Dears, The Municipal election fever has caught on. There is at least one politician who thinks I would make a good candidate at the MMC level. I beg to differ. It is not my cup of tea. However, we do need honest people to contest. Those who win should remain in the opposition from where they can ask questions. Re-election is unlikely if one has not generated funds for the next election campaign. One term is in the interest of the electorate. It is enough to drain out the energies of a honest person. Even in an NGO, rare is the person who wants to be re-elected for a second consecutive term. Hardly any NGO has a 5-year term like a municipality. One year is enough to drain you out. Five years should make one want NEVER to go back again.
Join the ruling side and you are a part of the corruption, by action or by default. One never knows which is the lesser evil. Mathany could not back out when the infamous VCD on Goa's Freedom Struggle was issued to schools. He was a part of the government that issued it. Absence of protest amounts to tacit collaboration. I know he was against it. It does not really matter too us as he did not show it by his actions. He did not want to be a hero. He is now not considered a hero. We must do our homework. What exactly is the scope of a municipal council? Cip has pointed out some issues that agitate the citizens but, today, are beyond the scope of a municipality in Goa. Garbage is a municpal item, sanitation is of DHS through the health officer. The powers are so split as to make the work of enforcement almost impossible. The local councillors generally favour the illegal: that is where the generous donations come for their pet causes. Some think that women are more honest; others believe that church going catholics are better; still others believe that convent education or rural childhood breed honesty. Our councillor is a church-going, convent educated catholic woman who grew up in a village. The only difference between the BJP and the Congress to her is ....the one on the ruling side is the better of the two! The things she suffers in total silence for the sake of 'development' in our ward are really terrible. I vote for her for want of a better alternative. It would be nice if some retired government officer, bank/corporate sector manager or even a teacher with some management skills or administrative experience would enter the fray. A municipality is not for the innocents or the uninitiated. One has to understand the intricacies of dealing with the clerical kingdom, aptly called babudom, to get things done. Pious postulations, as is a teacher's wont, gets one no futher than where one started on the first day ;-( ............................. Cip Fernandes [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote > In Goa, to my best of knowledge, services such as water supply, public health and fire services are under the control of Goa State Government and NOT with the Municipalities. > The proposed 'Mapuca Sewage Network and Treatment Plant' feasibility Survey > was carried out in the year 1974 by the PWD. I wonder what is the position of the proposed Mapuca Sewage Network and Treatment Plant after more than 25 years? > Cip> UK > -----Original Message----- > From: Goa Desc > <<Matters such as water supply, public health, fire services, urban > forestry, garbage management, sanitation, parking, roads, street lights, > inspection of eating houses/restaurants, regulation of constructions, markets, safeguarding the interests of the weaker sections, slum improvement etc. need to be handled by the Municipal Councils.>>Roland ................................. Viva Goa. Miguel
