Re: [Goanet]AN IFFI AFFAIR
## # Goanetters-2004 meet in Goa. Dec 21, Tuesday. 12 noon to 2 pm. # # Clube Vasco, Near Municipal Garden, Panjim. Pass the word around! # ## Dear Aires, You are sadly mistaken here. Waterloo??? IFFI phobia ??? I bet you a silver, nay a gold dollar (it it exists) that Ponjekars will vote enmasse for Parrikar come next election, save a few disgruntled, and will be lining up to eat out from his hands, whether they get sewage through their taps or not. And for that (sewage), they will join with Parrikar to blame it all on Luizinho Faleiro a la Pendse Commission on EDC. Cheers Floriano www.goasu-raj.org - Original Message - From: Aires Rodrigues [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: goanet@goanet.org Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 8:24 AM Subject: [Goanet]AN IFFI AFFAIR ... It was expected that with the IFFI phobia off Chief Minister Parrikar's mind, the administration would return to normalcy and that the Government would have the time to ponder on other pressing problems gripping this tiny but very corrupt state. But with the next IFFI also being hosted in Goa it is clear that IFFI and IFFI alone will weigh on Mr. Parrikar's mind. Aires Rodrigues Ribandar
[Goanet]AN IFFI AFFAIR
## # Goanetters-2004 meet in Goa. Dec 21, Tuesday. 12 noon to 2 pm. # # Clube Vasco, Near Municipal Garden, Panjim. Pass the word around! # ## The 35th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) is over. It was held in Goa. To some it was a feast to others it was a nightmare. Some politicians and their contractor chums must be still feasting over the quick dividends they have amassed and are still swallowing by ensuring they hurriedly executed works for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). But the people of Campal and densely populated Miramar are still recovering from the 11 day trauma and ordeal they have had to undergo due to the noisy and chaotic IFFI which was held in their vicinity. I salute the people of that area for having patiently and peacefully endured the pain. Anywhere else in India the organizers of such a show would have had to run for cover. Goa was chosen as the venue for the 2004 IFFI on political considerations. So was also almost everything focussed at Panaji to allow Goa's Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar some political mileage in his constituency? One get's a feeling that Assembly elections may be round the corner! The Government instead of focussing on priorities of good roads, uninterrupted power supply, adequate water supply and a decent health care for the local people chose to drain over Rs 120 crores to help the film industry, which is already one of the richest. So obsessed has been our Chief Minister with IFFI. It would have been appropriate that to begin with the IFFI idea should have been discussed within the Goa Legislative Assembly. Besides there should have been consensus within all political parties and leading NGO's. What was the need to steam roll such a mega project. A delay by a year or two would not have brought heaven's down. A well-planned IFFI might have made sense. But Manohar Parrikar likes to have his way. He has shown that he does not believe in the basic tenets of democracy. He has no time or the patience to consult and take others into confidence. This his own cabinet colleagues will vouch for. They may be 13 but they have nothing to do or any say in their portfolios. It is the Chief Minister who manages and manipulates it all. And the film world wants Goa as the permanent venue for IFFI. Where else will they get such hospitality. They were all treated like royals at taxpayer's expense. They had the best of it and will look forward for some more of it next year. The Government should have come out with a white paper as to in which way IFFI would be beneficial to Goa and Goans. Compared to the inconvenience and chaos the locals have had to endure we would have to see whether it was worth it. However a particular section of Goa's majority community has definitely made hay in the name of the IFFI bonanza. They have anyway had the last laugh ever since Manohar Parrikar assumed office as the Chief Minister has ensured that his community makes the best of it. The whole Government machinery was engrossed in IFFI. Infact most of the administration had come to a standstill. A forced holiday for governance which was infected with the IFFI virus. Will it be an annual trauma that will be forced on Goans? The organizers have been boasting about the thousands of registered delegates. It is public knowledge that most registered delegates were locals some of who had nothing to do with films but assembled as loyal BJP workers to ensure that the show goes on. Even a naked eye will record that most of the activities of the 11-day show had nothing to do with a film festival. Any and all entertainment under the sun was juggled up to the menu. With even a Kite festival loosely tagged to the fag end of the film festival. A film festival has to be serene, serious and business like. What we have seen was organized chaos and a noisy mela. If the government taught it could mislead the local people and the youth in particular they were mistaken. Nobody was and is against IFFI. What is and was rightly objected was the manner in which the idea of IFFI was bull dozed. No transparency and no consultation whatsoever. Nobody was involved. It was a one-man show and only Mr. Manohar Parrikar knew as to what was happening. The least that was expected was that at least the Corporation of city of Panaji would have been consulted on such a mega project being organised in their backyard. The reap of the project were so huge so why did the Chief Minister hesitate to share some crumbs with the Corporators of the City of Panaji at least for the sake of protocol. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar should publicly apologize to the people of Panjim and its surrounding areas for the grave 11-day inconvenience caused to the residents due to the mismanagement in holding the IFFI. Goans also have a right to know as to how
