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Selected news items.

Qatar Airways begins Goa operations:

Qatar Airways continued its expansion into India with the launch of its second route within two weeks to the idyllic beach holiday destination of Goa from yesterday. The new non-stop Doha-Goa route capitalizes on the start of the winter holiday season with the destination particularly popular with holidaymakers from across Europe, from where Qatar Airways has excellent connecting flights. Extract from Goacom 27th Oct 09

Note: the web masters wife will be traveling on this route to Goa in early December 09 and a report of her travel with Qatar will be shown here on her return.

Govt invites suitors for Princess again

Govt invites suitors for Princess again
HERALD REPORTER
PANJIM, OCT 24 09
The State Government on Saturday invited bids for removal of the grounded vessel, M V River Princess, by re-floating and towing away the highly corroded ship or cutting the same into not more than five pieces without causing any environmental damage.
As per the tender notice, the time limit for completing the task of re-floating and towing away the ship to an authorised ship-breaking yard or cutting it into not more than five pieces without any environmental damage is 180 days starting from December 1, 2009.
The notice states the prospective bidders will have to carry out detailed hydrographic survey and inspection of the site at their own cost and risk and satisfy themselves on the feasibility of the task before submitting the bids.
It further states that failure on part of the bidder to remove the vessel in one piece (in case if bid is for re-floating and towing away) or cutting it in not more than five pieces in the prescribed time will amount to defaulting.
The bids should reach the Director of Tourism on or before November 13, 2009, at 3 pm.
The notice mentions the bidder (in case of cutting the ship) will have to remove the debris at his own risk and cost and forfeit his security deposit/performance guarantee for non-performance of the works.
River Princess was grounded on the Sinquerim-Candolim shoreline in stormy weather on June 6, 2000. Successive Governments have failed to remove the ship which has caused extensive erosion of the shoreline.
The Government had declared the Princess a State disaster via a notification on April 6, 2009........oHERALDo

Rainfall crosses 100" mark

PANJIM, SEPT 21

The rainfall in Goa crossed 100 inches mark on Monday even as the showers remained sporadic in the State.
After the spate of dry spell, the monsoons have become partially active over the State for last two days. Till date the State has received 2515.3mm of total seasonal rainfall. In last two days the state has received hardly 9mm of rainfall.
The showers are witnessed at regular interval. The cloudy weather ruled the state this evening although the capital city didn’t receive much rain.
All the rivers are flowing at a comfortable mark in the State while State administration is monitoring the rains in the Western Ghats, which is a catchments area.
Unprecedented rains in these areas can flood the rivers downstream and cause problems to the talukas of Sattari and Bicholim.
The Met department has said that the rain is in its withdrawing stage.

From oHeraldo

Traditional shack owners want allotment as per ’07 HC order
HERALD REPORTER Heraldo
MARGAO, AUG 9 09
Newly-formed The Goan Traditional Shack Owners Association (TGTSOA) has demanded scrapping of the system of allocating shacks by seniority/category method and instead asked the government to allot the shacks as per the 2007 High Court order.
TGTSOA President Manuel Cardozo has further demanded an increase in the number of shacks in Calangute-Baga belt to accommodate those shack owners who were displaced last year.
He demanded that the shacks be allotted before September 30 as this will give sufficient time to prepare.
Cardozo said the new organisation will submit a representation to the Tourism Minister on August 11 to review the beach shack policy. “We will bring to the notice of the minister that the condition of experience/category is not proper and needs to be abolished. The regular beach shack owners are deprived of their right and only those who had got more permission from the Tourism Department again get right to erect shacks and the regular (panchayat) shack owners experience is not counted”, he added.
He said the condition on obtaining NOC from Director of Tourism for shacks in private property is not proper, as they are not allowed to put up sub beds in government property on the beach.
He said the license fee of Rs 30,000 imposed last year was too high and it should be reduced to Rs 20,000 since the shacks are built by the owners with a heavy investment.
“We would request the Tourism Minister to issue the license in the first week of September since the season starts from October. This will facilitate smooth allotment and construction of beach shacks and avoid disputes as the same can be sorted out before the start of the season’, he added.
While demanding that the location o the shacks be strictly followed as per number wise and the shack owners should not be allowed to choose the location, Cardozo demanded that the number of beach deck beds be increased from 10 to 20 pairs since the shack owners invest huge money in the shack.
Meanwhile, TGTSOA has called its first general body meeting on August 11 at 4 pm in Panjim at T B Cunha hall to discuss the beach shack policy.

Calangute in ‘Asia’s Top Ten Beaches’

Articles and News over One Year old can be found in the News Archive section....be sure to have a look at some of the interesting articles found there.