Thursday, October 21, 2010

Goa Blog

Goa Blog

India, Australia arrive for final ODI in Goa

Posted: 21 Oct 2010 08:39 AM PDT

India and Australia today arrived here from Vishakapatnam ahead of the third and final one-dayer scheduled to be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda on Sunday.

After the first ODI was washed off in Kochi, India won the second match by five wickets yesterday at Vizag to take an unassailable 1-0 lead in the three-match series. The Australians arrived here with only 12 playing members after injured speedster Doug Bollinger and key middle order batsman Michael Hussey flew home at the conclusion of the second match.

Cricket Australia’s Communications advisor Lachy Patterson, who is traveling with the visiting team, said that no replacements have been called for as the October 24 fixture was the concluding tie of the rubber.

“Yes, that’s correct. We have come here with 12 players. There won’t be any replacements (for Bollinger and Hussey), as this is the final match,” he told PTI. The two teams are set to have their first practice sessions at the Nehru Stadium here tomorrow.

Goa has been experiencing off-season rains over the last few days but with the sun coming out in full force the wicket has dried out nicely. Pitch curator Narayan Raju from Bangalore said the wicket for the match, which was damp following incessant rains over the last few days, has dried up well thanks in large measure to the bright sunshine yesterday and today.

“Even if it rains on the eve of the match we have provision to cover 90 per cent of the ground and the match can commence in time,” he told PTI. The last two matches at this venue have gone in India’s favour – after they had lost the earlier three ties.

India defeated England by 49 runs in 2005-06 and got the better of Sri Lanka in 2006-07, the last ODI held here, by five wickets. But Australia too have a wonderful record here, having won on both occasions they have played at this ground.

The Aussies won the inaugural tie held here as part of the MRF World Series in 1989-90, beating Sri Lanka by 20 runs. Their next fixture here was against India, which the Kangaroos won by four wickets in 2000-01.

Sunday’s match would be the eighth ODI to be held in Goa, with all matches – barring the washed-out Wills World Series fixture between New Zealand and the West Indies in 1994-95 — producing a result.

Courtesy:Herald

Holiday after fashion week

Posted: 21 Oct 2010 07:15 AM PDT

Model Nolana D’Mello is one dedicated lass. Even though she tied the knot just a few days ago – in fact, on October 10 – she’s already back to work and to the ramp.

Nolana was married in Goa, but immediately returned to Delhi for the upcoming edition of the fashion week. She’s not even been on her honeymoon yet!

When we met her during the fittings on the first day, Nolana told us that she wanted to come back for the shows to Delhi. Also, her husband has some work at the moment, and even he isn’t free. So, once the fashion week gets over, she says, “I will jet set to an exotic location so that I can enjoy my honeymoon-cum-holiday in peace. I’m so looking forward to it.”

Courtesy:TOI

Congress wins Goa’s Valpoi bypoll

Posted: 21 Oct 2010 05:36 AM PDT

Congress wrested the Valpoi seat from the BJP with its candidate Vishwajit Rane winning the election by a margin of over 8,000 votes on Thursday.

Congress polled 11,642 votes while BJP’s Santosh Haldankar could get only 3,237 votes.

The by-poll in this constituency was necessitated after Rane an independent candidate, resigned as member of Legislative Assembly and joined the Congress on June 24.

Talking to reporters, Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat said that Valpoi voters took the right step by supporting Congress.

With today’s win, Congress has increased its strength in the Goa Legislative Assembly to 20 in the 40 seat House.

BJP has 14 members, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party has two, Nationalist Congress party has three and an Independent legislator.

Courtesy:Sify

CCTV to Check Smuggling On Goa Karwar Route

Posted: 20 Oct 2010 09:54 AM PDT

After North Karnataka, now Uttara Kannada is turning to CCTVs to check crime rate. CCTVs have been installed at Majali checkpost in Karwar, Uttara Kannada district, to scan smuggling activities. This border area establishes a link between Goa and Karwar.

Various government departments like excise, commercial tax, mines and geology, Customs and police will check vehicles coming from both Goa and Karwar at this check post.

All these days, despite strict vigil, people managed to smuggle goods between Karwar and Goa as all the departments involved in checking at this juncture were reportedly finding it difficult to keep eye on each and every vehicle and person.

Realizing that it was a difficult task, police department, with the help of other departments, has installed three CCTVs at this checkpost on Tuesday evening. These CCTV cameras will capture the movement of vehicles and persons within a distance of around 5 to 6 mts on NH 17 leading to the checkpost.

Speaking to TOI, Raman Gupta, SP, Uttara Kannada district, said that Majali checkpost is one of the sensitive areas and there is always heavy traffic movement. With the installation of CCTVs, we can now keep an eye on each vehicle coming to our state from Goa and the vehicles proceeding to Goa from our state.

There will be no scope for smuggling and other illegal activities as cameras will follow and capture the image of each vehicle quickly, he said. ”We expect the crime rate in this border area to come down now. We plan to install more CCTVs in Karwar city at sensitive areas,” he added.

Courtesy:TOI

ASI chalks out plan to restore Aguada fort in Goa

Posted: 20 Oct 2010 09:37 AM PDT

he Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has drawn up a comprehensive restoration plan for the Aguada fort.

The ASI has submitted a Rs 1.6 crore restoration plan to the Centre after senior ASI officials certified that the stones at the foothill of the fort were crumbling. “The part of the fort facing sea is damaged. Also, some restoration work is required to be done at the top most portion of the fort,” ASI officials said. The moat area of the fort has seen pieces of stones falling down due to continuous contact with sea water. The fort, 10 kms away from here, houses a five-star hotel, a lighthouse and a jail at its foot. It was constructed in 1612 by the Portuguese to protect the territory from Dutch invasion.

Courtesy:IBN

Goa’s staple ‘Fish curry-rice’ under threat

Posted: 20 Oct 2010 09:10 AM PDT

After a marine biologist warned of a fish famine in the seas off Goa, an official Wednesday said unseasonal rains had hit paddy cultivation in excess of 20 percent — putting Goa’s showcase culinary staple ‘Fish curry and rice’ under threat.

Speaking to reporters in Panaji, Satish Tendulkar of the state agriculture department said unseasonal rains over the last week to ten days have caused large-scale damage to seasonal agriculture, especially paddy, which is a major crop of the kharif season.

‘We have received complaints that paddy cultivation has been destroyed by the rains from across the length of north Goa. In most cases, the farmers are in the middle of the harvesting process and these heavy rains have hit them hard,’ Tendulkar said.

‘The paddy crop in talukas (sub districts) like Ponda, Bardez and Pernem have been extremely damaged due to rains,’ he added.

Goa, which has nearly 31,000 hectares of land under paddy cultivation, produces in excess of 1.20 lakh tonne paddy annually.

‘We have dispatched our officers to determine the exact damage caused by the rains,’ the official said, adding that with the rains showing no sign of abating - the damage to the crop could be much more.

Leading marine biologist Baban Ingole, chief scientist at the Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), has earlier warned that a combination of the state’s burgeoning fishing trawler industry, pollution and climate change was resulting in the fish being driven off the Goa coast, resulting in a ‘fish famine’ in the region.

‘It is both due to natural causes like climate change and decreased dissolved oxygen (in the seas) as well as man-made,’ Ingole had said, adding that popular fish like mackerel, sardines and prawns would be the first to exit the marine habitat off the state, which is flanked by the Arabian sea on the west.

Goa’s annual fish haul has steadily decreased over the years from 88,771 tonnes in 2009 to 80,687 tonnes this year.

Courtesy:MN
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