Worship music and party music
It is learnt that in a sudden corrigendum to an earlier notification on sound ban in night hours issued by the state government, the use of amplified sound and public address systems has been banned from 10 pm on all days and from midnight on special religious and cultural festive days.
The corrigendum has spurred suspense over the fate of midnight religious services for the upcoming Christmas season which are held across the State. It is pertinent to note that several churches and Catholic institutions hold outdoor midnight services on Christmas and New Year’s eve which extend past midnight. It would be in the fitness of things for the government not to put a blanket ban on loud music which includes religious ceremonies of all faiths. It is necessary to differentiate between loud sound used for entertainment purposes and the not-so-loud sound used for religious purposes.
Midnight services in churches are held outdoors primarily because the church edifice cannot hold the vast congregation that attends these services. The religious ceremonies do not continue till the wee hours of the morning as do these late night parties. Midnight services could extend just one or two hours post mid-night and is an age-old tradition. There is a need to differentiate between worship music and party music.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
‘Dadagiri’ has no place
in a civilised society
With regards to “Enraged tour operators meet CM; Sawant says ‘dadagiri’ won’t be tolerated” (Herald December 16, 2022 ), Dr Pramod Sawant is quick to get into the damage control mode.
However, the proof of pudding lies in eating it. Grandiose statements cannot restore the damage to the reputation of Brand Goa. The damage is huge. The peak of the tourist season has seen this unruly behaviour. It has grabbed the global attention.
CM’s words must match the action on the ground. A prompt crackdown on dadas and wannabe dadas will send out the right signals. The writ of Goa government runs large. Nobody can get away with harassment of our guests. We live by our credo “Atithi Devo Bhava”. Let us pray for sanity to prevail.
Gafaar Shaqoor, Margao
Banks write off Rs 10 lakh crore NPAs
It is reported that the Finance Minister informed the Parliament that banks have written off Rs 10 lakh crore only of Non-performing assets (NPAs) in the last 5 financial years.
The figure is based on data provided by the Reserve Bank of India and Schedule Commercial Banks (SCBs). According to the Minister, “Banks write off NPAs as part of their regular exercise to clean up their balance sheet, avail tax benefits and optimise capital, in accordance with the RBI guidelines and policy approved by their boards.” Although accountability of the 3,312 staff in the ranks of assistant general managers and above has been fixed and suitable punitive actions have been taken but are they to be solely blamed for the fiasco? Perhaps they were arm twisted by some authorities or by the applicants to provide the loan, while not ruling out misdemeanor and vested interest by a handful of the staff.
Should we be shocked at the whooping amount of Rs 2 lakh crore that was ‘cleaned’ every year from the banks’ balance sheet in the last five years or say to ourselves, “It’s no skin off my nose?” The government should give a spilt up of the NPAs, amounts and parties/persons who defaulted on the loan payments.
With all the law enforcement agencies at its disposal, the government should track if the NPAs are genuine and worth being written off, or the loan monies were siphoned off from the country, used to buy movable and immovable assets, invested in the parallel economy or used to fund illegal activities.
On one hand, the common man struggles to get loans even after providing pages of repetitive documents, sureties and guarantors; while there are wilful defaulters who keep getting loans once their NPAs are written off. This is gross injustice to the common citizens and to the country.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
Life should aim to serve society
In life it’s not how long we live but how fulfilling the journey has been. We will not be remembered by the quantum of wealth and materialistic things that we have acquired and amassed but for the social goodwill that we have achieved.
Every day has to be a day that we have been able to contribute something worthy to society however small it may be. It would be a day in vain if we do not at least attempt to bring a smile to someone’s face or try to lighten somebody’s pain. Unless we are ready to share and shoulder the anguish being endured by others, it would not be a life well lived.
We must also never hesitate to stand up and speak out our minds. There are enough souls praising those in power, so we need to balance the scales by exposing the wrongdoings of the powers to be. Let us never be complacent as to the damage being inflicted on our environment, ecology and social fabric. There is a need to maintain a vigil on our land and this bounden duty we cannot abdicate.
We have to act today and not procrastinate waiting for another day. Life today is so very uncertain with people dying young due to unforeseen reasons. Precious lives are being snuffed out every day due to accidents. We never know when we will get the Master’s Call. It could be any day, anytime and anywhere. So let us buckle up in doing our little bit for the betterment of society and mankind at large.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Blot on tourism
The recent prevention of International cruise ship tourists from sightseeing in Goa is a shameful act. Plenty of Goans are working on cruise ships as crew. I’m sure that none of them have witnessed such hooliganism abroad.
Goa needs to go the Maharashtra way in dealing with such acts. Maharashtra has the MRTP Act (Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practices Act). It also has the MCOCA Act ( Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act). Goa Miles Taxi service which is a numero uno Taxi service also faced the ire of these Taxi lobbies some months ago.
Very often tourists arriving in a taxi at any beach in Goa are made to alight 100 metres away from the beach and their taxi is directed to either go away or else wait 200 metres further away from the drop off point. The Directorate of Transport took correct action in making it mandatory to install meters in these taxis so as to curb extortive practices on unwitting customers.
Vinay Rodrigues, Margao
