MLAs can give the lead
Goans have learnt Newton’s law (named after Sir Isaac Newton) and what goes up comes down. The burning issue is: the world in the grip of a deadly pandemic. Corona is fiercely spreading like a wild fire. Lakhs of people are dying. Researchers/Virologists are burning the midnight oil to find a vaccine. Doctors, nurses are working overtime, treating the patients. Many are dying in the line of duty. The police force is overworked too and exposed to the risk. People have gone down on their knees praying for forgiveness and salvation. Churches are praying everyday. Lakhs of bread earners have lost their jobs. They are making sacrifices. Goa is equally affected. The situation is getting worse everyday. We are not equipped to hospitalise and treat thousands of Covid patients. Already there is a waiting list of persons infected to be admitted to the only Covid Hospital in Goa.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Surely we can do better than quoting Newton’s law lightly. The situation demands more seriousness and redoubling of efforts. The need of the time is opening of Covid Care Centres in each constituency as suggested by Government’s chief warrior Dr Edwin Gomes. If money is a constraint, please start a public donation drive. MLAs can give the lead with Rs 1 crore each.
In conclusion, all these years it was a matter of serving Goans. Now it is a mission of saving lives of Goans. We believe you have the mettle. Please show it.
Rodney de Souza, Assagao
Never stigmatise infected persons
The incident of a woman being denied admission to GMC merely because she was from Vasco is shameful. But it also exposes the psyche of an average Goan who treats Covid as a social stigma and shuns the victims. Goans must understand that they cannot live in splendid isolation. A few weeks ago when covid cases came down to zero, my friends in Goa (I’m in Mumbai) were very smug and disdainfully informed me that I will not be allowed in Goa for a long time.
Let me assure them, the virus will spread. We need to show solidarity with the Covid infected people and thank God that He has spared us. And while we must stay safe we should never stigmatise the infected persons.
Robert Castellino, Mumbai/Calangute
It amounts to nothing
In its heading to the July 18, article “House of Great Historian George Mark Moraes Collapses,” O Heraldo laments: “Honoured outside Goa, the son of the soil didn’t even get a small museum … in his homeland.”
I commend Vijay Khopre, who reports on this story, for having such high hopes. Alas, when Goan history is not taught at institutions in Goa, why would there be any expectation that the homes of its chroniclers would stand the test of time?
Toite12he article notes via a Google Books review that Moraes’ “work has been selected by scholars as culturally important.” Yet, how many people in Goa actually knew who Moraes was? It really amounts to nothing if he was honoured outside his homeland or if his books were read by scholars outside Goa if that work received no attention in Goa itself.
Time and again, O Heraldo publishes articles about the ruination of homes of Goan notables (the last I remember was one such piece about the decline of Francisco Luis Gomes’ residence). But the question that remains unasked is why is it that Goans do not know of these writers and their works? For as long as the academic curriculum continues to privilege Indian history and literature, to the exclusion of work by Goans, the people of Goa will remain ignorant of their own heritage.
Books will go unread, authors uncelebrated, and houses will collapse. And all along a lament will be sounded, one that rings hollow and far too late.
B. Lourenço, San Mateo, USA
Take action against GMC doctor
I am shocked, while reading the Herald (July 19, 2020), that GMC doctor asked a couple to leave hospital, after learning they are from Vasco. According to my knowledge, I ask the CM, Health Minister and other Ministers and MLAs. Is this fair, which doctor has done? If CM, any Minister, doctor, Bollywood actor, industrialist may be from Vasco, than what will this doctor do? So according to me, there should not compromise, but suspend this doctor as soon as possible.
We must first, test the patients, whether he/she are positive of corona virus or not. If positive, than take the action, otherwise it is nonsense. Hope Government will take action on this doctor as soon as possible, before Vascokar will wake up.
Edgar Martins, Chinchinim
Goa’s heritage needs to be preserved
The sudden collapse of the house of Goan Historian George Mark Moraes is very unfortunate and sad. Though dilapidated for the past few years, the State ought to have taken adequate steps to preserve the house. The collapse of the house of such a great personality reflects the lacklustre approach of authorities.
The State government needs to preserve and maintain heritage structures on an urgent basis.
Anish Esteves, Mumbai
Bimaar se nahi, bimaari se ladho
The new Central government campaign is the need of the hour in our very own Goa. Sadly, Vascokars are being treated as ‘untouchables.’. The media which focused on the port town as the hub of the pandemic in Goa has given rise to a new social evil ‘social discrimination’.
Worse, it is not the uneducated but the literate people who are indulging in this discrimination game. Case in point being the two recent cases where two individuals were shunned for being Vascokars.
An advocate Maria Vas was humiliated by the Chairperson of CWC in South Goa and Gaurish Volvoikar was insulted in the GMC by being shown the door by a doctor — their fault being that they hailed from Vasco
Worse, these aren’t isolated cases. Ask any Vascokar and he will recount stories of discrimination faced by him in other parts of the city.
Here, I would like to point out how even Amitabh Bachchan, a superstar and hailing from the elite group of people are also susceptible to this virus in just the same way that the poor and helpless from Asia’s biggest slum Dharavi are. The latter are incidentally in the limelight for managing the rise of the pandemic effectively by following social norms like social distancing, contact tracing and effective sanitisation.
Instead of maintaining social norms like social distancing, sadly our society is indulging in social evils by isolating people on the basis of locations. High time, common sense prevailed in the ‘so-called’ literate class.
Altaf Shah, Vasco
Formalin check for fish
The front page report ‘Herald zoom to Polem check post to check fish’ (Herald July 16) deserves praise for Team Herald who took pains and spent the whole night at Polem border to expose the government on the checking of formalin laced fish by FDA and QCI. However nothing will work to end corruption as all government officials are hand in gloves to carry out all illegality in the fish trade.
However going through the Herald report we Goans now can boycott the purchase of fish entering from across the border. Presently the hotels are closed and so there is no demand for fish. As such the incoming of fish trucks will automatically drop if Goans restrain themselves from fish consumption.
So now at least the Goans please restrict from buying fish coming from across the border to keep your family safe from formalin laced fish. The formalin laced fish will kill us much before the spread of Corona virus.
Gerardo Fernandes,
Cansaulim
