The number of vehicles on the roads in the state is increasing by leaps and bounds. This is creating tremendous pressure on the roads which often leads to traffic jams. One of the reasons for the same is the narrow roads existing in the state. It must be said that most of the roads have been built during the Portuguese regime when there were fewer vehicles on the roads and hence there were no traffic jams then. But now these roads have become so congested that traffic jams have become the order of the day. One way to tackle this problem is to increase the breadth of the existing roads wherever possible. Broadening of the roads may not be possible in places where private properties exist on both sides of the roads. But then, in the towns it is seen that the traffic islands and the gardens which separate two roads are unnecessarily very broad.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
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Ban Sri Ram Sene
I welcome the decision of Manohar Parrikar to ban entry of Pramod Muthalik and activities of Sri Ram Sene in Goa. The government should take a serious view of Muthalik and Sri Ram Sene’s challenge to the government and should condemn Muthalik’s statements challenging that ‘no one’ can stop him from coming to Goa. The Chief Minister should identify the Ram Sene activities and their membership in Goa and the functioning of their office in Goa should be under serious scrutiny. The Chief Minister should put an end to Ram Sene’s Goa dream in order to safeguard the communal harmony of the state so that our peace is not disturbed and people are not divided on religious lines.
Victor Gonsalves, ex.MLA, Santa Cruz
Calm down unrest
The last three months have been a trying time to all the religious minority people living in India. We have been seeing sparks of communal hatred flying all around us. It only needs a little bit of fuel to ignite and turn into mass inferno. The force-feeding of a Muslim worker by an MP of Maharashtra during Ramadan, recent comments by some MLAs of state of turning India into Hindu rashtra, and that all Indians are called Hindus is enough to send shivers down the spine of all the non Hindu minorities of our country. In such times it would be wise to hold and organize inter faith religious meetings or conferences of the leaders of all the different religion to come together to ensure safety and wellbeing of each other’s religions so that all may leave in peace and harmony and calm down the social unrest created by politicians and some radical organizations.
Valent Mascarenhas, Calangute
Proper roads first
Helmet virus has come again. First of all two wheeler riders were reluctant to wear helmets and now comes the pillion rider? This is all because our director and the minister want money from the dealers of helmet.
The people of Goa must come on the street. Let them have a look at the state of roads and the confusion created at the junctions. No policemen to man the traffic. People drive on both sides of the road while youngsters drive at high speeds. First put an end to all of this and then go for helmets.
Bosco Vaz, Mapusa
Amit Shah of Goa
It was very interesting to read your articles dt. August 31 on Satish Dhond titled “The Amit Shah of Goa”.
The character and career graph of leaders like Amit Shah and Satish Dhond show the real image of political parties like the BJP which promote goons like Amit Shah and Satish Dhond to wash their dirty linen.
Matias Lobo, Oman
Speed breakers required
The Helmet rule is for the safety of two wheeler riders but at the same time the government must also ensure safety of all residents and commuters by installing ‘concave mirrors’ and speed breakers where necessary by taking local residents into confidence . Now with the widening of roads in our village especially the road from Saligao leading towards Nagoa, Arpora and Anjuna will be very dangerous in time to come as it is already accident prone especially at the entrance of Grande-Morod. Once this road is complete tourist vehicles will travel at very high speeds putting life and property at risk.
Allwyn N D’Souza, Saligao
Monsoon flooding
The flooding of many areas of Goa during the last few days raises many questions. During yesteryears Goa hardly experienced floods except maybe in low lying areas like Bicholim, Sanquelim even when it rained continuously for 7 or 8 days. The reason for this is not difficult to fathom. Indiscriminate filling of low lying areas and uncontrolled construction activity are the primary reasons.
When the natural flow of water is obstructed, the obvious happens. General public refraining from dumping plastic and garbage into drains and nullahs is not enough. There should be a check on land filling and indiscriminate construction.
Lucas D’Souza, Qatar/Verna
