Almost 30 mining leases were permitted within the Mhadei and Netravali sanctuaries.

WHEN International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) submitted the final feasibility report on the proposed Mopa airport in 2005, it was made explicitly clear in the introduction itself that the new airport in Mopa would be feasible only on the assumption that all commercial operations at the existing Dabolim airport would be shifted to the new Mopa airport. In fact, even the shifting of all commercial traffic from Dabolim to Mopa would not in itself guarantee the break even rate of return of 16%, which would be essential to attract any private party to set up a Greenfield airport. The final feasibility study presented in 2005 also presumed significant and sizable revenue from air cargo, the diversion of traffic from the hyper busy Mumbai and Bangalore airports and revenues from ancillary activities such as a 200-room seven star deluxe business hotel, an international conference centre and a golf course.

Sandeep Kambli, secretary of the Mopa Vimantal Pidit Xetkari Samiti, alleges that land in Mopa is being acquired to benefit a mining firm interested in bauxite mining.

I AM writing in reference to devolution of powers to local bodies in Goa. As things are, one can visit any village in Goa and observe the powers of the zilla parishads and Panchayat Raj in Goa. The panchayats and zilla parishads should be abolished or rather the laws should be amended to curtail their powers as they have abused them.

Thai food, though laced with bird’s eye chilli, is considered to be light and very much part of larger spa cuisine which enjoys a niche of its own in sophisticated society circles. Hey, there was a live station doing the famous Thai papaya salad of Som Tom and prawn item numbers such as prawn salsa, prawn wonton, prawn toast…er…circulated.

VASCO DA Gama’s NRB Group family or rather Nana Bandekar’s family is always up to godfathering or godmothering some good cause or another. This time around, my dears, I was quite enlightened by how a helping hand can boost talented artists. Nayna Bandekar, who’s an artist in her own right (studied art history at the famous Baroda Art College, married to Nitin Bandekar, a keen sportsperson) thought it’s a great idea to encourage Goan art and she teamed up with the entrepreneurial spirited Apurva Kulkarni to adopt or rather curate artists Praveen Naik and Vasudev Shetye (both from the Goa College of Art) in the best sense of the word.

Do social networking sites do more harm than good? BINDIYA VAVAL NAIK finds out.

There are no judicially measurable standards by which a court can decide as to what should be published or what should be debated.

Goa is far from healthy and the new government needs to tackle several issues on a war footing.

AND A few more stray thoughts and a few more observations for yet another Sunday. For a Sunday following the week when a section of the press was applauding the Chief Minister for suspending the Block Development Officer and the Panchayat Secretary of Calangute for manipulating the delimitation of wards. For a Sunday following the week when a sample survey confirmed that migrant Muslims either do not send their children to school or force them to drop out at a very early age.