Since Anil Desai has raised the issue of MARG, here are my observations. I am in no way officially connected with MARG, and this is a third party observation no way to be construed as MARG's view. MARG happens to be run by my father Gurunath Kelekar.
MARG was given Rs. 20 lakhs by the Govt of Goa for the year 2009 for educating people on road safety. MARG had conferences and other educational programs in nearly every taluka of Goa the year round. I havent been closely following MARG so I dont know of all the activities conducted, but I attended a premier of a feature film commissioned by MARG called Race which was held in November. The movie was produced by Dnyanesh Moghe, an acclaimed film producer and was superb. It was directed towards the youth who are crazy after bikes and doing racing. It was a konkani colour film, and one that would appeal to today's youth like anything. The plan was to show this film in every school and college in Goa. MARG is run by a few 80+ people, mostly freedom fighters. They take no money for themselves from MARG funds, as far as I know. My father especially lives like a sage; he has no luxurious habits and hardly spends anything and lives completely frugally. As his son, I have no special access to anything. Every paisa that MARG gets is probably tallied at the end of the day on paper as to where it is spent and I am sure this account is available to anyone who desires it. I know this from how my parents used to keep their accounts on a day-to-day basis all their lives. They were in fact very hard on themselves, sometimes not eating if the accounts did not match at the end of the day. One could argue whether it is worthwhile even engaging with today's govt. My father is an independent person and has his own views on that. He cannot stand youth of Goa dying on the streets like fishes. Sure, the CM gets a good amount of mileage from MARG, but I can say that at least this money spent by the govt. is well spent. I am one of the biggest critics of MARG. One question that may arise is --- have the deaths due to accidents in Goa reduced ? The answer is --- this year the deaths reduced but the reduction to be fair was marginal. Obviously, my father is not a road traffic professional and does what he does by instinct. This year the govt. has commissioned a Delhi based organization called Central Road Research Organization to give recommendations on the subject to the Goan govt. But one thing I can tell that my father works from day to night like a possesed guy, and though above 80 he will put thirty year olds to shame with his energy levels. Also, any money that MARG has got from the govt. has been gotten on MARG's own terms and without paying a single paisa of bribe. My father cannot go on forever. He doesnt see any one from the youth willing to shoulder the responsibility as well as being capable. Perhaps that is why the CM has been appointed Chairman of MARG from this year while my father is Managing Trustee. For more details, please contact my father at [email protected] regards, Samir
