Dear fellow Goans, The seasonal moans and groans of Floriano over the recent developments in GBA are to be expected. We cannot forget this weekend with Goans realising how Fr. Maverick's remarks made in private got twisted out of context in public. It's impact has been felt by the newspaper vendors with their regular customers removing one publication from their order list. As usual the compulsions of a politician like Floriano who carries the burden of a political organisation cannot be expected to risk talking the facts these days. The stakes are damn high and the exchange rates are booming as some of the political party sponsors have gone in panic mode and are in a desperate hurry to get the RP 2021 off the ground. Over night corruption seems to have dissappeared in governance thus putting the Nitoll Jinn in a jinx. The campaign by jagrut Goem against Taleban de Taleigao just yesterday has sudddenly gone into cold storage last week. And we cannot forget that If media persons can be hired to distort the facts and cast suspicions over people's movements, it is not at all suprising that Floriano has mysteriously forgotten about the then Convenor of GBA having swallowed his own words a couple of days later and accepted the collective reservations on the interim report. No one can overlook that one prudent Pradnya only consults builders and officials to reach her conclusions in an article claiming that Gram Sabhas have no powers to oppose mega projects. Now vigorously agitating for devolution of powers also seems to have been conveniently disowned by Floriano as it is no more beneficial these days. Floriano bab forgets that Goa is a small place and so his neighbour's sound system disturbs him into invoking the Madhya Pradesh Act and similarly latest exchange rates get echoed at the tintos. Migrant settlers claiming to be champions of the goan cause are also desperate to propagate that the growing incidents of goans demanding their land rights are unconstitutional. These are the days to make hay while the sun shines because tomorrow may be a gloomy day with the effects of global warming on the goan people already being felt by builders and migrants in the coastal villages.
-Soter D'Souza
