Friday, April 16, 2010

Goa Blog

Goa Blog

Iron ore from banned mining leases in Goa

Posted: 16 Apr 2010 07:28 AM PDT

NGOs have brought to light large scale transportation of Iron ore from banned mining leases of Netravali wildlife sanctuaries during last few days.

Goenchea Xetkarancho Ekvott (GXE), a NGO, today said that they have been petitioning every authority including Chief Secretary Sanjiv Srivastava to ban the transportation of ore from Netravali wildlife sanctuary.

“Nothing has happened. I checked even now. The trucks are plying and ore is shifted from the sanctuary,” GXE President Dilip Hegde said.

Supreme Court of India through their judgement two years back had closed all the mining leases in Netravali wildlife sanctuary after local NGO Goa Foundation moved an application.

Since then, the mining has come to grinding halt here.

“Suddenly, one morning around 100 trucks have started moving around the place carrying ore. They have to cross two forest check post gates to reach to the dumps,” Hegde said.

The NGO has estimated that during last five days ore worth Rs five to six crores have been shifted from the sanctuary. “This must be their last desperate attempt to shift the ore. This is robbery,” Seby Rodrigues, an anti-mining activist, said.

The activists said that in last five days ore worth 2,000 to 3,000 MT have been shifted from the sanctuary.

“Sanguem MLA Vasudeo Meng Gaonkar is clearly involved in the entire operation as it is happening just two kilometers away from his house,” Rodrigues said.

GXE activist Abhijeet Prabhudesai said that the people have seen Urban development Minister Joaquim Alemao physically present at the mines site.

“The locals are scheduled tribe people. They are busy in their daily chores. How will they even think of fighting against mighty politicians?,” Prabhudesai said replying to a question.

The NGO has now decided to approach Goa Foundation’s Dr Claud Alvares who had filed case in the supreme court. “Goa Foundation has the first right to file contempt petition in this regard,” Rodrigues said.

Parrikar quizzed by CBI in IFFI scam

Posted: 15 Apr 2010 10:11 AM PDT

Goa’s former chief minister Manohar Parrikar was Thursday questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about an alleged scam related to expenditure on infrastructure development for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 2004.

CBI officials also said that Chief Minister Digambar Kamat would also be examined as a witness in course of the investigation.

Speaking to IANS after a two-hour session with CBI officials, Parrikar said that he was asked nearly 60 questions relating to creation of infrastructure for the event.

“Their questions were based on the observations made in a 2005 report of the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG), which was a fraudulent exercise, not in conformation with procedure itself,” he said.

“I also told them that along with Kamat, several other cabinet ministers, including those in the present government were a part of the decision making process and that they should be questioned too,” Parrikar said.

Parrikar, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, alleged that the Congress party was manipulating the CBI to run down opposition leaders.

“The case was filed in 2005 and this is the third time the CBI has initiated the process. Every time there is a crisis in the Congress, they resort to using the CBI to pressurise,” Parrikar said.

Parrikar also alleged that the CBI’s move to summon him could be a direct consequence of his unearthing multi-crore scams in the excise, mining, power departments and real estate sector in which senior Congress leaders, including the chief minister and top ranking bureaucrats were involved.

Speaking to reporters, CBI superintendent S.S. Gavali said that Kamat would also be examined in connection with the IFFI scam.

“We will be examining Kamat too. We have already recorded the statements of 35 people, which includes 12 members of the IFFI core committee,” he said.

The CBI complaint follows a first information report (FIR) filed by Congress activist Mauvin Godinho accusing Parrikar, chief minister of a BJP-led coalition in 2004, of financial misappropriation while creating the infrastructure, which includes a multiplex complex where the IFFI is hosted.

Courtesy:Mangalorean

Slain British teenager Scarlet’s mother cancels Goa trip

Posted: 15 Apr 2010 09:26 AM PDT

Fiona Mackeown, mother of slain British teenager Scarlet Eden Keeling, has cancelled her trip to Goa, where she is to depose in a court, due to disruption in flight services in the UK, her lawyer said.

The volcano eruption in Iceland has hit aviation services in the UK.

“She had booked her ticket and went to the airport to board the flight for India. But since all the flights for the day were cancelled, she could not come to India,” Fiona’s lawyer Vikram Varma told PTI.

Some UK airports had been shut because of volcano ash drifting south from the erupting volcano in Iceland.

Fiona was expected to arrive tomorrow and depose before Goa Children’s Court, which is hearing the case related to her daughter’s death two years ago.

Scarlet was found dead on Anjuna beach on February 18, 2008. Police suspect she was raped and killed.

The CBI, which took over the probe from Goa police, has chargesheeted two locals - Samson D’Souza and Placido Carvalho.

The court, hearing the case three times a week, has recorded testimony of six witnesses, including five policemen.

CBI counsel S R Rivonkar was supposed to move an application to get Fiona testify on Friday.

Courtesy:HT
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