Hooch kills
Illicit liquor related deaths are quite common in India. A few are highlighted and the rest go unreported. Last week, nearly 20 people lost their lives in Bihar’s Mujaffarpur, Gopalganj and West Champaran districts after consuming spurious liquor. No State is spared of hooch deaths. What is “special” about the twin hooch tragedies in Bihar is that there is prohibition in the State. Manufacture, storage, trade, transport, sale and consumption of liquor was banned in the State by the Nitish Kumar government in 2016.
According to an estimate, hooch has claimed more than 60 lives in the “dry” State in 2021. In liquor related deaths, bootleggers are routinely rounded up, and materials used in preparing hooch are seized and destroyed. But before a liquor related tragedy strikes, authorities are mere onlookers despite being fully aware about the illegal preparation and sale. Those from the lower socio-economic sections of the society are easy targets for illicit liquor vendors because they fall prey to ‘inexpensive and powerful’ liquor sold by unscrupulous elements.
The spurious hooch dealers lure and con the poor by offering employment opportunities, among others. Dangerous spirits mixed with methanol give rise to morbidity and mortality of a severe nature. It is almost always the small time traders who are booked, while the larger perpetrators of the crime go scot-free. After a big hooch tragedy, an all — too familiar inquiry commissions are formed to ‘look-into’ the causes and remedies but with no tangible outcome.
Smuggling of rectified spirits across the borders should become a thing of the past because districts that have banned alcohol in all forms may otherwise be hit. The importance of breaking the bootlegger-politician-police-criminal mafia nexus in keeping hooch at bay cannot be stressed more.
Ganapathi Bhat, Akola
Need for clean public toilets
World Toilet Day will be observed on November 19. It is learnt that GOACAN will observe a ‘Toilets for All’ awareness fortnight to protect the right of the consumer to a clean, safe and functional toilet. Public toilets are of great importance with regards to health and sanitation. Toilets in government offices, hospitals, educational institutions, bus stands and railway stations among other places need to be checked regularly for cleanliness, water-supply, etc. Adequate safety measures, especially in the women toilets, and proper ventilation needs to be provided.
Everyone at some time or the other has had to use a public toilet, however speaking about the toilet is considered as taboo. Many of the toilets, especially at the bus-stands in the State, are in a pathetic condition. At times men are seen urinating in the open in the vicinity of a public toilet either to avoid the foul smell in the toilet or to avoid paying to use the urinals.
It would be desirable not to collect fees for the use of urinals at the bus-stand and other public places. The cost of maintaining the public toilets needs to be borne by the government. Fewer toilets also do not meet the needs of the general public due to the increase in the footfall of tourists. It is a very sad state of affairs that Goa, being a tourist hub, lacks the basic facilities.
Expectations such as toilets, drinking water, sheds and benches not only on the beaches but also in the major cities across the state, are simply not met.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Parliament canteen subsidy
It is really disturbing to know the rates of food items served in Parliament canteen. A MP at present has a three course lunch at mere Rs 38 which a common man or aam admi has to pay Rs 70 or 100 for a thali. The question is, are the MPs really so poor to be given a subsidy on food item which is revealed through the RTI.
It is reported that government faced a loss of Rs 14 crores in2013-14 because of subsidy in half dozen canteens in parliament complex.
The Aam admi is suffering to get two meals per day and our MPs are enjoying food of the tax payer’s money which should be done away with and the same amount can be used for feeding the poor in backward villages of the country.
Diomedes Pereira, Corlim
Election fever, a big tamasha
Just another big tamasha of election. We all know that all parties row in the same boat. It’s a kind of a blame game with all empty promises made by the party candidates, especially broken promises made by the present MLAs. We all are aware that each party ropes in their high command, just to show the icing on the cake, (which can be seen before the election and will never be seen for another 5 years).
Dear Goans, it sounds good to listen to their speech, also family Raaj has to be stopped. It is high time we Goans should teach these politicians a lesson. So please Goans wake up and vote for the right candidate, who deserves to be elected and beware of these so called 40 rogues.
Remmy Alphonso, London
Bitcoin scam and state governance
As expected, the Bitcoin scam that generated political heat in the last few weeks appears to be getting a quiet burial. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai confirmed he did not discuss the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The CM said the PM told him not to bother much about it and instead focus on governance and winning the State for the BJP in the 2023 assembly polls. Modi also comforted Bommai on the recent setback in the assembly bypolls in his home district of Haveri.
The Bitcoin case has snowballed into a political controversy in the State, with the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress firing barbs at each other. This follows the Bengaluru City Police submitting a charge-sheet before a local court naming Srikrishna alias Sriki, said to have high-profile connections, as the prime accused.
N J Ravi Chander, Bengaluru
Goanisation, a fairy tale in employment
If you shower rose petals in most organisations in Goa, certainly the petals will fall on non-Goans, why? Most of the established firms in Goa, think that Goans are susegad and are reluctant to employ them, not really – in my practical experiences – they are the most sincere, god fearing, honest working class among the rest in most firms.
The statistics of top established company like private or public banks in Goa, one will notice that local customises customer experience, which means products are often sold in quantities within the community using language, culture, faith, which is done based on Goans employed marketing the products being counter-productive.
Goanisation breeds cultural respect and appropriation, there is no secret that cultural patterns, religions and norms affect people’s habits, outlook in life, the media they choose and even the products they buy have growth having trust. Let’s look at Verna Industrial Estate, the percentage of Goans employed is unbelievably low, why? And with no cross checks and audit, we cry that the unemployment in Goa is very low – who has elected this process. Are they not we who elected those in power?
Many professionals jobs that Goans can manage are taken care by non-Goans. Goanisation will certainly accelerate business development creating a demand for the products or services to success.
As elections are round the corner, Goans must look for a political party that turns the ‘Fairy Tale’ into dream come true, enabling our own Goans to stand ahead of others by 80% as we have no doubt that we harmless Goans are no more Susegad, but will do a world of Good for Goa!
Gaston Dias, Sarzora
