannath temple hereon New Years Day while re-ports of three non-Hindus hav-ing intruded into the 12thcentury shrine caused a flutteramong the temple authority.

While people made longqueues before the temple tohave darshan of the deities,three youth, believed to be non-Hindus, managed to enter intothe shrine in the meele, 15 min-utes before Patnaiks arrival, po-lice said.

The trio were, however, spot-ted inside the outer sphere ofthe temple and whisked awayby some locals to an unknownplace before the news spread,police said.

The priests wondered howthe trio could enter the templewith tight security about 15 min-utes before Chief Minister Pat-naiks arrival at the Lions Gate.

There was tight security inand around the temple whenPatnaik entered the premises,said Laxminarayan Singhari, anelderly priest.

PTI

AYODHYA, JAN 1

Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sat-urday said it would launch afresh agitation if the entire 67acres of land at the Ram Jan-mabhoomi-Babri Masjid sitehere is not allotted for the con-struction of the Ram temple.

We require the entire landfor the grand temple that wewant at the birthplace of LordRam, VHP president AshokSinghal told newspersons here,adding the work for carving ofstones for the proposed templewould begin in a months time.

There would be no new agi-tation for the construction of Ramtemple as of now and the VHPwould await for the apex courtverdict on the issue, he said.

The VHP president howeverwarned that in case the 67acres of acquired land by theUnion government was not

given for temple the outfitwould stage a massive agita-tion.

Singhal said that accordingto estimates of architects, onceconstruction begins, they wouldbe in a position to install idolsin the temple in one and a halfyear time. The completion ofthe temple would however takelonger, he said, adding Wehave appealed to Ram bhaktsto donate for it and the workwould be restarted soon.

To a question, Singhal saidthere were shortcomings in the

case filed by Nirmohi Akhara,one of the main litigants in theAyodhya dispute, in High Courtas it had only laid claim over theright to pray and serve Ram Lala.

Singhal also criticised Jagat-guru Shankaracharya SwamiSwarupanandji over his recentstatement in media proposingconstruction of the temple onlines of a Ram temple in Cam-bodia.

When the model of the pro-posed temple was finalised itwas in consultation with saintsand religious leaders and nowSwarupanands proposal of con-structing it in any other style isunacceptable to us, Singhalsaid.

Swarupanandji has alwayscriticised the VHP for its templemovement and now we also senta letter expressing our reserva-tions over his proposal, Singhaladded.

VHP demands land for Ram temple construction

In case the 67 acres of

acquired land by the Union

government was not given

for temple the outfit would

stage a massive agitation.

- VHP

Nitish Kumars mother passes

awayPTI

PATNA, JAN 1

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumars mother ParmeshwariDevi died on Saturday after pro-tracted illness at his official res-idence here, officials at the chiefministers house said.

As Kumar was exchangingNew Year greetings with people,officials posted at the CMshouse informed him that hismother was serious and suffer-ing from breathlessness.

An ambulance with a team ofdoctors was called to attend toher, but she fell unconscious andbreathed her last with Kumarand other family members beingat her bed side.

She was 92.

Rajkhowa released on bail

PTI

GUWAHATI, JAN 1

ULFA chief Arabinda Rajkhowawas on Saturday released fromthe Guwahati Central Jail, twodays after his bail plea wasgranted by a designated TADAcourt.

Rajkhowa was received at thejail premises by his elder brotherDimbo Rajkhowa and other fam-ily members.

He will be attending severalpublic receptions on way to hishome town Lakhuwa in upperAssam, which he will be visitingafter a gap pf 30 years. Ra-jkhowa, 54, went undergroundafter the formation of the ULFAon April 7, 1979.

He was granted bail by a des-ignated TADA court on December30 with the Assam governmentfiling no objection to it.

The court granted bail to Ra-jkhowa in six TADA cases for hisrelease.

The hearing for the bail pleawas earlier deferred thrice thismonth with the court on Mon-day asking the home and polit-ical department to submit anaffidavit on his latest status.

PTI

PRATAPGARH (UP), JAN 1

The judicial custody of Inde-p e n d e n t M L A R a g h u r a jP r a t a p S i n g h a l i a s R a j aBhaiya, Samajwadi Party MPShailendra Kumar, MLC Ak-s h a y P r a t a p S i n g h a l i a sGopalji, MLA Vinod Saroj andseven others was on Saturdayextended by 14 days by alocal court here.

According to prosecutionsources, Chief Judicial Mag-istrate Manjula Sarkar ex-tended the judicial custodyon their plea that they neededmore time for investigationsagainst Shailendra Kumar,Vinod Saroj, Gopalji and RajaBhaiya.

They were among the 11people arrested on December19 after an FIR was registereda g a i n s t t h e m b y M a n o jKumar Shukla, BSP candidatefor Babuganj block headpost, for allegedly threaten-ing him.

They were later produced be-fore a court which sent them to14-days judicial custody.

Raja Bhaiya as well as hiscousin and MLC Gopalji werebrought amidst tight securityfrom Bareilly jail, where theywere shifted on December 26,to appear before the court, theysaid.

Accusing the ruling Bahu-jan Samaj Party governmentof being autocrat ic , RajaBhaiya alleged that actionwas being taken against himunder pressure from seniorofficers.

S P s u p r e m o M u l a y a mSingh Yadav had earlier de-nounced the arrest of thefour lawmakers, saying theruling BSP was trying to ter-rorise its workers to winlocal body polls.

Condemning the arrest, SPstate president Akhilesh Yadavhad said, Mayawati govern-ment is harassing Raja Bhaiyain a bid to demoralise him, buthe will not bow down and wewill struggle against his harass-ment.

Vinod Saroj had also lodgeda counter FIR against Shukla and20 others.

Judicial custody of Raja Bhaiya, SP MP extended

2 suspected terrorists held

PTI

BHOPAL, JAN 1

Two suspected terrorists, wantedin connection with some casesin Jammu and Kashmir, have beenarrested from Talaiyaa area ofthe city, police said on Saturday.

The duo, who was appre-hended late Friday night, hailedfrom Bandipora district ofJammu and Kashmir, MadhyaPradesh Director General of Po-lice S K Raut told reporters here.

They have been identified asShaukat Ahmed and Mehrajud-din Shergujri, the DGP said.

Raut said a police team fromthat state is expected to reachBhopal soon as cases were reg-istered against them in Jammuand Kashmir.

He said further informationabout the duo would be knownonly after interrogation.

PTI

CHANDIGARH, JAN 1

INLD president Om PrakashChautala on Saturday blamedBhupinder Singh Hooda-ledCongres s gove rnment i nHaryana for the death of afarmer, who took part in ahunger strike to oppose the con-struction of a nuclear powerplant in Fatehabad district.

The farmer died because noone in the government cared toreach out to him. The poorfarmer like several other peas-ants of that area had beenprotesting acquisition of landfor the nuclear power plant,Chautala, Leader of Oppositionin the Assembly, told a reporters

here.70-year-old Bhagu Ram had

been taking part in a hungerstrike to oppose the construc-tion of the nuclear power plant,and died due to cold on Thurs-day as his condition deterio-rated.

The farmers of that areahave been sitting on dharnafor 139 days, opposing the gov-ernments move to acquiretheir land. Condition of manyfarmers has worsened whilesitting on the protest for solong, but the government isapathetic towards their plight.It (government) is wearing apro-farmer mask and hiding astrong anti-farmer face be-hind, he alleged.

The state government is ac-quiring land for setting up spe-cial economic zones but tilldate not even a single SEZ hascome up, the former Chief Min-ister said.

Chautala also came downheavily on the Haryanas newindustrial policy which opensthe door to the private sectorunder the PPP model. The newmode l was imp lementedtoday.

Chautala blamesHooda govt forfarmers death

PTI

NEW DELHI, JAN 1

Ace fighter pilot Air Marshal NA K Browne on Saturday as-sumed charge as the new ViceChief of the Indian Air Force atthe Air Headquarters here.

He was formerly the Air Offi-cer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C) of IAF s Western AirCommand (WAC), the largestand the most vital operationalcommand of the IAF. He has suc-ceeded Air Marshal P K Barbora,who retired Friday.

Leading with a vision state-ment People First Mission

Always, he had ensured thatthe Command continued tomaintain greater interactionwith its three affiliated ArmyCommands the NorthernCommand, Western Commandand the South Western Com-mand, which resulted in the suc-cessful conduct of many jointexercises, such as the YodhaShakti in May 2010, said andIAF release.

The command continues toprovide round the year air sup-port to the Army units deployedin the glacier/northern region aswell.

Air Marshal Brownenew Vice Chief of IAF

PTI

HYDERABAD, JAN 1

Andhra Pradesh will file an ap-peal before the Krishna RiverWater Disputes Tribunal in caseof certain issues in the awardthat would affect the States in-terests.

In an informal chat with news-men, the Chief Minister N KiranKumar Reddy said a team of ex-perts was studying the BrijeshKumar Tribunals award to iden-tify the issues that would bedetrimental to Andhra Pradesh.

We will certainly go in foran appeal within the stipulatedtime against the issues that arenot beneficial to us, Kiran as-serted.

The Brijesh Kumar Tribunal,in its award on Krishna watersharing, made a firm allocationof 1001 tmc ft of water to AP,an increase of 190 tmc ft as com-pared to the past.

However, the state's majorconcern is over the Tribunalspermission to Karnataka to raisethe height of Alamatti dam from519 to 524.25 meters whichwould affect Kharif crop in over13.5 lakh acres in the rice-richKrishna Delta.

The state also had to foregoits sole right over utilisation ofsurplus water as the Tribunal

made proportionate allocationto upper riparian states Maha-rashtra and Karnataka as wellin surplus water. This would de-prive AP of use of 190 tmc ft ofsurplus water.

Also, the reduction in theshare of surplus water will ad-versely affect several irrigationprojects in the state like Galeru-Naga r i , Handr i -Neeva ,Veligonda, Srisailam Left BankCana l , Ne t tempadu andKalwakurthy (Lift).

AP to file plea over issues affecting state

INDIA Pg 7OHERALD

OGOA, SUNDAY, 2 JANUARY, 2011

APPOINTMENTS

APPOINTMENTS

Bollywood actress and singer, Raageshwari Loomba poses as she pays her respects at the Sikh Shrine, The Golden Temple in Amritsar on Saturday. Raageshwarialong with her family, visited the city and prayed on the occasion of the New Year 2011.

PTI

JAIPUR, JAN 1

The deadlock between the Gu-jjars and the government overthe quota issue persisted forthe 13th day on Saturday withthe agitators sticking to theirdemand for intervention of Con-gress leaders from their com-munity before holding freshparleys.

Gujjars leaders said they arewaiting for a response from theCongress leaders of their com-munity and would send theirdelegation to Jaipur if they sat-isfied with the feedback.

No development yet. We arewaiting for the response fromCongress leaders of our commu-nity. They must meet the govern-ment and give us assurance thattheir party and the governmentis positive towards our demands,

Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainslatold PTI on Saturday.

We have already said thatwe are ready for talks and endthe deadlock. We are notadamant but we want assurancebefore the delegation pro-ceeds, he said.

Official sources said a freshinvitation for the talks could begiven to the Gujjars by theevening.

State Energy Minister JitendraSingh is meeting some local Gu-jjar leaders.

In a flip-flop after agreeingto hold talks with the Govern-ment on Friday, the protestorshad demanded the interventionof Congress leaders from thecommunity before the thirdround of parleys aimed at end-ing their stir.

Gujjars have been blocking

Mumbai-Delhi rail tracks atPilukapura in Bharatpur and atMalarna in Sawaimadhopur,Jaipur-Agra National Highway atDausa and several other roadsin Bharatpur, Sawaimadhopur,Karauli and Alwar in support oftheir demand.

Besides five per cent reser-vation in state jobs, the com-munity members are demandingrelease of Gujjar agitators fromjails, withdrawal of cases againstthem and compensation to thefamilies of those killed in previ-ous agitations.

The chief minister once againrequested the agitators to breakthe impasse and come forwardto hold talks so that the issuecould be resolved.

We are open for talks and com-mittee of ministers waited for theGujjar delegation Friday but they

did not turn up. They must un-derstand the situation and comeforward to hold talks because di-alogues are very important to re-solve any issue, Gehlot toldreporters on the sidelines of afunction here on Saturday.

It is painful for us also thatthe agitators have to spend theirtime on tracks but the govern-ment can do anything within alimited framework, he said.

Later in the day, Union Ministerof State Sachin Pilot, State EnergyMinister Jitendra Singh and otherlocal Congress leaders who arefrom the Gujjar community helda meeting at circuit house inJaipur to discuss the issue.

Singh told reporters that thestate government was quite pos-itive to meet their demands andeverything under the limits ofthe Constitution will be done

to satisfy the agitators.He also said a delegation of

Gujjars, which was supposed tocome Friday, may come tonightor tomorrow for the next roundof meeting with the state gov-ernment.

On the other hand, Gujjarleader Kirori Singh Bainsla saidthe delegation will leave forJaipur only after getting thefeedback of the meeting (of Con-gress leaders).

A delegation of Gujjar leadersof Congress is holding a meetingin Jaipur. They will inform uswhat they discussed in theirmeeting and what is the re-sponse of the government forthe demands, then only we willsend our delegation, Bainslatold his men at Pilukapura, theepicentre of the agitation, inBhartpur district.

Gujjar agitation: deadlock persists

PTI

KOLKATA, JAN 1

Union Finance Minister PranabMukherjee on Saturday saidthere is no scope for any con-troversy in the continuing let-ter war between Union HomeMinister P Chidambaram andWest Bengal Chief MinisterBuddhadeb Bhattacharjee overthe States law and order situ-

No scope for controversy in HM-CM letter war: Pranab

ation.Defending his ministerial col-

league, Mukherjee said it wasthe constitutional duty of theUnion home minister to seekinformation from the chief min-ister if there was any deteriora-tion in law and order.

Where is the controversy?The Union home minister haswritten a letter to the chief min-ister and he has given a replyto it, Mukherjee told reportershere.

Chidambaram had dischargedhis constitutional responsibilityby seeking such informationfrom the chief minister, he said,adding that it is the responsi-bility of the chief minister tooto respond to his queries.

Where is the scope of con-troversy in it? he wondered.

Asked to comment on the al-

leged bias of the Centre on theissue as suggested by the rulingLeft Front, Mukherjee said therewas no question of partiality.

The Union home ministerhas discharged his constitutionalduty.

Asked how he felt about theuse of word harmad (hiredkillers) in the Union home min-isters letter, Mukherjee avoideda direct reply, saying, Put thequestion to those who had usedthe word.

Bhattacharjee had stronglyresented the use of the wordharmad in Chidambarams firstletter to him, describing it asnasty.

Chidambaram in his next cor-respondence asked the chiefminister to give him an alterna-tive word to which Bhattachar-jee did not respond.

PTI

NEW DELHI, JAN 1

Four persons, including a char-tered accountant, were arrestedfor allegedly siphoning off Rs95 lakh from Uninor, which got2G spectrum license, by chequesstolen by one of their employ-ees, police said on Saturday.

Chartered Accountant ManojPahwa (34), Unitech employeeRahul Sharma, aeronautical en-gineer Vasant Mittal and hisfriend Nitin Sharma were ar-rested from Meerut and variouslocations in South Delhi. Awoman Amrita Kumari is ab-sconding.

They had allegedly stolen 13cheques of Unitech Wireless andencashed it through differentaccounts, H G S Dhaliwal,Deputy Commissioner of Police(South), said.

The arrests came followinginvestigations into a complaintfiled by mobile telephone serv-ice provider Uninor, a joint ven-ture of Telenor and Unitech, aconstruction company. Uninorhad got national and interna-tional long distance licences.

The company approached po-lice on September 18 claimingthat Rs. 95 lakh have been debited

unauthorised by different accountholders from its three accountsin HDFC Bank, Dhaliwal said.

During investigations, it cameto light that the money has beendebited in 13 different accounts.It was also revealed that thecheques had been stolen fromthe company office in Saket andlater forged the signature of au-thorised person.

The holders of beneficiary ac-counts were traced and a fewof them told police that theiraccounts have been utilised fortransaction purpose and a nom-inal commission or cut was alsogiven in exchange of the use oftheir account, Dhaliwal said.

A few account holders werefound missing and money fraud-ulently debited in their accountwas found to be withdrawn.

These accounts were foundto be related to a few individualsand a few private companiesnamely Globe Marketing, SMEnterprises, Primvira Manage-ment Solution and Delhi SalesCorporation.

Besides, these companieswere found to be involved inusing their account against thebogus bills raised by the cheatsinvolved in the racket and some-

time converting black moneyinto white, Dhaliwal said.

Investigators found thatPahwa was the common linkwith all these accounts who isrunning a firm Manoj Pahwa andAssociates.

Pahwa was traced and inter-rogated. He broke down anddisclosed that he had receivedthree allegedly forged chequesfrom Varun Mital, a Meerutbased aeronautical engineer,Dhaliwal said. Following this allothers were arrested.

Mittal disclosed that he hadreceived all the cheques fromSharma, a Gurgaon based hotelmanagement executive who wasworking with Uninor.

Sharma took advantage andstole 13 loose cheques from theoffice and handed all thesecheques to Mital. Mital took allthese cheques to his colleagueAmrita Kumari Sharma, an officeexecutive and colleague in ShahShiv Group of companies,Dhaliwal said.

She allegedly made theforged signatures of two autho-rised signatories on all thestolen cheques. She also gotdebited around Rs 20 lakh inher own account, Dhaliwal said.

4 held for syphoning off Rs 95 lakh from Uninor

PTI

LUCKNOW, JAN 1

The National Commission forScheduled Castes (NSCS) hassought a report from the UttarPradesh government on the rapeof a girl belonging to a backwardcaste and her arrest on theftcharges in Banda district.

The NSCS has immediatelysought a detailed report fromthe state government and thedistrict official on the rape of abackward class girl and laterher arrest on theft charges,Chairman of NCSC P L Puniatold PTI.

Congress has alleged the in-volvement of a BSP MLA and hisassociates in the rape of the 17-year-old girl and demanded theimmediate arrest of the culprits

Report sought in rape of backward caste minor girl

and tha t Ch ie f M in i s te rMayawati order a high-level ju-dicial inquiry into the matter.

PTI

PATNA, JAN 1

Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumar on Saturday said he ex-pects that the long-awaited spe-cial status would be granted tothe state this year, paving theway for further acceleration ofthe pace of development.

I am confident of the Centreextending fuller support toBihar, Kumar told reporters onthe occasion of New Year.

The special status would leadto more Central assistance andremove obstacles in the way ofproviding coal linkage for theproposed thermal power plantsin the state.

Wishing the people a happyand prosperous 2011, he urgedthem and leaders of all opposi-tion parties to cooperate withhis government in obtaining thespecial status for Bihar.

Kumar said efforts for exert-ing pressure on the Centre tomeet the demand would be fur-ther intensified this year.

It is a matter related to theprogress of Bihar and the state

Assembly