By Rajan Narayan

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when “The House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL)” withdrew their controversial advertisement about the ruler of Delhi conquering Goa. For a Saturday following the week when Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant denied that he attended a meeting organized by the Bhutanis, who are promoting luxury housing projects in Sancoale. For a Saturday following the week when Atishi Singh Marlena was nominated by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to be the next chief minister of the Union territory of New Delhi. For a Saturday following the week when there is good news for employees of private companies in Goa.

ABHINANDAN LODHA
AND a few stray thoughts on “The House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL)” withdrawing their controversial advertisement about the ruler of Delhi conquering Goa. However, they have not withdrawn from their farmhouse projects in Mayem village, Bicholim. In Bicholim the Lodha’s are promoting Delhi type farmhouses costing an average of Rs30 crore each. The project, being promoted as the largest land development project spread over 130 acres, offers super-luxury villas in plots of 2,500 sq mts with their own gardens, swimming pools and five-star amenities. Though both Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and Town & Country Planning Minister Vishwajit Rane have promised to review the permissions granted, it is obvious that these projects are going ahead having secured all the permissions. This is besides the super-luxury villas in Reis Magos, each costing Rs40 crore and the high rise skyscrapers in Sancoale, Mauvin Gudinho’s constituency.
I am spammed by offers of luxury housing in Goa because I mentioned some of the luxury projects in one of my Facebook posts. The algorithms of Facebook and Meta operate on key phases like Goa and super-luxury projects. Even if you mention this project unfavorably we will still be flooded with promotions online.
When I opened my Facebook page this morning I was flooded with offers of luxury housing projects in Goa. There is the Sansa Goa 3BHK villas in Nevra starting at Rs2.5 crore. Then there is Deshmukh Marval at Sangolda starting at Rs1.07 crore. There is the 99 Acres luxury dream homes at Arpora which have two swimming pools, fully equipped gym, a stylish club house, a yoga room, piped gas, covered parking and charging for electric vehicles starting at Rs2 crore for a 112 sq mts 2BHK flat. Then there are the exclusive 5BHK luxury villas promoted by Zaramount at Moira with Portuguese-style architecture spread over 6,000 sq ft with terrace gardens, a private pool and a jacuzzi.
The most expensive of them all are the DLF super-luxury villas for which the hills have already been cut at Reis Magos. Each villa will have a built-up area ranging from 12,500 sq feet to 20,000 sq feet. Each villa comes with a garden and a private swimming pool. The promoters admit to massive hill cutting as the location is given as prime hill-top location with stunning views of the Mandovi river. The minimum price is Rs45 crore.
The question now is how many Goans have sold off their ancestral property to the builders from Delhi and elsewhere? Why hill cutting permitted on the fragile hilly terrain of Reis Magos area at all?

BHUTANIS AT SANCOALE
AND a few stray thoughts on Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant denying that he attended a meeting organized by the Bhutanis who are promoting luxury housing projects in Sancoale. There has been a viral video doing the rounds recording the presence of the CM at the launch of the Bhutani Acqua Aden project. The project is coming up in the constituency of Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho. In a Facebook post Chief Minister Pramod Sawant insisted that he did not attend any event involving the Bhutani builders. He insists that he only attended a private function. He also denies that he walked out while the national anthem was being played.
Even if we accept the chief minister’s insistence that he has no connection with the Bhutani real estate project, there can be no smoke without fire. It is also possible that the CM attended the function organized by his colleague Mauvin Godinho which involved the Bhutani group. The new targets of real estate sharks seem to be the virgin Bicholim taluka which has not seen any major real estate developments because it was considered a mining area. However, there are parts of Bicholim, like Mayem, which are full of kulagars or spice plantations. We suspect that it is all this orchard lands which are now being taken over by Delhi builders to build their farm houses. The rich and powerful of Delhi prefer secluded farm houses rather than beach fronting properties.
Other Goan villages coming under pressure are Sangolda, Moira, Arpora and even Parra, the birthplace of Manohar Parrikar. There have been more luxury projects in the last two years of the Pramod Sawant government than in the previous 50 years since Liberation.

CHIEF MINISTER OF DELHI ATISHI SINGH
AND a few stray thoughts on Atishi Singh Marlena being nominated by the Aam Aadmi Party to be the next chief minister of the Union territory of New Delhi. Atishi, who reportedly dropped her surname Marlena on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections in 2018, is the most qualified chief minister in the country. Atishi is a left liberal as her surname suggests, a combo of Karl Marx and Lenin. Atishi has two masters degree from Oxford University in history and in educational research.
Not surprisingly Atishi has been the promoter of the new educational policies of the AAP. She is also credited with the Mohalla clinics which bring medi-care to the slums of Delhi. Atishi joined the India Against Corruption campaign started by Anna Hazare in 2012. She entered politics when she joined AAP in 2013. She has been actively involved in shaping AAP policies and especially the educational reforms. Atishi was appointed a cabinet minister in March 2023 after Manish Sisodia resigned. She holds 13 portfolios in the Arvind Kejriwal cabinet including finance, education and PWD. Atishi Singh is also probably the youngest chief minister of Delhi at only 43 years of age.
She is expected to seek a vote of confidence in the Legislative Assembly on September 26 to prove her majority. This is expected to be a formality as AAP has 50 seats in the 70-member assembly. The big question mark is whether the Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena will allow the new chief minister of Delhi to be the chief minister of Delhi and perform her duties.

NARENDRA MODI’S BIRTHDAY?
AND a few stray thoughts on the good news for employees of private companies in Goa. On the occasion of his 75th birthday on September 17, 2024 Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Subhadra Scheme under which subsidies for housing will be provided for the poverty sections. Goa Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant has announced that the State government may extend the scheme of home loans at an interest rate of 4% to employees in the private sector. At present, the concessional interest loans only cover government employees. One of the conditions for offering 4% concessional loans to employees in the private sector will be the provision for upgrading the skills of private sector employees.
The government will make it mandatory for industries to provide a minimum wage and health facilities to their employees. The government plants to start a skilling platform which will help private sector employees to get better salaries. The bitter ground reality is that even qualified engineering graduates are not willing to take jobs in Goa. Young engineers move to Pune or Bengaluru to get a job.
Even in Bengaluru and Pune the number of job opportunities for engineers has reduced since IT companies have frozen recruitment. Before the Covid pandemic IT companies used to recruit an average of two lakh fresh engineers every year. What is worse is that the entry level salaries offered have come down to around four lakh a year which is Rs20,000 per month. Increasingly, young engineers prefer to work for global IT companies which offer much better wages.

GOVERNOR SEEKS LONGEVITY FOR RAJ BHAVAN TREES
AND a few stray thoughts on Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai offering Ayurveda treatment to centenarian trees in the sprawling estate of the Goa Raj Bhavan. On the occasion of Narendra Modi’s 75th birthday the governor invited a large number of Ayurveda doctors from Kerala and also students from the satellite All India Institute of Ayurveda at Dhargal, Pernem in Goa, to diagnose the health of the Raj Bhavan’s senior citizen trees and if they life term could be extended with Ayurveda methods.
But neither the governor nor Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant seem to be concerned about the rehabilitation of human super senior citizens suffering with acute health problems (like yours sincerely). There are a growing number of senior citizens over 70 years in Goa who have either been abandoned by their children or do not have sufficient resources to cope with the problems of growing older.
As Donald Fernandes of Street Providence points out Goa has no schemes for the rehabilitation of super senior citizens who are homeless. The Goa government does not have any homes for abandoned senior citizens and does not support organizations that take care of them. Even senior citizens who are not homeless can benefit enormously from Ayurvedic treatments like simple abhyanga massage. But the AYUSH facility set up in the heritage precincts of the old Goa Medical Collage & Hospital at Ribandar is barely functional and difficult to access for seniors.
There is supposed to be an AYUSH Hospital in Dargal but does it have a good infrastructure to shelter senior patients in need of rehabilitation post-recovery from various afflictions? We are looking for a good Ayurveda massage at home but all the freelance Vaid masseurs charge Rs1,000 plus, plus. There are many so called massage parlors however which offer various massages of dubious quality except for the five-star hotel health club and spa facilities perhaps, which too we now hear are of suspicious value.
But we wish the centenarian trees of Goa’s Raj Bhavan grounds many more years of healthy longevity courtesy Ayurvedic “chikitsa” and “poshana.” May they live longer than human beings including yours sincerely.