TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2024
Good move by apex court
We must laud the Supreme Court for its initiative in directing all state governments to pay compensation to families that lost their relatives to COVID-19.
The action follows the lukewarm response from some states to the humanitarian move. The court directed states to share complete details about the number of Covid deaths and information uploaded on the Bal Swaraj Portal with their respective State Legal Services Authorities.
Besides, the apex court also pulled up Andhra Pradesh and Bihar over the tardy relief and summoned their chief secretaries virtually to seek an explanation from them during the day. One hopes the SC’s reprimand jerks the states into action to reach out to the affected families.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
How to stop party hoppers
Considering the fact that 3 years back 10 elected MLAs in Goa jumped ship and joined the opposition to form the government has upset most people. Now the trend is not to vote for such turncoats since voters’ anger is still simmering. We should not be surprised if in the coming election people vote for good or their favourite candidates and these people join some other party.
The moot point is how to avoid elected representatives from crossing the floor to another party and breaking the voter’s faith in them?
Here the role of the Election Commission of India (ECI) is crucial. Just as it has power to declare the maximum amount that a candidate can spend, questioning why people with criminal background are given tickets to stand for election and so forth; the ECI should make it mandatory that candidates to wish to shift their alliance need to do so before filing their nominations. If the candidates win then they will be legally bound to the winning/losing party they had chosen, and if they shift base then they should be barred for 5 years from standing for any type of elections in the country.
All these needs political will which of course is left much to be desired for finally politics make strange bedfellows which turns out to be a nightmare for the honest voters.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
Good article on Sancoale church
The article "Sancoale Church Controversy" written by Dr. Olav Albuquerque, a senior journalist cum advocate scholar, which appeared in your esteemed daily on 19th January, 2022 is highly appreciated and applauded.
Dr. Olav, in a very neat, systematic and justified manner, has illustrated the controversy created by a small fascist Hindu Group on the existence of a temple in the present church premises. However, a majority of our Hindu brethren do not support the claim. The said group had risen several times in the past few years to ascertain that the church premise was once upon a time a temple, but had to return empty handed.
Dr. Olav, has also stated the that Jesuit historians viz. Sebastiao Gonsalves and Paolo de Trinidade, would have recorded the existence of the five temples built around a major temple in Sancoale, but there was never such a mention of the pre-existing temple ever made, which validates for itself that such temple never existed. All legal documents of the church prove that the said seven properties belong to the Church of Sancoale. Dr. Olav also mentions that archaeological department of Goa is in charge of only preserving the monument and hold no ownership rights to the property.
Therefore, a strong and fervent appeal is made to the so-called Hindu Group to stop making baseless and false allegations on the existence of a temple at the present Church premises of Sancoale. Let us all be united and live in peace as we Goans are known for. Let us burn this controversy once and for all. Let us build temples of peace, unity, happiness and togetherness in our minds and live happily ever after.
Piedade Paul, Collem
Prioritise air safety
Air travel is one of the safest, if not the safest, of all modes of transport. The vast air space available is one of the key factors in making travel by air secure and comfortable. Mid-air collisions between two or more planes was seen to be a rare possibility not very long ago. But not anymore considering the increased incidences of "near misses" or "loss of separation" between planes air across the world -- India included.
Recently, January 7 to be precise, two planes of the same domestic airliner reportedly came within striking distance of each other over the Bengaluru airspace seconds after takeoff. The flights were closer than the stipulated horizontal and vertical separation norms. News reports said the two flights escaped certain collision by a whisker. The Air traffic controller at Bengaluru is said to have erroneously given the green signal for both planes to takeoff almost simultaneously.
According to the aviation norms, the minimal vertical separation between two planes is stipulated to be one thousand feet, or three hundred miles. The horizontal difference between two flights should be fifteen nautical miles if they are in the same path or five nautical miles if otherwise. Incidentally, it should be recalled that one nautical mile is equivalent to one thousand eight hundred and fifty two metres.
The near misses that are "unplanned contacts" have decreased in India over the years due to technological advancement. India has the Traffic Collision Avoidance System or Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) from 1998. Laxity among the staff of the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and pilot fatigue are two most important reasons attributed to "near misses" over Indian skies.
The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was not informed about the Bengaluru "miss" by the air traffic controllers. In general, miscommunication and mistrust between the ATC and the pilots are common.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) should regulate the ATC to work with more clarity. In a country where domestic airliners have opened up to carry more and more passengers at affordable prices, air traffic congestion is more of a rule than an exception.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Dilemma of taxi operators
It must be said that the taxi business in the state has been hit hard during the past two years due to the pandemic. The first and second wave of the novel coronavirus has seen a reduction in the tourist footfall. Like other tourist related businesses, the taxi operators also had to go through a rough patch. There was a brief respite after the second wave. However the start of the third wave has once again reduced the number of tourists visiting the state. Many of the taxi operators have probably bought the vehicles on bank loan and could be finding it difficult to pay the EMI. With the state assembly elections scheduled for next month, the taxi operators were expecting their vehicles to be hired for election duty. However, sadly this is not to be. It is learnt that outstation vehicles have been requisitioned for election duty in the state.
The Taxi Union in Goa is reportedly upset over this development. The local taxi operators should have been given an opportunity to earn some revenue during the elections. If the rates of taxi operators in the state were found to be on the higher side or unreasonable, the same could have been negotiated with them instead of resorting to bringing taxis from other states. This is probably not the first time that the taxi operators are facing such a dilemma.
Even now some local taxi operators could be accommodated if more vehicles are needed for election duty.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
