Faster justice system for tourists needed
This is with reference to the editorial in O Heraldo on July 29, 2023 titled ‘Before AI Chatbots, fix basics in tourism’. All critical points were well covered in the edit. They might have been addressed by now if we had a vision document on tourism.
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Perhaps what is additionally needed is a faster system of justice when tourists become victims of crime. An effective tourist police and special courts for North and South Goa are much needed.
Adv Vikram Varma, by email
Was the violence in Manipur preplanned?
Not many know the hidden agenda of the saffron brigade behind unleashing a reign of terror between the two tribal communities in the picturesque Manipur landscape. The riot was state sponsored violence with active support of the Centre and financed by cronies.
The central government has allocated 66,000 hectare of Manipur forest land to crony capitalist Adani to grow palm oil plantations at a cost of Rs 11,000 crore. Most of the land belongs to the Adivasi community. The riot was allegedly pre-planned by BJP and RSS to clear the area and spread fear. It was named as ethnic cleaning.
Amid high-tension drama in Parliament during the monsoon session, BJP state spokesperson from Bihar Vinod Sharma tendered his resignation from the party over the ethnic violence in Manipur after he felt ‘stigmatised’ to work under the BJP leadership alleging that the Manipur incident, where two women from the Kuki community were paraded naked in broad daylight in the presence of a mob of around 800 to1,000 men. This incident has ‘defamed India’ at the international platform. Despite the barbaric incident, Sharma expressed his shock over Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh’s temerity to claim that hundreds of similar incidents have taken place in the state.
Sharma also wrote to BJP national president JP Nadda and PM Modi informing that such incident has never happened anywhere else. The PM doesn’t have the courage to sack CM Biren Singh. Not a single official head has rolled in the double engine government of the BJP.
Back home, the CM of Goa inspired by the divisive politics of the Centre, had the temerity to erase all remnants of Portuguese rule in the state and restore the purportedly destroyed temples of the bygone era.
Everette Assis Telles, Margao
Save lives on Goan roads, reduce speed
With the increase of accidents on Goan roads and loss of lives, the safe speed of all motor vehicles should be 60km per hour. This will reduce and stop accidents on Goan roads as these vehicles are not designed for acceleration speed and roads are unsafe and uncontrolled driving at high speed is dangerous. The automobile engineering industry should understand that they are not product of motor sport or Formula 1 races. We cannot put our lives at risk. I hope some days, these Motor Vehicle Act will regulate vehicles speed very soon. There are our loved ones awaiting for us at home.
Ashwin Caeiro, Cansaulim
Haphazard development ruining the mountains
Rampant unplanned development, unauthorized construction, encroachments upon land and water bodies in urban areas without appropriate measures to safeguard the environment, are ruining cities and making them prone to flooding, building collapses, water-logging, traffic congestion, crime, pollution, landslides, floods and other civic woes. Other than major cities, even the mountains overrun by tourists are experiencing severe stress on civic amenities and traffic snarls lasting for hours. Consider the case of Shimla where concerns expressed by the National Green Tribunal over the draft development plan have not been addressed. In fact the plan is a perfect recipe for further environmental disaster. Most of the tourism hotspots of the North like Mussorie, Nainital, Almora, Joshimath etc have exceeded their carrying capacity. It was only in January this year that the incidence of land subsidence had given rise to cracks developing in almost 60 % of the houses and roads in Joshimath. Fresh cracks are surfacing even as on date. Thousands of families which were left displaced are still being shifted to relief camps across the state. Large infrastructure vanity projects which involve blasting the mountains like hydroelectric power projects, tunnels, Char Dham road, all weather roads in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Kashmir initiated by the government are aggravating the situation and hastening the demise of these beautiful places. There is an urgent need to regulate the number of tourists, charge them a congestion tax and utilize these funds for waste management, maintenance and upkeep of existing infrastructure and checking illegal construction.
Vinay Dwivedi, Benaulim
Replant uprooted trees
It is learnt that the 200 years-old banyan tree, which had been uprooted allegedly by a builder at Khobrawaddo, Baga on the eve of World Environment Day on June 5, was reportedly finally replanted after large parts of it were chopped. It is understood that the Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) had lodged a complaint about the uprooting of the tree with various authorities. Following protests there was a demand to replant the tree. This is a very good move and probably the first instance in the state that a massive uprooted tree has been replanted. It is pertinent to note that during the monsoon there are several instances of uprooting of trees reported in the state due to strong winds. It takes several decades for a tree to grow to the present size. A massive tree while providing shade is also home for various bird species. They are natural treasures which need to be conserved. It would be in the fitness of things to have a system in place to replant massive trees which have uprooted due to strong breeze during the rains. It is pertinent to note that in Western countries if there is a tree that stands in the way of developmental work, the tree is mechanically uprooted and replanted at a different location.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Environment should be our biggest concern
We all owe it to Mother Nature to do everything possible in protecting our environment. The time has come for us all to introspect what we can do individually and as a community to heed Mother Earth’s fervent pleas to mankind seeking that we do what we can to salvage our crumbling environment.
The mushrooming of environmentally incompatible new constructions all over without the much-needed infrastructure has landed Goa in chaos. The real estate developers have swiftly enriched themselves multifold while leaving the common man to face the brunt. Sadly, the State has been unable to even provide adequate water and power supply to people. While there is no proper sewerage system in place, the garbage management has also reached a point of crisis.
The colossal environmental ruin that Goa has been witnessing over the years by way of rampant destruction of hills, fragmentation of pristine verdant landscapes and ruthless chopping of trees with not even sparing the pouring of concrete in the low-lying fields is finally showing the impact of criminal interference in Goa’s age-old natural ecosystems.
If the authorities do not take urgent corrective, well planned and sustainable measures to save the natural ecosystems, the god gifted landscape, the eco-sensitive beaches, sand dunes, Khazans, wetlands, salt pans, the last remaining hills and farms, the orchards, rivers, estuaries, lakes, ponds, springs and fountains of Goa for protecting our ecology, we will soon have a major catastrophic disaster.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar.
