Under tremendous pressure from all quarters to solve the garbage problem on Kemmannu Swarna River banks, the Panchayat officials found an easy way out by setting fire at the garbage accumulated at the banks, on Friday afternoon.

Probably this was done after receiving a call from Mr. Jayaprakash Hegde to immediately solve the problem.

We will leave it to our esteemed viewers to comment on the development and the effects on environment of smoke emanating from plastic burn.

SAVE SWARNA RIVER CAMPAIGN: Kemmannu.com Members meet ex-MLA Mr.Jayaprakash Hegde.

Mr. Jayaprakash Hegde popular ex-MLA, famously known SOWJANYADA JANAPRATINIDI of erstwhile Brahamavar constituency was in Kallianpur to attend the preliminary meeting of the Congress Party in view of the impending Gram Panchayat elections. The party meeting for the Moodutonse Congress workers was held at the Mount Rosary Church mini hall on Wednesday April 15.
 
Kemmannu.com members made it a point to attend the meeting and raised the issue of garbage problem at Swarna river banks of Kemmannu. Mr. Richard Crasto appraised the ex-minister about the problem and submitted the copy of the letter which was given to the Panchayat Officials along with the photographs of the dumping area. Mr. Jayaprakash Hegde patiently heard about the problem and promptly promised that he will speak to the Health and Welfare department about the issue.
 
It is encouraging to note that, since our campaign, everyone, including the Panchayat has stopped dumping the garbage at the Swarna banks and every dumping culprit has a feeling that someone is watching them.
 
Since there is no elected body at the Panchayat and PWO, who is a stopgap arrangement, is hard to locate, things are expected to move only after the elections to GP in the second week of May.
 
In another development, Kemmannu.com members are contemplating to field a candidate of their own team to the Moodutonse Panchayat since if elected, he can play a role in solving the problem.
 
Beside Mr. Jayaprakash Hegde, the Congress meeting was attended by ZP member Mr.Janardhan Tonse, ex-Kallianpur Panchayat president Chandrashekar and many Congress leaders.

Sarva Seva Sangh (SSS Mumbai), a social work initiative of Divine Word  Missionaries, celebrated its annual day on 12^th April 2010 in St. Arnold’s School Hall, Gyan Ashram Campus, Andheri East, Mumbai with a memorable motto, “Add Smile and Smile Along”. The function was well attended by more than 500 people. The street and slum children were the star attraction of the event who put up cute cultural items for the programme. During the function 40 street children of SSS Balwadis (pre-school centres) received their ‘Kindergarten Certificates’. These children would be placed in schools from next year. A major part of SSS work with the children is sponsored by B-Braun Medical Pvt Ltd as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative.

During the function many women from waste picking communities staged a meaningful and symbolic drama as to how they came into the city looking for a better life and how they live at this moment. It was their way to show that with their association with SSS Mumbai they have regained a bit of their dignity. We could see the smile on their faces too!

It was also heartening to see the work of SSS Mumbai with the school drop out youth who received diplomas for having completed the Customer Relations and Sales Course. SSS Mumbai activities include projects with Waste Pickers, Substance Abusers, School-Dropout-Youth (Community College), Street and

Working Children and alternative medicine through Acupressure Clinic.

SSS Mumbai is dynamically led by Fr. Donald D’Souza SVD and it was very obvious from his report that this social initiative has taken giant steps during the last two years of his presence. Fr. Lazar T. Stanislaus SVD, the Provincial of Mumbai Province and the personnel from B-Braun were present for the function and they congratulated the SSS team for their wonderful service. Kudos to SSS Mumbai !

You can contact SSS Mumbai to sssmumbaiinm@gmail.com or donaldsvd@hotmail.com.

Master Vidit  Shetty  (11) studying in Dukhan English School, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar was ranked one of the top ten students in the middle East  in World Maths day contest held on 3rd March 2010 . He achieved 24,068 correctly answered questions which lead him securing Silver Medal.

The World Maths Day event was hosted by Mathletics Australia and approximately 1.2 Million students participated in this event which is a world record. He was also ranked 31st in the world in the 2009 competition in the group of 9 to 13.

Master Vidit is the son of Mr. Amarnath  & Mrs. Sharmila Shetty  of Mulky  in Mangalore and having Residence in Qatar.

The Feast of Divine Mercy was celebrated with devotion and gusto at Infant Jesus Shrine Mangalore on 11th April, 2010. The festal Eucharistic celebration which was held at 5.15 pm was preceded by an hour long Eucharistic Adoration and intercessory prayers for the needs of the world and humankind. Christian faithful who had gathered in great number received the sacrament of Confession and there by experienced the unbounded mercy of God. Rev. Fr. John Sequeira, Director of Ryshivana, International Institute of Spirituality and Yoga presided over the Mass. In his homily he stressed on the need of believing in the unconditional love of God and his mercy towards humanity and he appealed the faithful, to be merciful as the Almighty is to us.

The Feast of Divine Mercy, celebrated on the Octave of Easter (the Sunday after Easter Sunday), is a relatively new addition to the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar. Celebrating the Divine Mercy of Jesus Christ, as revealed by Christ Himself to Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, this feast was extended to the entire Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000, the day that he canonized Saint Faustina. Concerning the Feast of Mercy Jesus said: Whoever approaches the Fountain of Life on this day will be granted complete forgiveness of sins and punishment. (Diary of Saint Maria Faustina 300)