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.