GOA

After a prolonged delay, finally, the has appointed retired Bombay high courtjusticeAmbadasJoshias new Goa Lokayukta.

The High Court had directed the state to appoint a new anti-Corruption ombudsman by December 2020. Advocate Aires Rodrigues had approached the court seeking a direction to the government to appoint a Lokayukta.

The term of the previous Lokayukta PK Misra ended on September17, 2020. Misra also held the position of chairman of GHRC before being appointed as the Lokayukta.

The amendments have omitted provisions enabling complaints against public functionaries on allegations of Nepotism, lack of Integrity, mal-administration and improper or corrupt motive.

The has notified the Goa EV ConcessionalChargingInfrastructurePolicy2021, paving the way for EV charging stations across the state. It will also boost sales of electricvehicles.

As per the policy, the charging stations operators shall be allowed other sources to generate revenue, but with prior approval.

Revenue generated will be shared with the Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) on a 50:50 basis. Of the GEDA charges, 20% will be shared with the land-owning agency while the remaining 80% will go into the Goa Decarbonisation Fund.

The policy stated that Goa is among the fastest growing states in the country. The Goan economy is largely dependent on tourism as the annual arrival of tourists are almost five times that of the local Population.

Goa has a total population of 15 lakh and receives about 75 lakh tourists every year. The movement of these seasonal tourists is largely dependent on unorganised transportation, including unmetered taxis, motorcycles, ferry boats and rickshaws.

In a shocking revelation, it has been found that two-third of the people who died in road accidents in 2022 were on two-wheelers.

The state also witnessed a rise of almost 9% in road accidents during the year.
As per the Goa Police traffic cell data, 3,011 road accidents were reported in 2022, out of which 253 were fatal wherein 271 succumbed to injuries. A total number of 181 persons on two-wheelers died in the accidents while 51 pedestrians lost their lives.

In 2021, 2,849 accidents were reported, out of which 218 were fatal. Almost 226 persons lost their lives. A total number of 152 persons on two-wheelers died while 36 pedestrians lost their lives.

The highest number of accidents in North Goa were reported in the jurisdiction of Panaji police (211) followed by Mapusa (182) and Porvorim (157).

Amidst a serious debate onKarnatakas plans to divert water from theMhadeiriver basin, Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture ministerRavi Naikonce again reiterated his plan to build several Dams across Goa to store rainwater for consumption and export.

Naiksaid that Goa can use the dam water to earn Foreign Exchange through export of water.

The central government should give us Rs 20,000 crore and we can build as many dams that we want, and we can store as much water as we want, said Naik.

While urging the Goa electricity department to do more to reduce power transmission and distribution losses, Goa chamber of commerce and (GCCI) has said that adopting the KVAh billingsystemas against Kwhbillingfor low tension (LT) powerconsumerswill adversely affect Goas economy which is just picking up.

GCCI has also warned that low tension electricity consumers may see their power bills increase by 10-12% if the power department goes ahead with the plan to shift to KVAh billing. In 2021-2022 the department adopted KVAh based billing instead of Kwh billing for high-tension (HT) power consumers.

In a kilowatt hour (kWh) billing system the consumer is charged for the actual power consumed by the electrical equipment, however the kilo volt ampere hour (kVArh) based model also calculates the electricity stored up in electrical appliances even when they are not being used to generate heat, Light or movement.

GCCI has also warned that low tension electricity consumers may see their power bills increase by 10-12% if the power department goes ahead with the plan to shift to KVAh billing.

The Union Government has approved Goas proposal to implement the Centres Chips to Start-ups (C2S) scheme at the National institute of technology Goa (NIT Goa) and Indian Institute of Technology Goa (IITGoa).

Minister for information technologyRohan Khaunte said that the scheme will be operational for five years at the two institutes.

The minister made the announcement at an event to distribute laptops to meritorious students from the SC and ST community. The announcement also comes at a time when Union minister of state for electronics and technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar is in the state for a series of meetings.

The grossGSTrevenue collected in Goa for the month of November shot up by 63% as against a month earlier. The tax mop-up also surpassed November 2020s GST collections by 73%, largely driven by festive purchases and revenge tourism.

The mop up includes CGST, SGST and IGST with Goa getting only the SGST component.
The Growth in the states gross GST earnings beat the national figures where GST revenues were 25% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year and 27% over 2019-20.

In October, GST collections stood at Rs 317 crore and also above the pre-pandemic levels.
The recent trend of high GST revenues has been a result of various policy and administrative measures that have been taken in the past to improve compliance.