EMPOWERING DABOLIM

Unlike the incumbent member of the legislative assembly (MLA) representing Dabolim – Mauvin Godinho — who has a case pending against him in the Supreme Court for power theft, young Kenneth Silveira is a self-made young entrepreneur committed to protecting Dabolim from the ravages of climate change. Kenneth Silveira is categorically against high rise structures coming up in limited village infrastructure. There is the traditional wisdom that the height of a building should be no more than that of a coconut tree in villages.
Kenneth is very concerned with the quality and quantity of ground water resources in the Dabolim constituency. He is appalled that even after serving six terms as an MLA Mauvin Godinho has not set up a sewage treatment plant in the constituency. Kenneth is determined that the newly introduced rule which makes it mandatory for those who build up on an area of more than 2,000 sq mts must compulsorily set up a sewage treatment plant.
Kenneth is committed to facilitating uninterrupted power and water supply by ensuring that underground pipelines are laid properly and competently. Also ensuring that overhead water tanks are set up to meet the requirements of uninterrupted water supply. He is also committed to ensuring uninterrupted internet connectivity which has become a top priority in an increasingly digital world.
Kenneth is an active member of the Stop Coal protests. He will get the transport of coal through Dabolim urban areas and Mormugao taluka banned if he is elected. Kenneth plans to go a step further to prevent the import and transportation of coal through Goa. He thinks it is a better idea for Mormugao port to be a cruise terminal and a marina complex to promote sea-faring tourism.
Kenneth will take the initiative to stop the double- tracking of the South Western Railway and the expansion of the national highway meant for the primary benefit of the Adani industries in Karnataka. Kenneth points out that not even one per cent of the imported coal is used in Goa.
Kenneth agrees that women should be empowered. Kenneth also believes that the women beneficiaries could use the funds to acquire skills to becomes self dependent such as home nursing, digital training, medical technicians, home care nurses, tailoring, fashion designing and other lucrative skills.
Kenneth believes that transportation has been very badly neglected. He believes that public transportation should operate 24 hours a day and buses operate on a shuttle basis 24X7 within the Dabolim constituency.

JOBS AT DABOLIM AIRPORT

DIGITAL CHALLENGES

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGISTS

HOME CARE NURSING

COVID-19 WARRIOR KEMMETH

During the Covid-19 Pandemic Kenneth Silveira not only prevented the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic in Goa by getting the Zilla Parishad Elections cancelled but also came to the rescue of patients who were dying for lack of oxygen by moving the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court to intervene

By Gary Azavedo

GOAN OBSERVER (GO): Why is Kenneth Silveira the best candidate for the Dabolim assembly constituency for the forthcoming assembly elections scheduled for February 2022?
Earlier, I was not interested in politics. But I witnessed that there’s a lot of corruption. I am against reservations being given and I strongly feel that everything should be on merit. Now, for the last five years because we have been busy exposing the government, we (our family firm which is into supplying high tension material to the government) have not obtained a single tender despite having secured the same on merits, although we had bagged the tender — it was cancelled without stating any valid reasons. Around five tenders were cancelled without any reasons being cited though we have incurred several expenses such as purchase of tender forms, payment of security deposits or EMD (earnest monetary deposit) that gets blocked every time, besides the salaries of our labour/staff, etc. Our payments too, have not been cleared. It has been a very tough time for us.
Kenneth Silveira (KS): The present practice is that even after the technical competance of the lowest eligible bidder, the file goes to the minister for further approval which is nothing but extortion. If the compliance of the bidder is satisfactory, the tender should be sanctioned on merits without any further delay.
See, we took up matters in public interest but they (government) took it very personally. However, I have remained firm. Even with the Mopa issue, they filed a bogus (fake) complaint against me using a bogus (fictitious) person in order to harrass me. Now, recently, because I have joined the TMC, they tried arresting me. But during the anticipatory bail hearing, even the Investigation Officer of the Crime Branch admitted in the court that it is a bogus complaint” and my anticipatory bail plea was accepted and they could not arrest me. The Crime Branch and State Government tried their level best to arrest me despite me having a Court Order in my favor and also inspite of the amounts reflecting into my income-tax returns, there is simply no case at all against me but they just want to try to implicate and arrest me based on fabricated and bogus grounds acting on fictitious bogus complaints.

STOPPING COVID SPREAD
If we analyse the last five years, the first COVID-19 wave was averted throughout India because of me! It is because of my petition filed in the High Court of Bombay at Goa that the Zilla Panchayat elections got cancelled. I wanted these elections to be cancelled because the pandemic was rising and I could see everywhere in the world people were dying. COVID-19 had just come to India.
All the lawyers had said that ‘the elections can never be cancelled in Goa.’ But along with my lawyer pals, we approached the High Court of Bombay at Goa and drafted this petition against the State government, 18 lawyers of the State Govt. including the Advocate General (AG) was our opponent into the matter but yet the result was declared in our favor. So the Central government and specifically the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) who were monitoring these elections in Goa, wondered how these elections have been cancelled and then they understood the seriousness and the dangers posed by this pandemic.
My suggestions and recommendations for a 21-day lockdown was taken into consideration and imposed throughout the country so thus, I have saved several lakh of lives from the dreaded coronavirus pandemic which nobody (none of the politicians or social activists) in Goa can match up with me! It was my suggestion that was implemented as I had also put it all up on social media one day prior to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s declaration. If this 21-days lockdown was not imposed then it would have been a major disaster as no hospitals were prepared to face this eventuality. People would have died left, right and centre, worse than what happened abroad. I took up a national issue that was successful.

GASPING FOR OXYGEN
The other petition I filed is regarding the shortage of oxygen cylinders at the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC), Bambolim as daily 58-60 people were dying. This petition of mine was filed by former Goa Advocate General (AG) Carlos Alvares Ferreira, who was the main lawyer in this case, with a similar petition also filed by the South Goa Advocates Association (SGAA). It was a collective effort. So it is because of our petitions that the High Court directed the State government along with the GMC, giving them a 48-hours deadline to take immediate action in this matter, constitute a committee, find an appropriate solution to this critical problem and submit a compliance report. After that the COVID-19 deaths came down to 16-18 cases daily as opposed to the previous 58-60 deaths per day, so you can see the drastic drop. I am also responsible for this.
I have filed several petitions in court such as on behalf of the teachers and for the seafarers in the Supreme Court. I have also fought for teachers sent out during the peak period of the pandemic without any proper COVID-19 protocols being followed. The authorities were misusing the teachers to go and visit each and every house during the deadly pandemic of which the people were not aware of, so I filed a teacher’s petition to establish the Covid-19 protocol of wearing masks, etc.
Regarding the seafarers, we filed a petition to take suo moto cognisance as they were stranded all over the world and the government only wanted to make money at their cost. Thus, I have filed several petitions which have attained finality.

COVID IMMUNITY BOOSTERS
During the COVID-19 pandemic through the St Francis Xavier Church, Chicalim parish priest Fr Bolmax Pereira and other church authorities, I had distributed a total of 20,000 COVID-19 Arsenic 30 immunity boosters all throughout the village and other areas using my personal funds. I have also undertaken cleaning of the gutters in this constituency, etc. like how others are doing, besides providing ambulance services and food to those affected during the COVID-19 pandemic. So during the last five years, I talk less and work more…this is what I have done.

GO: Why Trinamool Congress (TMC)? There are several aspirants seeking the TMC party nomination from the Dabolim assembly constituency, so why do you feel that you should be given the party nomination to contest the forthcoming assembly elections scheduled for February 2022?
KS: Till date, I have not joined any political party though I was supporting Congress. I participated in all the Congress activities and agitations giving my maximum support but this was before the 10 MLAs switched to the BJP. After they switched to the BJP, we ground workers took the beating and somebody else got the credit. I was demoralised. After that episode, I was not active in political work but kept up with my social work.

GOOD GROUND CONNECT
Recently, I joined TMC because it said, “You have a good face and you have done so many activities. We are in search of good people.” But they told me I needed a proper ground connect which they will work on for me. They were a blessing for me and that is why I joined the Trinamool Congress! I find that the TMC is the lone serious opposition to the corrupt BJP. If I could do so much without being an elected representative for the people, just imagine how much I could do if the people vote me as their elected representative!

GO: What does the Dabolim constituency lack that the present MLA and Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho has miserably failed to achieve?
KS: I feel that they have destroyed our village with high rise constructions in the green lungs of our village. It affects people’s health. There is no proper garbage management. The new buildings are destroying the ground water resources of the village and people are already fed up. Villages should retain their identity and not get spoilt by unsustainable rampant development of the high-rise urban kind.

GO: What is your manifesto or vision for the Dabolim assembly constituency in 2022?
KS: It is best to let our villages be untouched by too much development. First, focus on garbage management and building basic infrastructure issues of water and power problems in certain areas. Development of villages very often just means destruction of villages and the personal development of our sarpanch, panchas and the MLA of the ruling dispensation. Some of the salient features of my manifesto are mandatory rain water harvesting, composting of waste for the mega projects already in place, besides further increasing the present Griha Adhaar scheme for women.

GO: Your views on corrupt, criminal, uneducated politicians, who change parties frequently?
KS: They should be kicked out of politics.

GO: What is your opinion on dynasty politics or family raj?
KS: I believe that politics is a social service and should not be a family business. Each politician I feel should be in politics for five years or at the most ten years and not turn a political career into a lifelong business.

GO: Who do you feel will be your main rival in the Dabolim assembly constituency in the forthcoming assembly elections scheduled for February 2022?
KS: With the proper organisation of the TMC and IPAC, my main rival has to be only Dabolim BJP MLA and Panchayat Minister Mauvin Godinho. But IPAC is so efficient that they are tapping each and every individual from the constituency.

A NEW DAWN FOR GOA WITH
TRINAMOOL AND KENNETH SILVEIRA

A change of mindsets to positive orientation and a change if incentives to generate the optimal actions are required to fulfill this people’s elections manifesto. We can do this together.

1- Freedom and choice of ways to pursue vocations will be guaranteed to all. Innovation, discovery and sharing of knowledge will be provided the highest recognition.
2- Healthcare on personalised basis will be provided.
3- Personal hygiene, social distancing and cleanliness will be a universally delivered.
4- Education for continually up skilling and reskilling every person will be available at a fair cost.
5- Protection of CRZ areas in locality.
6- Internet will be free for students and uniformly available for the entire population.
7- Every habitat shall have on tap, potable water, mandatory rainwater harvesting, separation of waste to enable easy and complete conversion to high productivity manure and universal sanitation.
8- Completely transition to renewable energy using solar power.
9 – Planting, at least twice the number of existing trees every year until we acquire an abundance of fruit and a completely high-capacity oxygen production.
10- Handling, collection & disposal of domestic household garbage in scientific and sustainable manner.
11- Provision of Septic tanks, Biochemical toilets to the needy to achieve 100% open defecation.
12- Support for Fisherman, Salt Pan farmers, Toddy Tappers, Meat processing (Poultry/piggery) units to sustain and preserve local traditional community.
13-Help in development and support of community halls and public places.
14- Installation and maintenance of Road signages, speed breaker paintings.
15- Maintenance and upkeep of local wells and natural water bodies.
16- Support to local vendors selling (vegetables / fish)
17- Reduce wasteful spending of valuable resource at public places.
18- Generation and encouragement of self-employment schemes to local unemployed.
19- Encourage, build, support and revive local self-help groups.