Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant on Sunday launched the governance-at-your-doorstep programme at Colvale in Tivim constituency.

CM Pramod Sawants announcement of free water supply up to 16,000 litres per month has only rankled the 100-odd members of the Dhangar community in the Cavrem-Pirla panchayat jurisdiction.

There is good news for tourists who wish to visit Goa during the pandemic, as the state government has permitted the opening of tourism-related activities such as casinos, spas, massage parlours and river cruises from Monday. All these will be limited to 50% of their capacity.

Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has deferred the request of Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) for coal handling at mooring dolphin 1, 2 and 3, but granted 10% leverage to South West Port Ltd (SWPL) for coal handling on monthly capping during monsoon which should not exceed the

Residents in some areas of Calangute have been reeling under water shortage for almost a month. They said that they had to go without water during Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

The weekly case positivity rate for North Goa between September 10 to 16 has risen further to 2.3% compared to South Goa at 1.4%.

Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai on Friday summoned a two-day Goa legislative assembly session from October 18. This may be the last session before the state goes to polls. The assembly election is scheduled early next year.

CM Pramod Sawant said on Friday that the state would launch a governance-at-your-doorstep programme from Sunday, starting from Tivim.

The Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education had announced last month that an altered pattern of assessment will be implemented for Class X and XII students for the current academic year 2021-22 only, due to the pandemic.

Stating that the expert opinion report does not contradict the postmortem report in the 19-year-old girls death case, Goa police on Thursday said that a thorough investigation is being carried out to ascertain the nature and manner in which the girl was found dead.

The 68 deaths added to the states Covid-19 mortality count, which were reported late by the South Goa district hospital (SGDH), were mostly cases of those brought dead during the devastating second wave of the pandemic.

The weekly case positivity rate in North Goa between September 9 and 15 has risen to 2.1% while South Goas is at 1.4%.

A week after Goa didnt feature on the Union health ministrys list of nine states and Union territories that administered the first dose of the vaccine against Covid-19 to more than 85% of the population, the Union health secretary on Thursday said that Goa had administered the dose to 100% of its eligible population.

The electricity department will be taking up the work of laying the 110 KV double circuit transmission line from Mollem to Collem village within Dharbandora taluka.

Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) has put up 31 industrial plots at Verna for auction in a bid to clear the debt taken in May 2019 to repay five SEZ promoters. The 31 plots are part of a 5 lakh sqm tranche that the National Informatics Centre (NIC) is e-auctioning on behalf of GIDC.

Chief minister Pramod Sawant said on Wednesday that the state government has only notified the Goa mineral ore permanent fund (GMOPF) scheme, and that no money from it has been utilised yet. He also said that the state has already communicated to the Supreme Court-appointed central empowered committee (CEC) that no funds will be utilised without the apex courts approval.

Active Covid-19 cases dropped to 700 on Wednesday with 88 new infections reported and testing dropping to 3,617. Case positivity rate was 2.4% while the weekly case positivity rate between September 8 to 14 was 1.8 for North Goa and 1.3 for South Goa.

Statistics issued by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) for 2021 have revealed that crimes committed by foreigners in Goa were nearly eight times the number of crimes committed against them.

Ponda resident Harsh Khandeparker, with a score of 99.91 percentile, was declared the Goa state topper at the JEE(Main), the results of which were declared on Wednesday.

The high court of Bombay at Goa on Wednesday directed the North Goa collector to seal a resort in Siolim set up on government land without obtaining permission from Goa coastal zone management authority (GCZMA) latest by tomorrow (Thursday), and demolish it within four weeks.

The high court of Bombay at Goa has directed that a villa set up in a CRZ area in Calangute without permissions at breakneck speed during the pandemic must be demolished within ten days, failing which it has directed the panchayat to demolish it within 15 days thereafter.

Data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for 2020 has revealed that more than 66% of rape survivors in Goa are minors. The data has also revealed that every month last year, Goa recorded five rape cases on average.

After large blobs of tar left sand across Goas beach stretches scarred with the black substance, environment minister Nilesh Cabral said that this is one of the worst occurrences of tarball deposits seen on Goas beaches.

The idea of a nation built around a religion or a singular school of thought is bound to fail, said Goa governor PS Sreedharan Pillai on Tuesday.

Twelve years after the Right to Education (RTE) came into being, the state government has finally notified the norms for the Goa Teacher Eligibility Test (GTET). As per the provision of the RTE Act, it is essential for a teacher to qualify in the test to be employed to teach from Classes I to VIII.

Even as climate change is raising temperatures in Goa faster than in the rest of the country, the state has proposed a scheme by which individuals and institutions can help the government battle global warming by paying it to plant and care for trees on their land.

North Goa collector Ajit Roy on Tuesday admitted that Covid-19 protocols are not being followed at the Patradevi checkpost, and issued fresh directions asking authorities at the Goa-Maharashtra border to maintain a register with details of buses and passengers.

Water supply to Paikul and several other villages in the area was finally restored on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, one and a half months after the July 23 floods washed away a section of the Paikul bridge and damaged the aqueduct on it.

The Manohar Parrikar School of Law, Governance and Public Policy, established around one-and-a-half years ago at Goa University, will host its first national conference through the online mode on January 6 and 7. The selection of abstracts for the conference will be announced by November 10.

Three years after the new structure of the Chicalim sub-district hospital was made operational, the facility has finally received the required equipment to start its operation theatre (OT).

Testing for Covid-19 began to rise again after a dip over the festive weekend. A total of 3,341 samples were tested and 54 new Covid-19 infections reported.

Goa is likely to receive heavy rainfall at isolated places on Tuesday, even as the vigorous southwest monsoon contributed short spells of heavy rain over the past 24 hours. The rain gauge station at Sanguem alone reported 77mm of rainfall, while the Quepem and Pernem stations received slightly lesser quantities.

Even as the threat of a third wave of Covid-19 looms, the St Jerome church in Mapusa has cancelled all Sunday Masses.

For members of the Makadmare tribe in Nirankal, Ponda, 2021 wont be forgotten anytime in a hurry. Sixty years after Liberation, for the first time, life in the settlement wont come to a standstill after sunset for the 20-odd families of the tribe, who are also called Wanarmare.

The coastline of north Goa almost in its entirety covering three talukas - has been swamped by tar balls as the popular beaches have been messed up by deposits of oily blobs for the past couple of days.

Harilal B Menon joined Goa University as a young teacher aged 26. Today, he is the first vice-chancellor to have been appointed from within the institution, bringing with him a vision that has grown organically during the 33 years he spent at the varsity. In his first media interview, exclusively to TOI, Menon spells out his priorities.

An order by South Goa district administration regarding trimming/cutting of 135 trees in Margao and Fatorda has evoked criticism in some quarters, as citizens have faulted the authorities for not carrying out a proper assessment of trees listed as unsafe.

Junking several reports for rejuvenation of the St Inez creek, and after squandering Central and international funds, the state government has now formed yet another task force to deliberate and revive the 9 km-long creek. Ignoring its own detailed study prepared in 2019, Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) has constituted a task force for the creeks rejuvenation under the project urban living lab (PULL).

The state government has decided to implement an uniform fare chart for both GoaMiles and tourist taxis to bring parity, chief minister Pramod Sawant said after the cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Measures have been taken to fast-track the process of providing flood relief, and so far over Rs one crore has been disbursed to 301 beneficiaries, chief minister Pramod Sawant said on Thursday.

As more and more institutes and universities enter the race each year, Goa University's rank slid to the 96th position at the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2021, declared by the Union education ministry on Thursday.

Waste collection in Mapusa has been largely hampered as five garbage trucks of the municipality are in disrepair due to lack of maintenance.

Two centres, Ponda with 90mm and Sanguem with 75mm, received heavy rainfall while the others received moderate showers, as the vigorous phase of monsoon activity swelled the surplus to 3% on Wednesday.

Active cases have stayed under the 1,000-mark for a month now. Eighty-six new Covid-19 infections were reported over the past 24 hours taking the active tally to 856. The positivity rate is at 1.5% with 5,272 samples tested.