log on to thegoan.net @thegoanonline MONDAY MAY 20, 2024 GOA Colva STP not commissioned for want of prescribed power load IN SHORT >> Rains lash Goa again, 'yellow alert' extended PANAJI: Almost the entire State witnessed lightning, thunder and heavy rains on Sunday evening with the downpour being particularly heavy in Valpoi and to some extent in Mapusa. The showers were also accompanied by gusty winds. While IMD extended the ‘yellow alert’ for Goa, the weather observatory recorded maximum rainfall of 40 mm in Valpoi and the station at Mapusa recorded 14.5 mm of rainfall.  >> See pg 3 B’luru youth held for online blackmail PANAJI: A Bengaluru youth aged 29 was arrested by the Goa Police's Cybercrime Cell after a dramatic pursuit and a trap they set up in association with the victim of his online bullying, sexual harassment and extortion bid. Mohan Raj V was arrested in Bengaluru.  >> See pg 3 2 suffer burn injuries in freak mishap CANACONA: A man and a woman suffered burn injuries in a freak mishap while preparing charcoal for the incense-burner during a retreat at Agonda Church on Sunday evening. While the man suffered over 50% burns to his legs and torso, the woman who was wearing a silk dress suffered over 30% burns to her hands, stomach and chest.  >> See pg 3 Locals rise against project near spring MAPUSA: A significant number of villagers gathered during a site inspection of the road leading to a multi-dwelling project near a heritage spring in Oxel, threatening to protest if the panchayat fails to issue a stop work order within the next 24 hours. >> See pg 3 Chopper carrying Iran prez crashes DUBAI: A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray.  >> See pg 7 WEATHER >> Max: 35.1 C Min: 26.8 C Humidity: 78% TIDES Low: High: 02:50 15:01 09:36 20:29 Facebook.com/thegoan The Goan E-Paper (Playstore/IOS) 12 pages PRICE ` 10 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME IX, NO. 333 2 GOA Illegal construction linked to BJP politician sparks outrage in Mapusa 3 WASHINGTON opi Thotakura, an entrepreneur and a pilot, on Sunday became the first Indian to venture into space as a tourist aboard Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin's NS-25 mission. Thotakura was selected as one of the six crew members for the NS-25 mission, making him the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to venture into space after the Indian Army's Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984. Blue Origin's seventh human flight, NS-25, lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Sunday, the company announced on social media. This mission was the seventh human flight for the New Shepard programme and the G RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 INFO Ayurvedic masks to tighten saggy belly India votes in Phase-5 of LS elections today 49 SEATS UP FOR GRABS OVER 8.95 CR PEOPLE TO VOTE PROMINENT CANDIDATES IN FRAY PTI NEW DELHI Polling will be held on Monday in 49 constituencies in six States and two UTs in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections that will decide the electoral fate of several prominent leaders like former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani and former J-K chief minister Omar Abdullah. Over 8.95 crore people, including 4.26 crore females and 5,409 third-gender electors, are eligible to vote in this round and 9.47 lakh polling officials have been deployed across 94,732 polling stations. Among the seats going to polls, 13 are in Maharashtra, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, seven in West Bengal, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand, five in Odisha, one in J-K and the lone seat in Ladakh. This round covers the least number of seats (49) in the seven-phase elections. It is another important phase for the BJP as over 40 of these seats were with the National Democratic Alliance „„Rahul Gandhi, who has contested from Wayanad in Kerala, is also in the fight for Rae Bareli „„In Amethi, Irani, who had defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019, is seeking a second term „„BJP leader Rajnath Singh is eyeing a fourth term from Lucknow „„In the Faizabad, the electoral contest is mainly between sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh and Awadhesh Prasad, the SP MLA „„In Baramulla, besides Omar Abdullah, three others are in the fray (NDA). On the eve of polling, the Election Commission on Sunday pointed out that Mumbai, Thane and Lucknow have shown apathy towards voting in the past and asked city dwellers there to turn out in higher numbers. The poll authority noted that in the past these cities have “suffered” from urban apathy in voting. “The Commission especially calls upon these city dwellers to erase the stigma by turning out in higher numbers,” it said. So far, the last four phases have registered a total voter turnout of 66.95 per cent. Other prominent candidates include Union ministers Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North, Maharashtra), Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur, UP) and Shantanu Thakur (Bangaon, WB); LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan (Hajipur, Bihar), Shiv Sena's Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan, Maharashtra), and BJP''s Rajiv Pratap Rudy and RJD president Lalu Prasad's daughter Rohini Acharya (both Saran, Bihar). In Maharashtra, where polling will be held in 13 Lok Ponda resident caught in web of political discord ARRESTED BY K’TAKA POLICE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA POST, BOOKED UNDER STRINGENT SECTIONS THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI As the political discourse heats up in the midst of the ongoing Lok Sabha election season, social media platforms are increasingly becoming the battleground where workers of rival political parties spar and at times fight pitched battles sometimes over sensitive issues which could land them in trouble with the long arm of law. In one such case that has got top national leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Union Minister Smriti Irani and Bengaluru MP Tejasvi Surya all riled up, a man from Ponda here in Goa has fallen in the net of the Bengaluru Cyber Cell police, booked under stringent sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and also the Information Technology (IT) Act. 'Biku Mhatre' who lives in ‘BIKU MHATRE’ @MUMBAICHADON „„Mhatre had last month posted a message on his social media handle in which he attacked the Congress „„His '@MumbaichaDon' handle had a post in April which said: "Congress wants to take away wealth from Hindus and distribute it to Muslims because it hates Hindus' „„Post has since been deleted but 'Bhiku Mhatre' was arrested on Saturday night on the basis of a complaint lodged by a Congress worker in Karnataka on April 29 „„An FIR was registered under section 153(a) of IPC and 66(c) of IT Act Ponda and goes by the cyber name @MumbaichaDon was picked up by the Karnataka police from his home on Saturday. Mhatre had last month posted a message on his social media handle in which he attacked the Congress, alleging that its manifesto says that it will take wealth from the Hindus and give it to the Muslims. His '@MumbaichaDon' handle had a post in April which said: "Congress wants to take away wealth from Hindus and distribute it to Muslims because it hates Hindus'. The post has since been deleted but 'Bhiku Mhatre' was arrested on Saturday night on the basis of a complaint lodged by a Congress worker in Karnataka on April 29 with the Bangalore Cyber Crime police. >Continued on P5 Gopi is 1st Indian tourist to rocket into space PTI Instagram.com/thegoanonline SKY’S NO LIMIT „„Thotakura was selected as one of six crew members for NS-25 mission „„Gopi is a pilot and aviator and co-founded Preserve Life Corp „„Apart from flying jets commercially, he pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons „„His most recent adven- ture took him to summit of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania „„Andhra Pradesh-born Thotakura is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. 25th in its history. To date, the programme has flown 31 humans above the Karman line, the proposed conventional boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. New Shepard is a fully reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin. According to Blue Origin, “Gopi is a pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive.” He co-founded Preserve Life Corp, a global centre for holistic wellness and applied health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In addition to flying jets commercially, he pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot. A lifelong traveller, his most recent adventure took him to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro. Andhra Pradesh-born Thotakura is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Other crew members of the flight include Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth Hess, Carol Schaller, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, who was selected by President John F Kennedy as the nation's first Black astronaut candidate but was never granted the opportunity to fly to space. Sabha constituencies, including six in Mumbai, Piyush Goyal, Bharati Pawar (Dindori) and Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi) are among the key nominees of the BJP, which has also fielded prominent lawyer Ujjwal Nikam (Mumbai North Central). In Uttar Pradesh, Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), Irani (Amethi), Jyoti, Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma (Jalaun) are the five Union ministers in the fray. Voting will also take place for the assembly bypolls to the Lucknow East assembly constituency. Rahul Gandhi, who has contested from Wayanad in Kerala, is also in the fight for Rae Bareli, a Nehru-Gandhi family pocket borough represented by his mother Sonia Gandhi since 2004. The BJP has fielded Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Pratap Singh. In Amethi, Irani, who had defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019, is seeking a second term, while KL Sharma, an aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded by the Congress against her. 9 SPORTS Man City wins record fourth-straight Premier League title 12 Tension in Cuncolim over remarks against mahajans HUNDREDS TAKE TO STREETS, DEMAND ARREST OF ACTIVIST TRAFFIC DISRUPTED FOR OVER 3 HOURS ACTIVIST ARRESTED, TENDERS PUBLIC APOLOGY An irate mob outside the Cuncolim police station demanding the arrest of activist Shreya Dhargalkar. (Inset) Shreya apologising to the crowd after her arrest. THE GOAN I NETWORK MARGAO A tense situation prevailed in Cuncolim on Sunday after members of the Desai community, the mahajans of Shree Shantadurga Kunkalikarin Temple, took to the streets to protest against alleged remarks by activist Shreya Dhargalkar directed against the Naik-Desai community managing the temple. After setting an ultimatum to the Cuncolim police on Sunday morning to arrest Shreya by evening, an irate mob blocked the NH66 at around 4.30 pm in front of the Cuncolim police station in support of their demand. A large number of vehicles were stranded on the National Highway before the police diverted traffic. It was only after Shreya tendered an apology to the public after her arrest that the protestors withdrew the road blockade, but not before traffic on the highway was disrupted for well over three hours. That tension was brewing became evident when the committee members of Shree Shantadurga led by president >Continued on P5