======================================================================== Goa's phone numbers change from Nov 10, 2002. Prefix old number with a 2. New numbers will be seven-digit 2XXXXXX (where XXXXXX is the old number). ========================================================================
The recent pointed observations made by the Panaji Bench of the Bombay High Court regarding the Government and the Additional Advocate General Vilas Thali, will be a long lasting shameful blot on the Goa Judiciary. Anyone worth his salt in Mr Vilas Thali's place, would have resigned from the post and upheld the dignity, ethics and respect that people in Judiciary should command. What is more disgusting and outrageous is that Chief Minister Parrikar has come to the rescue of his fan and kin Vilas Thali by virtually politely telling Goan Journalists that the Judges do not know what they say and are committing illegalities themselves, evidence of which Manohar Parrikar claims to have. Nobody should be above the law and judges should be no exception. If Mr Parrikar feels the Judges have erred he has the proper channels to redress his grievance. He cannot and should not have tried to defend Vilas Thali by equating it with another wrong even if it does exist. The Chief Minister cannot tolerate issues of public interest being raised through Public Interest Litigations. He has threatened to amend the law to make it mandatory for anyone filing a PIL to deposit Rs 50,000/-. I hope Mr Parrikar is in his senses and knows what he is talking about. PIL is not Mr Parrikar's creation and will continue in times to come. It is easy for Mr Parrikar to accuse others of being put up to file Public Interest Litigation's. The Chief Minister should speak every word with responsibility and should not utter any loose words as he does not hail from the slums. Filing PILs is time consuming and nerve wracking, leave aside the monetary expense involved. And to top it all you have to endure the threatening calls and unholy comments from certain people, including Manohar Parrikar. In fighting PILs you cultivate a lot of enemies. I have often been cautioned by my friends and well-wishers to take precautions. Life is a journey that could come to a halt any moment and one has to lead a normal life undeterred. The only precaution I felt I should take was to turn down Chief Minister's invitation to serve as Vice-Chairman of the NRI Facilitation Centre to enable me to preserve my inherent right to speak out and fight against the injustices of the Government. It is apparent that people have realised how dictatorial and ruthless Mr Parrikar can be. He has terrorised his political opponents and has bent the rules and his so called ethics to please and accommodate his political chums. When you take up social issues it is presumed that you have political ambitions. From my balcony I have a bird's eye view of the Legislative Assembly and that is satisfying enough. I would not like to get any closer to the place in which our politicians take refuge as legislators, never delivering what they have promised. Aires Rodrigues Ribandar ---------------------------------------------------------- What's On In Goa (WOIG): Nov 06 Children's book exhibn opens, Walkabout, Anjuna... (all weekdays) Nov 06 ArtHouse, Calangute: Chaitali's acrylics on canvas till 19.11 Nov 07 Revision of electoral rolls (till Nov 30) See schedule. Nov 07 Creative science, for children, Goa Sc Centre (till 16.11) Nov 10 Corporate summit on IT and biotechnology, Intl Centre (till 11.11) Nov 17 Goan Engineers and Assoc meet, at Pickering, Canada. Nov 20 Fr Agnelo's 75th death anniversary, Pilar Dec 01 Two day conference, Goa Agenda. IT For Society. (Ends 2.12) Every Sunday: Music therapy sessions at Moira, 5 pm. 278, N.Portugal ----------------------------------------------------------
