Goa is all set to kick off the four-day long ‘Goa State Film Festival’ scheduled from 2 April to 5 April, 2015. It is disheartening to see the act of hypocrisy yet again by the BJP led government towards Catholics by having this film festival during the ‘Holy Week’ of the Lent season. Is the government so ignorant and biased to fix the dates without following the calendar, or are the Catholics sidelined from the event?
Just imagine, the International Film Festival too is held just during the novenas of our patron St. Francis Xavier and now we have the Goa State Film Festival just starting on 2 April i.e. Maundy Thursday and slated to go upto 5 April i.e. Easter Sunday. So how will the Catholics be able to partake or enjoy the films during the days of penance and fasting? Besides the Chief Minister Parsekar, BJP MLAs and the Panjim Mayor, I could not see a single Catholic dignitary named in the news report although we have 14 Konkani feature films in line to be screened.
The latest craze of the Konkani film ‘Nachom-ia Kumpasar’ bagged 3 national awards. Did the concerned organizers of the film festival invite our own Goan Director of this film Mr. Bradroy Barretto or any other Catholic film producer or director, when we have them in plenty ? It looks like this Goa film festival is meant only for a particular community or a party where the Catholic community is not taken in confidence or deprived of good entertainment. Being a Catholic actor who acted in one of the films to be screened, I will miss the four-day festival, which otherwise I would have enjoyed if the same was prior to the Holy Week or after Easter. Anyway, our religion teaches us to forgive the wrong-doers for they do not know what they do.
Christopher Menezes, Divar
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Helmet rule
With the imposition of helmet rule, can any respective court be petitioned to instruct the Transport authority and allied offices to first ensure good motorable and cattle-free roads besides properly notified speed-breakers? Compulsory wearing of helmets may address the ‘effect’ aspect of accidents but the authorities first need to address the ’cause’ of accidents which are primarily bad roads, barely visible speed-breakers and stray cattle and chasing dogs. Wide roads must have dividers to ensure that motorists are on designated side of the road. Not unexpectedly, the government’s obsession with development is amply evident with its stated intention to thus use the Rs 100 cr. it will generate through increase in VAT on petrol.
Common sense, which in this case is most uncommon, demands that this amount be used to improve quality of roads and policing besides ensuring cattle free roads. After all it is the motorist who has to bear this hike and he would be expecting returns.
Bosco D’Souza, Verem
Parking violations
The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) which has independently begun penalizing parking violators in the city has helped in bringing down violations down considerably. It is understood that under the CCP Act 2002 the Corporation engaged a private contractor to carry out the drive against parking violations with fines for two wheelers fixed at Rs. 250, four-wheeler Rs. 400 and Rs. 600 for six-wheeler.
It must be said that in most of the other cities in the state the fine of Rs 100 for parking violations is too little and such violators do not mind paying it. An enhancement and a uniformity in the fine for parking violations throughout the state needs to be introduced. There cannot be different fines levied in different cities for the same traffic violation.
It is observed that in the Port Town of Vasco the authorities concerned carry out the task of impounding wrongly parked two-wheeler and loading them in the “Recovery Van” with the help of the Municipal workers. As there is insufficient police personnel to penalize parking violators, it would be in the fitness of things for the Municipalities in the other cities to follow in the footsteps of the CCP and take upon itself the task of penalizing and clamping vehicles of parking violators in their respective cities after proper amendment in the Municipal Act if need be. The civic bodies can engage private contractors to carry out the task. Such a step will go a long way in curbing violations of wrong parking in the main cities like Vasco, Margao, Mapusa and Ponda.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
