Speed up road repairs
Every day we read the news in the newspaper about the unending digging of the roads for the laying of cables. These roads are not filled up properly with mud neither watered daily.
The haphazard work has given rise to clouds of dust as motorists commute along these roads constantly.
Also is it observed that some potholes along the the stretch of road from Mopkar Pharmacy upto St Jerome’s Church are yet to be patched up with tar .
According to news reports appearing in newspapers some days ago stated that the weather will be sultry for three months. Sometimes we experience sudden downpour which can have adverse effect on the present state of roads.
Hope the contractors will speed up the work before any accidents or fatalities occur.
Aureo Cunha Gomes, Mapusa
Stop wastage of exchequer funds
The public funds are wasted on housing offices of government/corporations/federations, etc, in private buildings on paying exorbitant rent. The Matanhy Complex was constructed with a view to bring all the government offices scattered over the city, under one roof for the convenience of the public.
Unfortunately, the same is still a distant dream and many offices still continue to operate from rented premises, water supply offices function all over the city and up the hill force the public to undergo hardship to reach there to address their grievances. The ground floor of this particuplar complex is used for public-related offices and other floors with huge space house the office of the Deptuy Collectors, which remain underutilised. The old Mamlatdar building in the heart of city remains neglected except for housing few unimportant offices and keeping the entire first floor operative for election purposes which is improper.
The offices of government-run corporations/federation/Sahakar Bhandars are operated from rented places when there is enough accommodation in government buildings. There is no proper management or rather no one is bothered to make best use of the available space and opt for rented premises thereby wasting public funds. The audit is supposed to detect such lacunas, but this aspect is overlooked. This causes suspicion in the minds of the public to believe the nexus with private owners. Hope the authorities will wake up and end the drain of exchequer funds.
Bhalchandra V S Priolkar, Margao
Dead tree will serve as ‘memorial’
After a haphazard removal process that has nearly damaged the iconic banyan tree at St Inez and saw its branches casually chopped, the authorities reportedly conducted yet another late night operation to relocate the 200-year-old tree from its replanted spot to a new spot just 25 metres away. What will be achieved by shifting it just 25 metres away is anyone’s guess.
With so much damage done to its roots and branches, the survival of the grand old tree seems extremely remote. As the tree matures prop roots emerge from the branches to give it additional support. They enter soil and bear adventitious roots for fixing once they reach the ground. In the present instance the iconic banyan tree is devoid of prop roots.
Relocation of trees is not a simple task. It requires the service of tree experts. According to experts, transplanting any tree with a trunk girth of more than 80-90 cm is not advisable as the tree cannot bear the shock, and will eventually die. That effectively means that big, old trees cannot, in most cases, be removed to another location. The dead banyan tree will serve as a ‘memorial’ to the countless trees that have been butchered across the State. A mute testimony of man’s insensitive heart. Befittingly, the ‘memorial’ is in the capital city.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Prevent youth from committing suicides
It is really painful to note that youth suicides in India have been on a gradual increase. Such a grim scenario can be attributed to lack of economic, social and emotional resources. More specifically, academic pressure, stress at workplaces, social pressures, modernisation of urban centres, relationship concerns and breakdown of support systems contribute to suicides and suicide attempts by Indian youth.
As young Indians become more progressive, their traditionalist households become less supportive of their choices pertaining to financial independence, marriage age, premarital sex, rehabilitation and taking care of the elderly persons. There are several organisations, crisis centres and suicide prevention helplines that offer a great deal of support to the emotionally distressed and those individuals who take the extreme step of ending lives on their own. It is time to increase awareness about suicidal behaviour and know how to effectively prevent it.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
What politics is this?
Political Science teaches us all about good governance and the three forms of major governments: 1. Dictatorship, 2. Democracy and 3. The Federal government (President). Our founding fathers of our country were educated, intelligent and with a perception for a good government. Soon after Independence they chose democracy, people’s government to be in power and put in place a Constitution with privileges for every citizen to live an honourable life. Rightly so, since then for 75 years from 1947 till 2014 India was progressing and developing gracefully from the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh and then suddenly there was a change in governance bringing disgrace to our country, if one can say today.
We are now back at the Lok Sabha election, shortly, and two Congress candidates have been announced for South and North Goa districts. What is surprising to note is that some politicians are seen visiting religious places offering prayers and garlands with media publicity. Others indulge in slander politics criticising their opponents on various issues and the rest speak out of point without reasoning.
Other than State politics, in national politics what we, voters, want to hear is how the country will be taken forward in progressive measures to keep the people happy with education, employment, inclusiveness and development beneficial to all without destruction of nature and environment. Politicians don’t talk on these issues but on divide and rule causing more destruction and violence and bringing misery to our living.
With two new faces this time in Goa, much is expected from them to forward Goa’s interests to solve many of our outstanding problems lest we be back to our slumber with politicians talking their language and not ours, people’s interests. What politics is this?
Ayres Sequeira, Salvador do Mundo
