'BEASTIFICATION' OF PANJIM By Rajan Narayan
AND A FEW more stray thoughts and a few more observations for yet another Sunday. For a Sunday following the week when all the initiatives to form a united front against the BJP seems to have virtually collapsed. For a Sunday following the week when the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President backed off from a confrontation on the one time settlement issue. For a Sunday following the week when the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar hid more than he disclosed in respect of the Panjim `beastification' plan. For a Sunday following the week when Mano-harbab tried to deepen the divide between the Romi Konkaniwadis and the Devnagiri Konkaniwadis. For a Sunday following the week when the Gover-nment's fondness and obsession with extra constitutional authorities was exposed. For a Sunday when we have a few suggestions on how the BJP in Goa, like its counterpart in Delhi, could go shopping for some glamour. And a few Stray Thoughts on the collapse of the attempts to forge a united secular front against the BJP. The United Goans Democratic Party, stunned by criticism that it was aiding and abetting the saffron brigade made a counter offer. Rad-harao Gracias, the General Secretary of the UGDP mooted a proposal for a united front against the BJP which would include the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party, the MGP and the UGDP. The only catch was that Radharao insisted that the alliance should be not just for the Lok Sabha polls but for the Assembly Polls as well. The logic being that if the UGDP was to extend support to the Congress or a combined third party candidate for the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress in turn should be willing to forego a certain number of seats in favour of the UGDP in the Assembly elections. The UGDP in fact staked a claim for eight seats in the Assembly elections. Dr. Wilfred D'Souza, who loves political arithmetic games in turn insisted that the NCP should be given eight seats. Not to be left behind, the MGP is reported to have demanded as many as ten seats. If one totals up all the demands of the various non-Congress parties, the Congress will hardly be left with 20 seats. Which obviously is not a very realistic or practical proposition. RUDDERLESS SHIPS EVEN PRESUMING that the number of seats demanded by the various parties are only a bargaining ploy and that eventually they will settle for much fewer seats, the problem is that there is nobody within the Congress Party who is willing to make any kind of commitment. The Congress continues to be a rudderless ship. Worse still, senior Congress leaders are far more obsessed with settling personal scores than with defeating the BJP. Of course, none of the Congress leaders are particularly concerned with secularism one way or the other. All senior political leaders of the non- Congress, non-BJP parties are unanimous that if everyone comes together, they can limit the BJP tally to ten seats or less. Even during the last elections, the Congress would not have lost the South Goa Parliamentary seat and the Opposition would have improved its tally by three if there had been an understanding or an electoral pact between the NCP and the Congress. But the Congress culture is such that it is every man for himself and let the devil take the hindermost. The only leader in the Congress Party who has any credibility is Nirmala Sawant. Unfortunately she is unacceptable because she is far too blunt and forthright and has been inclined to call a spade a bloody shovel. All political leaders, cutting across party lines, seem to have agreed that Goa is in for a spell of prolonged political instability. On the premise that no single party is likely to ever secure a majority of its own. The BJP of course has its own problems. Just as in the last assembly elections, the traditional Congress voters revolted because of the party's insistence on fielding tainted candidates. The BJP is also apprehensive of a similar backlash. Voters in Goa see no difference between the Congress and the BJP in that the BJP has as many scoundrels and knaves as the Congress Party. Manohar Parrikar is aware that many of his colleagues, particularly Mickky Pacheco and Babush Monserrate have become major embarrassments and are making a mockery of his claim to good governance. Whenever any delegation of businessmen or citizens approach Manohar Parrikar to rein in his corrupt colleagues, he keeps offering the excuse that he cannot do so because he has no mandate. Parrikarbab doesn't realise that at the rate at which he's going, he is going to find it difficult to retain even his own seat. MUTE LUIZINHO AND A FEW stray observations on the infamous one time settlement controversy in the Economic Development Corporation. It may be recalled that both the Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and the GPCC Chief Luizinho Faleiro came out with white papers or rather black papers accusing each other of having swindled the EDC. On the second day of the Legislative Assembly session on Tuesday, Faleiro was called on by the Speaker to ask his starred question on one time settlements granted after Manohar Parrikar became the Chief Minister. For reasons best known to Luizinho Faleiro, he did not seem interested in pursuing the matter. Manohar Parrikar is reported to have even challenged and taun-ted him to raise the question that he had given notice for. Luizinho Faleiro chose to strike a philosophical note about much water having flowed down the Mandovi Bridge since the controversy. Never mind that if the Government goes ahead with its `beastification' plan for Panjim city which includes dumping even more rubble into the Mandovi river opposite the Secretariat and at Ribandar, very little water will flow under the Mandovi Bridge. Incidentally the EDC, which had gone on the war path to reclaim vast amounts of money due to it, has suddenly slowed down. It will be recalled that soon after the 'Who looted the EDC controversy broke out?' PS Reddy, the tough former Excise Commissioner, was compelled by Manohar Parrikar to occupy the torture chamber which is the EDC Managing Director's post. Reddy, taking Parrikar at his word, went on a ruthless drive to confiscate the properties of borrowers who had defaulted and started auctioning the same to recover the dues. But obviously in the run up to the polls, any such hard measures are politically inexpedient. I understand that the EDC Managing Director PS Reddy has now been told in writing to slow down on the recovery drive. What is curious is that none of the local newspapers have chosen to report on the duel between Manohar Parrikar and Luizinho Faleiro. And talking about the Assembly proceedings, I understand that Mathany has gone back to his unnir avatar. BEASTIFICATION AND A FEW stray thoughts on Manohar Parrikar's transparent deviousness or should we say devious transparency? Contrary to what Manohar Parrikar may claim in public, he is obviously an avid reader of the Goan Observer. In response to my accusations in Stray Thoughts on the veil of secrecy about plans for the `beastification' of Panjim, Manohar Parrikar, who apparently still waits for Sunday to read Stray Thoughts, summoned an urgent press conference. The various newspapers were contacted at siesta hour around 2.30 pm on Sunday afternoon and informed that the Chief Minister would be holding a press conference at the Mandovi Hotel to unveil the plans for the `beastification' of Panjim. Earlier when Panjim Councillor Patricia Pinto had asked for the plans under the Right to Information Act, she had been told that the Corporation of the City of Panjim and the Goa Infrastructure Development Corporation were outside the purview of the Right to Information Act. At the press conference Manohar Parrikar acted very apologetic about not having shared his grand designs for Panjim with the residents of Panjim. The GIDC handed out plans for the four-lane highway from Dona Paula to the Patto Bridge and beyond. But one crucial part of the plan relating to the reclamation around the Dona Paula jetty for putting up a shopping mall was not disclosed. Apparently for those plans, one would have to apply to Mr. Monserrate, the Viper from Taleigao. Incidentally the architects chosen for various phases of the project are all uniformly undistinguished. There is Rita Modi Joshi who as far as we know is more into interior decoration than urban planning. I know because I attended a meeting of the Interior Decorators Association of which she is the President. There was more dancing than serious discussion at the meeting of the Interior Decorators Association. And not surprisingly, among the architects to whom the fate of Panjim has been entrusted to, is Raya Shankwalkar, who along with Heta Pandit destroyed the Heritage Festival in Fountainhas recently. Maybe somebody should suggest to Parrikar that like the Worli sea link in Bombay he can build a new bridge across the Mandovi. KONKANIWADIS AND A FEW stray observations on Manohar Parrikar's new game plan for polarising Goa on communal lines. Manohar Parrikar is acutely aware of the divide between the Romi Konkaniwadis and the Devnagiri Konkaniwadis. Historically the Romi Konkaniwadis have felt that the Brahmins and the Hindu Brahmins at that have been the largest, if not the only beneficiaries of Konkani in the Devnagiri script being recognised as the exclusive official language of the State. The subsequent decision whereby the English medium primary schools were deprived of grants further angered the Romi Konkaniwadis. Consequent of the decision to make Konkani in the Devnagiri script the official language of the State, the Sahitya Kala Academy refused to entertain literary works in Romi Konkani. More recently, a concession was made and the Sahitya Kala Academy agreed to consider manuscripts in Romi Konkani for the awards with the stipulation that they should be translated and published in the Devnagiri script. At the silver jubilee celebrations of Kala Mogi, an organisation started by Tomazinho Cardozo, Manohar Parrikar virtually instigated the Romi Konkaniwadis to demand that Konkani in the Roman script should also be recognised as the official language. Not that Manohar Parrikar cares one way or the other since he has made no bones about the fact that he is a Marathiwadi. But in the run up to the polls, it suits Manohar Parrikar to divide the Konkani forces. Manohar Parrikar is also obviously hitting back at the Devnagiri Konkani lobby. It is no secret that the Devnagiri Konkani heavy weights are vehemently opposed to Manohar Parrikar. Not only because of his pro-Marathi bias, but also because the Devnagiri Konkani stalwarts have long since seen through the mask and have realised that Manohar Parrikar is a Hindutva fanatic. Most of the Devnagiri Konkani stalwarts ranging from Uday Bhembre to Dutta Naik to Shridhar Kamat and even Pundalik Naik are all staunch secularists determined to counter the saffron plague. There is also the political dimension to Manohar Parrikar's love affair with Romi Konkani and its chief protagonist Tomazinho Cardozo. Tomazinho has apparently become very close to Manohar Parrikar. At the Kala Mogi function, Tomazinho Cardozo kept the crowd waiting for over an hour to start the function as Manohar Parrikar turned up more than one hour late. The rumour goes that Manohar Parrikar is hoping that Tomazinho Cardozo will contest on the BJP ticket against Agnelo Fernandes in the Calangute constituency when the assembly elections are announced. SUPER SPECIALIST AND A FEW STRAY observations on the Government's obsession with extra constitutional bodies. Parrikar obviously does not trust the regular bureaucracy to carry out his orders and to aid and abet him in all his devious schemes. An answer to a question by Ravi Naik elicited the information that the State government has appointed 17 advisors/consultants and officers on special duty from the time Parrikar took charge in October 2001. The Goa Medical College has an Executive Hospital Consultant, Dr. A.K. Singh, who is paid Rs.11 lakhs a year for spending one day a week pointing out that the toilets are unclean. It also has an advisor for the trauma unit, Dr. S.V. Nadkarni, who is paid Rs.20, 000 a month. What Parrikar failed to mention is that Dr. Nadkarni is based in Bombay and the Government pays ten times as much on his air fare whenever he condescends to descend on Goa. In the GMC, doctors are unanimous that Nadkarni has comprehensively messed up the trauma care unit. We know that the general administration in Goa is a mess, but to add to the mess, there is a senior advisor to the government, R.C. Sinha, who is supposed to streamline the general administration department. We are trying to ascertain whether he is related to Shatrughan Sinha or Arun Sinha. Apart from a Senior Advisor, the Government of Goa also has a Junior Advisor, Alban Couto, who gets a salary of Rs.25,000 per month and travelling allowances as applicable to secretaries of the Government of India. There is an Officer on Special Duty in the PWD. But he is only paid Rs.12, 550. Presumably, he is paid less because everyone at the PWD gets a commission on all contracts awarded in addition to a salary. There is also an Officer on Special Duty in the Water Resources Development Department. The Horticulture Department has two advisors, one C.R. Setharam who gets Rs.25, 000 per month and accommodation and airfare to Bangalore and back where he is based. It also has a consultant for cold storages who is paid Rs.25, 000 a month. Presumably his services will be useful when Parrikar wants to put any scheme or minister in cold storage. As a compassionate gesture, Joy Bandekar who was divorced from the Union Minister of State, Shripad Naik, for behaving as though he was Cabinet Minister or the Prime Minister, has been appointed an Officer on Special Duty at the Goa Sadan and gets a salary of Rs.30,000 and Manohar Parrikar's old friend Dr. Prabhu Gaonkar of the IIT Mumbai gets no salary but is extended the status of a State guest. We do not know if he can stay at the Taj Exotica. But Prabhu Gaonkar is a very nice person and is more likely to demand to stay in the Panjim Residency. ADDING GLAMOUR AND A LAST STRAY thought for yet another Sunday. Which are more by way of suggestions to my good friend Manohar Parrikar on how to add a touch of glamour to his government and to his party. We know that Manohar Parrikar is not too happy about the `King of Good Times' insisting on partying in Goa all the time. Manohar Parrikar is even unhappier that he and his cabinet colleagues are looked upon as a colourless lot with the exception of course of Mickky Pacheco. But Mickky is cast more in the villainous mould than the heroic mould. So we strongly recommend that Manohar Parrikar should induct some glamour into the BJP in Goa. If Venkaiah Naidu and Pramod Mahajan can chase Dharmendra and Hema Malini we don't see why Manohar Parrikar cannot persuade Urmila Mataondkar or at least Varsha Usgaonkar to join the BJP. Surely if Varsha Usgaonkar can endorse N.Jal she can endorse Manohar Parrikar as well. P.S.: By an oversight we failed to mention in our story on educational rackets that Vidya Vikas Academy is one of the biggest extortionists and demands between Rs. 20, 000 and Rs.50, 000 for admission. ########################################################################## # 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 # ##########################################################################
