I recall how my health was bad a year ago and I got pneumonia, probably from inhaling formalin at the wholesale fish market. Not easy to forget this.
Anyway, Iva Fernandes broke the rules when she spoke to the media about the presence of formalin in fish. Some say the rules were not broken, and there is a major difference of opinion on this issue. But should she be penalised?
She has probably saved the lives of thousands of people in Goa from declining their health. Is this the way the government wants to thank her? By the way, where is the promised hi-tech testing lab for checking the formalin in fish?
Minister Viswajit Rane has broken his word, and not walked his big talk.
Only penalties for government employees? Are MLAs above the law? No penalty, no fine, no nothing for unfulfilled empty promises even if it is harmful to the health of people who live in Goa?
Isn’t the health of the public important? Is the government inadvertently saying to the public, ‘You are free to stop eating fish if you don’t trust us!’
Iva has been hounded and made to look like a pariah among government employees – more than enough humiliation than is necessary for an act of kindness.
Maybe fish lovers could declare her – Goan of the Year – and she will appear on the cover of Goa Today.
Is it right to penalise her for caring about the health of the people who live in Goa? Was hers an evil act? Is she the patron saint of the fish mafia?
When I was in a hospital in Goa and the doctor would come to see me on his daily rounds, he would ask, “How are you, today?” “I’m fine, thank you,” I would answer, and add, “And you?”
Who knows? The doctor might have eaten fish laced in formalin, and his health might be in danger as a result. I did show my concern by enquiring after his health.
Did the doctor have any idea of the thoughts running through my brain at the time? Can the Goa government reply – with the state of governance the way it is – with a “I’m fine, thank you.” No, it is not an appropriate answer. A more suitable reply is, “I’m fined, thank you.”
People who live in Goa remember only too well how a south Goa MLA stunned everyone when he did a political pirouette by joining the BJP government after he had been criticising it non-stop for more than a year.
Now he is not allowed into the Kala Academy for security reasons. Is there a danger the roof might fall on his head? The good doctor CM wants them kept in quarantine – they are not allowed to leave nor are they asked to stay.
Good ayurvedic medicine for their souls by a skillful doctor?
I wonder if the good and skillful doctor on his daily rounds asks them the all-important question: How are you today?
And, how do they reply?
