The Vasco-da-Gama carnaval parade commenced at 1720 hrs and had a fair share of entires of participants who had regaled the audiences at both Panaji and Margao.
This is the usual pattern where the prominent and well sponsored floats move to almost all the cities . In Margao a mammoth crowd turned disappointed as many had to go back to catch their last buses to their respective villages at 200hrs. Further the diversion of traffic which is always chaotic created a scare among the femnine sex, what with reported cases of rape and molestation now in broad daylight. The fury of the revellers at Margao was reflected when one spectator is alleged to have flung a hard object on the organisors mostly the ruling BJP councillors who were camouflaged in colourful outfits. Ironically the object landed on the forehead of an young girl and was seen bleeding profusely, only to be rushed to the Hospicio. This is a sure case where the organisors the Margao Municipal Council and Directorate of Tourism can be pulled up for negligence and demanded to pay adequate compensation for the injury caused to the child. A local NGO is trying to contact the parents to seek reliefs from the Government more as an excercise of caution and restraint when holding similar functions, given that the full constabulary was on duty. The floats at Margao ended at 2035 hrs and the local Cable 2000 a private cable operator which telecast the floats live gave an annoying performance with repeated black outs or repeat of telecast. Unfortunately at Vasco-da-Gama today Police Inspector (Traffic) Mr Dharmesh Angle, of Vasco-da-Gama played spoilsport when he gave oral instructions to the Kadamaba Transport Corporation Ltd not to allow any of their buses to enter in the city after 1500 hrs when the floats would commence. This was a tall dictatorial order and niether the Vasco-da-Gama or Mormugao Harbour were aware of these oral directives. Worst they could not provide access both on Mobile wireless or landline to Mr Angle when this writer contacted them telephonically at 1630 hrs The result was that office goers from Mormugao Port Trust, Western Shipyard ,Customs Dempos Chowgules Syndicate Bank , Food Corporation of India Antartica Office, etc and several Insatitute of Shipbuilding Bogda students had to wait in suspense and after 1720 hrs started moving towards Vasco-da-Gama on foot. It is true that it was mentioned on the local daily The Navhind Times that traffic would not be permitted into the city, but there was no directive that Office goers from Mormugao Harbour would be affected with no transport whatsoever. Only motorcycles that charge Rs.20/- to Vasco-da-Gama from Mormugao Harbour and there are not many public motorcyles on hire at the peak hour.Most of the Headland Sada buses were also moving at skeleton speed or were off the route. At Vasco-da-Gama this writer tried frantically to contact Mr Angle but to no avail. Even the police van with a "Special Task Force" had no access to Mr Angle this was indeed ridiculous. The Road Transport Inspector Directorate of Transport confirmed that at the meeting no decision was taken to stop inbound buses of KTC to pick office goers. As this was the practice for several years and buses moved along Francisco Luis Gomes Road opp the route (Swatantrya Peth ) where the floats enter the city.They laid the blame squarely on Mr Angle. At the KTC bus depot almost all the route buses were re-scheduled their bus timings. The worst sufffers were people from Panaji, Akhada, Merces, and Ponda as unlike the Margao bound office goers who could avail train services others had to fend to themselves. Having walked for more than 5 kms from Harbour they had to literally run or hitch hike lifts. The BJP President and MLA VascodaGama was contacted by the undersigned on his mobile 9822589189 the person at the other end promised to revert back but there was no further contact until 1740 hrs. The Chief Minister is requested to investigate into the cause of this arbitary decision of PI Dharmendra Angle and his not being accessible to the public in times of chaos. It is also pertinent to mention that with vans being provided to traffic and other Police they are often seen lazily tucked in their seat all this "while on duty" It is even more disgusting that the Chief Minister who is the Home Minister does not pull up the officers "ON DUTY " without uniforms or name plates displayed on their person. The Chief Minister should be bold enough to take a consensus of all the political parties to ensure that floats or public functions are not held on roads disrupting life and traffic. He has at the instance of a South Goa based NGO already stopped the "Narkasur" festival being held in front of the Collectorate. It is time now to rid the roads of nuisance. Detaining persons and traffic for the entertainment pleasure of a few in the present changing scenario is viewed with scorn and disgust and should not be repeated but put to an end forthwith. It would also be appreciated if the Directorate of Information makes public the Mobile numbers provided at the cost of the exchequer to the Goverment Junior and Senior Civil Services Officers, and those on essential services duties. It is hoped that appropriate steps are taken before the advent of the Shigmostav to be celebrated in major cities in March 2004. from Swatnatra Peth Vasco-da-Gama Goa GODFREY J I GONSALVES Borda Margao Goa [EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Insurance Special: Be informed on the best policies, services, tools and more. 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