SIC working during pandemic?
Though the Government offices have resumed functioning to its full capacity, the very vital State Information Commission after remaining closed in May has now decided to resume hearing matters only in July. The Chief Information Commissioner and the State Information Commissioner carry a very handsome monthly salary besides other perks. So is it not an unnecessary financial burden on the taxpayers to keep the Information Commission virtually dysfunctional citing pandemic as the reason.
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The pandemic is here to stay at least for a while and we have to learn to live with it while all government authorities need to function with all the required precautionary and safety measures in place. The new Goa Lokayukta has assumed office but has become a white elephant having been rendered toothless and powerless after the amendments brought to the Lokayukta Act in January this year. After Justice P K Misra retired on September 17 last year the post had been vacant, so the relevant file notings if made public would reveal whether the government acted diligently to find a new Lokayukta and also as to how suddenly the name of Aurangabad based Justice Ambadas Joshi surfaced for consideration. The file notings if placed in public domain would also indicate the reasons why the government made the various amendments to the Lokayukta Act rendering the post a mere farcical one.
The Vigilance department which is the nodal office for the Institution of Lokayukta cannot keep all these crucial documents under a cloak of secrecy as it would amount to mischievously scuttling the very intent of the RTI Act which was enacted for Transparency and Accountability in Governance.
The all important Institution of Lokayukta and the State Information Commission are bodies constituted by law with specific and a clear mandate. A lot of public money is spent in running these authorities constituted to deliver justice to the citizens and bring to book the wrong doers. So they have to function in letter and spirit fulfilling the objective for which they are constituted.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Goa’s national image!
What kind of person would deny the very people who elected him to legislate over them the benefit of reduced GST on medicines for Covid treatment, demanded by other States?
The present Government time and again shows it is for the Centre and therefore the businessmen: not for the people. They only speak away problems and declare that: double tracking and coal handling is required and the citizens must just accept the same, oxygen is not a shortage, deaths are because patients come to hospitals late, etc. This has become such a habit that as in the GST meeting case, they assumed they could just say: ‘I want’ and all would listen. There was just the repetitive ‘statement’: no case made for the same.
Goans are perceived as just capable of ‘rolling out the red carpet’: IFFI, ISL, BRICS: all held by ‘hiring’ out Goa as a venue. The way tourists were allowed by such representatives to put Goa to the guillotine is further proof of this.
In the Lok Sabha, the North Goa MP did not demand the oxygen generator sanctioned under the PM Cares fund nor to supply oxygen through tankers.
The South Goa MP, a ‘mature and seasoned’ winning one, is so silent in the Lok Sabha! It is now very clear that being a people’s representative requires much more than on display by the 42 ‘peoples’ representatives. The pandemic has shown that the 42 posts require men of calibre, not witnessed to date: not those who can merely buy votes and cultivate vote banks or make noise.
R Fernandes, Margao
Central Vista, a false narrative
I recall long back the Supreme Court (SC) reportedly staying the construction and the government said OK but gave permission only to lay foundation stone. Immediately, this was propagated as SC okayed project. Thereafter I perused many debates on media with eminent architects and respected citizens complaining of no consultations or information made public and the Opposition also not aware of any details.
Now this is declared as an urgent project vital and essential in National interest with hectic work going on! For a national project there has been no national consultation and discussion with not much transparency. Therefore with no clarity in public domain, the false narrative of PMs bungalow, etc, are leaks and investigative journalism and it is people’s right to know! A fait accompli in full swing during a pandemic, some details of the ongoing project are being released and reporters may be permitted to view site to downplay the “false narratives” in public domain.
The Delhi High Court has fined petitioners Rs one lakh in a PIL to stop the project due to pandemic priorities as “motivated plea” dismissing it. Nobody can fault the government on grounds of religion and national pride.
John Eric Gomes, Porvorim
Vaccination priorities
The vaccination of frontline workers in Medicare is the foremost priority of the government. The agricultural season is about to begin and vaccination of field workers is the next priority. Those with Kisan Cards registered prior to January 2021 can be inoculated free of cost. Unemployed citizens can also be inoculated free of cost provided they are registered with the Exchange prior to January 2021.
Thereafter the government’s duty is towards tax payers. It is off season for the Hotel, Fishing, Mining, Tourism and Shipping industries. Hotels which have signed up to offer their premises for self-isolation, however, can be allowed to have their staff vaccinated. As stated by the government pharmacy and pharmaceutical employees can be vaccinated on priority basis at private hospitals on CTC basis. Shipping employees can be vaccinated on priority provided there is a central government notification to the effect. Frontline workers would be identifiable as those on cargo ships and holders of an Indian CDC. As stated earlier the priority of the government is towards taxpayers.
Vinay Rodrigues, Margao
Tobacco cess for Covid control
On the occasion of ‘World No Tobacco Day’ many public health focused civil society groups have urged the government to increase the compensation cess on all tobacco and tobacco related products. Additional revenue thus generated could be used towards defraying the increased expenditure on medical infrastructure and amplifying the government’s efforts to provide succour to the needy.
A part of this kitty could also go towards the states to compensate for their GST revenue shortfall owing to the ongoing pandemic. Enhanced sin tax on such intrinsically harmful products should be an effective financial policy measure for the future also, this would have the added benefit of lowering the incidence of diseases such as lung cancer, emphysema, cirrhosis, etc. and a consequent decrease in healthcare burden.
It is a win win situation for both the sarkar and the common man as the state has to generate substantial revenue to recover from the Covid induced economic shock.
It is pertinent to note that we have already lost three-lakh lives to the virus, tobacco is a slow moving pandemic in itself claiming 13 lacs lives annually. Research throws up growing evidence that smoking and drinking up your risk of getting severe Covid related infections, there is a case here for banning cigarettes and beedis to begin with.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
