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View From The Outer Harbour
By: Thalmann Pradeep Pereira
MUNSHI-PALTI HO ! !
Whenever one used to read newspaper headlines containing the
acronym M.M.C., the first impression used to be that it was some news about
the Vasco-da-Gama Municipality whose official name is Mormugao Municipal
Council. Perusal of the news item, more often than not, revealed that it was
about the Margao Municipal Council. Though the two are geographically
situated about 30 kilometres apart, the content of the news item soon made it
apparent that the two were indeed carbon copies of each other in their reasons
for fame!
The Goa, Daman & Diu Municipalities Act, 1968, provided for the
creation of municipal councils in certain urban towns or areas. Each town or
area would have a council to be known as the (Name of the town) Municipal
Council. The Act envisaged a three-letter acronym for all the councils in
Goa, with the last two letters M.C. being common, and only the first letter
of the acronym being different depending on the name of the town.
The history of the Mormugao Municipal Council has however proved
that in its case, even the last two letters of the acronym have acquired a
different meaning Mormugao Musical Chairs. A visit to the Mormugao
Municipal office reveals that the roll of the names of the Honble
Chairpersons of the out-going Council (2000-2005), is almost as long as the
roll of names of all its Honble Councillors. The predominantly Hindi-speaking
population of the port-town, which usually refers to the Council as Munshi-
Palti, seems to have got it right in a perverse way, in as much as it has
become a place where the Munshis regularly perform their volte-faces.
If the frequent change of Chairpersons continues in the future
Councils, then the Mormugao Municipality will soon run out of wall space to
hang the boards containing the rolls of their names. Vasco-da-Gama may then
have the dubious distinction of having to build a new wall as an Annexe to the
grand Municipal Building, only for hanging all those boards.
The question therefore is whether the new Councillors who will
be elected on 23rd October, 2005, are going to be different from their
predecessors? Wishy-washy political pundits and journalists would have us
naively believe in a turn for the better, based on the public outrage that is
expected to be expressed through the ballot boxes. But mere Public Anger never
brought about any Revolution anywhere in the world. Equally, a mere change in
personnel never brought about a change in mindsets.
Indeed, the common refrain in the reviews of the past five years
of the Mormugao Municipal Council is that no civic work worth the name was
ever taken up. The Councils Budget reveals that almost 90% of the revenue is
spent on staff salaries. So then when nothing was being spent on civic works,
where were the avenues of corruption? Why were there frequent changes of
Chairperson? And if this picture of the Council finances is not likely to
change over the next few years, then why is it that a record 180+ candidates
have entered the fray this time? Even if one assumes that 50% of the
candidates are honest and sincere contenders wishing to do good for the city,
we are still left with more than 90 candidates who are impressed by the riches
amassed by the worthy incumbents and who wish to emulate their success story
in their own personal lives.
The plain truth of the matter is that Vasco is today overwhelmed
by a lobby of Polluters masquerading as Port-Users, who want to
continuously use the Mormugao Port as their gateway for landing or loading
highly polluting cargo. It is they who have been supplying the moolah which
has enriched the aldermen and led them astray. And it is this pot of gold
which beckons so many contenders for the 20 seats. As long as the polluters
exist, the Musical Chairs will continue to exist. The colour which really
threatened Vasco was not the Red of Baina but the Black of Jetty. The real
scourge was never the Cubicles, but the Pipelines and Storage Tanks. AIDS was
never the prime disease in Vasco. Upper Respiratory Tract Infections were, are
and will continue to be the Prime Disease till the Musical Chairs exist.
So while the Munshis will merrily continue with
their Paltis, the real shots will continue to be called by the Maliks.
Till the next Monday, then, Happy Thinking!
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Harbour Times (17-10-2005)
