Adani News

Tag: Goa

  • NCB busts international drug cartel in Goa, Russian Olympic-medal-winning swimmer arrested

    NCB busts international drug cartel in Goa, Russian Olympic-medal-winning swimmer arrested

    The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has busted an international drug cartel in Goa and arrested two Russians – a 1980 Olympic silver medal-winning woman swimmer and a former policeman – along with an Indian, besides seizing different drugs, an official said on Saturday.

    The operation was conducted by the NCB’s Goa unit over the past two weeks, he said.

    “Based on a tip-off that a Russian drug cartel was actively operating in Arambol and its adjoining areas in Goa, a probe was launched. As per the intelligence inputs, a Russian woman named S Varganova was found involved in the supply of drugs to foreign nationals. During the investigation, we also received information that led to the identification of a local man named Akash,” the NCB official said.

    “During further probe, it was learnt that Akash was part of a larger network and he was working on the directions of a Russian person, who acted as the kingpin of the cartel,” he said.

    Immediately after that, Akash was put under discreet surveillance. After extensive intelligence-based operations, a Russian national named Andre was apprehended and 20 LSD blots were seized from him. During his spot interrogation, he revealed that he was growing hydroponic weed at his local residence, the anti-drug agency said.

    During the entire operation, different kinds of drugs, including 88 LSD blots, 8.8 grams cocaine, 242.5 grams charas, 1.440 kg hydroponic weed, 16.49 grams hash oil, 410 grams hash cake – were seized along with Rs 4.88 lakh cash, he said, adding that the NCB also recovered Indian and foreign currencies, fake documents, IDs and material required to grow hydroponic weed.

    “The arrested Russian woman, S Varganova, is a 1980 Olympic silver medallist in swimming, while Andre is a former policeman from Russia. The latter has been operating a drug cartel in Goa since a long time. He had visited many cities to spread his network and had been managing the well spread network of street peddlers,” the NCB said.

    Thereafter, tree pots of hydroponic weed plants were recovered from his house, the official said.

  • 198 books, and far from putting the pen down: Goa’s writer-Governor

    198 books, and far from putting the pen down: Goa’s writer-Governor

    These lines from a poem titled ‘Oh, Mizoram’ were penned by P S Sreedharan Pillai — in a collection of poems — the night he landed in Mizoram after being sworn in as the Governor of the state in 2019. Pillai says he wrote the poem as an ode to the scenic beauty of the Northeast state.

    And, if that sounds prolific, you don’t know Pillai, now the Governor of Goa. On May 2, a collection of his short stories, Ente Priya Kadhakal, is scheduled to be released by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram. It would be his “198th book”.

    Sitting amidst his office in Raj Bhavan that has stacks of books piled up on chairs and in corners along the floor, the 68-year-old says: “My ambition is to write till my last breath.”

    In a career spanning over five decades, Pillai has been many things — lawyer, student leader, an active BJP politician in his native Kerala, orator — and lately, a Governor blossoming as an author and a poet.

    In the last four years, he has authored at least 60 books on subjects ranging from politics, law, economy and social issues to nature and travelogues. The Covid pandemic, with its empty hours to fill, certainly helped, Pillai says. “Public visits were prohibited and travel was suspended… It was a blessing in disguise.”

    Life has since fallen into a more gubernatorial routine, and Pillai says he manages by waking up at 4 am and spending over an hour voraciously reading or writing. He is never to be seen without a book on his travels, he says.

    The love for reading started young for Pillai, who would frequent the village library at his native Venmony in Alappuzha district to devour anything he could lay his lands on — Malayalam dailies, classics, folklore, and political books. He lists the writings of Ram Manohar Lohia, Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya as among his favourites; and the English T S Eliot and William Shakespeare, Malayalam poet Ayyappa Paniker and Malayalam writer S K Pottekkatt as among his early literary influences.

  • Goa governor PS Sreedharan Pillai to release his 200th book on May 2

    Goa governor PS Sreedharan Pillai to release his 200th book on May 2

    PANAJI: Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai will release 12 books in Malayalam and English by the end of May. CM Pramod Sawant will release two books by Pillai at Malabar Palace in Kozhikode on April 28. On May 2, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan will release a book in Trivandrum.
    With this, Pillai will have authored 200 books in the course of his public life.
    Some of the books will be released by President Droupadi Murmu, vice president Jagdeep Dhankar, governors and CMs of various states and literary figures.
    Raj Bhavan said that the books will be exhibited at various centres after the release. “The celebrations of completing 50 years of amazing writing will be done in Kozhikode,” the Raj Bhavan stated. Some of the books are about heritage trees, the islands of Goa, his term as the governor of Goa and several other aspects.

  • Goa CM Pramod Sawant to visit Saligao as swayampurna mitra

    Goa CM Pramod Sawant to visit Saligao as swayampurna mitra

    PANAJI: The state government has appointed chief minister Pramod Sawant as swayampurna mitra and he will be available for the people of Saligao on Monday.
    “Sawant is appointed as a swayampurna mitra for Saligao village panchayat, under the flagship programme of Swayampurna Goa 2.0. The chief minister will interact with the people of Saligao and address their concerns during this visit,” principal secretary V Candavelou said.
    Speaking to TOI, Sawant said that on his 50th birthday, he has decided to spend time with the people of Saligao and listen to their grievances like how swayampurna mitra does.
    “Swayampurna Goa is my flagship programme and I have decided to become swayampurna mitra as mitra is the main person behind the programme,” he said.

  • Opposition ready to surround government during Goa assembly session

    Opposition ready to surround government during Goa assembly session

    Panaji (IANS) | Leader of the Opposition in the Goa Legislative Assembly Yuri Alemao on Sunday said opposition legislators are ready to corner the BJP government on issues related to the state during the budget session beginning March 27. Congress leader Alemao said that the facts and figures of crores of rupees spent by the BJP government on self-pride events and advertisements will come out in the upcoming assembly session.

    Alemao said, this session will reveal the real face of the failed BJP government. This will prove that the troubled BJP government is reducing the duration of the session instead of reducing the wasteful expenditure.

    The Congress leader claimed that the answers to his Legislative Assembly Questions (LAQs) pointed to the BJP government’s failure to generate employment, disaster management, willful ignorance on the Mhadei issue, failure to control price rise and failure to fill vacancies in government departments. Will reveal

    He urged the people employed by the state government to keep an eye on the proceedings of the assembly. Alemao said, he will come to know how the insensitive BJP government has deprived him of his well-timed financial assistance and monthly salary and instead spent on self-glorification programs and publicity stunts.

    –IANS

  • Goa minister asks MLAs to come an hour earlier for assembly session

    Goa minister asks MLAs to come an hour earlier for assembly session

    Panaji (IANS) | Amid heavy traffic jams in Panaji and its outskirts, senior leader and Energy Minister Sudin Dhavalikar on Friday asked legislators and government officials to report an hour earlier for the assembly session beginning on March 27. Due to the closure of Atal Setu bridge in Panaji over Mandovi river, commuters going towards Maharashtra using two other bridges (adjacent to Atal Setu) are seen stuck in long spiraling queues.

    Sudin Dhavalikar said that there are major problems on the Atal Setu bridge and heavy vehicles going towards Maharashtra are causing traffic jams. So, all the MLAs and officials should come an hour earlier. This is not a man-made disaster.

    The Goa Legislative Assembly complex is located in Porvorim, so people coming from Panaji have to cross the Mandovi bridge to reach here. “We will also solve the problem of traffic jam at Porvorim by programming the signals and giving extra minutes to the zigzag queues,” Dhavalikar said.

    Talking about the traffic jam in Panaji city, Dhavalikar said that it is happening because the work on war-footing for the G-20 meetings is going on. After the completion of these works, the traffic will be smooth.

    Atal Setu 5.1 kilometer long cable stayed bridge was opened in February 2019. At present, asphalt and other work is going on on this bridge, so it has been closed for traffic.

    –IANS

  • Air service will start from March 27 from Ranchi to Goa and Deoghar

    Air service will start from March 27 from Ranchi to Goa and Deoghar

    Ranchi, The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has given permission for Indiga Airlines to fly from Ranchi to Jaipur. March 26 is the deadline to start the flight. A 180-seater Airbus will fly from Ranchi to Ranchi three days a week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, for direct flights to Jaipur.

    The aircraft will reach Ranchi Ranchi at 9:05 in the morning and will fly to Jaipur at 9:35 in the morning itself. Indigo wants to start it from 23rd May. However, the airline has said that the notification regarding the date has not yet come from the headquarters. On the other hand, the flight service will start from Ranchi to Gaeva from March 27. On the same day the plane will also fly to Deoghar. So far, 150 passengers have made bookings from Ranchi to Gaeva. At the same time, 44 passengers have made bookings in the 72-seater aircraft starting from Ranchi to Deoghar.

    There has been a demand for a long time to connect Ranchi to Jaipur by air. The businessmen here go to Jaipur for business. And from the point of view of sightseeing, the number of tourists going to Jaipur is considerable. Due to non-availability of direct service from Jaipur to jaipur, people had to go to Delhi or Kolkata to take a flight. Airport Authority of India had sent a proposal to DGCA to add Jaipur-jaipur airline in summer schedule, which has been approved.

    Another airline will start from Ranchi to Delhi. Air service will start between Ranchi Ranchi and Delhi on all seven days. At the same time, the plane will also fly from Ranchi to Goa. It will fly between Ranchi Ranchi to Goa three days a week on Monday, Friday and Sunday. This aircraft will land at 6:15 in the evening and take off at 6:45 in the evening.