The "River Princess" an ageing vessel lying near the Candolim Beach, North Goa, in India, has consumed reams of news print demanding its immediate removal.
Yet as postulated way back in 2000 a) the ship has not broken yet b) the threatened oil spill has not taken place or remains invisible; c) Goa CM Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar promised, unsucessfully its removal in a month; d) legislation was enacted empowering the then Tourism Minister Engnr. Philip Neri Rodrigues (MLA Velim ) to arbitrate on its removal but did not succeed e) the October 2000 BJP coalition government was disolved in late February 2002 and came back to power in June 2002 again on a fractured mandate a la coalition style but nothing seems to happen f)even Minister for Tourism Francisco ( Micky ) Pacheco on assuming office promised its removal yet nothing happened g)the matter is also meandering in the Courts and by end of " Narial Pournima" when happily the fishing ban ends the River Princess will definitely have completed three years of stay in the Arabian Sea leaving the Government the environmentalists and our immature?journalists baffled. And amidst all this uncertainity here is a flash Is the "River Princess" dilemma being replicated yet again in July 2003 but this time in the South Goa District? Commuters on the Cortalim Vasco-da-Gama NH 17A are witness to a vessel suddenly anchored a week ago at the river Front just near the St Jacinto Island at Chicalim in the Cortalim Constituency of Mathany Saldhana. Are the International Maritime Rules being observed in letter and spirit OR is the VIOLATOR mightier then the law makers and the law enforcing authorities? godfrey j. i. gonsalves borda margao goa. ________________________________________________________________________ Send free SMS using the Yahoo! Messenger. Go to http://in.mobile.yahoo.com/new/pc/ ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
