Saturday, October 16, 2010

Goa Blog

Goa Blog

Casinos Steal Show for ITM-Goa, Govt Says Otherwise

Posted: 16 Oct 2010 05:56 AM PDT

In a sharp contrast to the show put up for the maiden International Travel Mart (ITM),  Goa today said that it does not want to promote the Casinos as a tourism attraction. Goa Tourism Development Corporation's Managing Director Nikhil Desai today said that  the Goa government does not try to promote casino in its official communication.

The ground reality at the ITM which began in the state since Thursday is different.  Huge makeshift facility put up at the erstwhile D B Bandodkar ground has Casino stalls right at the entrance followed by pavillions of other participants. The major casino operators in the state including  'Casino Royale', 'Casino Carnival', 'Chances Casino' and others have displayed their gaming tables right at the entrance of the ITM.

Goa is the only state to have off-shore Casinos which have become bone of contention after ships mounted with the gaming equipments refused to leave Mandovi river waters in Panaji city. Desai said that the casinos will have to follow certain guidelines based on which they are allowed to operate in the state. Talking to reporters after the seminar, Desai said that the stalls were allotted on first-cum-first-serve basis. "Government is not spending anything on promoting Casinos. They are legally operating in Goa and hence we have given them the space," added.

The MD was participating in the seminar held during the event, this aftenoon which was participated by representatives from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala states. Managing Director (MD) of the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) Kiran Kurandkar said that the Maharashtra government is not inclined towards promoting Casino-related tourism Karnataka on the other hand said that to have or not to have casinos is a bigger question as  other state agencies are also involved in the process.

Courtesy: daijiworld

Goa IFFI 2010: 26 Feature and 19 Non-Feature Films Selected for Indian Panorama 2010

Posted: 16 Oct 2010 05:37 AM PDT

The selections for Indian Panorama of International Film Festival of India – 2010 have been finalized. A 10-member Feature film jury headed by Shri N. Chandra selected 26 feature films after previewing 140 films over 20 days.

The selected films are as follows :

Sr No,Name of the Selected Films,Language,Director's Name

1.Tere Bin Laden,Hindi,Abhishek Sharma

2.Mummy & Me,Malayalam,Jeethu Joseph

3.Achin Paakhi,Bengali,Anjan Das

4.Pail Te Sumbaran,Marathi,Gajendra Ahire

5.Jhing Chik Jhing,Marathi,Shishir Kulkarni

6.Vihir,Marathi,Umesh Kulkarni

7.Abohomaan,Bengali,Rituparno Ghosh

8.Makaramanju,Malayalam,Lenin Rajendran

9.Moner Manush,Bengali,Goutam Ghose

10.Kaal Chilambu,Malayalam,M.T. Annoor

11.Elektra,Malayalam,Shyama Prasad

12.Kanasemba Kudureyaneri,Kannada,Girish Kasaravalli

13.Athma Kadha,Tamil,Premlal

14.I Am Kalam,Hindi,Nila Madhab Panda

15.Aidu Ondola Aidu,Kannada,V.K. Prakash

16.Angadi Theru,Tamil,G. Vasanta Balan

17.Prasthanam,Telugu,Deva Katta

18.Wake up Sid,Hindi,Ayan Mukerji

19.Just Another Love Story,English,Kaushik Ganguly

20.Ami Aadu,Bengali,Somnath Gupta

21.Paa,Hindi,R. Balakrishnan

22.3 Idiots,Hindi,Rajkumar Hirani

23.Raavanan,Tamil,Mani Ratnam

24. Mee Sindhutai Sapkal,Marathi,Ananth Narayan Mahadevan

25.Shabari,Kannada,Baraguru Ramachandrappa

26.Swayamsiddha,Oriya,Sudhanshu Mohan Sahoo

In the Non-feature films category, a 5-member jury headed by Shri Siddharth Kak saw 97 films over 7 days and selected the following 19 films:

Sr No.,Name of the Selected Non-Feature Films,Director's Name

1.Incurable India,Umesh Aggarwal

2.Leaving Home,Jaideep Varma

3.Motorbike,Radhika Murthy

4.My Daddy Strongest,Suresh Triveni

5.Surang,Anurag Goswami

6.Going the Distance,Tiainila Jamir

7.Mr. India,Haobam paban kumar

8.KalS. Manjunathan

9.Dhruva Natchathir,amAravind Subramanian

10.Seshasha,Dip Bhuyan

11.Numit Tadri,Suvash. E

12.Rupban,Supriyo Sen

13.Journey To Nagaland,Aditi Chitre

14.Germ,Snehal Nair

15.Achtung Baby,Sanjeev Sivan

16.Courtroom Nautanki,Chittaranjan Tripathy

17.The Victims,Nabakumar Khagokpam

18.Aval,Prasanth Kanathur

19.Shyam Raat Seher,Arunima Sharma

The National Award-winning Best Non-Feature Films of 2008 and 2009 – AFSPA 1958 and The Postman, respectively – are the other two films which have gained direct entry into the Non-feature films list of Indian Panorama.

The Indian Panorama selections will be first screened in the International Film Festival of India - 2010, from 22nd November – 2nd December, 2010 at Goa. The inauguration of Indian Panorama would be on 23rd November, 2010.

Courtesy: pib

Goa looks at PPP in tourism sector

Posted: 15 Oct 2010 08:06 PM PDT

The Goa government will chalk out its path ahead for building tourism-related infrastructure and facilities using the public-private partnership (PPP) model. This was announced on Friday by Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) managing director Nikhil Desau. He was speaking at a joint-panel discussion at the ongoing ITM-Goa 2010 with Travel and Tourism Association of Goa spokesperson Ralph de Souza, and senior office bearers from travel and tourism associations across India.

“There has been strong lobbying and demand in Goa for tourism-related infrastructure projects, and we have decided that the government will play the role of facilitator and cheer the private sector to improve tourism in Goa,” Desai said.

He pointed out, “The private lobby is asking for a marina and a convention centre. We also need to have theme parks and adventure sports. For this the private sector has access to capital and human resources and it enjoys flexibility. Private entrepreneurs can sustain these projects and ensure their continuity.” ”We have already set the ball rolling and will soon come out with something concrete,” Desai added.

The GTDC MD further said that while Goa’s greenery is much appreciated by tourists, the challenge is to convert one-time visitors into repeat clients. “For this, we need them to carry back home a good experience and image about Goa,” said Desai. De Sousa, who is also chairman of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (GCCI) committee on tourism, said that tourism in Goa initially started as a people’s movement.

“When the nature children came here in the 1960s-70s, it was the locals of Anjuna and Vagator, Calangute and Baga Beaches who offered their houses and even converted stables into makeshift accommodation. The government played its part by providing law-and-order. It is this informal PPP model that helped Goa evolve to what it is today,” de Souza said. He added that the private sector has expertise, dynamism and profit motives which are driving forces to achieve success in any project. “The government can help the project follow rules and regulations, while acting as a facilitator and see that the project does not go off-track,” he said.

Courtesy: TOI
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