Withdraw cases against protesters
In a major blow to former RSS Goa chief Subhash Velingkar, the District Sessions Court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea on Monday. The court directed him to comply with the notices issued by the police and cooperate with the investigation.
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Goans asserted that justice has prevailed and felt vindicated by the court’s decision. Hopefully, this will put an end to the chaotic scenes witnessed in the State and life will come back to normal.
However, this trouble could have been avoided if the police acted promptly in registering an FIR against Velingkar, which would have prevented Goans from coming out on the roads and blocking the traffic.
In fact, the police could have registered the FIR suo motu even before the complaints were filed, given the sensitive nature of the comment made.
However, it took the police four days to register the FIR at Bicholim Police Station. On the contrary, it probably took less than a day for the Fatorda Police to register an offence against 500 protesters for blocking the roads. The government needs to withdraw all the cases registered against the 500 protesters in the Velingkar row. These protesters should not be harassed by the authorities as it was a spontaneous disapproval by thousands of Goans of the comments made against their beloved St Francis Xavier.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Goa has more important issues to tackle
Whether or not, the decision or incident around the demand to do a DNA test on the relics of St Francis Xavier was a way to distract from far more pressing issues, the fact is that the communal pot is being needlessly stirred in a State that has enjoyed communal harmony since its accession to the Indian union nearly 70 years ago.
The timing of this demand, and the alleged revival of what was an earlier issue concerning the Buddhist monk of Sri Lankan origin is also interesting. Goa has far more important issues to tackle right away, if not on a war footing. The declining returns from tourism and the destruction of the greenery only means that quality tourists will not make this State a priority going forward. Also, high joblessness is another problem. For now, Goa moves from one issue/protest, etc, to another with the real issues being swept underneath the carpet. Goa deserves much better from the government of the day, not hollow claims of development.
Brian de Souza,
Margao
Antarctica’s ice landscape turning green
Images of some regions of Antarctica’s ice landscape turning green definitely rings as an alarm bell to the whole globe and gives a grim message, alerting mankind to watch where we are heading to.
This dramatic transformation, with its icy landscape increasingly turning green, reveals that the rate of this change has accelerated by over 30 per cent in recent years.
Scientists and environmentalists say that this ‘greening’ of the Antarctic Peninsula highlights the urgent consequences of a warming period and the tenfold rise underscores the significant impact of climate change. A study made between 1986 and 2021 by researchers has revealed that an increase in the vegetation cover across the Antarctic Peninsula has soared from less than a square kilometre to nearly 12 square kilometres within a period of 35 years, which according to the global clock, is a short period.
As writer Journalist Tishani Doshi in her popular travelogue to the Antarctic stated how little changes in the environment can have big repercussions this dramatic change is not good for the blue planet’s future. Global players, heads and the whole of the global community must come together and chalk out urgent measures to check this because if this is kept unchecked and ignored, it will only end up in disaster resulting in an apocalypse.
M Pradyu, Kannur
Bihar’s illicit
liquor deaths
According to a Bihar government official, there were ‘160 illicit liquor deaths in the State’ since April 2016 – the year prohibition was imposed by the Nitish Kumar government.
However, going by the number provided by the same officer, there were ‘156 confirmed hooch deaths and 266 suspected hooch deaths’ in the same period in the State. People will, obviously, not fall for the ‘official figure’ as Bihar has reported deaths in plenty due to illicit and spurious liquor even after prohibition that was set-in eight years ago because many liquor-related deaths have gone unreported. Only a few are highlighted and the rest are swept under the carpet.
Saran, Gaya, Bhojpur, Muzaffarpur, Buxar and Gopalganj districts are known for liquor-related deaths, but nothing precious has been done to reverse the trend in these places.
An official has talked about ‘drones’ being deployed in certain districts to identify the culprits, but it is common knowledge that before a liquor-related tragedy strikes, the authorities are mere onlookers despite being fully aware about the illegal preparation and sale. It does not require a soothsayer to catch and book illicit liquor vendors.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Tomato prices cross century mark
Tomato hitting the headlines certainly leaves a bitter taste on festive plates, which is cause for great concern. The retail price of vegetables in recent times has seen a steep rise in many cities and the price of tomatoes crossing Rs 100 a kg is worrying. The Department of Co-operation, Food and Consumer Protection of the government needs to make a conscious call to source the same to ease out supplies else the tomatoes, as one of the essential ingredients, will impact the public.
While the onions touched Rs 80 per kg have brought tears to people, the potatoes are closely in the race. The adverse weather conditions in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra with high humidity attributes to be the reason and one hopes that the rain god will bring normalcy soon. Tomatoes, onions and potatoes are a rich man’s cherish and for the poor, these three are their paradise. Tomato hitting a ton often can’t be relished even by Tendulkar for crossing his own records.
A P Thiruvadi, Chennai
