G20: Clean-up drive held at Goa beaches, several gutka packets recovered
Panaji (PTI): A large number of gutka packets strewn at Colva and Calangute beaches in Goa were recovered by participants of a beach clean-up drive undertaken on Sunday as a part of India's G20 Presidency, an official said.
The drive was organised by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, Department of Environment and Climate Change, Goa State Biodiversity Board and Goa State Climate Change cell.
Indian Navy personnel also took part in the beach clean-up drive at Colva in South Goa district and Calangute in North Goa district.
State Environment Secretary Arun Kumar Mishra said gutka sachets were among the litter found at the beaches.
"I will issue instructions that either these sachets be processed or we will take legal remedies (against these product sellers)," he said.
Mishra said the state government will certainly take measures to control this.
Speaking about the central government's initiative, Mishra said in 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made this as an agenda, nobody could believe that cleanliness could be an agenda.
"But, it is established that cleanliness is an important agenda for the country," he added.
Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry Director Dharmendra Kumar Gupta, who was personally present to oversee the drive at the Colva beach Goa, said, "During garbage collection, we saw there are lot of plastic bottles and plastic fishing nets on the beach."
Indian Navy's Flag Officer Commanding Goa Area, Rear Admiral Vikram Menon, said it (such campaign) is very satisfying, but at one level it is disheartening to see "we are not doing enough, as a community, to look after our beaches."
"These are such beautiful beaches. We can't expect everything to be done by authorities. We have to see as an individual that beaches are not littered," he said.
Goa State Biodiversity Board member secretary Pradip Sarmokadam said it is the responsibility of every individual to clean-up the beaches. "It is not that we litter a beach every time and contractors will clean it," he said.
Sarmokadam said littering has to be controlled at the source.
"We found many gutka packets lying here and there. Some action needs to be taken on it," he added.
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Congress Corporator's daughter stabbed to death inside college campus in Hubballi
Hubballi (Karnataka), Apr 18: The daughter of a Congress Corporator was stabbed to death by her acquaintance inside BVB college campus here on Thursday after she allegedly rejected his proposal, police said.
The deceased Neha (23), the daughter of Niranjan Hiremath, was a first-year MCA student, they said.
The accused 23-year-old Fayaz, an MCA dropout, has been arrested in connection with the incident, police said, adding that both of them were batchmates during their BCA course.
The entire incident was caught on CCTV camera.
According to the police, Fayaz went inside the college campus with a knife and stabbed Neha five-six times. During the attack, he too sustained injuries and was shifted to the hospital along with the victim. At the hospital, Neha was declared brought dead.
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"During interrogation, he (Fayaz) claimed that the two of them had been in a relationship and that she had suddenly started avoiding him. It needs to be corroborated and verified, but he was arrested immediately," a senior police officer said.
A case of murder has been registered, police said, adding that further investigation is underway.
Narrating about the incident, Neha's father Hiremath said that his daughter had classes from 8 am. At around 4.30 pm, when she stepped out after completing her classes, this person approached towards her and stabbed her nearly six times inside the college campus and she died on the spot.
"He (the accused) was an old student and he had proposed my daughter but she rejected his proposal. She did not like him and she usually stayed away from all this...She refused him saying they both belonged to different caste and that she did not wish to have any relationship with him. Out of anger, he stabbed my daughter," he told PTI videos.
Demanding justice for her daughter, he said that the accused should he hanged to death only then will his daughter's soul rest in peace.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah condemned the incident and offered condolences to the family of the deceased.
"An accused has already been arrested in connection with the incident and I have instructed the Director General of Police to conduct a strict investigation and take action to ensure maximum punishment for the accused," he said in a post on 'X'.
He also appealed to people to not take law into their hands.
"In connection with the incident, no one should get agitated and take law into their hands or attempt to disturb peace of the society. It is our duty to get justice for the death of the young woman, in this regard the police department will work hard," he added.
