Inflated water bills
In the past Goans were shocked to receive high bills for domestic power consumption. There was a sudden unexplainable steep rise in the electricity bills which gave Goans sleepless nights. This time around it is understood that several households in the State have been getting very high water bills which is indeed a matter of concern. Those households which were getting a water bill in the hundreds were shocked to see that they had to pay water bills amounting to thousands of rupees and even a lakh. This has the potential of giving a senior citizen or a heart patient a heart attack.
It may be recalled that the Goa government had announced free water of up to 16,000 litres per month for each household. However on the contrary Goans are receiving high water bills. The government admitted that the inflated bills were due to an error by the Water Department and has reportedly asked consumers not to pay inflated bills and has also promised refunds for those who paid the bills. However, it is understood that the possibility of disconnection by the administration for not paying the bill looms large.
The government needs to see that no water connection is disconnected for not paying the inflated bill. The issue of inflated bills should be resolved at the earliest. If there is something wrong with the water meters, then they need to be replaced. Having come out from the pandemic, Goans are facing a lot of financial problems and getting inflated water bills is like rubbing salt into the wound.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
COVID crisis 3.0
As witnessed during the past two years of government inaction and apathy shall ensure that Goa will soon be swamped by COVID 3.0. While the State is ushering in Christmas and New Year festivities, the positivity rate has ominously doubled to 3.5% from 1.8% earlier, but the CM in his infantile wisdom has thought it fit not to impose any kind of night curfew or even nominal curbs to check the spread of the virus; instead the Centre and the State government have exhorted us to remain ‘satark’ and ‘savdhan’ (alert and careful).
The elephant in the room, the super-infective, vax resistant Omicron variant is being royally ignored much to our peril. It is pertinent to note that 87 Omicron patients out of the 183 analysed so far were fully vaxxed and 3 of them had also received booster shots abroad, the ‘O’ strain has already hit Goan shores and is a clear and present danger. States like Haryana, UP, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Odisha have imposed night curfew or placed restrictions on gatherings but Goa still is in ‘come one, come all’ mode. There is no talk of booster doses which could have been easily administered in a small State like ours.
A bureaucratic ‘task force’ has been constituted to look into the matter of rising +vity rates and submit a report next week, how the report would be actioned is still a question. Installation of a genome sequencing machine to detect the omicron strain which is the need of the hour does not figure anywhere on the government’s radar yet, this should have been a no brainer actually.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Omicron fight
The Centre has done well to pick up the gauntlet and strengthen the Omicron fight. The government will despatch central teams to states with low COVID-19 vaccination, rising cases and insufficient health infrastructure to assist them. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who chaired the high-level meeting, reviewed the health preparedness to tackle the Omicron challenge and urged the people and the authorities not to drop guard against the virus, termed as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation.
Modi emphasised the need to speed up testing to ensure quick identification of cases for timely containment and treatment. Meanwhile, the Omicron cases in India breached the 300-mark.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
Postpone elections
While hearing a bail application of a person, High Court made the following remarks. The threat of Omicron, a new variant of coronavirus infection in the country, is getting deeper. In such a situation elections are to be held in five States and there will be crowds during the rallies in the elections. Due to this reason now the Allahabad High court has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission to reduce the crowd in the election rallies and consider postponing the elections.
Political parties should be asked to campaign through TV and newspapers. The court requested to postpone the election by one or two months amid the rising fears of the highly contagious COVID variant Omicron and if the rallies are not stopped then the results will be worse than the second wave and these observations were made while hearing an unconnected bail petition. It is worth notable that how much judiciary is concerned about the problems of general public.
Invoking Article 21 of the Constitution, all Indians have the right to life. It is expected that advisory of the court will be followed otherwise we are well aware how in the just concluded assembly elections Kolkata High Court had to pass stringent remarks against ECI and the Madras High Court had gone even to the extent of passing verbal order to hold ECI responsible for spread of COVID.
Yash Pal Ralhan, Jalandhar
Remove banners and hoardings
It is noticed that large numbers of illegal flags, banners and hoardings of political parties and leaders are on private premises/properties and on the roadside in Goa. These politicians are wasting money unnecessary. This is harmful to the environment and against the traffic safety. They are putting up the flags and banners in the middle of the night without any permission. At many junctions and circles, the same has created menace. There was war of words between some political parties at midnight. If this attitude is not stopped then this war of words can change to big political fights which can kill or injure anyone.
Since the elections are approaching soon, the Election Commission in Goa, Goa CM Government Office, Collector and district magistrate office should order the Village Panchayats, Municipal councils and Goa Police to remove parties’ flags and banners in Goa before the situation turn worse.
Ronnie D’Souza, Chandor
Christmas message to readers
I love seeing our city get all dressed up for Christmas, all about family reunions. But I also love pre-Christmas cheers all round me. This year, I was really impressed with the joy of Christmas and the crib displayed at the entrance of Sanpada’s Jubilee Church, the most enjoyable one. Since I enjoy covering the celebrations through decorations every year, this year round it appears very special in the wake of the Omicron threat. The photos taken by the crib are uploaded in the facebook page for everyone to enjoy and appreciate the artistic work. They were widely shared and appreciated. I was happy to spread the Christmas spirit and joy in my own little way.
This Christmas several startups are focussing on bringing festive cheer to shoppers with handcrafted ornaments made by local artisans across the country.
It is a great Christmas decoration, be it chocolate baubles, Papier Mache Santas or crochet snowmen is being made while keeping in mind the well-being of the environment. Such local products also provide livelihood to the people of the country in many ways. This Christmas brings us cheer and joy, which will provide us a new beginning in the New Year and give us a new lease of life from the Covid-19 world.
CK Subramaniam, Mumbai
