Dear Goanetters, Sometime back, Pravin sabnis, an activist of GBA had asked me a question - As a doctor, he had said, what would you do if there was a problem with parts of a body and not the body as a whole. Now it is clear which part of the GBA was malfunctioning.
Some of us had suspected for a long time that our green eyed doctor and convenor of the GBA, Dr Oscar Rebello was taking everyone for a ride. He was and still is a closet supporter of the amazingly forth right and so on and so forth Digu. Then, he had the full support of people like Rajan Narayan, he of the 'birthday largess' fame. You can't blame this poor man. He has just lost a good job and the man has to earn his living somehow or other, hasn'he? This poor man probably finds Hindutva brigade's even in his favourite tipple. Does this really matter? Well, if one reads Soter's letters, then it certainly does. If Oscar Rebello was an ordinary activist indulging in his fantasies, we could have ignored him as yet another 'activist' wanting to do well for himself before doing anything for Goa. However, he has masqueraded as a saviour of Goa because of the support and goodwill of several organisations and scores of activists from all over Goa and abroad. He has betrayed them all and if has an ounce of decency left in him, he should resign now. It is important that the GBA concentrates its efforts on the repeal of the amendment to the TCP act that gives complete freedom to the corrupt politicians to over ride any stipulations in the regional plan/s. Looking in from outside, a lot of activists from GBA appear to be fully engaged with the difficulties Goa faces today and we could trust them to work better with a new leadership. Although we have differed in our views about political parties in Goa, I would reiterate what Rajan Parrikar said last week on this forum. The future of Goa is too important to be left in the hands of either Congress or the BJP. I am alarmed that the residents of Carmona, Aldona, Benaulim, colva, Bicholi etc who have come out in large numbers to foil the evil designs of building and mining mafia have received no support from the BJP, the official opposition party. With Wendell, Remo, Hema Sardesai forming a new forum, the need of the hour is for people from all walks of life to work together to rid Goa of the menace of land scams and 'development' - mainly of the swiss bank accounts of our politicians and their builder and miner friends. Dr Anil Desai, UK
