Reflector, paint on stray cattle
Several road accidents have been attributed to the freely moving cattle on the roads. Many of these accidents have resulted in fatality on both the human and the animal side. It must be said that cattle, which are dark in colour, are unrecognizable in the darkness of the night. These cattle could be either walking or squatting on the road.
It is learnt that a youth cycling group from South Goa has taken an initiative to put up reflector radium-belt around the neck of all stray cattle so that they can be spotted in the darkness of the night. It is understood that the youth spent nearly 10,000 from their salary. These youngsters feel that this is their small contribution for providing safety on the roads.
It must be said that instead of spending on the reflector radium belt the youngsters could paint the horns, the tail and even a part of the body of the animal with reflector radium paint. This will be much cheaper and it will be possible to cover more stray cattle in the state. If youth from other villages take up this initiative, it will make a lot of difference, as far as accidents attributed to stray cattle is concerned.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
CCTV need of the hour
With recent rapes, murders, shootout, kidnapping, hit and run etc etc CCTV Installation especially on the main road junctions and famous tourist places for a start is the need of the hour.
The police Officials could get hold of the lady who had stolen the baby from the mother at Bambolim hospital only through CCTV footage. If the same was installed at the vicinity of the Green Park, Guirim, the tracks of Siddhi Naik could have helped the Police Department.
Our Government is spending crores of rupees on development, if so, why very little is been done by the Home Department for the safety of the Goans.
Our Health Minister too failed with bear necessity of providing extra beds, timely oxygen and ventalitors at the GMC thus precious Goan families lost their dear ones.
However our Government should learn from their mistakes by installing CCTV’s at war footing and asking the Police Department to take thier jobs more seriously before the coming elections to save guard the voters and their families.
Anthony I Fernandes, Assagao
Killing of innocents
This is with reference to the article titled ‘Domestic Violence ground for pregnancy termination’(Herald, 19 August). The lady in her plea has cited mental trauma due to domestic violence as reason to terminate her pregnancy of 23 weeks . Whether it is 20 weeks or 23 weeks a child once conceived in its mothers womb has a heart and a soul and God clearly commands us ‘Not to Kill’.
I humbly beg those who are concerned especially the various Church authorities of Mumbai to try and intervene in such cases and try and save the lives of such innocents whose death warrants get signed for no fault of theirs. The parents as a special case immediately need to be counseled and helped to reconcile to save their child.
On August 16th Herald also reported that 3 were held for burying Newborn babies in Goa. This is not the first time that these crimes have been perpetrated on our Goan soil. A few days back remains of a mutilated newborn were found at the industrial Estate and just prior to that a couple from Delhi posing as tourists abandoned their newborn baby in someone’s home at Nerul. There are Government recognized centers including one run by Caritas in Nachinola where one can leave their unwanted babies in the cradle kept outside the door.
The identity is never disclosed to anyone so as to discourage people from abandoning their unwanted babies anywhere .
There are thousands of registered childless couples wanting to adopt such unwanted children.
Allwyn N.D’Souza, Saligao
Polls & fake promises
With elections round the corner,the political parties are trying their best to corrupt the people and bribe votes by assuring free water and electricity to Goans for now. As the election date approaches near the manifestos will promise even more.They will suggest various benefits and amenities with latest technology and other sophisticated development.
Many of us will think about it as a benefit for the future of Goa, falling prey to their fake promise. However, we need to realize these promises were promised before and still left unfulfilled. For instance, one major promise quite common is the repair and maintenance of roads. This promise in particular was assured by every representative in their respective constituency, till today it is really sad that all these years people have witnessed bad roads and are now tormented.
The fact that ever Goan needs to digest is that access to water, electricity and proper roads etc are basic citizen essentials and politics should not intervene. When these parties come to your doorstep asking for vote question them back on what they did the whole tenure when they were given the power and opportunity to do so.
If one is content one should definitely vote for the respective party and if not then one needs to think who would really help in ensuring a change for the betterment of Goa and citizens of India.
Lisa Fernandes, Quepem
Empowering criminals?
Defunct CCTV cameras at various public locations like bus terminals, railway stations, parks, markets and beaches are not only empowering offenders but are providing impetus to more heinous crimes being committed. Mere installation of cameras does not guarantee safety, active round the clock monitoring is a must; many a time annual maintenance contracts are not signed with the equipment suppliers or are carelessly allowed to lapse either by oversight or due to budget constraints.
Whether there is anyone continuously manning the control room where the camera feeds are transmitted is also open to doubt. Despite all the surveillance machinery at the police’s disposal such acts of omission are unpardonable, not only is the safety of the general public especially women compromised, but it also emboldens culprits to commit crimes at will. We have the tourist police, the traffic police, the general duty police, CBI, the anti narcotics NCB all funded by taxpayer’s money but when it comes to nabbing delinquents in time they are usually found (s)lacking.
Police forces have also drawn criticism for their lackadaisical manner of handling investigations as the recent Calangute case showed where the death was first dismissed as suicide but due to public uproar the investigators were forced to look at the matter afresh. Though we have enough laws to tackle malefactors, regular training, refresher courses and briefing of personnel is required in addition to gender sensitisation and empathy more so in cases against women.
With the rising crime graph in the state it is imperative that there is a complete overhaul in the functioning and methodology of the law enforcement agencies.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Road safety
Road safety is an ongoing process that each owner of the vehicle has to follow. The traffic police and RTO have to be responsible to check such vehicles that violate the road safety and put hundreds of road users at high risk of accidents that may be freak or dangerous that may result in death on the road.
There are some vehicle owners dangerously transporting Electrical poles without following the safety guidelines. A few months back a similar type of vehicle had damaged a car luckily the inmates escaped without serious injuries but the vehicle was damaged at Bambolim. I appeal to the contractors engaged by Govt. Depts. to strictly instruct contractors to check the consignment before it leaves for the destination.
Gregory E. Dsouza, Siolim
