GODREJ CELEBRATES GREEN INDIA!

GREEN VISION COMPANY: Most of us are familiar with Godrej products. Perhaps only a few know that the company takes environment, healthcare and education seriously! Celebrating 10 years of a good and green journey Managing Director of Godrej Industries & Chairman of Godrej Agrovet, Nadir Godrej, has this to say: “Our vision was to go beyond business and focus on building a more inclusive and greener India. I am proud that with the help of our team, we have been able to deliver excellent results against our environmental and social targets and exceeded most of them. Along the way, we’ve faced a few challenges and learned some lessons. With the first decade behind us, we are now looking at achieving bigger and bolder sustainability goals and build a more equitable and greener nation.” To which one may only add, good-luck and God bless! Picture is of Nadir Godrej, MD of Godrej Industries and Chairman of Godrej Agrovet.

NADDA DO HOMEWORK!

WHAT development has Chief Minister Pramod Sawant done for Goa, especially Panaji? Only he managed via Babush Monserrate to import 10 Congressmen to the BJP fold, he did nothing.
Only created a mess first with the farmers losing their fields after allowing builders to build their high rise buildings on agricultural land. Local vegetables and produce is being seen less and less and not as abundantly as once upon a time.
Firstly, where are the good roads in Goa, they are all with heavily decorated with potholes and the vehicular traffic of monster cars and two-wheelers which find it difficult to negotiate the potholes and their riders end up exhausted and with backaches of the spine and other health problems.
Secondly, there is waterlogging everywhere and this is the worst amongst states of India. The authorities are unable to even match the age old trustworthy drainage system let alone expand and augment it, and so we have this useless new drains which fail to drain away water scientifically on land principles…in our new era there are no drainage plans and there is no proper level flow of water and so it accumulates like ponds here and there, for example, Miramar-Campal road. Water flows backward and wherever it goes into the river Mandovi it is full of dirty construction site rubble and filth – so we have polluted rivers!
Thirdly, all our beaches in Goa are taken over by tacky stalls and shacks owned by the rich and influential people for their own selfish gains. They have ruined pristine sandy beaches with illegal heavy constructions. Once free Miramar beach is imprisoned by Samadhi and GSIDC has put up recreation activities, garden space, walkways, etc, in vain.
Old traditional daily and seasonal activities like swimming, having sea-water bath by elderly and children playing is completely lost, disappeared. Fourthly, the buildings of capital city Panaji are discoloured, dilapidated, with collapsed walls, even down the main thoroughfare of the Campal promenade. Vehicles are rotting by roadsides and footpaths and creating hazardous obstruction for pedestrians and senior citizens who try to take a morning walk for reasons of health.
Fifth, for Ponjekars, the creeks of St Inez and Rue da Ourem are totally contaminated and polluted with sewage and filth in stagnant water, giving rise to mosquito breeding. The creeks are never cleaned and the uneducated and illiterate and indifferent use the creeks for dumpting their garbage dry and wet. The creeks are under heavy pressure courtesy sewage tankers coming from all over the State to dump five star hotel and casino waste.
Sixth, these darling casinos of the government are going to remain permanently on the river Mandovi to pollute our sea with their gambling, prostitution, merrymaking. As far as Goa’s environment is concerned there is a lot of damage but who sees it? Not national BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda or his party ministers and MLAs and today’s are broadcasting loudly that he is satisfied with the performance of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on the development of Goa! It is a totally wrong reading. If this kind of development continues Goa is going to be a total disaster state in the near future!
— Stephen Dias, Dona Paula

SINS OF THE BJP
DURING his recent visit to Goa the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Jagat Prakash Nadda has asked Dr Pramod Sawant-led government ministers/MLAs to reach out to the minority community, bring them into the saffron-fold, work together for the development of Goa.
Why did he make such a statement? Because he knows the Goan minorities are very much allergic towards the BJP due to its communal politics and his party can never form a single government without the support of all the minority community leaders in Goa. Senior BJP leaders (like in other parts of our country) are also known for simply hiring the services of the minority community leaders and running their governments by permanently caging them like helpless circus animals!
In fact, the first minority leader who was successfully hired by the senior BJP leaders and used in a big way in the past, to woo all the other minority community leaders towards the party was the late Mathany Saldanha. The rest is history.
The second one who was used like a mascot and deliberately not given the post of chief ministership (despite being No2 in position) in a BJP government soon after the death of late Manohar Parrikar, was undoubtedly the late Francis D’Souza.
Senior BJP leaders are still not allowing minority community leaders to fully grow within the party even to this day, and they are in fact believed to be currently making secret plans on how to defeat many of these leaders (including a prominent twice elected MLA/current minister from Bardez, who incidentally had single-handedly helped to form a BJP government in the State despite the party getting just 13 seats during the last Assembly elections), by inwardly backing candidates of rival political parties (including some Independents) in the upcoming Assembly elections for being over-ambitious and for repeatedly questioning the government on a variety of issues in Goa.
The minority community ministers/MLAs from the ruling BJP government should seriously take note of all this and stay alert before dubious senior leaders of the party sends them into permanent retirement, if not exile.
—Jerry Fernandes, Saligao

AAP PROMISES!
STUDY this power billing rates vis-à-vis Goa and Delhi!
In Delhi the rates per unit are: Rs4.50 for 201 to 400 units, Rs6.50 for 401 to 800 units, Rs7.50 for 801 to 1,200 units.
In Goa the rate is Rs1.40 per 100 units. From 101 to 200 units it is Rs2.10 per unit, from 201 to 300 units it is Rs2.65 per unit, from 301 to 400 units it is Rs3.45 per unit; from 400 it is Rs4 per unit.
Arvind Kejriwal came and told us that he will be giving free power up to 300 units. But if you go through the rates it is observed that he is extracting the amount of bill value given by charging exorbitant rate to those consuming 401 to 800 units @ Rs6.50 per unit.
In Delhi if you see the ground reality is that he is giving benefit to consumers staying in one or two bedroom gullies. These people are just migrants. He is robbing the middle class to give the migrants. It’s the principle of robbing Peter to give Paul!
—Benedict D’souza, Goa (courtesy FB)

FREE BASICS

ELECTRICITY 24X7? When basic ABC cannot be managed? The electrocution of three people while working for the Electricity department is a major point. The department outsources jobs along with the responsibility! No, 24X7 electricity by the current government is impossible. The PWD too outsources jobs that result in the deaths of citizens because they do not own responsibility and are never punished even for extreme negligence. Sinking roads? Inspection also outsourced!

Where are the parties fighting for the people? Free WI-Fi? This all they can do. Data is now showing the effects on post-covid patients. Many suffer from lung and other organ adverse effects that need treatment.  Add to this the deaths due to poor treatment including shortage of oxygen, no beds and now evidence that many post-covid patients turn diabetic.

Crysta IVF Research has found that patients with moderate covid infections had their fertility levels reduced as compared to the unaffected. Now, everyone is fighting for tourism and other businesses which were impacted during covid time.

What about the covid-compromised patients? Who is fighting for them? Every one of the aspiring and mature politicians are behaving as if the common people exist only to vote for them. Politicians and their middle men are businessmen, that’s all.

— R Fernandes Margao

TRAFFIC FINES!

THE move by the Goa government to implement the enhanced traffic violation fines only from April 1, 2022 after the Assembly elections is a very skewed decision. It smacks of shameful politriks. If the government feels the increased fines are unreasonable they should take steps to urge the Centre to drop or decrease them.

The implementation of this amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act which came into force from September 1, 2019 was deferred earlier to first get the Goa roads in good shape. This pipe dream has not happened and on the contrary the roads today are even more perilous than they were in 2019, littered with potholes and huge craters even on the prestigious Atal Setu Bridge.

A sensible government focused on good governance takes hard and tough decisions in the best interests of the public and the State, even if they may not be pleasant. What we have been witnessing over the last few years is political motives in every action of this government! It is time the government put people first instead of playing politics.

Sam Walton an American businessman and founder of Walmart was spot on when he said “Leaders must always put people before themselves. If you do that the business will take care of itself.”  

-Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar