Have you spoken up for Goa?
Deputy Speaker and Cortalim MLA Mauvin Godinho has spoken up for Goa. He has opposed the Navy’s bid to acquire the islands off Goa and the Bimbvel beach on the specious pretext of ‘security’. The Navy can beef up patrolling around the islands or post security personnel, he says, and there is no need to acquire them.
Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik too has spoken up for Goa. He said that the Navy’s grabbing land in Goa must be opposed tooth and nail, and that it takes the cover of ‘security’ for land grabbing that has no provision in the Land Acquisition Act. He has asked Chief Secretary Sanjay Srivastava to take a tough line, and promised to take up the matter with Union Defense Minister A K Antony.
Mormugao BJP MLA Milind Naik has spoken up. “We will definitely not allow any such acquisition,” he said. Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) Chairperson Shekhar Khadapkar has urged people to “vehemently oppose” the acquisition of the islands. “They are Goa’s heritage, and we should preserve them,” he has said.
No security considerations whatsoever are involved. For years now, the Navy has not posted any personnel on the island that is already in its possession. After the 26/11 Mumbai attack, the Navy did step up patrolling in the sea using hired trawlers and its own patrol boats. But it still did not think it important to post personnel on its island. Neither did it repair the broken Portuguese jetty there, so that its patrol boats could reach the island.
It is a comical sight when Navy or Coast Guard boats go to the Navy island. They can neither go to the jetty (it has collapsed) nor reach the beach (too shallow). They wait outside at anchor till a tourist or fishing boat comes along, and then take a ‘lift’ to the island. Ironically, their duty is to make all the picnickers and fishermen leave, but they cannot do this without the help of those they want to evict!
When the Navy finds it unnecessary to secure the one island it already has, why does it want to acquire two more?
MP Shantaram Naik cites another case where ‘security’ reasons cited to refuse land for the expansion of Dabolim Airport turned out to be a ruse. The Navy used the 69,000 sq metres of land it said was ‘vital’ for ‘security’ to build 245 residential apartments (323 more are under construction) for families of those who are not working in Dabolim!
Why has Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, or his ministers, not spoken up for Goa in this matter? And why is Leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar, who has recently been so vocal on matters of land acquisition, completely silent on this issue? The people of Goa are eager to hear from them…
‘Samaj’ semantics
Suppose you were a member of a committee, but bunked more than three-fourths of its meetings. If you were then dropped from that committee, would you consider it an injustice? Strangely, supporters of writer Vishnu Wagh seem to think his exclusion from the organising committee (OC) of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) this year (Wagh did not attend most OC meetings last year) is an ‘injustice’ to the Bahujan Samaj…
Let us not confuse caste with commitment. Wagh has his hands full with the Department of Information and Publicity, the OBC Commission and the Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir. He has no time for IFFI. Putting him on the OC will be an ‘injustice’ for the festival!
