TEACHERS GET SALARY HIKE
TEACHERS employed in colleges on a lecture basis in high school and higher secondary schools are due to get an increased salary with retrospective effect from March 30. Contract basis vocational teachers will now receive Rs25,000 a month with an annual increase of 5% on a five-year contract. The salary of lecture basis teachers engaged in higher secondary schools (post-graduate teachers) has been increased from 250 per lecture to Rs400 per lecture with a ceiling of Rs3.5 lakh per year. Lecture basis teachers in high schools will get double the present fees for the same.
TIWARI BLOCKED AGAIN
THE Goa Public Service Commission had recommended that JP Tiwari, senior-most Head of Department, should be appointed the dean of the Goa Medical College & Hospital. The Department Promotion Committee also confirmed the appointment of kidney specialist Dr JP Tiwari for the post of dean. However, on the insistence of Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, the appointment is now on hold. Junior Rane, who retains his former portfolio in the new Goa government’s cabinet, wants Dr SM Bandekar to continue as dean. Bandekar has been officiating as acting dean for some time now and virtually as the dean. However, in GMC hierarchy, Dr Bandekar is much junior to Dr JP Tiwari who is one of the few nephrologists in Goa.
MPA CRUISE TERMINAL
A FIRM based in Gurgaon has been given the contract to build an international and domestic passenger cruise terminal at Mormugao port at a cost of Rs72.1 cr. The Cochin Port Authority will monitor the construction. Meanwhile, the Mormugao port authority has privatized two more berths for the benefit of coal imports of industrialist Gautam Adani. The MPA has also staked claim overall of coastal landings and even Sao Jacinto Island on the way to port city of Vasco da Gama.
RTO TOLD TO BE LENIENT
NEW Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho has told both the Police and the RTO not to take any action against parents dropping their children to school on two-wheelers or even penalize triple-seat riding. The cops have also been told to give 30 days’ notice to two- wheelers to get their pollution certificate. The fines for traffic offences have been increased steeply by the Centre through amendments in the Motor Vehicle Act.
MUMBAI-GOA HIGHWAY
UNION Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has revealed that work on the Mumbai-Goa highway is being carried out in 11 phases at a total cost of Rs17,000 crore. When the highway is ready it will only take eight hours to cover the Goa-Mumbai distance by road. The road will be a four-lane cement concrete highway. The highway is expected to be extended to Mangalore.
NOW MASK-FREE GOA!
CHIEF MINISTER Pramod Sawant has announced that wearing masks in Goa will not be mandatory any longer. Covid cases are at an all-time low in Goa with just 41 active cases at present. On most days, new infections are in single digits. However, we need to be cautious in the wake of the discovery of a new Omicron variant called XE which has surfaced in Maharashtra.
TEMPLES RESTORATION
AN allocation of Rs20 crore has been made for restoration of temples said to have been destroyed during Portuguese colonial rule. The Archives & Archaeology Department has been directed by the chief minister to identify the places where temples were destroyed by the Portuguese regime to build churches in the 17th century. It is not clear at the moment if Goa will face a Babri Masjid kind of situation and if any churches may have to be razed to make way for a temple to be re-built or restored.
DA OF GOA GOVT EMPLOYEES INCREASED TO 34 %
Goa government has increased the Dearness Allowance (DA) of its employees to 34 % with retrospective effect from Jan 2022. The arrears from Jan will be paid to the govt employees along with their April salaries.
“Government is pleased to adopt the Office Memorandum issued by Government of India for enhancement of D.A. @ 34% for its employees and employees of GIA Educational Institutions, who are drawing pay and allowances. The same may be paid to the employees along with salaries for the month of April, 2022 with arrears from the month of January, 2022 to March, 2022,” states the Office memorandum issued by Under Secretary (Fin-Exp), Premraj Shirodkar.