Bishop Maurice Piat, head of the Catholic Church has taken a firm stand on the abolition of subsidies on exam fees, stating his full agreement with the government on this issue. Even though Mgr Piat made it clear that this was his personal opinion, his stand must have left the Bureau of Catholic Education (BEC) astonished, as the latter had just asked for a one-year moratorium before abolishing the subsidies. However, both agree that the State can?t afford to ?subsidise everything?.

The country has been hanging on minister Sithanen?s every word. During the whole week, the question was: will he stay or will he leave his office as Finance minister? The decision actually depended on a meeting with the prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, who came back from his trip in Europe, yesterday. Minister Sithanen declared he would resign from his post after the PM appointed Rundhersing Bheenick at the head of the Central Bank. But the PM has asked him to wait for his return before he takes his final decision?

There was agitation in Rose-Belle during the week. After 200 litres of heavy oil were spilled in the draining system, in the fields and houses near Alcodis ethanol factory last Saturday, the ministry of Environment has served an enforcement notice to close down the factory. It even said it would ask the factory to relocate if such problems were to arise again. On Tuesday, Alcodis found heavy oil in its tanks again and thought it was foul play. However, the ministry concluded that the oil was only residue of previous problems. Alcodis is still waiting for the ministry?s authorisation to restart its activities.