by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Employment, Large Enterprise, News, Politics
Panaji : Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari’s recent push for promotion of cruise tourism could boost employment in the sector, the promoter of a Goa-based culinary training institute has said.
Addressing a press conference here, Parixit Pai Fondekar, who heads the American College of Culinary and Language Arts also said that an employment boom was expected in the cruise liner industry.
“The Central government’s push to promote cruise tourism and the Mumbai-Goa-Bali cruise circuit proposed by Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari will really boost employment in the cruise tourism sector along the Western Coast,” he told reporters.
The global luxury cruise line industry, he said, is one of the fastest growing sectors within the global hospitality industry and requires training and skilled employees.
He said that international luxury cruise line companies are looking towards India, Goa in particular, to meet its culinary requirement needs, adding that Goan culinary professionals account for a significant chunk of the Indian workforce in the industry.
“It is estimated that over the next five years, 950 cruise ships will enter the Goan waters,” Fondekar said.
According to statistics of the Cruise Lines International Association, in 2017 Indian ports accounted for a total of 128 cruise ship calls only.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Employment, Government Jobs, News, Politics
Panaji : Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that lengthy land acquisition procedures were delaying major infrastructure projects in Goa and has advised the state government to hire retired officials to hasten the process.
“I suggested them to take some retired people. The National Highways Authority of India will pay them. We should have more people. Maximum of the problems are related to land acquisition. That is the reason we are taking more people to strengthen the land acquisition department,” Gadkari told reporters on the sidelines of a government event here.
The Minister also said that the delays in the execution of major projects were due to inflating costs.
“Work is going on everywhere from Maharashtra border to the Karnataka border. So we need the process of land acquisition to become faster, otherwise, we cannot… It is very important as far as the cost factor is concerned,” he said.
At a review meeting with state Public Works Department on Monday, Gadkari had expressed unhappiness at the slow pace of the redevelopment of the Goa section of the Mumbai-Goa Highway.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Manohar Parrikar
Panaji : The Shiv Sena on Saturday threatened to start a statewide agitation within a month if Goa doesn’t get a full-fledged Chief Minister to replace the ailing Manohar Parrikar. The CM is currently under treatment for pancreatic cancer in a US hospital.
“How can a state continue to function like this in absence of a Chief Minister. There are so many urgent issues, including the resumption of the mining industry which need to be tackled,” party’s state President Jitesh Kamat said at a press conference in Panaji on Saturday.
“If the Bharatiya Janata Party does not appoint a full-fledged Chief Minister within a month from now, the Shiv Sena will launch a statewide agitation in protest,” added Kamat.
He also said that President’s Rule should be imposed in the state until a new Chief Minister is appointed.
The Congress in Goa has already resolved to meet President Ramnath Kovind to impress upon the Central government to appoint a Chief Minister at the earliest.
Parrikar was shifted to the US for treatment in March 2018, a month after he was first admitted to a Mumbai hospital for stomach pain, which was subsequently diagnosed as pancreatic cancer.
Before leaving for the US, Parrikar had appointed a cabinet advisory committee comprising of three Ministers, which the Congress as well as the Shiv Sena has claimed is unconstitutional.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Panaji : Beef traders in Goa on Friday accused cow vigilante groups of trying to disrupt supply of beef in Goa by pressurising authorities to crack down on legitimate slaughter of cattle imported from neighbouring states.
Addressing a press conference, Manna Bepari, President of the Qureshi Meat Traders Association of Goa, said that beef supply in Goa was severely curtailed due to interference by cow vigilante groups.
“On Wednesday, our meat traders brought six animals to the official abattoir after obtaining necessary permission from Goa and Karnataka where the animals were imported from. But the animals were rejected after pressure on the abattoir authorities from the cow vigilantes,” Bepari said.
This is the second time in the last eight months that beef traders have complained of interference in the supply of beef by cow vigilantes, who the traders claim, are targeting supply of beef in the coastal state, where nearly one third of the resident population consumes beef.
In 2017, beef traders in Goa had gone on a strike for more than a week, following harassment by vigilante groups in Goa, forcing Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to intervene and direct the Director General of Police to crack down on such groups.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, News
Panaji : A travel and tourism association in Goa on Saturday said the “Monument Mitra” scheme should make a distinction between religious and non-religious structures before putting them up for adoption.
The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), an umbrella body for the travel and tourism industry enterprises in the coastal state also said a transparent process should be followed for adoption of heritage structures by the corporates.
The association expressed its views even as the coalition government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Goa have formally panned the central tourism ministry’s “Monument Mitra” scheme.
The TTAG also said that while private participation in conservation of heritage is necessary, the public at large should not be denied access to the heritage monuments, and the structures should be allowed to be adopted purely from a corporate social responsibility point of view and not for profit-making.
“The government in doing so, needs to distinguish between religious monuments and the non-religious historical monument. Regarding religious monuments, there is a need to follow a consultative process between the respective government and religious bodies,” the TTAG said in a resolution passed on Saturday.
The resolution comes in wake of a controversy brewing in the state over the last two days, with the Opposition lambasting the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government as well as the BJP-led coalition government in Goa, for allowing the adoption of the 16th century Basilica of Bom Jesus to private companies under the “Monument Mitra” scheme.
The Basilica is of immense religious significance to Goa, considering it is a part of a Church complex endorsed as a World Heritage site by the Unesco and it holds the sacred relics of Goa’s patron saint Francis Xavier and hosts an annual feast attended by hundreds of thousands of devotees in honour of the Spanish saint.
Reeling under pressure, Archives and Archaeology Minister Vijai Sardesai and Goa BJP President Vinay Tendulkar have said that the state government was not taken into confidence while listing the monuments for adoption.
“The TTAG further resolved there should be a transparent policy for selecting the corporate or private entity entrusted with such monuments. Profit should not be the motive and it should be purely a CSR exercise by the respective corporate,” the resolution said.
It also recommended that the state government should also adopt the scheme, while ensuring “for improvement of the upkeep of its monuments”.
—IANS
