The 99 Goa Daily Vol II : Saturday, 15th July 2023
11 pieces of news, which matters most to you in Goa, today.
GOVERNMENT : Tiger Reserve was a done thing, then Who & Why got it scuttled?
An excellent, eye-opening read, about the state of affairs in Goa. Known and promoted for it’s natural beauty, sold as a Paradise, world over by Government of Goa; but no to reserved forests and Tiger reserve. Why?
GOVERNMENT : Ad-hoc planning, random schemes, grand talks; but no vision!
The thing with “Vision Documents” is that they become yardstick of the performance of the state government, for everyone to gauge. It’s a barometer, whose figure no one can deny or scuttle. A government certainly do not want a document, which could become it’s daily headache.Why to do suicide?
While schemes like “Swayampurna Goa” are completely grand talks, with no progress reports, they can be suitable plugged-in, wherever required.
PUBLIC UTILITY : Kadamba Transport a corporation on paper only.
The way, KTCL has been run is a mockery of the word “Corporation”. It is high time, the Chairman and MD both refer to a dictionary to reorient themselves.
Aggrieved employees of any entity, do not make a great workforce. When the workforce itself is dissatisfied, expecting them to deliver a satisfactory service is a “moonshot”; and in the end, it is the thousands of ordinary Goans who suffer, everyday.
Why “Electric” buses are not fully owned, is anybody’s idea?
GOA POLICE : Everything is possible, if you have connections and money.
James D’Souza, a resident citizen of state, knew every trick of the book, in order to escape the clutches of law, until the moment his hubris did it to him, he was almost exceptional.
A person like James, with so much of criminal history, but still being able to evade himself, could have been done only through the power of money and an exchange of favours. All those Police Officers involved in the transgression should be investigated, but definitely this is not gonna happen.
EMPLOYMENT : MoU with Tata Group for reinvigorating ITI’s in Goa is a welcome step.
Surprisingly no commitment of top industrial houses of the state.When the “Apprentice Scheme” has been launched, and the private entities in the state also are supposed to hire in an equal number of apprentices, they are not bothered about by the quality of them.
While the apprentices come cheap, they are still a big drain on the resources, as they need to be supervised and put on job by the entities.Lack of quality applicants would only lead to hire and fire approach by private companies.
CITIZEN SAFETY : How to drive to Guirim from NH66 could be an adventure on “Man In The Wild” show.
Guirim once a picture-postcard of what Goa used to stand for is in an apathy, so is the approach to the green village. While the approach road from Highway was not well graveled even before monsoon, not it is as good as non-existent.
How can PWD Minister expect the two-wheeler drivers to navigate such roads in pouring rain? While, there is no other option, the residents of Guirim must suffer the agonising ride, not only putting their safety at risk, but also, of their vehicles.
CITIZEN VOICE : Mr.Stephen Dias from Dona Paula, uncovers how dumb is the building of the supposedly “Smart City” of Panjim.
Smart City of Panjim being built by totally dumb people, is not a new news, but in this case, Stephen puts it to rest, for once and all.
ELECTRICITY UTILITY : Hiding the inefficiency by raising the power tariff, is the way of working of Goa Electricity Deptt.
Another power tariff hike on the cards, albeit a small one; but matters a lot, and forces one to question, why this public utility is not being made a Corporation?
Huge Transmission & Distribution losses, no service level guarantee, lack f any quality of power supplied whatsoever; but hiking the power rates, every now and then.
Just back from 1st April, new tariff rates were put in place, and now one more. But, Why?
TOURISM : State Government & Forest Deptt + TCP seems to be on a divergence with Tourism Deptt.
“Barefoot Luxury” space is another of the myriad tourist scheme promoted by Tourism Deptt, where the state is almost being smothered by the influx of tourists.
The funny thing is that, what this scheme talks about, but actually what is happening in Goa right now. TCP and Forest Deptt, hell bent on destroying all the green cover with no to Forest Reserves and Eco Sensitive Zones; while the Tourism Deptt wants to show-case the exact same, and call Tourists to experience the same.
The absurdity of lack of commonsense is lost on which Deptt of Goa government is a good one to deliberate.
CITIZEN SAFETY : Hilarious proposal of State Commission For Protection Of Child Rights, to drain of all water from quarries.
Common-Sense is again totally lost on GSPRC, which has recommended the state government to draw of water from laterite quarries, in order to stop the drowning deaths of youngsters and all alike.
The laterite quarries serve as a source of ground water recharge, and how many times does WRD would pump out the water and where, in pouring Monsoon?
Instead of instructing the government or private land owners to completely barricade and restrict the access to them, like iron ore pits.
DEVELOPMENT? : Historic Chapel’s existence being threatened due to dumb planning and dumber execution by Goa PWD.
The danger to historic chapel located at Christianwada on the NH66 highway, is the classic case of how ill-planned and ill-executed “development” is, presently spear-headed in the state.
No sense of regards to basic tenets of historic cultural monuments, which give Goa it’s unique identity; and which made Goa famous world over, in the first place.
It’s not the wide highways, which made Goa a tourist destination, but the Churches and Chapels all across the state, providing a sense of calm and serenity, in the minds of tourists.
