GOACOM DAILY NEWS CLIPPINGS 03 January, 2005 EXPOSITION CONCLUDES: Thousands of devotees tried to catch a last glimpse of St Francis Xavier as his sacred relics were carried in a ceremonial procession from the Se Cathedral to their resting place in the Basilica of Bom Jesus. As they flanked the passage of the procession at Old Goa on Sunday (January 2), the devotees stood rapt in prayerful attention, a few had tears in their eyes while others bowed in reverence as the representatives of the deaneries carried the relics in turn. After an eventful 43-day period, in which over 22 lakh of pilgrims of different faiths from all over the world venerated the relics, the 16th Exposition came to an end after the simple but touching ceremony, which lasted nearly four hours. (GT)
THERE WAS MAGIC IN THE AIR: Twenty-two lakh pilgrims, forty-three days of worship, devotees from all over the globe and a devotion that spanned all faiths. That in short summarized the 16th Exposition.For the organizers and volunteers, what seemed like an insurmountable task three months ago, went of peacefully. And for all the pilgrims and devotees the magic of seeing Goencho Saib wiped out all the hardships of standing in the sun and in long queues. (H) A TOTAL SUCCESS: "The Exposition was a total success as it was geared to deepen the faith of our people. The response was manifested in the large attendance during the masses and the veneration. Large number of pilgrims from different faiths that came during the concluding days is also a testimony to this. It was also a beautiful experience wherein the State and the Church came together to work for a cause. At least 1,000 priests attended and celebrated masses in different languages during the 43-day event. People stood up in queues for three to four hours to go for the veneration." (Fr Savio Barreto, Rector of Bom Jesus Basilica, in Herald) RUMOURS SAY MONSERRATE HAS QUIT; NO, SAYS MINISTER: Speculation about a political upheaval was strong on Sunday (Jan 2) as the rumour mill had it that Town and Country Planning Minister Atanasio Monserrate had quit the Parrikar-led government with another BJP MLA. However, Monserrate when contacted late in the evening dismissed the reports as baseless but declined to comment further. (GT) PONDA ABUZZ OVER PETRO FLOW: In a strange occurrence at Ponda on Sunday (Jan 2) evening, the locals of Nageshim claim to have found a petrol-like liquid flowing through a part of their village, in a pond at Vaghtale-Nageshim. The incident came to light after a cowherd discovered the liquid when he visited the site after it was found that a petrol-like smell was emanating in the area. (H) GOVT TO CHANGE ITS SLOGAN FOR TOURISM: The government will soon change its slogan for tourism promotion from 'Goa - 365 days of natural calamities-free tourism' for attracting visitors to the state. Addressing a function organized on January 2 to present the prestigious ISO 9001-2000 Certificate to the Goa Tourism Development Corporation Ltd, the Chief Minister, Mr Manohar Parrikar, said that Goa had always been a safe tourist destination and would have no competition from other tourist centres in Asia, at least for the next four to five years. (NT) FR PEREIRA IS NEW SECY OF DIOCESAN CENTRE FOR MEDIA: Fr J Loyola Pereira has been appointed the Secretary of the Diocesan Centre for Social Communications Media. While his appoint is up to May 2005, his predecessor, Fr Olavo Velho Pereira, died of cancer recently. (GT) GOMANT VISHA SAMMELAN (NRI MEET): The second Gomant Vishwa Sammelan will be inaugurated by Goa Governor SC Jamir at 10 am today. The three-day event, being held at the Kala Academy complex, will feature speakers such as architect Edgar Rebeiro, journalist Rajdeep Sardessai, hotelier Victor Albuquerque. (GT) ASSAULTED AT ANJUNA: 19-year-old Yeshwant Nagvekar was assaulted with a baseball bat early on New Year's Day by a group of three unidentified persons at 4.30 am outside Hotel sea Rock in Anjuna. (GT) KEY OPINION POLL ACTIVIST SHABU DEAD: Veteran freedom fighter, Shabu Babani Dessai, who was a key figure in the historic opinion poll movement, passed away at Cuncolim on January 2 evening after a long illness. He was 74 years old and is survived by his wife Vishranti, two sons and four daughters. (H) STATE CABINET MEETING: The state Cabinet will meet at the new Secretariat, Porvorim, at 3 pm today. The Cabinet is likely to take some important decisions in view of the ensuing Assembly session starting from 10 January. (GT) GOACAN TO OBSERVE ROAD SAFETY FORTNIGHT: The Goa Civic and Consumer Action network will observe a Road Safety Fortnight from January 3 to 17 to create awareness among the consumers on linkages of road safety issues and Consumer Protection Act. (H) HAM RADIO TO THE RESCUE: When the giant tidal waves broke all communication lines across the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, ham radio came to the rescue. Bharati Prasad, India's foremost amateur ham radio operator, was attempting a new transmission record at Port Blair when, on December 26, the earthquake-induced tsunamis hit the archipelago. Faced with a massive humanitarian crisis - with hundreds dying and islands with thousands of people becoming completely incommunicado - Prasad quit her project and jumped into action. (GT) SHAME GOA, SHAME: Shame on you, Goa! Shame on all the people who came to Goa to enjoy themselves and shame on all the people, who made pious sounding statements and then danced the night away on December 31. In case many of you'll had forgotten, India was struck by a double tragedy - the death of former primer minister PV Narashima Rao and a tragedy that cannot be erased from the memory of Indian history. The deaths resulting from the tsunami tragedy in the eastern coastal belt of India and the rest of India. (Edit in Herald) TSUNAMI: A CHALLENGE TO SCIENTISTS: There is a warning for Goa from the Sunami disaster. What the sea had given in the past, it would take back anytime. A Tsunami from western Indian Ocean, in future can destroy the entire Konkan-Malabar belt. In my Marathi Science fiction story "Konkanpralaya" (Apocalypse of Konkan), published in the daily "Gomantak" on May 30, 2004, I had given the sequence of events which is more or less shockingly similar to what had happened near Sumatra on December 26th. (Nandakumar Kamat in NT-Glimpses) JENNIFER MONSERRATE TO JOIN UGDP: The shape of things to come on the political landscape in Goa is likely to be defined by some developments in the next few days with Jennifer Monseratte all set to join the United Goans Democratic Party soon. (GT) GOAN NCC CADET FOR INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME: Rohan Parab, an NCC cadet of DM' s College of Arts, Science and Commerce, got selected to participate in the International Youth Exchange Programme held recently at Vietnam. The programme included the study of Vietnamese culture, education system, language and a visit to different place in that country. (GT) S P O R T S D E A T H S 02 Jan: London-Mapusa: ARTHUR AVELINO COUTINHO; husband of Elizabeth; father of Seneca, Amanda, Perpet (Canada) and late Claton. Funeral: 3rd Jan at 3.45 pm to St Jerome Church, Mapusa. 01 Jan: Agasaim-Dandim: CAETANO MARIANO CARVALHO; husband of Catarina, father of Francis/Regina, Benny/Victoria, Teckla/late Wency and Agnela/Simon. 01 Jan: Caranzalem: ARMANDO MASCARENHAS; son of late Constancio/late Ana, husband of Jeanette, brother of Ivonne/late Edmundo, Mario, Maria Helena/Luis, late Alberto, Fernando, Serena. 02 Jan: Cuncolim-Bhiva: SHABU BABANI DESAI; husband of Vishranti, father of Deepka and Vishal. 02 Jan: Velim: GAVIN COLACO; son of Climaco/Geraldine, brother of Clint and Lysella. 01 Jan: ANANDIBAI R WAGLE, wife of late Rajaram, mother of Suman, Sharad, Sheela, Rekha, Alka and Manguesh. 02 Jan: Taleigao: GOPIKABAI SRIDHAR SINAI BORKAR; wife of Sridhar alias Umanath, mother of Madhav/Mangal, Mohan/Sheela, Roshan/Mohandas Nadkarni, Nutan/Rajiv Kamat, Sushma/Pradeep Matha, Nilima/Dilip Nayak and late Geeta. No Condolence Visits. 02 Jan: Vasco: BLASIO LOURDES RODRIGUES; husband of Anna, father of Jennifer and Austin. 01 Jan: Salvador do Mundo: ANA SEVERINA PEREIRA (ANITA); sister of rev Sr Elizabeth de la Conception, aunt of Florinda Jacinta, Zuricka-Ann and Neil-John Joaquim Azavedo. No Condolence visits. 01 Jan: Corlim: CHRISTOPHER SAVIO FERNANDES; son of Silvester/Joyce, brother of Joseph and Stephanie. G O A W E A T H E R Max temp: 35.0 degC; Min temp: 20.6 degC; Relative Humidity: 67% Weather: Yesterday was a very cloudy day with a cool wind blowing throughout the day. The sky is still a bit cloudy this morning. Courtesy: GT=Gomantak Times; NT=The Navhind Times; H=Herald; WE=Weekender. JOEL D'SOUZA Assagao, Bardez, Goa. www.goacom.com