A TREE FALL: We will never see anything as beautiful as a tree! Unseasonal cyclonic storm and rain has been taking a toll on grand old trees, especially the venerated ones down the Panaji’s favorite thoroughfare, the Campal promenade. This tree near the Directorate of Health came crashing down in the wind and rain some time Friday, a giant banyan (Ficus Benghalensis or Indian Banyan, Vat Vriksha) gave up its ghost… much to the regret of tree-lovers passing by who stopped a while to regret the passing on of a tree which offered shelter to little creatures of the earth up and down its shady foliage, not to mention oxygen to breathe! Should we say RIP?
SUPREME COURT BLUES
IN a very retrograde and questionable move the Supreme Court has abruptly stopped uploading the resolutions of its collegium recommending High Court and Supreme Court judges for appointment and transfers. From October 2017 the resolutions put up on the Supreme Court website gave brief details on the procedure by which nominees were recommended or rejected by the collegium. This allowed some clarity into a method that has been time and again been severely criticized for its lack of transparency and arbitrariness.
It is unclear as to why the sudden move as no resolution of the collegium has been uploaded stating that the practice of making public the resolutions of the collegium will be stopped. It is all the more legally distrustful since the practice was started as a result of the collegium itself resolving to make its resolutions public. At a time when the collegium has come under increasing pressure from all quarters over some of its very contentious decisions, now to simply refuse to disclose any further information about its decisions smacks of sheer institutional spinelessness.
— Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
POWER FAILURE
THERE is power failure almost every day for hours altogether during the day and night time in many part of Goa. Presently I am referring to Bastora village power outages. Electricity Call Center number 1912 to address the power supply related complaints on a proactive basis and provide effective, assured and timely services to customers is suspended. Actually the government of Goa itself should not be suspended or rather dismissed. Power Minister Cabral is an empty vessel making noise in form of various announcements, practically he is a disgrace to the Electricity Department.
— Pradeep Padgaonkar, AAP
MARINA STORY
THERE is a very strange situation regarding the proposed marina in Goa! The promoters are asking the present “holders” of the property to let them know why the marina should not come up. Why should the onus be on them? The people have not invited expression of interest from “marina” promoters and then discarded the present promoters. In such a case the latter can demand an explanation.
Tourism has fallen drastically. The number of rooms at present in Goa is enough to cater to 120 lakh tourists. The tourist footfall is much reduced. We will not be using even 60% of the same. To make new infrastructure when the existing is not utilized up to 80% is bad management. No CEO of a private limited company including the marina promoters would sanction the same.
The government has consistently reported that jobs cannot be reserved for locals. Companies in Goa reserve jobs only for people from a promoter’s state, so much so the government even declared a paid holiday for the voters to vote in their home state! The salaries offered are much less than the norm, forget being meager when compared to metro towns. Locals do not want these jobs. As a result, this will once again trigger an influx of migrants from states where they do not get more than one square meal a day. Ultimately, the promoters want such people and will cite losses for the same. Further, they will not pay them enough to rent out decent homes. Instead they will look to the government to provide housing. The Chief Minister has already declared that migrants come, build huts with no toilets….on whose land?
The Mandovi has been declared totally polluted. At that time the same assurances were given, that there would be no pollution, there would be jobs for locals, economy would rise, cleanliness would be pristine! This is the same modus operandi for marinas with the sole purpose of capturing natural resources like rivers, seashores, property which ultimately become the property of outsiders without them even purchasing the same.
How many Goans work in the casinos? The few Goans who did were charged with theft! Imagine all the theft crimes in Goa by migrants, but in the case of casinos they’re only Goans. The reason is they do not want locals who may turn to whistleblowers! The government is on the side of the casino owners.
Can locals visit and enjoy the Terakol Fort? Why, we even must pay for parking to visit our beaches. Every now and again we see private hoteliers surreptiously and cleverly blocking access to public beaches. When has this stopped? What are our priorities vis-à-vis our natural resources and especially our water bodies? Marinas or resolving garbage, water, electricity woes of the common people of Goa? The people of Goa only want their waterways and beaches to be unhampered for fishing and recreation purposes. They want water bodies to remain clean. They do not want to go to court every now and again to fight for rights confiscated from them!
Recall how the Caption of Ports despite having a history of navigation background allowed a businessman from a landlocked state to dictate to him to allow his casino to cross the Aguada sand bar! Marinas involve ships which need to follow maritime laws and there will be many restrictions which will be manipulated to see that our water bodies become the exclusive property of promoters.
Promoters must leave natural resources along because they belong to the people of a state and not a government of promoters. How close are these promoters of marinas to Nitin Gadkari (minister for roads, transport, highways of India, and shipping ministry, of micro, small and medium enterprises)? The government needs to back off and be on the side of the people of Goa!
— R Fernandes, Margao