log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline WEDNESDAY JULY 16, 2025 Facebook.com/thegoan The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 13 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME XI, NO. 29 Goa's Biggest Media Brand with Highest Viewership which makes us >> pg 6 Margao ITI at 50: Powering careers through skill-based education Instagram.com/thegoanonline INDIA WOMEN EYE ODI DOMINANCE AGAINST ENG AFTER T20I GLORY>>13 RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 Come join us Contact: 9011043385 / 9850755549 / 9130004704 / 9689923150 Email: marketing@prudentmedia.in eyes Tenanted agri land cannot be Jaya PradaFilm Children’s used for other purposes: SC Academy in Goa Shubhanshu Shukla returns to Earth NEW DELHI: With waves and smiles, Shubhanshu Shukla returned to Earth on Tuesday after an 18-day stay on the International Space Station, a feat that holds the promise to herald India's own human spaceflight ambitions. The Lucknow-born Shukla and three other astronauts of the private Axiom-4 mission splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the San Diego coast in California in the pre-dawn darkness at 2:31 am Pacific Time (3:01 pm IST) amid cheers from the citizens of India, literally on the other side of the world.  >> See pg 8 Says Sate has natural beauty, culture THE GOAN I NETWORK IN SHORT >> SAYS TIVIM COMUNIDADE'S PROPOSED SETTLEMENT LEGALLY FLAWED MARGAO Actress and politician Jaya Prada has announced plans to establish a Children's Film Academy in Goa, highlighting the State's rich heritage of natural beauty, art, and culture as the ideal backdrop for nurturing young talent. After visiting the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao on Tuesday, Jaya Prada said the institution is the temple of art and culture, where culture is being showcased by artists through programmes. Accompanied by former Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar, Jaya Prada said she is on a visit to Goa to pursue her film projects in the State. Saying that she has a plan to set up a film academy in Goa for the children, Jaya Prada said she is looking forward for support from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, former Rajya PANAJI The Supreme Court of India has upheld the legal dogma that land whose ownership is transferred under the Agriculture Tenancy law cannot be put to use for any other non-agriculture purpose. The judgement passed on Monday said tenanted lands given for agricultural use cannot be used for construction or other purposes and can only be used for agriculture. A division bench comprising justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Arvind Kumar passed the judgement in a special leave petition filed by the Thivim Comunidade which had sought to challenge a Bombay High Court judgement in which it dismissed their plea to permit them resolve a tenancy matter with KEY „„The proposed consent terms for purchase of such land by the or the compromise sought to tenant be entered by the appellant OBERVATIONS „„These terms effectively allow (Thivim Comunidade) with private OF SUPREME to use agricultural land for nonrespondents (Vaigankars & agricultural purposes COURT others) falls foul of Tenancy Act „„The 'compromise' sought by and Land Use Act the parties is "nothing but an „„It creates free-hold ownership abuse of the process of law" and THE CASE rights over tenanted land, a ploy to "defeat the provisions without resorting to the It pertains to two parcels of the law" of land in survey numbers procedure contemplated an out of court deal. The matter pertains to two parcels of land in survey numbers 448/0 and 440/0 which were leased back in 1978 to the ancestors of Biku Vaigankar and others, who expired in 1985. A year later, Vaigankar and the other parties filed for entering their names in property records as tenants which the 448/0 and 440/0 which were leased back in 1978 to the ancestors of Biku Vaigankar and others, who expired in 1985 Civil Court granted in ex-parte proceedings on January 8, 1986. Aggrieved, the Thivim Comunidade challenged the declaration before the Dis- PANAJI: Pulling up the State government and the police over inaction in curbing illegal sand mining, the High Court of Bombay in Goa has directed the State to work out a mechanism wherein police can promptly take action on the report of illegal sand activities.  >> See pg 3 PANAJI: A day after the RoRo ferry services were launched the ferry wharfs and the roads leading to them both in Ribandar as well as Chorao were scenes of utter chaos with huge traffic jams. Harried office-goers on the very busy route complained that the authorities failed to put in place any protocols.   >> See pg 3 Landslide at Chorla Ghat disrupts traffic VALPOI: Traffic between Goa and Belagavi was disrupted in the wee hours of Tuesday, following a landslide at the Chorla Ghat. Amid heavy rains over the past few days, there is a fear of further landslides in the area. >> See pg 5 >Continued on P8 Centre seeks forest data from Goa on ESA-tagged villages HC slams govt on illegal sand mining RoRo: Chaos in Chorao, Ribandar trict Court but during the pendency of the challenge, the Comunidade discussed and approved 'consent terms' to resolve the dispute with the Vaigankars at an extraordinary general body meeting held on March 14, 2021. Under these 'consent terms' approved by the general body, the Vaigankars were to get 60 per cent share and the bal- ance 40 per cent would go to the Comunidade. However, the permission to settle the matter out of court had to be endorsed by the Administrative Tribunal as per the Code of Comunidades and accordingly the North Goa Administrator of Comunidades forwarded the request. However, the Administrative Tribunal rejected the application and the Thivim Comunidade knocked the doors of the Bombay High Court at Goa which also rejected the plea and dismissed the writ petition, forcing it to approach the Supreme Court with no success. In their Monday's judgement, Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Arvind Kumar said "the proposed consent terms or the compromise sought to THE GOAN I NETWORK WANTS INFO ON NON-FOREST AREA, PRIVATE FOREST, TREE COVER FOR ALL 108 VILLAGES THE GOAN I NETWORK HOPE ON HOLD: Hundreds of job seekers line up at the Directorate of Settlement and Land Records to submit their application forms for Multi-Tasking Staff posts in Panaji on Tuesday. Twenty vacancies had been announced by the government.  Narayan Pissurlenkar GFP, RG skip joint Oppn meet THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Cracks in the Opposition camp were wide open on Tuesday, after Goa Forward Party (GFP) and Revolutionary Goans Party (RG) skipped the crucial joint Opposition meeting convened by Leader of Opposition Yuri Alemao to discuss strategies for the upcoming monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly. GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai and RG MLA Viresh Borkar gave a miss to the meeting, which according to them was a mere formality. The meeting was attended by Congress MLAs -Adv Carlos Ferreira and Alton D’Costa -- and AAP legislators Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva. Addressing a press conference post meeting, Alemao clarified that the meeting invite was sent to all the Opposition MLAs and the agenda was to work out a joint strategy against the failed administrative governance of the BJP government. He said that leaving all political differences, the Opposition needs to come together to expose BJP.  "Goa and Goans are watching us, and they will scrutinize our actions. I have no personal agenda; I am straight and >Continued on P8 PANAJI The Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has directed the Goa Government to submit village-wise forest cover details of 108 villages, which are categorized under Western Ghat Eco-Sensitive Area (ESA), as per the draft notification issued by the Minister in August, last year. In a communication to the Chief Secretary, last month, Member Convenor of Western Ghat ESA Committee Dr S Kerketta has asked the State to provide details of the forest cover as a matter of the ‘highest priority’. The Ministry sought to know the village wise details of non-forest area, recorded forest area, private forest, forest and tree cover for all 108 villages. Earlier in January, the Ministry had asked the State to submit a revised proposal -for declaration of villages as CENTRE’S FIAT TO CHIEF SECY FLASHBACK: In August, the Centre had >> Provide details of forest cover as a proposed 108 matter of ‘highest priority’ villages from Goa >> Seeks detailed info on village wise as ESA. The Goa non-forest area, recorded forest area, government in private forest, forest and tree cover of all its submission 108 villages had proposed >> Details also sought on various laws and dropping 21 villages from regulations, programmes or schemes the ESA list and and other measures already in place that 87 villagand proposed to be taken to protect es be categorised biodiversity as ESA Western Ghat ESA -- detailing specific purposes for exclusion of 21 villages. The Ministry sought to know various laws and regulations, programmes or schemes and other measures already in place and proposed to be taken by the government to protect biodiversity (flora, fauna, water, rivers, and land reforms) in the areas proposed to be excluded. The Centre, in its draft notification, issued in August, had proposed 108 villages from Goa as  ESA.  The Goa government in its submission >Continued on P8 GOA CALLING „„Jaya Prada says Ravindra Bhavan, Margao is the temple of art and culture „„She said she is looking forward for support from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, former Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar and others to set up the Children's Film Academy Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar and others to make the project a reality. Saying that she feels privileged to visit the Ravindra Bhavan and interact with the people, she said the institution is indeed the temple of art and culture. Asked to comment on the functioning of the BJP >Continued on P8 Tesla debuts in India, Model Y price starts at `59.89 lakh The Model Y on display PTI MUMBAI Global EV giant Tesla on Tuesday made its much-awaited entry into India, launching its Model Y with price starting at Rs 59.89 lakh while opening its first experience centre here. Tesla will be importing the Model Y as a completely built unit, from its Shanghai manufacturing facility in China. The mid-sized electric SUV Model Y, which was once the world's best-selling car, will be offered in India in two variants -- rear-wheel drive with base price at Rs 59.89 lakh and long-range rear wheel drive at a base price of Rs 67.89 lakh. The deliveries are slated to start in the third and fourth quarter of 2025, respectively, for the two variants in Delhi, Mumbai, and Gurugram, the company said. Police tighten web security, Feed them at home, SC slams man in stray dog row block nearly 700 websites DOG DILEMMA PTI OVER 900 MOBILE NUMBERS ALSO BLOCKED THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI As many as 672 websites including social media platforms and 936 mobile numbers perpetrating cybercrimes and other illicit activities have been blocked by the Cyber Crime Cell of Goa Police in the last nine months, since October 2024. Superintendent of Police (cyber crime) Rahul Gupta informed that the police have also blocked 134 IMEI num- bers during the period. Gupta said that the blocking notices under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act have been issued to intermediaries and internet service providers by the police. He said that the action has been initiated against gambling, prostitution, fake hotels and resort websites. He said that the blocked mobile numbers and IMEI were used in making fraud calls to unsuspecting victims. As per the data shared by the cyber crime cell, in October, last year 78 websites were blocked while another 22 in December. This year, in the month of May alone, 270 websites, Facebook, Instagram profiles, Telegram, YouTube and Whatsapp accounts were blocked. In January 82 such websites and social accounts were blocked followed by 56 in February, 29 in March and three in April. In June, 84 websites and social platforms were blocked and in July, till date 48.  NEW DELHI upreme Court of India on Tuesday took a sharp stand against a petitioner who claimed harassment for feeding stray dogs in Noida asking him “why don't you feed them in your own house?”. A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta told the petitioner's counsel, “We should leave every lane, every road open for these large hearted people? There is all space for these animals, no space for humans. Why don't you feed them in your own house? Nobody is stopping you.” The plea related to a March 2025 order of the Alla- S or local body's representative >> We should leave every lane, of the local area to make every road open for these large necessary arrangements for WHAT APEX COURT SAID hearted people? feeding of community animals residing in the premises or >> We give you a suggestion to that area. open a shelter in your own house THE The top court, however, >> Feed every dog in the CASE said, “We give you a sugcommunity in your own house gestion to open a shelter in your own house. Feed >> Try going cycling in the The counsel had petievery dog in the commumorning and see what tioned the Supreme Court nity in your own house.” happens that his client was subjected The petitioner's counsel to harassment and was una>> Morning walkers are >> There is all space for these claimed compliance with ble to feed community dogs also at risk... Cycle riders animals, no space for humans… the rules and said the in line with the Animal municipality was creating Why don't you feed them in your own and two-wheelers are at Birth Control Rules such places in Greater Noigreater risk house? Nobody is stopping you habad High Court. The petitioner, the counsel said, was subjected to harassment and was unable to feed community dogs in line with the Animal Birth Control Rules. Rule 20 of the Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023 deals with feeding of community animals and puts onus on resident welfare association or apartment owner association da but not in Noida. He said feeding points could be made at a place not frequented by people. >Continued on P8