On Sat, 4 Oct 2003 09:43:15 +0530, "Joel D'Souza" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 'GOA TOMORROW' INAUGURATED: 'Goa Tomorrow', an organisation formed to uphold > the interest of common man was inaugurated on October 2, in Ribandar at the > hands of Rajan Narayan, Editor of Herald. Speaking at the inaugural function > Mr Narayan said that no organisation so far taken up serious issues such as > the public health emergency in Panjim resulted from contamination of the > water pipelines with the hepatitis A and E virus. COMMENT: With the opposition black-mailed into silence, the newspapers muffled and elections years away, the people have to take things into their own hands !! What tangible actions can expatriate Goenkars take to support organizations like 'GOA TOMORROW' ?? > TRAFFIC NORM VIOLATION UNDER CONTROL: The traffic cell, Vasco, booked 23,332 > cases under the Motor Vehicles Act and collected total fine amounting to Rs > 25,03,350 during the last nine months. The cell, during the corresponding > period last year, had booked 6,336 cases and collected a total amount of Rs > 6,69,200 as a fine. The police inspector (traffic cell), Vasco, Mr G B P > Mhapne who took over the charge on January 4, 2003 stated that "the > violation rate of Motor Vehicles Act has come down drastically, as the > traffic cell, Vasco has maintained strict vigil. (NT) COMMENT: In response to Godfrey Gonsalves and Nandkumar Kamat's well written articles........it's unlikely that traffic violations increased 4-fold in a year's time. Going by the law of averages the Vasco traffic cell hopes to rake in 33 lakhs (US$ 70 k) over a 12 month period. Panjim, Margao, Mapusa, Ponda, Marmagoa being the other major towns, the traffic cells can rake in well over 2 crores. (US$ 444 k) in fines. Add to that vehicular registrations, licencing fees, RTO tax on inter-state travel, sales tax on fuel sold in the state and other vehicular means of earning income I am unaware of, the government collects a fair amount of money. The government could invest a certain percentage of that money to improving roads, signage and road safety programs. Maybe these fine organizations in Goa should bring about pressure to bear on the government in place to act accordingly. Another observation - if you hit people in the wallet, they will change their habits and drive more carefully. It's not surprising that Mr. Mhapne is saying the Vasco traffic cell has been successful in reducing the violations this year. On another note: Is there an Auditor-General who oversees the expenditures carried out by the government ?? Somebody who keeps the government's expenditures in check. Best wishes - Bosco ########################################################################## # 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 # ##########################################################################
