Price rise ‘killing’ common man
It is common knowledge that the prices of essential commodities go up when the cost of transportation increases which in turn increases the labour cost. This affects places like Goa more since they depend on huge amount of commodities from other States for the resident and floating population. The continuous rise in the prices of petrol to an all-time high of Rs 107 per litre has made life difficult for the common man.
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Several complaints of the people against high price of petrol and cooking gas have fallen on deaf ears. The reason for the price rise that it is due to increase in international crude oil prices and the rupee dollar exchange rate is not fully true.
A close look at the retail price of petrol reveals that the basic cost of petrol is Rs 40 only, dealers commission is Rs 4, excise duty Rs 33 and VAT Rs 30. Thus the central and State taxes amount to Rs 63 per litre which is 158 per cent of the basic cost of petrol.
The government should re-look at the taxation and pricing policy to relieve the people of the crushing burden of high cost of living.
Rodney de Souza, Assagao
Novenas of Ven Agnelo in physical mode
Just like the novenas and feast of St Francis Xavier at Old Goa, this year the novenas of Venerable Fr Agnelo at the Pilar hillock will also be in the physical mode. The 94th death anniversary of Venerable Agnelo de Souza will be commemorated between November 11 and 20. The novenas will be held between November 11 to 19 and the death anniversary will be celebrated on November 20.
Venerable Agnelo De Souza, a priest of the Archdiocese of Goa and Daman, is a saintly member of the Society of Pilar whose canonisation process is ongoing in Rome. This year the theme is ‘To experience the presence of Christ in our families: Venerable Agnelo a model’. Every year thousands of devotees throng the Pilar hillock on these days. In the past year due to the pandemic the novenas and the death anniversary masses were held in a virtual mode. Obviously the pandemic related protocol will have to be strictly adhered to this year. It would be in the fitness to allow 50% of the devotees to be present for the masses. Wearing of masks during the services and at all times while present in the church premises by the devotees need to be emphasised upon. There needs to be provision for sanitisation of the hands at the entrance of the pandal.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Projects: Take locals into confidence
Your editorial ‘There is no protest without a reason’ (Herald, November 3) was hard hitting. There is no doubt that several infrastructure projects have been held up due to protests, especially from environmentalists. One can understand the lamentation of the Transport & Highways minister, Nitin Gadkari in this regard. He has also rightly called for cooperation between environment activists, judiciary and the people in order to ensure that projects on the anvil go through smoothly.
In the first place however, the authorities need to think well before initiating such projects. In order to avoid projects getting stalled midway, the authorities ought to take the local people and the environment activists into confidence while initiating such projects. And of course, it is not just in Goa that projects have been stalled, this is the case in several other States in the country. In several cases, the authorities have been trying to bulldoze their way through.
The authorities need to understand that it is not without valid reason that projects are being stalled. They need to look at the interests of the people while undertaking such projects. Development is needed but at the cost of life itself.
Melville X D’Souza, Mumbai
Of netas and Narkasurs
Narkasur events in Goa are what Durga Puja pandals are to West Bengal but of late both these events have become a vehicle for netas to further their political agendas. In the good old days, children went from door to door collecting donations to put up the effigies but now MLAs and political aspirants approach village youth to fund building of the images. Narkasur competitions now are sponsored or organised by political outfits who manage to extract a lot of mileage from such quasi religious affairs. With several lakhs up for grabs, Narkasur, as a symbol of God’s syncretic culture has gone out of the window and instead has become the commercial means to a political end.
Traditionally the celebration of Krishna slaying the demon Narkasur has been very low key but with politicians pumping in money, rustic craft has been replaced by clinical professionalism in constructing the effigies. Our rich mythology and ancient history are no more highlighted, instead these platforms have morphed into a legal method of bribing the youth and self aggrandisement by our leaders. The subtext of course is luring prospective voters into the party fold at an early age. These demon exterminating competitions representing the victory of good over evil are nothing but a prelude to the bigger battle of the ballot next year.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Have road assets in Goa been monetised?
I refer to the report appearing on page 4 of the Herald dated October 30, 2021 mentioning about the Gati Shakti Master Plan. I believe Goa is too small to implement such master plans for creating massive multimodal logistic hubs. Such development concepts associated with land deals/land speculation and poor governance will completely destroy peaceful villages, livelihoods of local communities and heritage zones that defines the unique identity of Goa.
Can we allow Goa to become an urban slum? Earlier, there was an interesting front page report in the Herald dated August 24, 2021 on the Rs 6 lakh crore National Monetisation Pipeline. It is reported that the biggest chunk of Rs 1.6 lakh crore will come from monetising 26,700-km of existing operation national highways and new roads. Are the National Highways roads in Goa under Goa PWD or the National Highways Authority of India or any other hidden Project Authority? Have road assets in Goa been monetised? Is there a hidden monetisation process linked to National Highways road construction contractors and Mopa Airport Development Authority?
These questions need urgent answers since there are serious governance issues related to the National Highways (NH) upgrading projects in Goa. Please create awareness as soon as possible on the 29 in-principle declared NH projects in Goa.
Wesley Edward Pereira, Raia
Goan voters being misled by parties
Political parties like Congress, BJP, TMC, AAP are already campaigning full swing before the coming elections and are promising so many free things to Goans. There is a pending demand for the last 15 years for the provision of General Public Crematoriums in all the 12 Talukas of Goa. Ruling party BJP, Congress or any other political party has not bothered to fulfill the long pending demand of providing General Public Crematoriums. The estimated cost for the same is less than Rs 20 crores.
National Human Rights Commission, Panjim, Goa is also silent on this matter. They think Goans are fools and can be lured to vote for the promises they can never fulfill. Goans are being misled.
Vincent Vaz, Curtorim
