CHIEF Minister Pramod Sawant whilst chairing a meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) recently confidently said Panjim will not be experiencing any flooding during the upcoming monsoons despite the on-going digging work of roads and incomplete work of different projects of the Smart City Project. His government has already taken 100% precautions to keep the city from flooding this time!
Has he really seen the actual horrible condition of some of the areas on ground level, especially from the Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) at Tonca to Caculo Mall, from Expert Pharmacy to Madhuban Circle, stretch from National theatre to Govinda building and other stretches (most of which resemble like bombarded areas of war-zone Ukraine)? Most residents are apprehensive and what it will be al llike when the rains descent and they are marooned…some are thinking of investing in small boats or canoes to travel in the city if it is flooded!
Capital city beyond the main DB Marg thoroughfare is royally injurious for citizens who have to move around and will be risking life and limb come this year’s monsoon. From the looks of it there’ll be quite a few drowning cases on the roads this monsoon.
–Jerry Fernandes, Saligao

GUTTER COVERS!
CLEARLY nobody has done any research into these flimsy gutter covers placed everywhere in new Panjim. Few Panjimites are interested in the quality of their roads and streets. Even ex-mayors don’t take an interest to make gutters operational and have safe covers for the passage of rain water the river Mandovi or other water bodies. CCP has yet to open its eyes. The present Commissioner is trying to issue notices to the authorities and sending letters to Panjimites and even I received information about some action being taken …however, earlier I informed him that near Casino Pride, opposite Rio Bar, there is one metallic structure pandal coming up as extension to the jetty, and even a parapet or a compound wall at the entrance which was demolished to get access to the illegal structure. Present Commissioner Clen Madeira even put a warning in the newspaper about this structure to be demolished as it is illegal. However, nobody has bothered and on the contrary additional extension is made and more casinos have started docking!
–Stephen Dias, Dona Paula

PROGRESSIVE OR REGRESSIVE?
THE question is being asked if political parties can only be stopped via law? But laws are made by politicians! I response to this I would say political parties are people, so is any political system. Judges are people, so is the Judiciary as a whole. We’ve become too complacent in using terms for institutions in a way that we’ve made ourselves alien to those very institutions. Ultimately, any of these “systems” is controlled by a single or a bunch of regressive or progressive people.
True progress comes from good intentions with all in mind, not laws. To the often made observation that all institutions are collapsing even as we speak…and we would be like the hippie culture sort of, my view is that institutions will not collapse, only morph into something else depending who has control of them. What connection is there to hippie culture? Oddly only people who were not hippies used the word “hippies.”
Different people stood for change in different parts of society. Be wary of anyone with a self-imposed/proclaimed moniker. In India, we’re going through a conflict between educated/uneducated or brain vs brawn. The cycle goes on!
–Dean D’Cruz, Goa
VIBRANT GOA!
THIS is just to inform your readers about Vibrant Goa’s upcoming Inspiration Awards 2023. Vibrant Goa, based on the initiative of Vibrant Gujarat by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is all set to honor individuals, professionals and business houses across various different categories. These awards are the newest addition to the Vibrant Goa legacy introduced in Goa in 2019.
The Global Expo attracted over 12,500 national and global delegates. The event highlights Goan business community and provides a gateway to the global business world. Briefing media people at a press conference Rajkumar Kamat, chairperson of Vibrant Goa, said the aim of these awards it to create an ecosystem fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainable development in Goa. The Vibrant Goa Inspiration Awards 2023 include various awards in different categories and those interested may fill in the respective forms and submit them.
–Asha Arondekar, Event Co-chairperson, Goa.