ONLINE MARRIAGE
YOU don’t any longer have to stand in a long queue outside the Office of the Registrar of Marriages located at Spaces Building at Patto Complex, Panaji. From November 17 the government of Goa is on digital processed marriage. Just upload your application along with the necessary documents online. For those who are digitally challenged, we at are willing to help you for a small fee! For details email goanobserver@gmail.com.
ARNAB BAIL
IT would appear that the Supreme Court is still inclined to protect the BJP’s pet protégés. Arnab Goswami, chief editor of Republic Televisiion, has been granted bail by the Supreme Court, overruling the decision of the Maharashtra High Court. Arnab has been given special preference by the Supreme Court over more than a hundred other bail applications, including that of the social activist Fr Stan Swamy, which been pending for over more than six months before the Supreme Court!
NEW TWIST
IN a new development it is claimed that the wife of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray of Maharashtra, Rashmi Thackeray, has purchased land from Anvay Naik and his wife and daughter in Murud, Alibagh district. Rashmi Thackeray has admitted to the purchase of the property but insists it was an all above board deal carried out observing all due legal processes. procedures.
BIHAR ELECTION
THOUGH the BJP-led NDA won the Bihar elections the difference in the margin between them and MGB was only 0.3% of votes in terms of the total number of votes, the difference being only 12,768 votes. The vote share of the various groups was NDA- 37.26%, MGB-37.23%. Nitish Kumar will continue to be the chief minister of Bihar.
COAL PROTEST
CHIEF Minister Pramod Sawant seems to have finally changed his mind about increasing the capacity of coal handling at MPT. He has declared that there would be no increase in the present coal handling capacity of 15 million tons. Indeed, he has promised the quantity will drop sharply. The centre has also dropped three of the Sagarmala projects affecting Goa.
TRADE FEES
THE Corporation of the City of Panaji has decided to exempt commercial establishments from trade and licence fees for the four months of lockdown. This applies to Panaji shopkeepers and hotels for the months of April, May, June and July. However, casinos are not exempted.
COVID-19
THE Goa government has finally decided to appoint two interventionists immediately. Interventionists are specialists in critical care management in the ICU. To qualify to be an interventionist you have to complete the three-year course after getting your post-graduation MD in medicine. The absence of interventionists has seriously affected the treatment of serious Covid-19 patients. Doctors from the Pulmonary and Anaesthesia departments have been acting as interventionist so far. While the Goa statistics of positive Covid-19 patients has been dropping the situation at the National level is quite alarming. The number of cases in the national capital in Delhi has crossed the 8,000 mark for the first time. The good news is that at the national level active cases have fallen below five lakh as against the eight lakh it had touched and recoveries exceed eight million.