Recycling of coconut waste
Large quantity of coconut waste including husk and coconut shells being generated in Goa. This is giving sleepless nights for waste handlers on how to dispose it off. Health officials too have raised concern over the unsafe disposal of coconut shells since they can become breeding ground for several vector-borne diseases. Indiscriminate disposal of coconut husk and shells also contributes to drainage obstruction, flooding, and even fire outbreaks. However coconut waste can be recycled. The husk of the coconut is used to make coir from which a variety of other products such as carpets, mats, ropes, and brushes are made. Coconut husk is used as a planting medium that helps the plant retain moisture and resists fungal growth. Coconut shells have been used to make bowls or serving-spoons by cutting, smoothening and carving the coconut shells. The products made of coconut are bowls, vases, teapots, ice-cream cups, pen stands, lampshades, etc. The government needs to encourage small scale industries engaged in recycling coconut waste.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Unregulated parking by flouting norms
Unregulated parking of vehicles at 18th June Road by flouting all norms is causing traffic congestion in Panjim. This road is one of the worst streets for traffic chaos. Adding to the woes is lack of enforcement of rules. The haphazard car parking also reduces the width of the motorable road leading to traffic snarls. Even footpaths meant for pedestrians are used for parking. One can see that vehicles parked on both sides can lead to chaos due to awkward parking. The lack of consistent enforcement is encouraging violations. The parking attendants are seen just collecting parking fees and have no control over people parking their vehicles. Even the pay parking has not helped in improving the traffic flow on the stretches. The stretch from Pharmacy College upto Church circle has become painful to drive due to parking in an unregulated manner. The vehicles parked outside the establishments have become bottlenecks for the smooth flow of traffic.
K G Vilop, Chorao
New currency notes get soiled quickly
The old currency notes though little bigger in size lasted longer. The present currency notes get soiled and wear out soon, especially the ten rupees and one hundred rupees notes.
Firstly, the banks should not mix soiled notes with the good ones while giving cash to the public since soiled notes are not accepted in the market. Secondly, the banks are authorized to exchange soiled notes when brought to them by the public but some banks decline to exchange these notes on one pretext or the other even if they are not mutilated. It is true that some people handle the currency notes irresponsibly. They dirty them and scribble figures on them. But when the vendors and shopkeepers don’t accept such notes, the only option available to the people is to approach the banks to exchange them.
Rodney de Souza, Assagao
Save Govt Schools!
The children are always considered as the future of a particular country/state. But if the future of the children is not secured then how can they be a good human resource for the future society. Education is one of the important ingredient, wherein we can shape the personality of a child. It’s alarming to know about the dilapidated conditions of the government schools in various parts of Goa, due to which there is zero level admission. Obviously, those who can afford, have no issues as they admit their ward/children in private schools securing them for a bright future. Sadly, the question which arises here is about the poor children. Furthermore, if the government schools around Goa were kept in proper working conditions, by providing the necessary staff /teachers/proper maintenance of the school building, along with proper toilet facilities and quality education, then it would have been much easier for the poor children to get access to education which infact is one of the fundamental rights of every child. However, the ground reality is otherwise.
Due to lack of all these amenities, the admissions in government schools have come down to zero and several schools around Goa are getting shut down. What a pity! What will the poor children do? They are completely lost with no where to go. Proper infrastructure for the government schools can once again attract admission, provided the government take prompt action.
Joseph Savio Desouza, Candolim
Merchants of death
This has reference to the article ‘Roaring merchants of death’ by Kajal Chatterjee (O Herald July 31, 2023).
Kajal Chatterjee has touched upon a very important topic, the danger posed by vehicles over speeding. And bikers are the ones who top the list. Yes, these bikers have no qualms about over speeding, rash driving, driving without helmet and more importantly driving on the wrong side. They just pass you by as if you do not exist. As such the roads are their domain and we are treading onto their territory. This happens in cities such as Mumbai and I suppose, all across the country. Suddenly, in the middle of the night one will hear a loud roar of bikes zooming on the roads, disturbing the peace and posing a danger to late night pedestrians.
Needless to say, this issue needs to be taken up seriously especially, wrong side driving which takes pedestrians by surprise and get seriously injured in the bargain. Yes, the authorities need to wake up and put these merchants of death to sleep before these miscreants put many more citizens to sleep.
Melville X D’Souza, Mumbai
Goa’s pao bhaji was delicious
I write this letter to congratulate and thank O Heraldo for the excellent and informative article ‘Goa’s pao bhaji: a melting point of cultures’ (O Heraldo, 30 July 2023). I thank the writer of the article Prof. Dr. Sushila Sawant Mendes for such a wonderful and informative article. More well researched and trustworthy write-ups like these need to be written for younger generation of this state and the nation, so that they are fed with correct and true information rather than fabricated and poisonous history. Today we see that any Tom, Dick and Harry turns out to be a historian, specially at political gatherings, where they try to put out fabricated history to facilitate their political schemes.
These politicians use the past incidents from the history to destroy the present society. It’s a sad story to witness how then, the young minds gets brain washed and try to spread the venom into the otherwise peaceful- susegado Goan society. Recently there have been few instances where we have witnessed communal hatred being spread on the social media and through some odd incidents in Goa which we had not witnessed before. We Goans are peace loving and a united family of all religions- Hindus, Christians, Muslims and other faiths. We may have different political ideas and differences but it will never make us fight with each other over these differences. And more writeups like these will only help us Goans to understand our history, our culture, our religious views and traditions better and remain united forever.
Gustavo Stephen Godinho, Nagoa
