MAGSONS, MOST ADMIRED!
KIRIT MAGANLAL’S Magsons grocery and food chain is the most admired chain in Goa! It has now been awarded the “Images, Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer of the Year Supermarket Chain, West” by the Food and Grocery Forum-India in the only business event in India featuring food and grocery retailers, manufacturers, marketers, distributors and vendors, who converge to develop and share business insights and product innovations under one forum.
The Forum also recognizes and rewards retailers undertaking path-breaking innovations in the food and grocery segments across the country, while acknowledging the rising importance of modern food retailing. It presents them with accolades in the form of the prestigious IMAGES- COCA COLA Golden Spoons Awards. And Magsons Group got its award at a ceremony on December 7, 2022. The award was accepted by Sr Business Development Head of Magsons Group Ranjit Rajput. The award acknowledges the pioneering and sustained efforts put in by the Magsons Group, for a regional State, in the field of gourmet foods and niche food category product offerings.
What makes this award so special for Magsons is that even with over 16 national bidders for this award, the jury unanimously nominated Magsons, Goa, at the glittering venue of the Westin Hotel, Powai, Mumbai. This is the second time that Magsons is being so honor, the first one being in 2012 for “excellence in food retailing.”
CEO and founder of the Magsons Group, Kirit Maganlal, attended the ceremony as a guest speaker on the subject of “Creating a more productive and transparent retailer-brand relationship.” Speaking to media persons he said the award was a tribute to the dedication, the efforts and customer-centric attitudes of all the employees and associates of the Magsons “family” chain of stores, and it was a great moment of satisfaction for him to receive the honor.
Magsons currently operates 14 outlets in Goa, equally spread between north and south Goa districts with three new opening this year– Taleigao Fresh, Canacona (franchise store) and Champagne & Cigars at Magsons Towers (an alliance store). In the pipeline are two more offerings before the end of the financial year.
HAS YOUR ATM CARD EXPIRED?
MILLIONS of ATM cards are waiting to be renewed due to the shortage of silicon chips. If the expiry date of your ATM debit card is over you have to use your cheque book. If your card bounces or the shop or restaurant rejects your purchase it is not because you have no money but because your has expired. Quickly renew!
NO DEVELOPMENT ZONE GOOD NEWS!
POLITICALLY influential coastal villages will benefit from the reduction in No Development Zone under the Coastal Regulation Zone. The center has decided that the NDZ will be reduced from the existing 100 mtr to 50 mtrs. This affectively means buildings, including hotels, can now come up within 50 mtrs of the seashore or river bed. Needless to say this is likely to lead to further erosion of beaches and the destruction of beach environment.
MINING TO RESUME
VEDANTA, which bought over Sesa Goa and the Dempo mining interests, has been allotted the first block in Bicholim taluka, under the e-auctioning of mining blocks as directed by Supreme Court. The government has stipulated that Vedanta should hire all is old employees working in the mines before mining was suspended more than a decade ago. Whether this happens or not is left to be seen!
FEW JOBS, TOO MANY CANDIDATES!
IN response to an advertisement issued by the Directorate of Education, 2,073 candidates had applied for 142 posts for primary teachers. For which strangely 383 candidates who have a BED degree will not be allowed to appear in the exam. Logically, they should be given preference. For the post of lower division clerk for which the minimum qualification in 12th standard, 10,769 candidates applied for 70 posts. Written exam on the LDC post will be held on December 18, 2022, in 29 centers in the State.
VELSAO RESORT DEMOLISHED
THE Supreme Court has ordered the demolition of a five-star resort in Velsao for violation of CRZ rules. The SC has upheld the order of the High Court which had ordered the demolition due to severe violation by the hotel which is part of an international chain. Many five-star resorts construct in the no development zone in the confidence that even if it is declared illegal, it will take 20 years for the matter to reach the Supreme Court. A case in point is the Bambolim Grand Hyatt against whom a demolition order is still pending.
NO SCHOOL BEFORE THREE!
THE Goa government has directed that a child should have completed three years before qualifying for admission in the pre-primary section of a school. This is because there is widespread shock and scandal about even two-year-old children being enrolled by greedy private schools in lower and upper KG. This also implies that any child must complete five years of age to seek admission to first standard.
VETERAN JOURNO `KAKA’ PASSES ON
GURUDAS Singbal was part of the original team of the “Navhind Times,” the first daily newspaper started in Goa. He seasoned journalist passed away on Tuesday, December 13, 2022 at the age of 83, at his residence in Porvorim. Singbal also worked for the “West Coast Times” and was the bureau chief of the “Indian Express.” He was one of the awardees of the Lifetime Achievement Award for contribution to journalism, an award recommended by the Goa Union of Journalists and conferred by the government of Goa.
NO AWARD FOR KOBAD GANDHY!
AS in the Rajan Narayan case, Kobad Gandhy was given an award for his translation of the book “Fractured Freedom” in Marathi, namely the Tarktirth Laxmanshasatri Joshi Puraskar, but it was withdrawn at the last moment and he was denied the award for reasons best known to award-givers. Kobad Gandhy is amongst leading left leaders and spent one year in jail on charges of being a terrorist. He is a London-trained chartered accountant who married Dr Anuradha Shanbag, daughter of the chief public prosecutor of Mumbai. Both gave up their careers to join the Naxal movement in Nagpur. Alas, Anuradha died of falciparum malaria, leaving Kobad to manage on his own.