Diversionary tactics
This has reference to the news report “Mickky to table report in Assembly session” (Herald Sept 15) .The system suffers from a malaise. We have been speculating of a police-criminal-politician nexus and this nexus has now over time become arrogant enough to come out from the closet. An MLA is unable to get the cooperation of the police in probing the drug nexus. In a SC supervised Coalgate scam, files disappear. Two years ago, the public accounts committee (PAC) chairman was none other than the opposition leader and the present CM. His report was full of illegal mining and loss to the exchequer. All it took was to come to power and, eureka ,we are told there is no illegal mining. The Gadgil Committee report on the Western Ghats was submitted but the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) in May 2012 published the WGEEP report on its website with reluctance only after orders from the Central Information Commission and the Delhi High Court . Then the MoEF constituted yet another committee, this time under the chairmanship of Dr Kasturirangan, member of the Planning Commission, to re-evaluate the Gadgil Committee report. Even the constitution of the JPC is about numbers. It’s just another mini-Parliament where the ruling combine has the numbers so the truth will never see the light of day. Governments use the formation of committees as a diversionary tactics to hoodwink the public. Finally, one is forced to ask the question: is there any point in having these committees and wasting tax payers’ money as their reports are not binding on the government? After all, governments are just looking out for a “Yes Sir Committee”.
DC Dias, Taleigao
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Cautioning Iran
This has a reference to the news dated Sept. 16, 2013. The surprise victory of Hassan Rouhani in Iran’s Presidential election has promoted widespread hopes of an opportunity for progress in resolving the tensions over Iran’s nuclear program which is suspected to aim at acquiring nuclear weapons. It is reliably learnt that a plutonium reactor ” Arak-(Iran)” is due to start irradiating uranium by Mid-2014. At present, Iran is facing economic crisis as it is facing sanctions. Resolving the nuclear dispute could open the way to a lifting of these sanctions to improve its economic progress. Iran should not take comfort from the fact that the United States had not taken any military action in Syria. Therefore, as done by Syria, Iran should willingly surrender the stockpile of its nuclear chemical weapons to the UN for destruction and also promise that it will not procure/manufacture the deadly weapons d only to become wise after the event.
Vijay D. Patil, Pune
Multilingual signboards
The decision of the government asking establishments to write their signboards in three languages is absurd. In a country which has over fourteen official languages, this is not surprising but the choice of languages has no logic. While English and Konkani are understandable, the third language if at all required should have been Hindi which is important for national integration and the Bharat jodo initiative. This will also be an unnecessary expense to the industry and traders. Will this rule be followed for all advertisements and announcements? If it is done for the benefit of tourists, then some major Indian and foreign languages should be included. We should also have uniform size signboards.
Jonas Correia, Aldona
Promises unfulfilled
I intended to send this e-mail a week ago but the Internet connection was not available for all this time and this email was therefore delayed until today when, finally, this connection was restored.
This government started with a bang of…’promises’, ‘plastic free Goa, highways free of plastic within 30 days, construction and inauguration of so many bridges, and so on’. Unfortunately, most of these promises have remained just ‘promises’.
The voters rejected the last government because not only was it corrupt it was also highly inefficient. This government was brought in with the hope of getting more efficient and less corrupt services.
Unfortunately, things seemed not to have developed according to the expectations of the electorate. For example, the place where I live has no regular supply of energy. There is not a single day without power breakdowns, one cannot even hazard a guess as to when the lights will come on and just as suddenly disappear. Garbage and plastic are to be seen in every nook and cranny and a regular Internet connection seems to be a luxury not to be enjoyed by common folk like us.
I just wonder how many more years will it take to get a really efficient government so that the villages, where most of the voters reside, will get regular supply of electricity, water, together with a telephone and Internet connection which is not considered a luxury today.
How many more elections will it take for Goa to have a truly promising government instead of a government of promises?
Almir de Sousa, Chorao
