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Remembering Aquino Braganca (b. 6 April 1924), who fought for freedom
of the former Portuguese colonies in Africa. An online tribute
http://aquinobraganca.wordpress.com/ (includes many historical
references, some photographs and documents)
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GOA SWAYS … UNDER SAVIOURS!
By Valmiki Faleiro
Every Goan politico swears by ‘saving’ Goa. Let’s visit an instance of how
that’s done.
What I write may sound like fiction, but believe me, it is not. This is common
knowledge
in the circles of a particular Goa government department, its officers and
contractors.
Among whom I count many acquaintances.
I will name neither the department nor the politician. Bolting horses do not
leave their
hides behind. In the dicey domain of defamation law, I’ll tread on the side of
caution.
This particular politician swore to save Goa. To do that, soon after being
elected, he did
a rapid-fire flip and a flop. For Rs.30 crores, in hard cash. Twenty crores for
withdrawing
support to the government and, in about a month, ten crores for not just
re-supporting
the same government but bedding a milking cash cow, as minister.
This particular department annually spends hundreds of crores for the greater
glory of
Goa. Of every rupee spent, between 10-15 percent goes directly into the
minister’s kitty.
Take a Rs.10 crore project. The system, on paper, works on sealed tender basis.
Any
number of eligible contractors vie to bag the contract. In practice, the
serious one must
trudge Margao’s hillock, Monte.
Here is the government Rest House and some official bungalows – all now
figuratively
private property of the minister’s daughter and her escort. The contractor must
meet her,
but only after surrendering all bugging devices, including mobile camera-phones.
If the contractor is the only bidder for the work, a deal is cracked at 10% (in
our instance,
One Crore Rupees) to be paid to the minister. In case of more than one bidding
aspirant,
as often is the case, the ministerial daughter turns auctioneer of her father’s
'share'
(which could rise to 15-20% of the work value.)
Cash is not passed at Monte, once a lovers’ rendezvous, and eons before, the
route of
demons that tormented Margao. The concerned Executive Engineer must collect and
canalize the ministerial loot. And we complain of bureaucratic corruption!
Mercifully, I have encountered upright officials in several government
departments.
Exceptions, to be sure. But in this minister’s department, every official must
cough up
one percent of project money they handle, esp. around festivals, from Diwali to
Carnival.
For saving Goa.
That’s not all.
Highly inflated tenders are now the norm. Crores are accounted as spent on
projects
difficult to verify, when the actual cost doesn’t cross a few lakh rupees.
Venial, though.
Crores are siphoned out of the public treasury on projects executed and paid
for ages
ago. Internal audit is dead, because ‘Goa’ must survive!
We’ve created another political monster. Like Taleigao in Tiswadi, this one is
set to sway
future electoral fortunes in the historically key taluka of Goa: Salcete. With
his few
hundred crores...
With a series like ‘Goa sways,’ you’d imagine I could go on almost forever, on
Goa’s
myriad ills, from killer mosquitoes to mines. But let’s move on, from what Goa
is to where
she is headed, after coming Sunday. As customary, I will share with you an old
but
inspirational internet story for Easter.
P.S.: Writes an engineer friend about last week’s column … “If water
contamination was
as bad, half of Margao would be outside Hospicio’s overcrowded morgue. Of
concern is:
the Selaulim reservoir, in a mining area, gets manganese in its water. Too much
of it can
lead to kidney failure. Opt for your well water either boiled or through a
reverse osmosis
filter, so you continue writing in Herald dated 1st April 2056.”
P.P.S.: A final farewell to friend, guide and motivator, my former college
lecturer Diogo
Manuel Silveira. Hailing from Goltim-Divar, DMS was brilliant at academics and
was later
Editor at Mumbai’s ‘Free Press Journal’ group. Fit and sprightly, given not to
mundane
vices like booze and smoke, DMS, who would turn 60 this month, suffered a heart
attack
– his first and, alas, last – around 6am, March 31, in Mumbai. He had launched
me into
writing, with a co-signed piece, published in ‘The Navhind Times’ in 1975.
Eternal peace! (ENDS.)
The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330
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The above article appeared in the April 5, 2009 edition of the Herald, Goa
