Increase policing to control road accidents
Of late there has been an alarming rise in road accidents in Goa, and the latest one occurred Banastarim bridge on Sunday. It appears that the powers that be are indifferent to these happenings. An effective policing of roads is the answer to it. Of course, driving of vehicles should be effected in a responsible manner. Since this is not the case, policing should be very strict. If required more policeman should be recruited for the purpose. This is a serious issue. Elected representatives should take note of it.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Garcilio Falcao, Navelim
Restrict liquor licences
As per government records around 1500 liquor licenses have been issued in Goa since April 2020. This, works out to an average of more than 1 per day. A tiny state such as Goa has 10,500 locations that retail liquor which includes bars, shacks and supermarkets. As per law a non resident Goan can’t be issued a license unless he/ she has been a resident of the state for 25 years but many native Goans who have been granted a permit for alcohol trade, illegally lease it out to people from other states for a hefty fee. Almost 30% of alcohol outlets are now run by non Goans. The excise department is either not bothered or looks the other way for a ‘consideration’. Why does Goa need so many liquor outlets? Many Indian tourists carry beer/whisky bottles to the beach and create a royal nuisance. Alcohol fuelled tourism has contributed to Goa’s image as a ‘sab kuch chalta hai’ state and attracts mostly low-end visitors who enjoy cheap booze. While no one is asking for liquor outlets to be shut down, the government should now restrict licenses since the state is saturated with such joints.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Good ole typewriters
This has reference to the article ‘Ensuring a legacy live on, one typewriter at a time’ (O Heraldo August 7, 2023).
Reading your news report with Adolfo Carvalho at the typewriter, takes me back around 45 years when I first started using the typewriter. That was the age when nobody even dreamt that a technological revolution would one day wipe out all these forms of print, communication, music, photography, etc.
What is a typewriter, today’s children may like to know. It is like a mother who first taught you your ABC. Learning the typewriter must have definitely helped us seniors to adapt to the computer keyboards later. Modern technology will continue to change the way we live. In the meanwhile however, Adolfo is perhaps the only man who is carrying on the legacy of his father, continuing the typewriter business. Kudos to this man as he strives to preserve the typewriter legacy and offer his services.
Melville X D’Souza, Mumbai
The catastrophe of Hiroshima & Nagasaki
August 1945 will ever be remembered as one of the most dramatic months in mankind’s history, when nuclear weapons were used in warfare for the first time. Known as ‘Little Boy’ and ‘Fat Man’, the two US atomic bombs completely destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9 respectively. The massive blasts that wreaked havoc on these two small, yet beautiful cities of Japan, changed the way war is waged and heralded the dawning of the ‘nuclear age.’ While the exact number of deaths from the bombings of these two cities are still not known, or perhaps will never be, as per World Nuclear Organization at least over two lakh civilians had died from the immediate blasts or from the effects of radiation. Times rolled by, both Hiroshima and Nagasaki have flourished in many ways. Though the two cities preserve and portray glimpses of destruction, they don’t have the traces of tragic victims of the atomic bombs anymore. These two cities are an open book about a revived Japan – an example of rising from the ashes while embracing history.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
Bank passbooks needs to have more pages
It is learnt that after nearly a year of repeated representations and petitions by various bank employee unions, five-day working week is reportedly closer to becoming a reality. With more than 80% of banking transactions including opening of accounts being done digitally, the banking sector is of the view that the need for six-day banking isn’t very compelling.
Digital transactions have become the order of the day. When the customer updates the passbook, all these digital transactions, no matter how small, will appear on the bank passbook. Hence the passbook gets filled with entries in no time. As a result of this the customer could end up with several passbooks. It would hence be in the fitness of things for the banks add more pages to the passbook or an alternative arrangement made to address this issue.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Intelligent & skilled workforce is migrating
It is very sad to see young skilled workers and unskilled and intelligent brains migrating to other states and foreign countries respectively due to lack of sufficient jobs. They have no option left for getting gainful employment inspite of being educated. Some intelligent brains who are selected by the foreign companies at campus interviews surrender their Indian passports for lucrative high paid jobs and greener pastures.
The onus is on the State and Central governments who has failed to provide jobs to people so one has to go abroad in search of greener pastures. As a citizen of India what can we contribute to the country? May be, only the stairway to heaven will liberate the people of the country from their sufferings as the salary they get is hard to make ends meet.
Diomedes Pereira, Corlim
Tomato farmers hit the jackpot
Some tomato farmers have seen their lives alter dramatically because of the surge in prices of tomatoes. The humble fruit retails at over Rs 100 per kg and continues to skyrocket. The unexpected rains that destroyed vast swathes of tomato crops have caused prices to skyrocket but have come as a boon for the few lucky farmers with healthy produce. The scarcity of tomatoes has resulted in some growers hitting the jackpot, making others take an interest in cultivating the kitchen staple for profit. However, they need to be wary that an increase in yields could lead to a price crash.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
History repeats itself
History repeat itself and as expected former Pakistan PM and PTI chairman Imran Khan has been found guilty of ‘corrupt practices’, disqualified from holding any public office, fined monetarily and sentenced to jail for three years. The unexpected development came as Pakistan is heading for the general elections later this month. Khan now joins the list of former PMs who met a similar fate. With the army at the helm of power in most of the policy matters including foreign affairs of the country, the unstable civilian government in Pakistan is in a state of confusion in administering the country. This has given upper hand to the state as well as the non-state actors to run their terrorist activities.
Unlike his predecessors, Khan refused to bow to the military diktat and challenged the military leadership boldly ever since he lost majority in the National Assembly last year. Facing the worst economic crisis, Pakistan is again becoming a hotbed of terror activities as shown by terror strikes carried out by terrorist outfits like TTP and ISIS. Nonetheless, with or without Imran, the country will remain in deep crisis.
Gregory Fernandes, Mumbai
