MARGAO: Taking a veiled dig at the incumbent South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha, former Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao stated that he has done more work in South Goa than Sardinha and was willing to contest on a Congress ticket.

“If Congress does not have a strong candidate for South Goa, I am willing to contest for them if they give me a ticket. I have done more work in South Goa compared to Sardinha (MP Francisco Sardinha) and more people know me out here,” he told reporters today.

He also claimed that if he contests against Sardinha, the later would loose his deposit since he has not worked for the people over the last five years.

As reported earlier, Churchill had initially decided to contest as an independent, but changed his mind and decided to support the BJP candidate.

While the BJP has announced its North Goa candidate, it is yet to declare the name of the South Goa candidate. The Congress seems to be fumbling and has not yet announced any name for both the constituencies.

Elections for the North and South Goa Lok Sabha seats will be held on May 7, which is about 45 days away.

PANAJI: A poor family from Verna whose house was demolished, was helped by social activist Shreha Dhargalkar to get a plot of land from the Goa government to build a house.

While several persons promised to help after the plight of the poor woman who lost her house was circulated on social media, very few people actually came forward to do so.

In this situation, Shreha Dhargalkar took great pains and literally moved mountains, petitioning Revenue Minister Atanasio “Babush” Monserrate and Goa CM Dr Pramod Sawant as well as the other authorities.

The family was rendered homeless after their alleged “illegal” house on Verna Comunidade land was demolished by the authorities. After a public hue and cry the government allotted a plot of land to them under the 20-point programme.

“The plot has been allotted to Remediana Castanha under the under the 20-point programme at Nagao,” Srineth Kothwale, Additional Collector-I, South Goa said.

A few months ago, an alleged “illegal” house constructed on the Verna Comunidade land was demolished after an order was issued by the court, Kothwale explained.

A political slugfest ensued over the issue, with politicians and social activists pointing fingers at each other for the demolition.

The demolition of the so-called illegal structure erected on land belonging to the Comunidade of Verna, under Survey No. 48/0, was carried out based on the final order in Case No. 1/37/Verna/2012-2013/455, dated August 21, 2012, passed by the Administrator of the Comunidade of the South Zone, Margao, Shreha said, adding that the plight of the poor woman moved her that she decided that she will not rest unless the woman gets justice.

PANAJI: Several tourism stakeholders in Goa both from the North and South have accused the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) of not bothering or taking care of the interests of smaller players in the industry.

“The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) does not care about all the stakeholders in the tourism industry of Goa. They only represent the interests of five-star resorts and big travel agencies,” said a tourism player in Goa who was one of the break-away group that announced a new association for all tourism-related businesses in Goa.

TTAG officials were not available for comment in this matter. Senior tourism officials also refused to comment on the matter.

The group members added that they wanted an association that represents everyone – shack owners, water sports operators, rent-a-bike and rent-a-car operators, small and medium hoteliers, restaurant owners and others. We want an association to represent all stakeholders and not just the big players, a senior member and prominent businessman said.

Several stakeholders in Goa got together to form an umbrella association of all players in order to defend the business interests of the tourism stakeholders of Goa. It was unanimously resolved to call it All Goa Tourism Stakeholders Association, a Herald report said.

PANAJI: The energy and enthusiasm with which Goa Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) vice president Pratima Coutinho participated in the “murder of democracy” protests in Panaji, although, which without naming anyone were indirectly supporting her former boss and former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has set several tongues wagging in the coastal state.

A little birdie told us that Pratima bai will be contesting the Lok Sabha polls next year from South Goa and she clearly understands that she stands a better chance with the Congress than with the AAP and there are chances that she may be on her way back to the Congress. The South Goa votes will be divided 4 or 5 ways with the main contenders being the BJP-MGP combine, Congress, AAP, TMC and other one or two Independents.

We tried to contact Pratima Coutinho but she has not replied to us. We will update this story when she responds or gets back on this issue. However, sources also said that current South Goa Congress MP Francisco Sardinha may hang up his boots by February next year and may not be part of the Congress Lok Sabha election campaign. We are trying to contact Sardinha bab for his input and will run his article tomorrow or day after, so stay tuned.

Secretly, the Congress poll machine in Goa is trying to wean away the AAP and TMC leaders and break them up. Let’s see in which direction the winds blow as the Lok Sabha polls draw closer. This is a developing story and will be updated as more information comes in. Visit us again for more similar updates.

PANAJI, (PTI): Two migrant hotel staffers were arrested by the Pernem police in North Goa district today for allegedly assaulting a Russian woman tourist with the intention of robbing her, police said.

The incident took place at a hotel in Morjim on Friday, said an official of Pernem police station.

As per a complaint filed by Aigul Davletianova (30), two unknown men entered her hotel room around 3 pm when she was sleeping.

As she woke up, they caught hold of her hands and tried to cover her mouth with hands so that she would not scream, causing her injuries, she said.

She still managed to get up and free herself, at which point the two intruders ran away. (PTI)

MAPUSA: Parra-based social activist and former ward member Benedict D’souza took upon himself the job of clearing up the wild shrubs and bushes, that crop up during the monsoons and cover both sides of local roads in the village.

D’souza organised and sponsored a labourer to clean up the village lanes particularly from the B Arradi to Gamma Vaddo which were half covered with busy wild monsoon growth and could be a safety hazard for people walking on the roads at night.

Sometimes water snakes and even poisonous snakes hide in the shrubbery and bushes alongside the road and villagers walking at night stand the risk of being bitten, so we decided to get the roads cleaned up, he said.

Though there are at least two more months for the monsoon, we did not wait for the Panchayat to go about clearing the road sides. We got it done ourselves, D’souza told this reporter.

PANAJI: After nearly 10 days of suspense, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) top leadership in Delhi, as well as the elected MLAs in Goa, selected Dr Pramod Sawant as the Chief Minister of the coastal state for a second term.

According to a PTI report, Pramod Sawant was on Monday unanimously elected the leader of the BJP legislature party in Goa, paving the way for him to take over as the chief minister for a second term.

Sawant’s name for the top post was cleared at a meeting of the newly elected BJP MLAs and senior party leaders in Panaji on Monday evening.

The meeting was also attended by BJP central observers Narendra Singh Tomar and L Murugan, Assembly poll in-charge Devendra Fadnavis and the party’s state unit president, Sadanand Shet Tanavade.

“It has been decided that Dr Pramod Sawant would be the leader of the House,” Tomar told reporters after the meeting.

Tomar said MLA Vishwajit Rane proposed Sawant’s name as the leader of the BJP legislature party.

His proposal was seconded by other MLAs, including Mauvin Godinho and Rohan Khaunte.

Tomar said Sawant’s election was unanimous.

He said the party will now stake a claim to form the next government in Goa and will meet the Goa Governor later in the evening.

The BJP won 20 seats, just one short of majority in the 40-member Assembly, in the February 14 polls. It has received support from two MLAs of the MGP and three Independent legislators. (PTI)

PANAJI: A Vasco-based social worker has alleged that the survivor/victim in the Goa Cabinet Minister Sex Scandal case was ‘instructed’, ‘guided’ and ‘tutored’ by the police while her statement was recorded, in a manner detrimental to the rights of the victim.

The statement was so recorded so as to favor one person and implicate others, the social worker said, adding that it is very obvious that the police are “working” for the Minister and trying to implicate those who exposed the matter.

According to media reports, the victim in the alleged sex scandal case involving a former Cabinet Minister, recorded her statement in-person before the Mormugao Police today.

The victim, hailing from Bihar, was accompanied by her lawyer and a representative of a local NGO at the police station, sources said.

Urban Development Minister and Mormugao MLA Milind Naik had resigned from his post after Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar accused him of being involved in the “sex scandal” and sexual exploitation of a helpless woman.

An official statement from the CMO had said, “Milind Naik had tendered his resignation to ensure a free and fair probe, which was later accepted and sent to the Governor on December 15.”