By Rajan Narayan

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week about the ongoing Bandodkar Memorial Football Tournament. For a Saturday following the week with the sad demise of former sports minister of Goa Francisco Monte D’Cruz at the age of 79. For a Saturday following the week about the ongoing war between Goa taxi-drivers and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. For a Saturday following the week when “Amchi Pothi” was initiated at the Corporation of the City of Panaji. For a Saturday following the week when Medi-Assist became the largest third-party agent in the area of medical insurance.
AND a few stray thoughts on the ongoing Bandodkar Memorial Football Tournament. The Bandodkar Football Tournament was started by former chief minister of Goa, Sashikala Kakodkar, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government, way back in the 1970s, in memory of the first chief minister of Goa, Dayanand Bandodkar.
A solid gold cup was donated to the Goa Football Association by the Bandodkar family. Dayanand Bandodkar also built the mega football stadium down Campal Promenade for holding this prestigious tournament. The tournament attracted the best teams from all over the country including the two Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan and Mohammedan Sporting Club.
The tournament was conducted for over two decades till the gold trophy was lost. It is claimed that the trophy is with the Goa Football Association. In any case, the tournament was discontinued by the Goa Football Association.
The Bandodkar Football Tournament was revived last year in 2023 with a new trophy by the state government to commemorate the 50th death anniversary of the much loved first chief minister of Goa, Dayanand Bandodakar. The government of Goa has sponsored the new trophy. The state government has also sponsored the participation of two foreign teams from Australia and Argentina.
The team from Australia mainly the Brisbane Roar defeated the Dempo Sports Blub by 4-0 goals in the opening match. The Argentina team however lost its first fixture against Odisha FC. The revival of the Bandodkar trophy will pose a challenge to the India Sports League which is run by Nita Ambani, the wife of Mukesh Ambani.

FAREWELL, MONTE D’CRUZ
AND a few stray thoughts on the sad demise of former sports minister of Goa, Francisco Monte D’Cruz, 79. Francisco Monte D’Cruz was the sports minister in the Pratapsingh Raoji Rane government in 1987. It was Francisco Monte D’Cruz who built the Fatorda football stadium within six months to be ready in time for the first Santosh Trophy to be held in Goa.
I recall Monte D’Cruz inviting me to his residence in Margao when I was editing the “OHeraldo.” Monte D’Cruz had the reputation of being a smuggler. When I reached his residence in the Mercedes car that he had sent me, I rang the bell. Francisco Monte Cruz opened the door dressed in a white sharkskin suit, the kind that villains in Hindi films wear.
We sat down in his study where he offered me Black Label Scotch. I asked him whether the Scotch was asli or nakli, because a lot of nakli Scotch had surfaced in Goa those days. Monte Cruz of course vehemently declared that he was offering me genuine scotch. He complained that I was giving too much publicity to Churchill Alemao. Monte insisted that Churchill was the real smuggler.
I told him that people were accusing him also of being a smuggler. Very candidly and charmingly Monte told me that he had retired from the smuggling business. Monte did a fantastic job of completing the Fatorda Stadium in time for the Santosh Trophy.
I recall meeting him in the Goa Sadan in Delhi, where suppliers used to come and meet him. I was present when he ordered the molded plastic chairs for the galleries of the newly build football stadium. I am inclined to believe that Monte was very efficient and did not make too much money on building the stadium.
The GFA had invited me and my then Patrao AC Fernandes as chief guests for the semi-finals of the Santosh Trophy at the Fatorda Stadium. I still have one of the two rocking chairs made by the carpenters of Benaulim which were gifted to me by Monte. The traditional rocking chairs made in Benaulim have perfect balance. However much you rock you cannot topple over, nowadays my wife rocks in it and every now and again wants to know where the other twin rocking chair has disappeared.

GOA CABBIES
AND a few stray thoughts on the ongoing war between Goa taxi-drivers and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. The taxi-drivers at the Mopa airport are protesting against the Goa Miles contract. The taxi mafia in Goa has been demanding the abolition of the app-driven Goa Miles.
Unlike the Goa taxi mafia, there are fixed fares on the taxis attached to Goa Miles. In the case of Goa Miles payment is made from the start till the taxi reaches you to your destination. The ground reality is that the Goa Miles taxi service is available in very few parts of Goa. In any case, the taxi mafia does not permit Goa Miles to pick up or drop passengers at five-star hotels, particularly in South Goa.
The taxi mafia has the strong support of local politicians. North Goa has the protection of Calangute MLA Michael Lobo and Siolim MLA Delilah Lobo. In South Goa, they have the support of Churchill Alemao. The taxi mafia does not even allow hotel coaches to pick up or drop passengers from the airport at times. It does not permit hotel coaches to take tourists sightseeing.
At the same time, Goa Miles is not the answer as it is far more expensive than Uber and Ola which are operating in all the other cities in the country. Cities like Bengaluru and Mumbai now even have app-based auto-rickshaw services. The problem with the app-based services is that the cost depends on supply and demand.
In what is called surge pricing, taxis are much more expensive during the peak morning and evening office hours. But the convenience is that there is no bargaining. You know how much you have to pay before entering the cab. Moreover, all app-based cabs including Goa Miles have a GPS system and the taxi-driver may not take your for a ride; however, the prices have to be more strictly regulated.

AMCHI POTHI
AND a few stray thoughts on “Amchi Pothi” initiated at the Corporation of the City of Panaji. Mayor of Panaji Rohit Monserrate has set up a stall at the Municipal market where customers can purchase re-usable and washable cloth bags for a small refundable deposit of Rs20. The rent-a-cloth bag scheme is to minimize the use of single-use plastic bags.
Though it’s called rent-a-cloth bag we doubt whether anyone will bother to claim the refund on the deposit. So much so the CCP is forcing people to visit the Municipal market to buy cloth bags at Rs20. It is also doubtful if these cloth bags will be able to bare the weight of too many vegetables or provisions folk buy at the market. The bags are expected to be made by self-help groups. Mayor Rohit claims that the raw material for making the bags will come from 750 kilos of old discarded textiles waste. He has also asked citizens to donate their old unusable clothes for a good cause.
Rohit proposes to recycle waste cloth to make 10,000 cloth bags. This will not be adequate even for a month. Perhaps Goans should return to using the old rexine bags which was so popular at one time. Every Goan family had more than one of these large square rexine bags in which all groceries and vegetables would fit.
I remember the more expensive jute bags too which were very convenient for shopping. However, the world litter is caused by food delivery agencies like Swiggy and Zomato. I have personal experience with the huge quantities of plastic packaging used by Swiggy and Zomato courtesy restaurants doing takeaway food. Food deliveries in plastics should be done away with utmost urgency.

MEDI-ASSIST
AND A last stray thought on Medi-Assist becoming the largest third-party agent in the area of medical insurance. Medi-Assist has a total monopoly in health insurance. It would perhaps be relevant to explain that all medical insurance companies appoint a third-party agent (TPA). It is the job of TPA to assist the validity of the claim of the insured person. The insurance companies started appointing TPAs to reduce the cost of processing claims of those who have taken health insurance.
In practice, we suspect that the TPAs are paid to keep the claims at a minimum. You cannot escape the TPAs and Medi-Assist as they are monopolies. They are employed by every insurance company. I have had problems with Medi-Assist for over two decades.
I recall that they refused to allow a claim from me for my wife’s by-pass heart surgery at the Asian Heart Hospital in Mumbai. Despite the fact that I have given them the video of the operation they pretend that no operation had taken place. Only after approaching the insurance regulation development authority did I get some relief. I finally managed to get them to sanction Rs4.9 lakh of the insured amount of Rs5 lakh. The charges of course were much higher. All those who have problems with the TPAs should complaint to the IRDA which is very prompt in providing relief.