Fine money through GPay, the art of bribery
No measures have been taken by Goa traffic police to curb corruption among its officers, citizens continue to complain. One among recent who have found innovative ways to receive underhand “fine” money even “via” GooglePay. Is this a new Goa police payment gateway to settle cops?
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The incident also created a flutter on social media. The harrowing ordeal the family was put through after a traffic stop led to them being left stranded on the highway at Agasaim, while on the way to the airport.
Corruption is like an infectious disease in India, and the country needs to get rid of it as soon as it can. The value of the note is not known but this has been a common practice all through India. However, it should be noted that offering or giving bribe to the cops or anyone else is also a crime. Since the bribe will be used by the cops for their personal gains and will not be accounted for in the books of the authorities, it is a loss to the government. The amount collected in fines and challans is used to improve the police equipment, pay the salaries and make the life better of the citizens in every way. Even though this state of affairs paints a grim image of the police, motorists are equal partners in this corruption racket, especially when they fail to comply with traffic rules and regulations. These legitimise police misconduct, curtail detection and define the scales of bribery. Corruption is a function of a lack of adequate legislation, and poor quality of police service personnel and public leadership.
K G Vilop, Chorao
Nero fiddled while Rome burnt
‘Nero fiddled while Rome burnt ‘.. a perfect example of this can be found in today’s India. Ethnic strife, a fallout of hate fanned against minorities countrywide by the saffron party resulted in the death of 50 tribals in the past few days in Manipur.
The situation is so bad in the North East region that other states have begun to ‘evacuate’ their ‘citizens’ from Manipur. Till now we had only heard of countries evacuating their citizens from conflict zones in other nations across the globe !! The insidious, divisive policies of the Centre have reduced India to a wounded, fragmented confederation of states some at war with each other, think Assam- Meghalaya.
Infact the Union government itself is engaged in a constant battle of attrition with non- BJP ruled states to reduce them to rubble.
In other news soldiers are being regularly massacred by terrorists in Rajouri sector in J&K, yet these two issues have not merited even a perfunctory condemnation / consolation tweet from our bigoted rulers who are busy sowing seeds of hate and polarization in Karnataka to reap electoral dividends.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Hike in power bills unjustified
The State government at the behest of the Electricity Department has finally issued a notification notifying revised average electricity tariff hike of 5.19 per cent with effect from April 1, 2023.
The Electricity Department had earlier proposed a power tariff hike of six per cent by claiming that the tariff was frozen for the last four years, especially from the pandemic times in Goa.
To buttress it’s own point for the proposed above mentioned hike, the department had also claimed that the tariff rates were much more lower in Goa than in other states.
Now, how could the officials from the electricity department ever compare our tariff rates with those of other states when they have practically failed to provide its consumers with a good service and uninterrupted 24 x 7 power supply without any frequent power cuts and fluctuations even after so many years of our liberation in Goa?
It should be noted that the Pramod Sawant led BJP government had clearly promised of providing Goans with uninterrupted power supply at a cheaper rate just before the last assembly elections in Goa and the same government after coming back to power seem to have gone back on that promise.
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
Political roadshows and rallies
Recently we observe frequent roadshows and rallies are being conducted during the election campaign, which are being attended by great number of people. One needs to assess and review the outcome of these political roadshows and rallies from the general public’s point of view. Are they of any interest or beneficial to our general public..?
The main intention of organising a roadshow or rally is to get public support for a particular political party or for an individual politician. However the general public, pay heavy price in terms of noise pollution, traffic congestion and restriction. The roads that were used for public convenience and vehicular movements are blocked, restricted for a roadshow. Government machineries such as large number of police and security forces are deployed to ensure no unforeseen incidents are created.
Great amount of time and manpower are utilised in cleaning and clearing the garbage caused by such events. Additionally, there is a clear indication that covid cases are on the rise, hence we expect that better sense will prevail among our politicians to restrict or minimise such large gatherings as a precautions against the spread of infections. Such roadshows to be restricted to an isolated area, far away from busy public places. It may be recalled that eight people had died in a stampede during TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s roadshow on December 28, 2022. Although it may be an isolated case, nevertheless such unfortunate possibility cannot be ruled out completely.
One may wonder if roadshows and rallies can really achieve the public support and votes for the political parties? Don’t we want to see a politician who is working for the betterment and growth of the society?
Don’t we want a politician who stands up for what is right, rather than standing in the roadshows throwing flower petals?
Don’t we want to see some humaneness and compassion in our politicians, rather than seeing them in the roadshows, half buried in the garlands and flower petals all over their face..?
Freddie Dias, Miramar
