Let’s protect our tourism business
I thought the newly appointed Forest Minister Viswajeet Rane who claims to be a wildlife photographer would not make such arrogant statements with regards to the endangered species the Indian Tiger which has been moving around in the corridors of the Western Ghats through the Goan Forest. The environmentalist have been asking the Goa government to declare the Goan corridor as a reserve for the Tiger since 2002 of which Rane junior should have been knowing.
The Goan Environmentalist will be in for more controversial statements in the regards to the Turtle nesting grounds sooner or later. If the Govt. of India can make schemes for slum dwellers why deny the Indian tiger, with such ministers in power soon the next generation will see plastic, clay, metallic or stuffed soft tigers erected in the forest. My appeal to the Minister, his respected father for 50 yrs of his legislation did not speak against the Tiger let’s hope the Tiger gets its shelter reserved in Goa. Goan beaches, hills forest and fields are the main tourist attraction let’s not Westernized them in short time we lose the tourism business for such greedy ambition for concretising our jungles.
Gregory E Dsouza,
Siolim
Respect the cleanliness warriors
Quite frequently we see volunteers from Red Cross, NGOs, employees from corporates houses and starred hotels and others who keenly participate in cleaning activities at beaches and picnic spots such as near waterfalls, forests and along river banks. The volunteers are involved in a back breaking and risky work picking up broken bottles, cans and all kinds of materials. But they carry out the task cheerfully and enthusiastically. But after a day or two the place is again dirtied by tourists and even locals who think that they have a right to do so.
People are not bothered despite the display of “Do Not Litter” and some perhaps derive a sadistic pleasure by doing so. The errant people should be penalised by the Panchayats who could appoint locals to keep a watch at the picnic spots and in the jurisdiction of towns and cities the Municipalities should deploy tourist police. Most times the concept of “Clean up after my work is done,” is missing in India. Let us respect the cleanliness warriors.
Sridhar D’Iyer,
Caranzalem
Shanghai in lockdown
After the country gave the world worst virus Covid 19 in the year 2019 today the country is in total lockdown. Shanghai City of China one of the busiest town is under lockdown. After India’s second and third wave of omicron variant the country managed to overcome the same with proper health system in its place. India is slowly coming to its normal life after a severe economical drop for last 2 years. China should actually learn from India in managing the situation of health crisis where India has been in better situation handling the cases.
The Shanghai City is facing lack of food supply and other basic amenities after its total lockdown in fear of spread of virus and people have taken law in their own hand. The situation is becoming worst as people have lost their patience and are in search of food and other basic needs of daily life.
Country like China should plan well to control the situation and avoid unlawful state where people start attacking the police and health protectors trying to stop spreading the virus. India has already faced the situation and now it’s China to face the situation as it gave to others stretching it for two years and making the country suffer in economic and social life. China in fact learns from other countries to handle the situation as others have handled it in worst situations.
Raju Ramamurthy,
Vasco Da Gama
Celebrating Earth Day
The earth is our home. It provides us with everything necessary for life, but its resources are limited. Human activities have put Mother Earth and its resources in danger. That’s why every year on April 22, World Earth Day is celebrated.
For almost 50 years, Earth Day has been designated to celebrate our incredible planet. It is a day to think about what our species have been doing to degrade our environment. But more importantly, it is a day to constructively help our natural world.
Nature has given us air, water, trees, plants, rivers, mountains, and minerals present below the earth for our help. We can earn money through our hard work, but neither we can make natural things nor increase it. All these things given by nature are limited. So on Earth Day, people are made aware of the environment.
If we can instill in our children an appreciation for nature, maybe they will do more than we have to care for this planet. Simple acts like picking up litter, then recycling or trashing it, planting a vegetable garden, planting native species of trees, flowers, and grasses, or simply getting outdoors to enjoy the wonders of nature.
We need to use less gasoline-powered machines and use our muscles more — running, walking, bicycling and scootering. We need to turn off electrical devices we’re not using and conserve water.
The lives of our children, grandchildren and future generations of all the inhabitants of the earth depend on our actions now!
Jubel D’Cruz,
Mumbai
Colour blindness and normal life
The Supreme Court deserves compliments for directing the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) to allow candidates suffering from colour blindness to pursue film-making and editing courses, so that there will be no discrimination on the basis of dichromacy to gain admission to the institute. The SC also wanted the institute to adopt a more inclusive and progressive approach to the matter. Colour blindness is not serious most of the time. The only time it may be is if colour blindness started because of a disease, trauma or effects from drugs.
There are no health risks with being born colour-blind. The only thing where colour blindness would get in the way is when someone wants to work within certain jobs, like being a pilot, electrician and others where a slight mishap can have great consequences. In general, colour blindness does not cause significant difficulties in everyday life.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
Stop ‘substandard’ road works
It appears an impressive & noble action of our CM to “suspend 2 PWD engineers” (ref Herald April 14,) because of “substandard” road works.
Here are some useful suggestions to get rid of substandard road works, once and for all.
While bidding for road projects, the Contractor works on a profit margin of say 10-15% of the Contract value. However, once he has won the bid, he has to pass on 10-20% commission to the concerned authorities.
Further, in spite of his delayed dues, he has to pay a commission to get each and every bill passed. Since, the contractor is not in the business of “Charity”, he recovers the above bribes and commissions paid, by using inferior materials and poor quality of work. Hence, request our CM to go into the root cause of substandard works. If these root causes are tackled, then surely “bivpachi garaz na” for substandard road works, in future.
A Barreto,
Verem
