Betalbatim Civic & Consumer Forum meeting on Saturday

, 

Betalbatim Civic and Consumer Forum (BCCF) will have 

its monthly meeting at 5.00pm on Saturday 5th Nov 2011 

at St.Jude's H. School,Betalbatim. 

The Utilities - Electricity, Phone, LPG & Garbage 

Management - NSS students survey and water billing 

complaints will be discussed. RP 2021 for Betalbatim 

and Vigilance Week will also be taken up in addition 

to other consumer related issues.

Consumers of Betalbatim are invited to attend the 

meeting and participate in the deliberations.

Joseph Afonso Memorial Trust's 16th Annual Student Felicitation

Kenneth Crasto of Regina Martyrum H. School, Assolna made an impassioned plea to his fellow students to root out corruption. His speech delivered with great élan and topped off with a couple of apt verses sung powerfully, brought the house down as he bagged top honours at the All-Goa Interschool Elocution Competition themed We Students MUST make a Difference in Goa on Independence Day Eve. The occasion, was the 16^th Annual Felicitation of Meritorious Students, organized by Joseph Afonso Memorial Trust, Betalbatim. Amanda Botelho of Fatima Convent who came 2^nd, spoke with excellent diction and poise as she enumerated in detail the practical and novel steps that students should take to tackle the garbage menace. Remena Rodrigues of St. Jude's, Betalbatim, who got the third prize, painted an optimistic picture, praising her village panchayat for taking practical steps in garbage management as she urged her fellow students to join the campaign. Interestingly, of the eleven schools which took part, an overwhelming majority of nine, chose We students MUST help to solve Goa's Garbage Problem, pointing to how acute the menace is perceived to be in the eyes of the next generation.  Only one student tackled We Students MUST make RTE work despite the No-detention rule, while the

1^st prize winner went hammer and tongs while tackling We Students MUST make a dent in Goa's Corruption.

Chief Guest Fr. Avinash Rebello, President of Diocesan Society of Education, praised the students for their performance. He spoke with warmth of his association with the late Headmaster Joseph Afonso and commended the Trustees for organizing the programme and especially for the choice of topics. The Sarpanch Mr. Minguel Pereira was felicitated by the Trust and presented with a Best Administrator Award, at the hands of former Tourism Minister Mickky Pacheco MLA, who presided. Earlier Mr Pacheco praised the Trust for keeping alive the memory of Educationist and able Sarpanch Joseph Afonso. Sarpanch Minguel Pereira thanked the Trust for recognizing the work he and his team have put in to bag Betalbatim the Best Panchayat in South Goa Award. Guest of Honour Betalbatim Vicar Fr. Ubaldo D'Cunha congratulated SSCE students Callens Pereira, Sparsh Martires & Rezelt Vaz for standing 1^st 2^nd & 3^rd in the village. Charlton Fernandes, Tania Fernandes, Melvi Fernandes,& Astrida Diniz won top positions in their respective streams in HSSCE. Summing up the Elocution Competition on behalf of fellow judges Headmistress Carma Costa & retired Headmistress Gracy D'Silva, Engineer and writer Jose Lourenço, rounded up by giving the students tips on how to deliver good speeches. Special Invitee Panchayat Mahila Abhiyan head Prof. Nelly Rodrigues gave away some prizes while Trustees Xavier Cota and Isidorio Mendes anchored the programme  and delivered the vote of thanks respectively.

All-Goa Inter School Competition ,on Sunday 14th August 2011

Joseph Afonso Memorial Trust, formed in 1995 to perpetuate the memory and ideals of the late Joseph Afonso, dedicated Educationist and visionary Sarpanch of Betalbatim, will be holding the XVIth Annual Felicitation of SSCE & HSSCE Students of Betalbatim on the eve of Independence Day, Sunday 14^th August 2011 at Dr. Jose Cota Memorial Hall, Betalbatim at 10.00am. As usual, an All-Goa Inter School Competition will be held on the occasion. This year, the Elocution Contest themed We Students MUST make a difference in Goa has attracted ten leading schools.

The Trust will also confer the Best Administrator Award on the present Sarpanch, Minguel Pereira whose accessibility, sincere hard work and leadership has led the village to be judged The Best Panchayat in South Goa.

Fr. Avinash Rebello, President of Diocesan Society of Education will be the Chief Guest, Fr. Ubaldo D'Cunha, Betalbatim Vicar will be the Guest of Honour and Prof. Nelly Rodrigues will be the Special Invitee. Mr. Francisco Xavier (Mickky) Pacheco will preside

tewt

report

WHAT IDEA SIRJI, VERY POOR SIGNAL SIRJI

Sirs,
I have no idea whom I am addressing as this was the only address
supplied to me at your Idea Office in Margao, Goa. I know that email is
quick but I'm old fashioned enough to also use hard copy.
We are a Voluntary Service Organisation registered with the Dept for
Consumer Affairs, Goa, and networked through GOACAN with about 30 other
Consumer Forums all over Goa. As our name suggests, we take up Civic
and Consumer issues.
At the monthly meeting of our Forum, there have been widespread
complaints about the poor connectivity from Idea. Idea is the most
popular mobile service provider here in Goa, mainly because of the good
signal available almost throughout the State, barring some villages
located in deep valleys or behind tall hills.
Of late however,the signal has become extremely poor, forcing customers
to make multiple calls. Some pre-paid customers complain that they have
got billed for incoming calls and that your meter seems to be ticking
much faster, thus registering 2 calls for under-one minute
conversations. But the most frustrating is the failure to connect when
you most require it. Many customers have given up other providers and
opted for Idea because of the good signal strength. If things do not
improve at your end, many customers will desert Idea.
We understand that these problems are occurring because of the
inordinate hurry with which you are rolling out 3G services without the
requisite infrastructure, and have therefore overloaded the existing
network. It will turn out to be a dud idea if, as a result, you lose
droves of loyal customers.
We await your response which we will convey to our members and the
public at large.
Thanking you for an early reply,
Yours faithfully
Xavier Cota
Convenor

Betalbatim Gram Sabha resolves to coordinate road digging

The Betalbatim Gram Sabha was held in a cordial atmosphere, though the attendance was less than usual probably due to the rains. The Sarpanch acceding to the request of a previous Gram Sabha, distributed xerox copies of the minutes of the last Gram Sabha as also of the Action Taken Report to the villagers.

Two important resolutions were unanimously passed. Members complained about the constant disruption in phone connectivity and water supply due to cutting whilst digging. It was therefore resolved that any person or agency private or public proposing to dig to lay cables or water lines etc in the village along the roads should obtain the written permission of the Panchayat authorities. Upon receipt of the application, the panchayat will depute the ward panch and inform other agencies like BSNL, PWD to send their personnel to supervise the digging. The agency involved will also restore the broken portion of the roads. The copies of this resolution shall be sent to the relevant authorities likes BSNL, PWD, private providers like Reliance, Tata etc and the Director of Panchayats.

Members congratulated the Panchayat for putting in place garbage management in the village. However, they were very unhappy at the poor beach cleanliness, whereupon the Sarpanch informed that the beach garbage contractor was not under their purview but under the Tourism Dept  who had appointed him. The Gram Sabha thereupon unanimously resolved that the local Panchayat should look after the maintenance both of the beach and the land immediately adjoining it and the Tourism Dept should transfer the proportionate amount being paid to the delinquent contractor to the Panchayat for this purpose and that henceforth the panchayat should be responsible for beach cleanliness since the good name of the village was at stake.The copy of the resolution was to be sent to the Tourism Dept. Attention was drawn to the poor state of Betalbatim Club in Mazagon, Mumbai, whereupon the Sarpanch informed that help could be considered only after receipt of a written request approved at the General Body Meeting of the Club.

The Sarpanch also announced that as per the assurance of the Power minister, three new transformers would shortly be set up to alleviate power woes and that sagging lines would be tightened and new conductors installed.

Door to Door collection of segregated dry waste

Betalbatim has taken one more step towards garbage management in the village, with the launch of Door to Door collection of segregated dry waste. The Panchayat has purchased a cycle rickshaw for this purpose.

In another initiative, to eliminate the menace of plastic carrybags, the Panchayat is distributing biodegradable cloth shopping bags to shops. These reusable bags are to be given to customers at a refundable deposit of Rs. 5/- per bag in lieu of the one-time use plastic carrybags. Earlier, the Panchayat had supplied sets of terracotta composters to households at subsidized rates and last year a recycling
station for dry waste had been set up.

The initiative by the Panchayat's Garbage Management Committee is actively supported by Betalbatim Civic & Consumer Forum and coordinated by the Panchayat's Waste Management Consultant Eng. Clinton Vaz. Mission Chaka Chak Goa chief and newly coopted PMC Councillor Patricia Pinto who was the Guest of Honour gave an inspiring talk and promised all help to the local body in its bold and proactive steps to tackle the garbage menace.

Goa Panchayat Mahila Shakti Abhiyan President Prof. Nelly Rodrigues congratulated the Betalbatim Panchayat for winning the Rs. 50,000/- State Award.Whilst complimenting the Sarpanch and members for their far-sighted initiative, she also lauded the efforts of the NGO in helping the Panchayat and assured all possible aid from the Zilla Parishad.

Chief Guest Mickky Pacheco expressed happiness with the Panchayat for tackling people's problems and announced that The Mickky Pacheco Charitable Trust which was distributing free exercise books to village school children, was prepared to subsidise the composters so that every village household could compost its wet garbage.

Earlier, the packed Social Club hall was given a power-point presentation on waste segregation and a demo on composting by Clinton Vaz.

Sarpanch Minguel Pereira proposed the vote of thanks.

BETALBATIM CIVIC AND CONSUMER FORUM MONTHLY MEETING - JUNE 2011

Betalbatim Civic and Consumer Forum (BCCF) will have its monthly
meeting at 5.00pm on Saturday 4th June 2011 at St.Jude's H. School,
Betalbatim. Besides the roundup of the utilities - Electricity, Water,
Telephones, LPG, Posts etc, the meeting will discuss ways to take
Garbage Management in the village forward as also the increasing number
of accidents and deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

Consumers of Betalbatim are invited to attend the meeting and
participate in the deliberations.

Xavier Cota (Mob: 9850101376)
Convenor
Betalbatim Civic & Consumer Forum

BETALBATIM LAUNCHES DOOR WASTE COLLECTION

The Panchayat of Betalbatim will launch its Door to Door Collection of Dry Waste tomorrow. Former Tourism Minister Mickky Pacheco MLA, will be the Chief Guest at the function, to be held in front of the Panchayat Office at 10.45am on 2nd June. Goa Chaka Chak Coordinator Patricia Pinto will be the Guest of Honour, while Zilla Member and Goa Mahila chief, Prof. Nelly Rodrigues will preside over the function. Eng. Clinton Vaz who has helped the Panchayat to put in place its garbage management initiative in association with Betalbatim Civic & Consumer Forum, will be on hand to field queries. A Cycle-Rickshaw will collect Dry Waste bimonthly from households which are segregating and composting Biodegradable Waste in composters. The sets of 3 earthenware pots are supplied to households by the Panchayat at subsidized rates. A Say No to Plastic Carrybags campaign, is also being launched with Shopkeepers in Betalbatim phasing out single-use plastic carrybags in favour of reusable cloth carrybags subsidized by the Panchayat.

Draft education policy rolls out

HERALD REPORTER
Policy maps State’s future plans from KG to higher education
PANJIM, APRIL 11
After the end of four-year long exhaustive exercise, Goa Government’s draft Education policy has finally seen the light of the day.
Director of Higher Education Bhaskar Nayak on Monday submitted the draft education policy titled ‘The Goa State Integrated Education Policy 2011’, to the Government.
The details of policy, however, are kept under wraps awaiting formal sanction from the Education Ministry.
The 30-page document to map out future plans for education in the State right from Kindergarten to Higher Education level, is likely to be kept for further suggestions and objections before it is finally notified.
Nayak said that the ground work for this policy began a long time back, was later submitted to various sub-committees for their feedbacks.
The draft policy was even referred to all the 40 MLAs of the State. “Of the 40, two MLAs Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar and Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, reverted back with their suggestions”, Nayak said.
He said that the financial implications of the policy were also taken into consideration before it was given a final shape.
Involving a consultative process, the policy was also circulated to various stakeholders – Education Department, Goa Headmasters Association, Diocesan Society, Higher Secondary Principals Association, College Principals Association and Teachers’ Union.
“We had solicited comments from them and majority of their suggestions are included in the policy”, Nayak said.
A fortnight back, Education Minister Babush Monserrate had told the State Legislative Assembly that the Education Policy for Goa has been already designed by the group of experts and would be announced on April 11.

It took Anna to rebuild Ralegan Siddhi

PUNE: From an obscure, barren and water scarcity-hit village to a green belt, Ralegan Siddhi in Ahmednagar district, about 110 km from Pune, stands as a shining example for sustainable development based on Gandhian principles. Unwittingly, it has become part of the newly found anti-corruption movement the country spearheaded to one of its sons, 72-year-old Anna Hazare.

Nearly four decades ago, the village of 2,500 people was like most others, mired in poverty with 33 liquor dens boosting the illicit trade. Water scarcity meant little farming and with no other source of livelihood the per capita income was just Rs 271.

Hazare, a soldier who took voluntary retirement, returned to the village and began to transform it. The village's Yadavbaba temple became the focal point of his agitations. He donated Rs 3,000 for its renovation. He made fellow villagers take an oath. They swore to his five commandments - prohibition, family planning, voluntary labour, a ban on open grazing and on felling trees. Voluntary labour was necessary to ensure minimum dependence on the government for dole.

As expected, Hazare ran into opposition, especially when he insisted on prohibition.

Village youth Datta Awari (27) said that the liquor den owners threatened him with dire consequences. Anna stood up to them. "Today we are reaping the benefit of listening to Anna. For us, he is nothing short of God," he said.

He targeted open grazing next by imposing a complete ban and insisted on stall-feeding of cattle. The village opted out of cultivating water-intensive crops like sugar cane was and instead sowed pulses, oilseeds and cash crops which needed less water. "Jowar and onions grown in our village are now sold outside. Anna started a water recycling project last year. Water is lifted from the check dam in the village, treated and recycled", Awari added.

The village now has a bank run by women where every villager donates one sack of grain every year. "The grain is stored properly and auctioned to raise funds whenever the village needs money for any developmental work. Those who have left the village and settled elsewhere, send money every year for development," Awari said. The village dairy has a milk bank that operates like the grain bank.

Watershed development in the village started when Anna urged villagers to offer voluntary labour for repairing the percolation tank that had developed heavy leaks. Once the seepage source was identified, work on building the core wall by digging a puddle trench up to the level of hard rock was undertaken on the upper side of the bund. Villagers gave their sweat for it.

Once they were through, there was retention of water in the tank which led to recharging of ground water aquifers. It gave the villagers enough to courage to implement the concept of watershed development by adopting the ridge to valley approach for soil and water conservation.


It involved structures like gully plugging, loose boulder structure, gabion structure, nullah bunding and cement check dams. Hazare developed the modified gabion structure with a core wall which reduced the cost of the check dam.

When well water became available for irrigation, the villagers form cooperative societies that brought more land under cultivation. It spiralled into developments like double cropping, change of farming system, horticulture plantations, vegetable cultivation and dairy farming. The village was on the road to progress.

Village building began at this stage. The per capita income of the farmers was up and the villagers, through their cooperative efforts, set up a school, hostel, gymnasium, credit societies and renovated the temple too.

It has brought about a political change too. All elections to local bodies are now held through consensus. A Rs 22-lakh school building was constructed using the village's resources. No donations were taken and money, if needed, was borrowed and paid back. The village went self-reliant that became its pride.

There were other spillover effects. A new system of sharing of labour grew and people volunteered to work on each others' land and the landless labourers gained employment. Today, Ralegansiddhi's residents plan to buy land from adjoining villages.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/--10 april 2011

Lokpal Bill: Text of Gazette notification

Following is the text of the Gazettee Notification issued by the government constituting the Joint Drafting Committee comprising ministers and civil society activists to prepare the draft Lok Pal Bill.

“The Joint Drafting Committee shall consist of five nominee ministers of the Government of India and five nominees of Shri Anna Hazare (including himself).

The five nominee Ministers of the Government of India are as under:

Pranab Mukherjee, Union Minister of Finance, P Chidambaram, Union Minister of Home Affairs, M Veerappa Moily, Union Minister of Law and Justice, Kapil Sibal, Union Minister of Human Resource and Development and Minister of Communication and Information Technology and Salman Khursheed, Union Minister of Water Resources and Minister of Minority Affairs.

The five nominees of Anna Hazare (including himself) are as under:

Anna Hazare, Justice N Santosh Hegde, Shanti Bhushan, Senior Advocate, Prashan Bhushan, Advocate and Arvind Kejriwal.

The Chairperson of the Joint Drafting Committee shall be Pranab Mukherjee.

The Co-Chairperson of the Joint Drafting Committee shall be Shanti Bhushan.

The Convenor of the Join Drafting Committee shall be M Veerappa Moily.

The Joint Drafting Committee shall commence its work forthwith and evolve its own procedure to prepare the proposed legislation.

Candlelight rally supporting Anna Hazare

Activists of Betalbatim Civic & Consumer Forum took part along with various other activists of civil society in a candlelight rally organised yesterday evening round the Municipal Garden, Margao.

The spontaneous support garnered by the septuagenarian former army truck driver turned environmentalist and social activist Anna Hazare, all over the country, succeeded in wresting credible commitments from the UPA government to table and pass a new Lok Pal (Ombudsman) Bill. This is a fantastic victory for civil activism. The core group around Hazare comprised of RTI activist & former IAS officer Arvind Kejriwal, Social activist Swami Agnivesh, environmentalist Medha Patkar, former high profile police officer Kiran Bedi and others.

It was a rare sight to see them joined by Industrialists, Bollywood stars and thousands of school and college students, besides people from all walks of life especially the middle class who of late have been shunning elections.
With this outpouring, it seems that Democracy is back in India.

Non-Goan community too want English

HERALD CORRESPONDENT
Non-Goan community too want English
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CALANGUTE, APRIL 5
For them English is still a foreign language, yet the growing non-Goan community along the Calangute coast has also voiced the demand for government grants to English medium in primary schools.
The State government has come in for sharp criticism from non-Goans in the coastal Calangute over the issue of English medium of instruction at the elementary level in the schools.
Incidentally, the Catholic parents along the Calangute coastal belt are not the only ones demanding an option for English medium of instruction.
The non-Goans who have admitted their wards in the aided English medium schools have criticised the decision of the State government.
Majority of the non-Goans belonging to a lower class of society, who either work in hotels or engaged in lower income self-employment businesses like carpentry, plumbing, etc.
“Why should the government deny our children the right to learn English at the elementary level? In fact I got my children admitted in a Catholic institution due to exorbitant fees at the private-run English school,” says Prakashji from Orissa.
“Dekhiye bhayii, abi Angreji bhasa me sabh kuch hota hai to apnem bachom ko dusri bhasa me kyo padaum? (When everything now happens in English why should I teach my children in other medium of instruction),” he questioned.
Says Rajat from Rajasthan, “When I came to Goa and realized that Goans have the privilege of educating their children in the languages they desire, I also felt of sending my children (daughter and son) in a Catholic school so that they can learn English and be of use in the near future in my business.”
“Today, I am not able to write in English, so I have to beg at others to write any application, etc, for any government department, which unfortunately accepts anything and everything only in English,” said Rajat.
“Other languages including Konkani are hardly of any use. Konkani language will be of no use to us when we go to our state in Rajasthan,” added Rajat.
Adds Siva Kumar, “The government and the politicians are playing with the education of the young budding children of this country. Why have they to discriminate between English, Konkani, Marathi or other languages.”
“Who are they to decide which language should be the medium of instruction, of our children? Are they so illiterate to understand that the need of hour in the globalized world is the requirement of English language,” questioned Kumar.
Few other non-Goans who have been sending their children in the schools run by Catholic institutions have criticized government’s decision and see it as a election strategy to keep away the BJP.

St Cruz meet demands grants for English medium

St Cruz meet demands grants for English medium

HERALD CORRESPONDENT
St Cruz meet demands grants for English medium
HERALD CORRESPONDENT
MERCES, APRIL 5
Stating that the Church’s decision to introduce Konkani as medium of instruction was taken so that Diocesan schools could avail of government grants, Fr Cristovao Caldeira said realization has now dawned that the decision was wrong, especially in today’s context.
“The decision was taken so that the students should not have to face the burden of paying hefty fees,” he added.
Fr Caldeira was speaking at a public meeting of PTAs of Merces HS and Santa Cruz HS to demand English as the medium of instruction in schools, which was held under the banner of Forum for Rights of Children’s Education (FORCE) at Santa Cruz.
Speaking further, Fr Caldeira said at the Diocesan Synod, several representatives had urged the Church to revaluate its policy on Konkani as medium of instruction since it was affecting the future of the children.
“Hence, the Church has decided to support the demands of the parents to have English as medium of instruction,” he informed while at the same time stating that the Church is not in favour of imposing any particular language on the students.
Fr Caldeira also stated that he has already held dialogue with Urban Development Minister Joaquim Alemao and local MLA Victoria Fernandes and has impressed upon them to urge the government to support English as medium of instruction. He later urged the parents to come out in large numbers at such meetings, since it is their fight for their children’s rights.
Speaking on the occasion, FORCE member Dinar Barros said that till today, over 2 lakh students have become victims of the government’s decision to impose Konkani at primary level and said that they will not allow more students to become victims.
“By imposing the mother tongue, the government is not promoting that language but only increasing hatred in the minds of the children towards the language,” he added.
“Because of the government policy, Goans are finding it difficult to compete at the national level exams and also lagging behind in getting placements in better companies,” Barros informed and added that only English language can secure a bright future for the children.
He further said if the government is really serious in safeguarding the interests and prospects of the Konkani language, then it should impose Konkani as medium of instruction in all the private English schools as well.
“Why should poor students be made to suffer when their rich counterparts are benefiting from the English language,” he further questioned and urged the parents not to admit their wards for the next academic year until and unless their demands are met.
Targetting the politicians, Hugo Gomes said that they are dividing the people on religious lines for their own benefits, when they themselves are sending their children in English medium schools.
Parents Hanif Shah Muzawar, Shailesh Pai, Agnela Fernandes and others spoke on the occasion. FORCE members Edgar Cotta, Anthony D’Souza and Cynthia Pereira were present at the meeting, which was attended by a large number of parents from Santa Cruz and Merces.

REGISTRATION OF OVERSEAS ELECTORS IN ELECTORAL ROLLS

Under Section-20A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950,
inserted vide Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010,
which has come into force w.e.f. February 10th, 2011, every overseas
elector, i.e., an Indian citizen who is absenting from his place of
ordinary residence in India owing to employment, education or
otherwise, and has not acquired citizenship of any other country and
who is not included in the electoral roll, is entitled to have his/her
name registered in the electoral roll of the constituency in which
his/her place of residence in India as mentioned in his/her passport
is located.

In terms of rule 8A of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960,
every overseas elector whose place of residence in India is located in
the States/Union Territories of India, who has completed 18 years of
age as on 01-01-2011, and is desirous of registering his/her name in
the electoral roll, has been invited by the Chief Electoral Officer of
Goa State to submit claim application in Form-6A for registration in
the electoral roll of the constituency in which his/her place of
residence as shown in the passport is located. Prescribed Application
Form for the purpose i.e. Form-6A alongwith guidelines for the
applicants is available with the Indian Missions in Foreign Countries/
Chief Electoral Officer, Goa State/ all the Electoral Registration
Officers, Goa State/ All the Booth Level Officers of the respective
polling station of the Assembly Constituencies, Goa State and on the
Commission�s Website �i.e. http://eci.nic.in �and also on the Website
of the Chief electoral Officer, Goa State i.e. http://ceogoa.nic.in �A
link �of the Website of the Chief Electoral Officers of all States is
also provided on the Commission�s Web page. The claim application in
Form-6A may either be submitted in person directly to the Electoral
Registration Officer of the constituency concerned or sent
to such Electoral Registration Officer by post alongwith the documents
mentioned in Form-6A and the guidelines. If the application is
submitted in person before the Electoral Registration Officer, the
original passport should be produced for verification. When the claim
application is sent by post, it should be accompanied by self attested
photocopies �of the relevant pages of the passport.

Verification of self-attested documents which accompany applications
in Form-6A received by post shall be done by Booth Level Officers
(BLOs). For this purpose, BLOs will visit the home address mentioned
in the passport. They will ask relatives of the applicant, if any, to
verify the self-attested copies of documents and give a declaration to
this effect. In those cases, where no relatives are available or
relatives are not willing to give declaration for verification of
documents or the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) is not satisfied
with verification of documents by relatives, documents will be sent
for verification to the concerned Indian Mission in the foreign
country where the applicant resides.

Identification of overseas electors at the time of casting of votes at
polling station shall be done only on the basis of their original
passports. For this purpose, they will be required to bring their
original Passport to the polling station.

Addresses of the Electoral Registration Officers of each Assembly
Constituencies of Goa State can be seen on the website of the Chief
Electoral Officer of Gao State i.e. http://ceogoa.nic.in

Source: Department of Information and Publicity
DI/NB/MP/SM/SAG/DDN/4439

Betalbatim Civic & Consumer Forum meeting on Saturday,

Betalbatim Civic and Consumer Forum (BCCF) will have its monthly

meeting at 5.00pm on Saturday 2nd April 2011 at St.Jude's H. School,

Betalbatim. Besides the roundup of the utilities - Electricity, Water,

Telephones, LPG, Posts etc, medium of instruction, and the increased

frequency of fatal road accidents will be discussed along with other

consumer related problems.Consumers who have not yet done so may bring

their gas books for stamping.

Consumers of Betalbatim are invited to attend the meeting and

participate in the deliberations.

For Betalbatim Civic & Consumer Forum,

Xavier Cota

Convenor

(m) 9850101376

Groundwater Augmentation Award

PANAJI: Loyola High School, Margao, on Tuesday received the Groundwater Augmentation Award at the Third National Groundwater Congress in New Delhi organised to mark World Water Day.

“It is the first school in the country to receive this award,” Dinar Barros, promoter of the project, told The Hindu on telephone from New Delhi.

Mr. Barros paid rich tributes to agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan and to The Hindu for inspiring him to undertake groundwater augmentation activity.

He said that he acknowledged his debt to Dr. Swaminathan at the function in New Delhi.

About his project for the school of which he is an alumnus, Mr. Barros said it was taken up three years ago and the school saved around 55,000 litres of water which was used for daily activities such as gardening and sanitation, among others.

He acknowledged the cooperation of Principal of Loyola High School William D' Souza and Fr. Anthony Da Silva to implement the project successfully. The benefit of this rain-harvesting project had reached around 1,500 students and 64 teachers, administrative staff and residential faculty of the school, Mr. Barrosa said and hoped that this award would inspire other schools to take up such projects.

The project involves collecting water on the wide expanse of roof of the school buildings through different capacity storage tanks and using it for sanitation and gardening, thus saving drinking water in a big way.

Mr. Barros said: “Many people believe that we in Goa get so much rain that we simply do not seem to value water. I want to see a change in this mindset.”

Betalbatim Gram Sabha

The Betalbatim Gram Sabha which was moderately attended was largely peaceful without much of acrimonious arguments.In deference to the suggestions put forward at the previous Gram Sabha, the minutes and the budget proposals were circulated to members of the Gram Sabha before the meeting.

 In response to a query, the Sarpanch stated that they had received a water testing kit and the panchas had already been instructed to make a survey in their respective wards of all wells (public and private)and ponds, after which the work of testing of all water bodies in the village will commence.

In response to another query, the Sarpanch confirmed that the panchayat has a valid subscription to the Government Gazette and they were available for reference to any member of the Gram Sabha.

It was also confirmed that a file of all circulars received from the government was available for inspection. When pressed about the important circulars received, the Gram Sabha was told that one of them contained instructions that henceforth all construction plans were to be sent directly to the TCP and would come to the panchayat after all the clearances. Members were up in arms and immediately, it was unanimously resolved that all construction plans should be routed through the panchayat first as was the practice. It was further resolved that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to the TCP and the minister as also the local MLA. 

The Sarpanch assured agitated members that it was aware of the nuisance caused by a commercial piggery-cum garbage collection centre and was taking steps to solve the problem. The Sarpanch also informed that a new transformer would soon come up in Chaul ward as the ground work was complete.

The medium of instruction issue too figured and it was unanimously resolved that the Education Dept be urged to give grants for primary education in English whilst insisting that Konkani the sole official language of Goa be made compulsory from Std I to SSCE. Copies of the resolution were to be sent to the Education Dept, the CM and the local MLA.   

Ordinary Gram Sabha of Village Panchayat Betalbatim

The long-delayed Ordinary Gram Sabha of Village Panchayat Betalbatim will be held at 9.30am on Sunday 20th March 2011at Dr. Jose Cota Memorial Hall, Betalbatim . Four such ordinary Gram Sabhas are to be held in a year, but Betalbatim is notorious for defaulting. Since the higher authorities - The BDO and Directorate of Panchayats are least bothered, local bodies get away with such defaults.

Democracy entails staying engaged with our governing bodies consistently, no matter how corrupt and ineffective we perceive these institutions to be.

We therefore appeal to all villagers resident in Betalbatim to attend the Gram Sabha. We request those presently out of Goa, to phone or email their parents & siblings in Goa to attend and actively participate in the deliberations, because a Gram Sabha is a microcosm of the Legislative Assembly and Parliament. The people we have elected - the Panchas are accountable to us the voters at these Gram Sabhas. Please utilise the opportunity and do not fall prey to despondency and apathy. We can collectively make a difference.

Warm regards from the team of

Betalbatim Civic & Consumer Forum

Xavier Cota

Convenor

Gram Sabha on 20th March 2011

Chaka Chak

Chaka Chak Goa -Republic Day cleanup

Monthly Meeting on 5th March 2011

The Monthly Meeting of the Forum as usual, was held on the first Saturday of the month on 5th March 2011 at St. Jude's H. School, Betalbatim, Goa.Since there were several burning issues, there was a stronger than usual attendance. An action plan was adopted to tackle the issues.