Planned cities need of hour
One would have thought that Panjim having been selected as Smart city under the Smart City Mission would have seen a real `smart’ kind of development being conceived and implemented at least partially. However, the recent monsoon has on the contrary exposed the capital city as prone to flooding and even the condition of roads being pretty abysmal.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Where has the precisely planned drainage system that the Portuguese regime constructed gone? Unplanned development of Panjim has rendered it unable to cope up with flooding and especially in the last two years when Panjim received 170 and 168 inches of rainfall respectively, the lack of infrastructure has been exposed and flooding unchecked.
Hardly any improvement has been observed. To salvage some pride, the GSIDC along with the local panchayat as well as the Archaeological Survey of India should devise and implement for the world heritage site of Old Goa as a pilot project, a plan to have an effective drainage system which will prevent flooding thus saving the world heritage monuments that are priceless Goan possessions that need conservation. Also a no development buffer zone should be demarcated around the holy city so that it deserves its world famous status.
With enough space, devising good infrastructure is still possible. This consideration should be given serious thought as Old Goa should not go the Panjim way.
Elvidio Miranda, Panjim
Make efforts in your backyard
It was amusing to read NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar’s very statement that the authorities in Goa were closely monitoring the COVID-19 crisis in Europe and across the world.
The ground reality is that the authorities have failed on all fronts in dealing with the pandemic. They have lost the plot and it has been mismanagement galore while the State which was not long ago in the Green Zone has today over 35000 confirmed cases while the death toll is inching to 500.
The Goa Government would be well advised that instead of day dreaming of monitoring the pandemic globally it should make serious efforts in our own now precarious backyard to save every possible life. Very genuine steps must be taken and it cannot be cosmetic action. It is high time that the ruling politicians realise that this raging epidemic is about rescuing every patient in distress and cannot be converted into an opportunity to enrich their pockets.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
The culprits should not be ignored
It’s noteworthy that it has been several times in India that real criminals have been given bail after a few years or at least if they have been given punishment but after years passed. The purpose of giving punishment is to frighten other people not to commit such mistakes, otherwise they will be given such punishment too. But India’s judicial system is such that the effects of punishment are not seen among public.
People think that there will be long discussion in the court and such the years will pass and people will forget, then we will be given bail and will not be any protest. Moreover, if they are given punishment so late, other people forget the matter and such punishment does not have any effect on public but it encourages criminals.
We have seen such things in several incidents such as in Nirbhaya’s case and Babri Masjid demolition case even they have been given clean chit. And people left protesting against it because the incident is so old that people forgot its effect. And its cruelty upon criminals too because if they pass away before the case is dismissed, so they will die with stigma upon themselves such as in Babri Masjid case that almost 17 criminals died with the stigma of demolishing Babri Masjid while they were innocent. So I appeal to the Supreme Court to give its verdict as soon as possible on Hatras incident. So that it can be an end of crime in India.
Shahin Ahmed, Mumbai
We shall never learn
It was distressing to see photos of 1500 applicants for a mere 85 posts at GMC, jostling to submit their CVs throwing all caution to the wind and with utter disregard for social distancing norms. The hospital itself is filled to the brim with Covid patients and the interviews could have been staggered at district level and at multiple locations during these times of pandemic. The health ministry doesn’t seem to have learnt its lessons from last year when there was a similar mad rush to merely collect application forms.
Given the spike in unemployment the government should have been alert to the fact that there would be an overwhelming response for the posts advertised and it should have made arrangements accordingly. Now that begs the question, why was a ‘WALK-IN’ interview conducted in the first place? Online submission of forms and shortlisting must have been done and only the most eligible candidates should have been called for in-person interviews on different dates.
I shudder to think how many of these candidates would have carried the virus back to their homes and would now be acting inadvertently as ‘super-spreaders’. We never learn, do we?
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Re-infection, a grim reality
Sending shockwaves across the medical fraternity and frontline workers and indeed the citizens in the State, it has been confirmed that two doctors at the Goa Medical College Hospital, Bambolim have been re-infected with the coronavirus four months after recovering from the first bout of infection. It is believed that though these are not the first known instances of re-infection in Goa, they are the first cases arising among the frontline workers.
Initially the impression was that a person once infected develops immunity. The grim reality is that this is not the case. It may be recalled that Mumbai reported its first case of coronavirus re-infection in a doctor at Sion Hospital. Research conducted by two Mumbai hospitals on four infected patients found that all had a more severe infection the second time.
It is understood that the first COVID-19 re-infection was reported in Hong Kong on August 24. More cases of re-infection were reported from Belgium, the Netherlands and the US.
Thankfully the Goa government is planning to put in place a post COVID-19 management system in all the primary health centres in the State to assess the re-infection of the virus. This is a step in the right direction as those who are re-infected after recovering could also spread the virus.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
INS Viraat a white elephant
The news that the Goa government plans to bring in a defunct relic of the Indian Navy to Goa to serve as a museum is outrageous. The state is reeling from debt and already has priceless ancient structures for the bracket of discerning tourists the historic ship might attract. The government is already invested in renovation of the Aguada jail as a museum.
A few days ago, the newspapers revealed that tar balls on our beaches are an ecological menace, the same had been attributed to ships docked in our waters. An aging vessel will undoubtedly contribute to this issue and others, that Goa has had to pay through the nose to mitigate.
The rejected Nu Shi Nalini which was shunted from Kochi port to Goa comes to mind. The naptha laden vessel broke free of its mooring and ended up grounded at Dona Paula, costing the tax-payers crores. Goa is in an unprecedented recession. Austerity measures have to be implemented with the scarce funds spent with the locals’ immediate wellbeing being a priority.
Chris Fernandes, Miramar
