www.oherald.com dated August 13, 2002 TUESDAY TUNES
Parrikar, RSS & Gujarat CHIEF MINISTER Manohar Parrikar was all glee when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Venkaiah Naidu was in Goa on a two-day visit last week. At the press conference as well as at the workers' meetings, Naidu addressed, lauding Parrikar, he said it was the party under his leadership which had reversed the national trend of BJP losing one state after another. Wait a moment, that was not all. He announced that Parrikar would be one of the main speakers for the assembly elections to be held in some states later this year or early next year. To begin with, the BJP should make it a point to take Parrikar to Gujarat as Narendra Modi apparently learnt quite a few things from his Goa counterpart, though it didn't click the first time the party decided to go in for dissolution of the house. Parrikar succeeded against the odds and public opinion on the dissolution issue and would be the right person to advise the saffron organisation there how to get maximum seats. After all, Parrikar takes great pride in being a RSS member! Modi can get a few suggestion from his BJP top brass as to how they managed to get 17 seats and what made a difference for the party to overtake the Congress: use (and misuse) of government machinery especially the police force, appointing the right bureaucrats at the right place, hi-tech media managing campaign and of course, indulging in, at least to some extent, in election "fixing". May 30 elections, witnessed unprecedented "fixing" like match-fixing. DI's 'performance' on Madei CHIEF MINISTER Manohar Parrikar led an all-party delegation to the national capital on July 26 - to meet the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee against the "in principle" clearance given by the Central water commission secretary to Karnataka for diversion of water from Madei (better known as Mandovi in Goa) to Malaprabha. For reasons unknown, the government failed to issue any statement about the talks in Delhi on the issue that day, though this was expected from the self-proclaimed efficient government. Not that the Department of Information and Publicity did not issue any press release on the high-level delegation which visited Delhi. It did. The press release came almost one week after the members of the delegation had returned! The only extra thing, it issued was a photograph of the delegation members with the Prime Minister. Does it take one week for a photograph to reach Goa from the national capital particularly when the government takes pride in e-governance and IT? Naphtha, aag kahi lagi hai WHEN there was a Naphtha leakage at the Zuari pipeline, the Chief Minister is reported to have promptly ordered that the pumping of Naphtha should be stopped till the company worked out an action plan to prevent similar leakages. The company was also asked by the Chief Minister to post security personnel round the clock to ensure that any leakages are promptly attended to. The Chief Minister also has directed the company to conduct extensive hydrological tests under high pressure to identify weak links in the pipeline. There is also talk of asking the company to replace the thirty-year-old pipeline. All of which is of course excellent and the Chief Minister needs to be commended for adopting a tough stand on the issue. But we have only one question. Why was the Indian Oil Corporation not asked to submit a similar action plan when pilferage of petrol was detected. How has the company been permitted to resume pumping of petroleum products even though it is not taken any measures to step up security along the pipeline. Presumably, public sector companies can get away with compromising the safety of citizens. Or is the Chief Minister being indulgent to the Indian Oil Corporation because one of its senior managers is very close to the Sangh Parrivar. Unmanageable cattle menace GOVERNMENT authorities have a strange knack to delay taking necessary action until a catastrophe occurs. Cattle has virtually been on the rampage this monsoon. Several accidents have taken place and a young lady lost her life in Salcete recently due to the cattle menace. The BJP government, apparently, does not want to involve the police men in getting the cattle off the road. Francisco Sardinha had initiated the process of taking care of the menace as a short-term solution. Perhaps the police department may be opposed to it as around 2-3 men in uniform were injured in the Cattle Hatao operation two years ago. The BJP may not want to antagonise the police force by deploying them in handling the four-legged animals on the roads.(Quite understandable as they have worked hard for the government and vice-versa!) For nearly a year, the government has been saying that a scheme is being formulated to take care of the danger to the motorists. One scheme prepared by the department of animal husbandry was rejected by the government as it involved huge funds. Despite the scheme having been revised, the government is still dragging its feet on the matter. One wonders whether the government is waiting for a major mishap to take place on the national highway. Mapshekars blues.. LAST SATURDAY, a function was organised by Dr Digambar Naik to mark the award of ISO 9000 certificate to his Vrundavan Hospital. The occasion saw a gathering in force of all the prominent Mapshekars. It is only then that we realised what a significant role Mapshekars play in the political life of Goa. Heading the list of prominent Mapshekars was of course the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who returns to his home in Mapusa every single day, not before dropping in at his favourite fast-food fruit stall next to the Alankar Cinema in Mapusa. Then there was the former information technology minister and former chairman of the Mapusa Urban Bank, Ramakant Kalap and the present Information Technology Minister, Francis D'souza, who also coincidentally has taken over the reigns of Mapusa Urban. There was Surendra Sirsat former president of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party or Prof. Sirsat as he prefers to be called. There was of course the mass molestor of cricket fans, Dayanand Narvekar, who also has a house at Mapusa, though he represents the Aldona Constituency. It was a gathering of North Goans with the majority being Mapshekars. This is a change since in most functions you only find Sashtikars. The only prominent Sashtikars present were the Power Minister, Digambar Kamat and the Margao based industrialist, educationist Ramnath Kare. It is tribute to Digambar Naik's networking skills that he had the Union Minister of State, Shripad Naik, the Information Technology Minister and the Chief Minister on the dias and the several past MLas from Mapusa and neighbouring constituency off the dias. Congress toomuch to handle AS FAR as the Congress is concerned, at least one decision came faster than expected. Subodh Kant Sahaye, the AICC emissary deputed to Goa, found the wrangling in the party too much to handle as there are too many claimants for the president's post. The incumbent had tendered her resignation after the Congress debacle but her resignation has not been accepted. Though two and a half months have passed since the Congress was pushed to the second position in the assembly, the party is busy conducting post-mortem. The decision which came faster was the election of deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP). Dayanand Narvekar who has been the main opposition member taking government to task on several issues, was elected to the post in its typical style - "unanimously." It is not only for his performance that he has been given that post. Sources in the Congress say that he has proved to the High Command that if all Congress MLAs are united, he has the capacity for a political surgery which can bring Congress back to power. Long-suppressed transfer AT LAST one officer of Goa police service who is admitted to the IPS, will be out of Goa for some time - on transfer. Efforts to transfer him in the past had not yielded any results. The reason: he possess the art of being on the right side of the situation. He has always been known to get close to the Chief Minister's Office. Now, the orders have come once again and he is to go to North East. It seems he cannot get the order changed anymore.During the debate on police administration, only one legislator took digs at such police officers. One question which is being asked is where will the officers have a bash for their senior colleague who is being transferred out of Goa? A suggestion has come to this diarist that it would be better to have it along the coastal belt.North Goa would be preferable. Do you know why? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? 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