Roller coaster
ride on highways
During one of the news in the TV channel, they were showing a car travelling at 80 KMPH on the newly laid Delhi – Jaipur Highway with a cup of water on the dashboard, to show how smooth the road is. The water did not spill even a little bit during the travel for about 2 to 3 Kms shown. Such is the quality level of the newly laid Express highway. Kudos to those who did it.
However if one travels on the newly laid highways and flyovers in Goa right from Check post at Goa on the North side to the road till Canacona on the South side, one will get a feel that they are travelling on a “roller coaster”. Such is the level or quality of the road that one gets a very bad feeling and hence back paid and in order to avoid that need to go at very low speeds. It has been laid out by very reputable organisations and the quality is very bad. Do not know as to how this passed the quality tests. Why are the government officials keeping silent on such quality of roads laid on? They are supposed to be Highways and are worse than local village roads in Goa. At many places, they have already broken or come off, that too within a year or two. Request that the same be looked into and made good.
M R Swaminathan, Porvorim
Consumerism
has no limits
The simplicity of yesteryears have absolutely yielded place to gross consumerism due to “liberalisation” and “globalisation” which have brought a drastic change in the lifestyle of the society. Individuals, who were careerist and earned high degrees have got flooded with new money. Almost the whole erstwhile middle class have got promoted to the status of rich. Costly cars, high-end villas, air travel, foreign tours — all norms of luxury have got easily accessible to the “successful” lot.
In contrast, life has become a hell for those who have missed the bus of “liberalisation”. Despite lack of resource, they will have to splurge money on luxurious items on the demand of discontented family members. Right from newspapers to TV to hoardings — it is call for enjoying luxuries all the way. Yes, all the vested interests have come together to transform luxuries into “necessity” even for those with limited means. And the greatest misfortune lies in the fact that consumerism has no limit. Whenever a consumerist urge gets fulfilled, another item knocks on the door!
Far from appreciating the greatest treasure named contentment, the unsatisfied lot among the middle class are splurging their limited money on luxuries so as to boost the treasury of the advertisers.
And Valentine’s Day forms one of the latest brain-washing programme of the masses. Today the divine feeling of love is depending absolutely upon shower of precious gifts, dining in restaurants and public exhibition of affection in a particular day(presently it has been extended for a week)! And if anybody desists from engaging in such manufactured market-driven lunacy, he/she definitely does not love his/her partner! Oh what a yardstick for measuring magnitude of love! People are mindlessly succumbing in the altar of consumerism and the “merchants of love” are laughing all the way to bank! Indeed what a tragedy!
Kajal Chatterjee, Kolkatta
Teaching them young,
watching them grow
This has reference to the report ‘Sowing a passion for field work’ (Herald 13 February 2023).
I think that is indeed a great concept. Fr Agnel’s High school must be complimented for this great initiative of exposing school children to the field of agriculture. Agriculture is the basic and an age-old occupation but sadly, it has been neglected over the years.
In Mumbai too, there was huge agricultural land but development has wiped out agriculture from the city limits. Rice cultivation in the villages in the city too has drastically declined over the years on account of erratic weather conditions.
We have also witnessed suicides among the farmer community.
In such a gloomy background, it is good to see how Fr Pio Furtado of Fr Agnel’s High school is motivating students to take up agriculture. And it is great to see the enthusiasm among the students, proudly holding the vegetables in their hands. Fr Pio has shown that with the right techniques and guidance and the passion, one can work wonders.
Back to basics – that’s a great thought! We need to understand that it is the farmers who are responsible for bringing food on our table. It’s time we give utmost importance to agriculture or else one fine day we might find nothing on our table. And, while we are at it, we need to understand that wasting food is a crime!
Melville X. D’Souza, Mumbai
Diversionary
tactics
It is unfortunate that instead of answering a volley of questions from the opposition on the boiling Adani issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as a diversionary tactic, took a dig at the Nehru family members for using the surname of Gandhi, apparently referring to Mahatma Gandhi. Even an ordinary Indian citizen, with a little amount of knowledge, will know that the ‘Gandhi’ surname came from Indira Gandhi’s husband Feroze Jehangir Ghandy, who changed the spelling of his surname to ‘Gandhi’ after joining the freedom struggle. Therefore, it has nothing to do with the name of the Father of the Nation for the Nehru family members to have the ‘Gandhi’ tag with their names. This said, is the Parliament a place for casting aspersions and personal attacks on someone, invoking his/her family roots? Certainly not. If the PM has the conviction and certitude, why can’t he daringly and directly take on Rahul Gandhi over his charges on the alleged misdeeds of Adani rather than talking something else, which is completely offtrack and out of sync at a place like Rajya Sabha?
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
Testing times for
Smart city works
Recent incidents of tankers plunging in to a road caved pit at St Inez and Tonca, seems to be a smart way to test smart city work. There are no safety measures put in place. It is disappointing to see these incidents because of the road cave-ins. Unfortunately, the authorities concerned give contracts for the development and maintenance of infrastructure to those, who don’t qualify. This results in construction of poor-quality roads. It is very unfortunate that police showing their reluctance to register an offence against contractors and government authorities, by merely booking the driver for negligence.
There is a tendency among policemen to catch the driver of bigger vehicles rather than finding the root cause of crashes. Goa witnessed several accidents across the length and breadth of the State due to the negligence of the agencies concerned. The Indian Road Congress SP:55 guidelines provide appropriate guidance and examples of best practice to improve the safety for all those who could be affected in work zones. Legal precedent clearly holds that the relevant governments and authorities responsible for maintaining roads/highways are always obligated to ensure care and safety towards the citizens and commuters.
K G Vilop, Chorao
