Eco Cardiologist par excellence
Dr Francisco Colaco who turned 80 on December 11, 2023, besides being a renowned Cardiologist has been endowed with a multifaceted personality, wearing many hats to his illustrious career.
Running his clinic adjacent to the Holy Spirit Church, he has rendered yeomen service to the people of Margao and beyond with his expertise as an Interventional Eco-Cardiologist.
Coming from an affluent family, he renders his practice without the lure for monetary gains as many a times he foregoes charging his patients on humanitarian grounds.
As a versatile and all inclusive personality, Dr Francisco also has to his credit musical albumns sung in Portuguese, Konkani and English languages which are
periodically relayed on our local TV channels.
As an ardent music fan, he used to be a regular at Furtados weekend musical extravaganza where local artistes used to jam up. He has a number of achievements and contributions to his fame.
To name a few, he was felicitated by MIMA-CME in recognition as a most outstanding doctor and a recipient of award from TAME for his outstanding contribution to the popular Goan folk dance ‘Mando’.
Realising his huge legion of admirers and followers, the political class of his constituency tried to cash in on his popularity by getting him involved in local affairs, but he stood by the ethics of his profession as politics was not his calling. We wish our dear doctor many more fruitful years and look forward to his inspired ideology.
Everette Assis Telles, Margao
Need to firmly tackle garbage issues at fairs
It is observed that when a feast, festival or fair comes up, huge mounds of waste, more particularly plastic is left behind. As a result, besides presenting an ugly sight, it is the locals who have to suffer.
This is the case at the Old Goa feast, the Vasco Saptah, the Margao feast or for that matter any festival which attracts a fair. The authorities concerned need to come with a lasting solution to this waxing problem.
The call to fight plastic pollution seems to be falling on deaf ears. Probably one way of tackling this issue is to make it mandatory for each and every stall that comes up at a fair to install a garbage bin by the side. The civic body or the village panchayat could arrange to provide these bins on rental basis, which are returnable, to the stall owners at the time of issuing the necessary license.
The stall owner should see to it that all dry and plastic waste, is deposited in these bins. They should be penalised if waste is seen anywhere near the stall. The waste from these bins needs to be collected by the garbage truck every morning for which a fixed fee should be imposed on the stall owners. Waste management needs to be of prime concern at any fair.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Of botched probes and dismal convictions
The disposal of criminal cases by police and courts paint a very dismal picture on the rate of conviction which are indicative of either faulty investigations, lack of knowledge of law and faulty evidence-gathering mechanisms and smarter defence lawyers. The police must take initiatives such as conducting sessions to improve knowledge of law for the Investigating Officers (IOs) so that the cases prepared by the prosecution stand in the court of law. In most cases where the prosecution fails, it’s lack of evidence which is cited in judgements as the cause. The police need to improve their crime detection methods in order to improve conviction rates. In past, the Supreme Court recommended the separation of law and order from investigative duties. However, it has not been implemented across India. This lack of separation impacts the effectiveness of investigation proceedings.
K G Vilop, Chorao
Goa losing out on foreign tourists
Tourism in Goa has bounced back to a large extent post Covid but foreign visitors are giving the State the go by preferring destinations like Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Bali, Turkey and Malaysia.
Foreign arrivals have seen a steep decline of 82% in 2022 compared to 2018. Goa got on the tourism map on account of the European hippies on the Nirvana trail in the early 70s and has been going great guns since then.
But the tables have turned now with neighbouring countries offering visa free entry, subsidised public transportation, cheaper hotel rooms and a well-oiled tourist infrastructure becoming more attractive. With the delay in e-visa rollout by India for British nationals, the Ukraine – Russia conflict and Gaza hostilities people are hesitant to move out of their countries which is not helping Goa’s case.
Resumption of charter flights from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan has to some extent alleviated the issue but it is just a drop in the ocean. Before Covid, Goa had 5 charter flights a day from Russia itself but that has become a distant memory.
Almost 40% of Goa’s population directly or indirectly depends on tourism for their livelihood and things are looking bleak at the moment. It is time to tweak the tourism policy and take a more holistic view focusing more on domestic visitors.
With higher disposable incomes and their YOLO (you only live once) attitude, young and middle aged Indians are travelling and spending more and maybe the government should actively woo the millennials and generation Z to make up for the loss of foreign tourists. It is the time to look within rather than without, time for Atmanirbharta in tourism so to speak.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
