Lost and found kids
Frequently we read about kids being lost and found along the beaches of Goa. And this happens once too often. One can notice parents not holding their kids’ hands but let them run amok or stroll behind them presuming that the kids are following them while the kids would be walking like a zombie in some other directions. Thanks to good Samaritans, police and life-guards on the beach, the kids are found and handed over to their parents.
In most cases one needs to blame the parents for their utter carelessness since they are in immersed in their own world of selfies, wetting their feet in the waters, swimming, cooing to each other, enjoying a drink etc. while the kids loiter off. In India, beaches are the not the only places where kids get lost but also in fairs and places of worships, bus and railway stations and during times of festivity and celebrations. And these are places and times where child lifters would be active.
There is no point in crying, shouting hoarse and blaming the authorities once a child is lost and not traced and brought back. Given the crowds in India, the parents could place GPS trackers with their kids.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
FIFA WC heading to an exciting finish
Most Goans were really devastated after seeing the shocking defeat of their most favourite team namely Portugal at the hands of Morocco in the FIFA World Cup quarter final at Qatar recently.
The coach of the Portuguese team should not have kept their most experienced/world famous footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo sitting out on the bench during the first half of that crucial quarter final match against Morocco but should have put him in the starting line up and allowed him to play during that entire do or die match.
Unfortunately, the stubborn coach brought him only in the second half after he saw his team conceding a goal in the first half to desperately rescue his team but then it was too late and Portugal eventually lost even after giving a lot of fight-back, especially during the second half of the match.
Looks like the arrogant coach of the Portuguese team had underestimated the Moroccan team and due to which was initially expecting all his new set of players to win the quarter final match too with a huge margin on the lines of Switzerland without the contribution of Cristiano Ronaldo and to get through to the semi-finals at Qatar.
Anyway, the ongoing FIFA World Cup at Qatar is almost on a verge of coming to an exciting finish. And with all the big teams already out of the competition, no one really knows which teams will go to play in the FIFA world cup finals of 2022 at Qatar on Sunday.
Will it be Argentina versus France or Croatia versus France in the finals? Let the best team go to win the FIFA world cup 2022 at Qatar.
Jerry Fernandes, Saligao
Mopa airport inauguration
What a great day it was for most of us in North Goa if not south Goa when our honourable PM Modiji came to Goa to inaugurated Mopa International Airport on December 11 and also to name it after our late IIT CM and admirer of Goans Manohar Parrikar but I personally felt very sad that the name Manohar was not completed with Manohar Parrikar International Airport as we have Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and Indira Gandhi International Airport in India which I checked on Google before writing my article and it would have been more better if it was inaugurated on December 13, being birthday of our late CM Parrikar in whose name it is inaugurated.
Well it’s a prerogative of the government to name as they want but I feel somewhere the experts made a mistake by not completing or giving our ex CM’s full name which would also sound better as other Manohar might also start saying in future that it’s in his name?
Coming back to the press by Aldona MLA on today Herald that Dabolim airport will die slow death, he is 100% right and for that government doesn’t need to stop Dabolim as they too know once the flights start diverting to Mopa then Dabolim will automatically stop by itself and govt will answer that they have not closed it.
Requesting dear PM Modiji and our CM Dr Sawant if possible to add the name Parrikar to the existing Manohar which is not impossible for you if you wish too.
Jerry L De Souza, Divar
Road rage on the rise
There is not a single motorist in India who is unfamiliar with the dangerous ‘road rage’. The powerful, the rich and, of course, the hooligans are the worst types of road rage perpetrators. Traffic congestion, undue distraction, high noise level, drivers high on alcohol and paucity of time—all lead to road rage. The plight of drivers with disorders like hypertension is undescribable. Gestures to verbal assaults, to the ultimate fistfight, the repercussions of road rage can be frightening.
Over the years, despite more and more relaxation exercises alluring the people, the general decrease in tolerance level has resulted in people blowing hot and cold at the slightest pretext. The sudden violent behaviour following road rage is mostly verbal. When it turns physical, fisticuffs and beating, it is a law and order problem.
Cities and towns in India are chock-a-block with traffic, and the vehicles need to negotiate through narrow lanes amidst din, dust and smoke–a very tiresome experience. Honking the car unnecessarily a trend that began in large cities and percolated to the smaller ones is both a cause and a manifestation of road rage.
Anger is a powerful emotion;. a person should not be angry at a thing that he can help and at a thing he cannot help. The National Crime Bureau ( NCB) has said approximately 40,000 Indians are subjected to road rage every year.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Replace plastic road dividers with spring delineators
It is learnt that around 100 spring delineators have been installed around Ponda city for safety and disciplined traffic management. They also act as road dividers and prevent overtaking and rash driving. It is pertinent to note that spring based delineators are aesthetic and safe products used to separate pedestrian and vehicle traffic. If the spring delineator is struck by a vehicle, the spring at the bottom will prevent damage to the vehicle and the barrier as the barrier extends 30 degrees in all directions.
They can also be used in indoor and outdoor car parks as well and to prevent unauthorised parking. It must be said that most of the road dividers used on the Goan roads are rigid plastic structures. If hit, these plastic road-dividers can cause damage to the vehicles and many of them have been displaced and missing as they have been struck by vehicles moving at high speed. It is also observed that most of these road-dividers are not visible during the night as the fluorescent tape around them is covered with dust. This can lead to accidents. It would be prudent to replace these rigid plastic road dividers with spring based delineators which are more road-user friendly.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
