Monkey Pox alert
in Kerala
Health authorities put Kerala on high alert following the detection of the second case of monkeypox in the Kannur district on Monday. The monkeypox scare haunted the state again after a 31-year-old patient arrived at Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) from Dubai on July 13. Health Department officials swiftly traced his co-passengers and put them in home isolation. Airport authorities must spare no effort to screen all incoming international passengers.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
Increase in spate of drug seizures
In recent months there has been a spate of drug seizures at Mundra Port (Gujarat) and along the coast of Mumbai. The drugs, that are concealed and brought in large shipping containers, weigh hundreds of kilograms and are worth crores of rupees in the international market. Let us not go into the several reasons that have been ascribed for an increase in drug smuggling along the west coast. It is surprising that the Narcotics Control Bureau, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Customs, Coastal police and other authorities remain in the dark till the containers reach the Indian ports and/or taken out on the sly. The authorities go overboard and even board cruise ships to check and seize a few grams of drugs but are unaware of large consignments, drug smugglers and their movements. Where are the enthusiastic informants who are assured of prize money by the authorities?
Interestingly, after the news report of drug seizures we never know the follow-up actions that are being carried out. Who sent the drugs? Who was to be the recipient? How were the containers cleared from the docks? Have the drugs already hit the market? Who are the ringleaders? Newspapers and TV anchors cover in-depth the arrest of some small time page 3 people for carrying or using a small quantity of drugs and involved in petty crimes, while news about huge seizures of drugs is quickly buried. Something fishy is happening in the high seas along the west coast even during these monsoon days of fishing ban! And no one is the wiser.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
Irresponsible tourists
We see tourists spoiling the pristine landscape of Goa, especially in the coastal belt, throwing garbage out of car / bus windows and mucking up our roads and paddy fields. The litter peppered around includes leftover food which is then feasted upon by cattle, dogs and cats which spread it further. Absolute lack of civic sense amongst tourists and lack of effective policing in the beach belt is turning Goa into another UP/Bihar. I request mobile police squads be deployed all over the state to check this menace, as it is the state is facing a huge problem in managing its own waste. Merely putting up signboards saying that Rs.5000 will be levied from garbage dumpers will not suffice, you have to walk the talk. Further the village panchayats can employ special garbage collectors to pick up such wayside trash, this initiative can be funded by a small cess imposed upon the villagers. It would be a small price to pay to preserve our environment.
Rekha Sarin, Benaulim
Fly at your own risk
Incorrect diagnosis of defects and lack of manpower to certify aircraft as fit are among the key causes identified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for the spurt in snags being reported by local airlines in recent weeks. The increasing tendency of financially strained carriers releasing aircraft under ‘minimum equipment list’ wherein a plane is permitted to fly subject to condition that a non critical component that is either malfunctioning or not working shall be repaired or replaced in a definite time span has been another major contributory factor in mid air scares. Engine flameouts, aileron shutdowns, bird hits, hydraulics malfunction, faulty undercarriage deployment etc have become par for the course which is worrisome in the extreme. Several spot checks have been conducted by the Indian aviation authorities in the recent past to mend things but matters seem to be far from resolved. The bleeding air carriers with red on their balance sheets are packing in maximum number of flights with minimum turnaround time and resort to compromised safety measures to cut losses. The exponential rise in cost of aviation fuel, dry/wet lease rentals, airport layover charges, MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) payouts, outsourced baggage handling etc. is not helping either.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
The deification of
Veer Savarkar
The June 2022 issue of Antim Jan, the magazine brought out by the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti of the Culture Ministry, Union Government, which has the Prime Minister as the Chairman, has Veer Savarkar on its cover and lauds him as a ‘great patriot’ and whose place in India’s history ‘is no less than that of Gandhi’. This is an example of what Amit Shah had said sometime back that we need to re-write our own history. Any person without the credentials of being a historian can voice an opinion aligned to the majority party’s propaganda line and without being assessed for scholarship, this opinion becomes accepted ‘history’. This is how Nazi Germany’s Goebbels responsible for the propaganda machine followed the maxim – If you repeat a lie a thousand times, it becomes the truth. This precisely was also the approach of the courtiers who would record the mostly laudatory and imaginary ‘bakhars’ of their royal masters which we are unable to accept as history.
How can such a person be lauded for his contributions to the nation when he was suspected of being directly involved in planning to kill Gandhi, whom we all call as ‘Father of the Nation’. This is not how Indian history should be projected since our future generations will know all the wrong things about our nation. But what can you expect from the present dispensation in power who cannot boast of any freedom fighter who fought for India’s Independence and who therefore have to resort to creating fake and imaginary heroes to legitimise their present public spiels on nationalism and patriotism to support their posturing on being supposedly concerned about the lack of these beliefs in the nation’s present population.
Srinivas Kamat, Alto St.Cruz
Drowning incidents
at waterfalls
It is learnt that two youths from Vasco drowned in a waterfall at Savarde-Sattari on Monday. The tragic incident occurred when a group of eight youths had gone to the seasonal waterfall. Drowning incidents at the waterfalls have been occurring at a disturbing frequency during the monsoon season. It is observed that waterfalls happen to be a popular site for picnickers in the rains. They enjoy having a bath from the gushing water. Water due to rains in higher regions can gush in suddenly and without warning. It may be recalled that some years back six Goans had drowned at Nagarmadi waterfalls in Karwar when water in the creek started rising suddenly. Some of those in the creek got out but those who could not make it out in time were swept away in the gushing water. Tourists may not be aware of the impending danger of having a bath at a waterfall due to the sudden rise in level of water in the upper regions due to heavy rains. Warning signs need to be put up at the waterfalls about the dangers one can encounter in the rainy season when the waterfalls are in full flow. It would be in the fitness of things to close down the entry point to the various waterfalls in the rains as is being done at the Dudhsagar waterfalls. The beauty of the waterfall in full flow can be enjoyed from a distance.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
