CCP should follow
PMC's footsteps
It has been reported that after the Ponda Municipal Council sealed the shops in the municipal market for failure to pay up the dues, and the council recovered Rs 1.2 crore, and some postdated cheques from the shopkeepers.
The more than 1000 allegedly illegal occupants of the CCP corporation market have not paid any of their dues, either rental electricity or water charges, for decades, and the dues are probably amounting to more than 20 crores. As a result the corporation is frequently in the red, and perhaps attempt bridging the deficit by increasing the house tax charges of the innocent helpless house owners. The question that begs to be asked is why the CCP cannot adopt the same method adopted by PMC, in order to recover the dues from the allegedly illegal occupants of the CCP municipal market?
Rosario Menezes, Vasco
Port town squatting
on a time bomb
Panic gripped Dabolim on Friday afternoon after a petroleum pipeline was reportedly damaged during the flyover construction by a contractor of the National Authority of India (NHAI). It is learnt that heavy machinery accidentally punctured the pipeline. It was by providence that the pipeline was not carrying petroleum at the time.
It may be recalled that in August 2011 the Disaster Management Authority (DMA) had ordered the temporary shutdown of a multi-product pipeline in the port town of Vasco following a fire outbreak.
Eight persons were injured and several houses were gutted in the blaze after the Naphtha leaked from the pipeline. In June 2022 after damaging underground power lines leading to a 22-hour power outage in parts of Vasco contractors working on a pipeline damaged water pipelines in the port town leading to water supply issues.
In November 2033, a major gas leakage was reported near MES College at Zuarinagar after a fiber gas pipeline was damaged by a contractor while digging a trench for a power cable. It must be said that the city of Vasco is literally sitting on a time bomb. It is learnt that the incident that occurred on Friday was anticipated by the Oil Company and tight security was maintained. A police complaint was lodged and the digging work was halted. However the contractor resumed operations despite warnings. The contractor needs to be taken to task as negligence on his part could have led to a major fire incident. It would be prudent for the contractor engaged in the digging to obtain a plan of the outlay of the various pipelines including gas, water and power cables passing underground so that damage can be avoided while carrying out digging activities.
Adelmo Fernandes,
Vasco
Touts must be put in place at Calangute
The Calangute Police have reportedly booked 30 cases during a special drive against illegal hawkers, public drinking and touting along Calangute-Baga coast on Thursday for causing nuisance to tourists and the public.
Simply taking a few touts and hawkers into custody after conducting special drives and imposing petty fines on them won't solve the problem of Calangute-Baga coast as these same people will somehow make a comeback in a day or two and continue carrying on with the same old illegal business with the tacit blessings of their political godfathers.
The Calangute Police should identify and impose hefty fines against all those who are found illegally running dance bars, supplying drugs and sex worker to tourists.
Shack operators playing loud music throughout the night and disturbing the neighbourhood and whole-sale liquor outlets operating beyond the time limit should not be spared either.
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
One language,
one script failed
The policy of the Sahitya Akademi and Goa Government which has chosen Devanagari as sole official script for Konkani has been a complete failure. By giving importance to one script over the other has led to inequality. Roman Script is marginalised while more focus is given to Devanagari. The Goa government is spending crores of rupees to promote Devanagari.
Devanagari and Roman Script must be treated equally.
Godwin Pereira, Chinchinim
A wake-up call
for aviation sector
The tragic mid-air collision over Washington, DC, involving an American Airlines regional jet and a US Army Black Hawk helicopter, is a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities in aviation safety. While the official investigation is ongoing, preliminary reports suggest miscommunication, potential pilot error, or technical failures as contributing factors. This disaster, which claimed multiple lives, underscores the urgent need for the airline industry to reassess its safety protocols. Aviation authorities must enforce stricter coordination between civil and military air traffic, ensuring clear communication and adherence to designated flight corridors.
Airlines and regulatory bodies cannot afford complacency—lives depend on proactive safety measures, not reactive investigations. The future of air travel must be built on a foundation of zero tolerance for preventable disasters.
Gopalaswamy J, Chennai
Flying high
through Udan
About a decade and a half ago, airport connectivity was unsatisfactory to say the least, and Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities' people felt they were left in the lurch by the authorities. But domestic airliners, mainly private players with high ambitions, changed all that by doling out tickets at throwaway prices.
Though many cities were connected by the private domestic airliners, tier-3 cities still had a long way to go. The "Economic Survey 2024--25" tabled in parliament has said that 619 new air routes and 88 additional airports were connected through the Centre's "Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme, also called the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS), that saw the light of day in 2016 with a whopping 45,000 million budgetary provision for a period of 10 years.
Aimed at providing fillip to 425 unserved and underserved airports by targeting 1000 routes, it was broadly formulated with a 80:20 ratio of Centre: State funding, to ensure a 90:10 share of Centre: NE States/ Union territories.
The VGF essentially plans to make the routes financially viable by lowering the cost of flight operations so that the regional airports need not burn a hole in their pockets. The project is bound to arm smaller cities with the vital element of 'inclusiveness'.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola