Well, there *were* "checks and balances" in place pre-Dec 61. That is why, there is a big gaping open space (now called the children's park) in Panjim, the space between what was the Municipal Garden and the row of buildings comprising Singbal's Book House - JohnPaul building.
Funny isn't it? Margao, Mapuca and even Quepem have a proper municipal building, but not Panjim. Ever wondered why? That particular Children's park, where I used to play soccer in the 60s (there was practically nothing there then) was the site of the original Municipal Building. Because it had grown too small to house the ever-growing army of civil servants, it was brought down, and a new construction had commenced, using the new-fangled cement concrete (new fangled for the Goa of the late 50s). It appears that the engineers / builders got mixtures wrong or whatever, and the building came crashing down midway during its construction. The chief engineer was imprisoned for his lack of due care (or so I understand). Then of course the Indian Army came marching in before new plans could be set up, and Panjim was minus a Municipal building, and is so 'til today. This was the story I got from my father. Frederico, Alfred & others could correct me on this story. Cheers, Gabriel. ----- Original Message ---- From: Romeo Ferns <[email protected]> To: "Goa's premiere mailing list, estb. 1994!" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, 25 June, 2009 6:04:27 PM Subject: Re: [Goanet] No rationality whatsoever In response to Dr. Ferdinandos email. I agree with him that the quality of construction of govt projects is poor resulting in failure within a short span of time. When I was talking to a builder in Goa, he blatantly told me that they use substandard materials on govt projects because they want the construction to fail. The reason being that due to huge kickbacks at every level there is very little money left to use good quality materials, This is mainly due to lact of control and accountability on the part of the contractor and the consultant. If there was a strict law that penalises such faulty constructions all through the chain of architects, consultants and contractors with heavy penaltiesm including suspension of license and or jail termsm then may be things will change. But who will bell the cat.?? Godfrey Rasquinha UAE Access Yahoo!7 Mail on your mobile. Anytime. Anywhere. Show me how: http://au.mobile.yahoo.com/mail
