After Parrikar resigned as chief minister there was a vaccum created and every body was eager to know who was going to be the next chief minister and there were three names doing the rounds, Frasncis D’souza, Laximikant Parsekar, Rajendra Arlekar, as it was made clear by Dy Chief minister that he would not be part of the government if Arlekar was given the CM post as he was a junior to him and hence the hat went to Parsekar who was elected unanimously. As Francis a did not have the numbers to garner support for his candidature as the next CM and I feel if he had the numbers the RSS would have blocked the move as they want all the Chief Minister’s in India with RSS background to promote their hidden agenda.
The swearing in ceremony where 8 ministers took oath there was no representation to the minority community of South Goa and I don’t think there will be in the further expansion in the ruling dispensation and to further rub salt in the wounds of the Goa electorate, 8 out of the 10 ministers took oath in Marathi, which was a betrayal to the mother tongue by the ruling dispensation and I agree to with MLA VIjai Sardessis comment that the BJP has abandoned Salcette mission and embarked on the ZALACH PAHIJE agenda which was rejected by Goans at the time of historic opinion poll and credit goes to the people of Salcette otherwise we would have been a district of Maharashtra State.
Diomedes Pereira, Corlim
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Stray dogs at Old Goa
A frenzy of activity is taking place at Old Goa as it gets a facelift and the various infrastructures are being readied for the 17th exposition of the sacred relics of St. Francis Xavier which is fast approaching. One aspect that the authorities need to look into is the stray dog menace which is quite evident around the various churches, especially outside the Basilica of Bom Jesus.
Right from early morning these stray dogs are seen loitering on the lawns and some even enter the Basilica while the mass is going on and the volunteers are forced to drive them out. In the coming days the stray dogs will only increase in number as during the fair, there will be a lot of wasted food and eatables that will be available for these dogs to feed on.
There could also be rabid dogs among them. Lakhs of devotees will be visiting Old Goa in the next month and there should not be any incidents of dog-bites taking place here. The authorities concerned should see to it that these stray dogs are trapped and taken to the dog-shelters well before the novenas for the feast of St. Francis Xavier commences. The entire area surrounding the churches should be made completely free of stray dogs so that the people do not fall prey to dog bites.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Yoga Minister
The cabinet expansion of the Modi Govt. has highlighted the elevation of the Goa CM to the post of Defence Minister but hardly anyone noticed that the Union Minister of State for Tourism Shripad Naik was shifted from the Tourism portfolio to a new ministry called Aayush also known as Yoga Ministry.
Although Naik tried his best to sound enthusiastic about the new ministry, he found it difficult to explain why he was entrusted with the same and said that maybe because he likes Yoga. So maybe Modi used the same logic and made Parrikar the Defence Minister because he liked to defend all his ministers!
Matias Lobo, Oman
Safe education strategy
Recently the AMU (Aligarh Muslim University) has curbed the entry of under graduate girls in the library. Several futile objections have ensued on the pretext of segregating the girls and deeming them inferior in such a secular country. In such a repressed society, on one hand we want our women to be safe and sound. While on the other hand we are aversive to such approaches. This rule only aims at discouraging despicable vices between the two sexes.
Farheen Arfaz, Navelim
BJP Deputy CM
The fact that Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza was not naturally given the Chief Minister’s role by the BJP, does raise some eyebrows and some serious concerns.
So was it just a cosmetic role given to him earlier by BJP, so as to give a false perception to the Goan electorate?
Arwin Mesquita, Colva
