[Goanet] Fwd: Goa CM's Rs 32.68-Crore Advertising Largesse Ensures He’s in Firm Control of Media
-- Forwarded message - From: Pushpa Iyengar Date: Fri, Jun 23, 2023 at 9:05 AM Subject: Goa CM's Rs 32.68-Crore Advertising Largesse Ensures He’s in Firm Control of Media To: Pushpa Iyengar , Lionel Messias < lionroars@gmail.com> https://thewire.in/media/pramod-sawant-goa-media-advertisement-spending-crores Goa CM's Rs 32.68-Crore Advertising Largesse Ensures He’s in Firm Control of Media Pramod Sawant's bloated budget has helped sugar-coat media coverage around his person and leadership. Recently, the Goa edition of Lokmat ran over 14 pages of his birthday ads [image: Goa CM's Rs 32.68-Crore Advertising Largesse Ensures He’s in Firm Control of Media] Pramod Sawant. Photo: Twitter/@DrPramodPSawant [image: Devika Sequeira] Devika Sequeira <https://thewire.in/author/devi> GOVERNMENT <https://thewire.in/category/government/all> MEDIA <https://thewire.in/category/media/all> POLITICAL ECONOMY <https://thewire.in/category/political-economy/all> POLITICS <https://thewire.in/category/politics/all>22/MAY/2023 Panjim: Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant turned 50 on April 24. The personal milestone fetched him “special” interviews in almost all the local newspapers with some exceptions. <https://bit.ly/3QwybO3> Travel Tips क्यों ना इन छुट्टियों की जाये Indo China Border की सैर _ Travel Nfx 02:02 PreviousPauseNext <https://vidverto.io/> 00:12 / 03:55 Unmute SettingsFullscreen Copy video url Play / Pause Mute / Unmute Report a problem Language Share Vidverto Player <https://vidverto.io/?utm_source=vidverto.io_branding&_medium=thewire.in> In the English daily *O Heraldo*, Sawant’s birthday interview made it to the top of page one, as it did in the Marathi newspaper *Navprabha*. Preceded by full-page ads that glorified him to almost cult status à la Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister’s golden anniversary interview found space on page three in the *Navhind Times* and *Lokmat.* The Goa edition of *Lokmat *scored over 14 pages of Sawant’s birthday ads – there were six full-pagers in *Pudhari* – gushing in fawning admiration for the once backbencher BJP MLA <https://thewire.in/politics/bjps-pramod-sawant-to-take-on-mantle-of-goa-cm-say-reports> who has quickly picked up the art of self-projection and media management. Goa’s print media were not the only ones obsequiously falling in line to cover the non-news event of a politician’s birthday. Homegrown digital players, most of which exist only on social media, went a step further to provide live feed of Sawant cutting his birthday cake at his home in Sanquelim. The “enterprising” *Goa News Hub* even managed an “exclusive” interview with the chief minister’s father, Pandurang Sawant who welled up over his son’s childhood and his unlikely climb to the top after the former defence minister Manohar Parrikar’s death in March of 2019. Till last year, *O Heraldo* which claims to be “the largest selling English daily” in Goa, had hitched its media group to almost exclusively promote Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress party in the state’s February 2022 legislative assembly election <https://thewire.in/politics/after-thwarting-bjp-in-bengal-mamata-banerjee-heads-to-goa> . When that partnership sank with the TMC’s zero score in the Goa election, the newspaper did not hold back its punches. With stinging and editorialised reporting it blamed TMC for not holding its end of the bargain and for “forcing” Luizinho Faleiro to give up his Rajya Sabha seat. Faleiro who had moved from the Congress to TMC in September 2021 with an eye on the Goa February 2022 election was elected to the Rajya Sabha in November 2021 from a seat vacated by a TMC MP. Goa’s print and broadcast media have a long-standing reputation for peddling promotional content as “news” with little compunction, particularly during elections. The regional media’s notoriety as purveyors of “paid news” has found a smart investor in the chief minister who is proving to be far more hard-nosed and wily than his critics had given him credit for. While the Union government has cut down drastically on its media advertising expenditure <https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/12/21/modi-government-drastically-cuts-spending-on-advertising-its-schemes-news-providers-are-hurting> in the last few years, with most legacy media brought to heel, Sawant has given himself a bloated budget to sugar-coat media coverage around his person and leadership. Between April 2020 to February of this year, the Goa government spent over Rs 32.68 crore on advertisements to media organisations big and small, according to documents tabled in the state’s legislative assembly on March 27, 2023. In response to a question from Aam Aadmi Party MLA Venzy Viegas, Sawant said no agency had been appointed to “publicise” government schemes, but this was being done directly through government ads released by the state’s department of information an
[Goanet] Luring women with bribes
These bribes go directly to the husbands. From the class of recipients, the husband who wont do that, is not yet born in all of India. This should stop including giving tickets to women at all levels of political life. All the so-called ST's elected are rich beyond the average middle class like me. Look around, u know what I mean. Also with the exception of a known few, their husbands actually run the show -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com April 26, 2020
www.goanspirit.com April 26 online edition Rollback Sawant Remember letting shops open for a limited time soon after India went into lockdown and how the reasons for it backfired because of the crowding? During the corona virus crisis alone, Sawant issued a direction a day virtually and then modified it multiple times. He was willing to risk the life of Goans by being adamant on holding Zilla Parishad polls till the lockdown by Modi forced him to retreat. He has now been criticised for being too hasty to declare Goa as being Covid-19 free read more Pension Pandemic Lion Roars What this means is your ‘Honourable’ MLA is entitled to a minimum pension of Rs 50,000 after just one term, while you work your butt off for a minimum of 8 hours per day. Just before Parrikar died, he agreed to increase MLAs salaries and so Rs 13.5 cr of your tax bucks was spent (some would say wasted) on salaries and pensions. Then there are the add-ons and junkets, My question is, do our MLAs past and present deserve their big pay days considering how rich they are? read more -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com April 12, 2020
April 12, 2020 www.goanspirit.com Sawant needs fiscal discipline post Covid-19 In these Covid -19 crunch times, The TO Do list for CM Sawant includes scrapping the sheer extravagance of building the 75 mt tall administrative building, postponing IFFI, which is a drain on the Goan tax payer, for 2 years, solving the debilitating issue of GIDC paying Rs 1 lakh per day as interest, taking back the Rs 26 crore owed by Meta Strips and sacking the 30 per cent government employees who own private businesses financed no doubt by their ill-gotten gains. A blast from the past The more things change, the more they remain the more things change, the more they remain. And so it is with GIDC and the lie that Goans are preferred for employment in industrial estates. GIDC continues to be corrupt and non-Goans get all lucrative jobs. You'd think MNCs/big players make huge investments but Goan contractors are lucky if they get some tertiary contracts in what are basically assembly line units. Also, it is amazing how Goa’s various rungs of the Mafiosi work in the twilight zone and the power they wield. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com March 29, 2020
www.goanspirit.com A memorial or monumental blunder March 29, 2020 Goa is so insignificant although many tourists descend here for the sun, sand and fun that no national news even mentions how it is being affected by Covid -19. And CM Sawant is floundering whereas he was sure of himself about Parrikar's memorial on Miramar beach and allocated Rs 10 crores. Parrikar himself went by the committee that studied construction on Miramar beach and backed off. Sawant is deaf to protests from environmentalists and people who demanded a cancer hospital instead. Lion Roars Road engineering at its worst When it comes to road building, it appears that the Goa government is totally at sea. Many times including outside the Dabolim aiport, it seems to be a "mis-planned" activity. It is clear that the BJP government is failing to plan these projects before execution and there is “continuous return to the drawing board to re-visit the design multiple times”. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com March 15, 2020
Goanspirit Newsletter for March 15,2020 Is Mauvin Godinho not anti-national? March 15, 2020 Congress accuses Mauvin of interfering in the MPDA meeting last November to reject the Colour Code Plan by the Navy to protect the funnel zone of aircraft from high-rises. In fact, the court says the MPDA and Panchayat affidavits create the impression that they are interested in protecting structures regardless of aviation safety. The Court has directed the navy to file compliance report on action against constructions in survey No. 60/2 of Chicalim, before 7th September, 2020. A Bitch of a Beach March 15, 2020 While anyone who lives in Colva will point out to the polluting hotels/shacks, the consensus of the GSPCB on paper at least is that hotels have contained pollution! Yet shockingly, it found BOD of water samples collected from both upstream and downstream of the Colva creek exceeded permissible levels. Many hotels operated without consent under the Air Act, Water Act and Hazardous Waste Authorisation. No shack had GSPCB consent and all simply disposed ‘wash waste water’ in open land. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com
Goan Newsletter January 19, 2020 Please Spare us your whining Please save me your angst, I am not calling for suicides of those affected by no mining and the dip in tourism, just stating the difference between crocodile tears and reality. In plain English, tourism does not help all Goans as the media’s stories tell you and Michael Lobo’s almost daily rant makes it out to be. What I am saying is both the tourism and mining industries in Goa got greedy and dived headlong into the mess both created. Greed for money has taken over. Dunce Cap Government Lion Roars The BJP government does not mind being rebuked by the NGT but will not fall in line. Because fines are paid by your tax money. Another Rs 68 lakhs are due when the case on illegal structures on beaches comes up for hearing on January 21, 2020. EX-CM Manohar Parrikar vetoed setting up a bench in Goa saying it would be a financial constraint and would not have enough work. But since it was set up, the NGT’s Pune bench has passed more than a 100 judgements in Goa-related matters. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com December 7, 2019
Nauxim, lies, lies and more lies – 2 In the second and final instalment about the web of lies in the EIA of the Nauxim Marina, GS questions whether MPT has a commitment to Goa. AHOY will do what it wants, because Goa is open season for any outsider with big bucks. Kargwal is just a realtor that will plunder Nauxim and take away the fishermen's essence. And Goa, already weighed down by over construction has a callous government which has ignored entreaties to dredge the Sal river but is gung ho about AHOY's plans. Lion Roars Sawant’s Development Pollutes Sawant is constantly targetting NGOs and activists about creating hurdles in his development agenda. But when it suits him, he shoots from their shoulder as he did when he unleashed his "political vendetta" against Vijai Sardesai. In any case, Sawant like all politicians cares a fig for the environment going by the tonnes of cement, which is hugely polluting, he is pouring in to fulfil his so-called development which includes building gigantic bridges. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com November 23, 2019
Nauxim, lies, lies and more lies – 1 Till date it has not revealed details of the tender. Such disclosures could prove that it was not fair, a charge the MPT must take blame for. In one tone AHOY talks about yachting, in another, about boats and in a disturbing voice about stays for both foreign and domestic tourists. Is it really a marina for yachts and as the firm’s name also implies or, is this just a cover-up for now; pending the real intended plan to be unveiled of a project for pleasure cruises for domestic tourists? Goa, a failed state Lion Roars Would you dare give intelligence inputs, considering your police can't be trusted with such sensitive info; also why have police then? A sample of insight into ministers' minds is Transport Minister Godinho saying his government was contemplating the use of AI to catch traffic violators! If the Modi government could'nt ban the Rs 30,000 crores packaged water bottle industry after initial bravado, Cabral too got cold feet over banning manufacture of plastic bags. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] Please Post
Goanspirit Newsletter for November 8,2019 Lion Roars Broadband Funnies So, when all else fails blame rain gods. That's what Nitin Kunkolienkar and Nilesh Cabral did for poor internet and power. Gajanan Electricals and Gwave are two connectivity providers. But, Gajanan is prohibitive and his service sucks. Gwave is excellent. Vinsan Graphics has made crores in ads and hoardings for Grape Escapade and IFFI for decades. We all know Mauvin Godinho has spent a lifetime critising NGOs when they had opposed the navy. Now he is targetting it fighting for his fav buildings. Goa's Big Bazaar for Sex -2 November 8, 2019 The fact that the prostitution racket has burgeoned in Goa is indicated by people’s anger and villagers becoming vigilantes because authorities refuse to act as they are paid off. Goa is not only a destination state, almost 12 per cent of Goan woman too have been victims of CSA. And it has also spread to the interiors. Goa's image projected by the government and tourism industry as a place where booze, drugs and girls are available, has led to the proliferation of CSA here. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com
Goanspirit Newsletter for November 8,2019 Lion Roars Broadband Funnies So, when all else fails blame rain gods. That's what Nitin Kunkolienkar and Nilesh Cabral did for poor internet and power. Gajanan Electricals and Gwave are two connectivity providers. But, Gajanan is prohibitive and his service sucks. Gwave is excellent. Vinsan Graphics has made crores in ads and hoardings for Grape Escapade and IFFI for decades. We all know Mauvin Godinho has spent a lifetime critising NGOs when they had opposed the navy. Now he is targetting it fighting for his fav buildings. Goa's Big Bazaar for Sex -2 November 8, 2019 The fact that the prostitution racket has burgeoned in Goa is indicated by people’s anger and villagers becoming vigilantes because authorities refuse to act as they are paid off. Goa is not only a destination state, almost 12 per cent of Goan woman too have been victims of CSA. And it has also spread to the interiors. Goa's image projected by the government and tourism industry as a place where booze, drugs and girls are available, has led to the proliferation of CSA here. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] Read October 11 edition on www.goanspirit.com
*The media nexus* *October 11, 2019* *Lion Roars* No sooner TTAG celebrated the GST reduction it went for the small guys, the owners of unlicensed guest houses. Will it take on OYO and Airbnb? Of course not. In comparison to Goa’s miserable performance at the PATA awards, Kerala won three PATA golds. Of the 15,500 RTMs which has become the mainstay of its tourism policy, 13,500 units are led by women. In contrast Goa has become better known for its sex tourism. *Goa’s Big Bazaar for Sex -1* *October 11, 2019* *Pushpa Iyengar* “Some burn us, some pull our hair. They feel since they have paid, they can do anything," is a poignant account. Trafficking to Goa, saw a reduction in the last 5 years from the NE but Maharashtra, WB and Delhi were the top two source states. Among the 353 rescued, 298 were Indian and 55 foreign. Earlier, limited to hotels/massage parlors, now prostitution is practiced in residential areas, Being tech-savvy in CSA has become a curse. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com September 27, 2019
Goanspirit Newsletter for September 27, 2019 The rich become MLAs Lion Roars Michael Lobo claimed his was a rags to riches story. Certainly riches for him, but as a result he nudged some into a rags situation. He began as a land broker, who in Goa, is a much bigger beneficiary than the govt. Thus the legend was born and he now owns a construction company currently into over 40 projects, a travel agency, the Baga Deck which locals claim falls within 500 metres of CRZ , the Terra Paraiso among others. Karnataka Goans Association plugs into nostalgia While KGA is more geared to the older Goans who live in Bangalore, there are two or more groups which are more geared to the youth and the transitory Goan in Bangalore. It is driven socially and that means it forms a safety net for the old Goans who are in homes, the very young for educational support whether in school or college, the young out looking for jobs and in general, the ones not so privileged. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] The Goanspirit newsletter for September 13, 2019
The Goanspirit newsletter for September 13, 2019 To the Manor Born -2 By Lionel Messias September 13, 2019 An aggressively enterprising politician he has been on the fast lane always. He bought 14 properties in God's Own Country apart from all that he acquired in Goa during his term as chairman of GIDC. His list of houses, property and offices is astonishing for a class 8 pass-out. Now a Delhi resident has gone public with bribe accusations against Kavlekar in his new avatar as TCP minister for converting his property which had all the 'criteria of being classified as settlement zone'. Lion Roars September 13, 2019 If Vishawajit Rane's tweet itself was not meaningless trivia and obfuscation; then what is? What about the painful circus of having a CM run the State from at least three hospitals for a year, one of which was in another continent? Rane clearly drew the Laxman Rekha between the working class and the political class. So, to say that MLAs are working for the people just is not convincing. Is there a Panchayat that has not played the toppling game? -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com
Goanspirit Newsletter for August 29, 2019 To the Manor Born -1 Lion Roars JNNURM was to improve the life of citizens of the concerned State, not tourists. But in Goa, it has been used to underwrite buses to ferry tourists from the airport! As privileged is crorepati MLA Pratapsing Rane, who declared assets of Rs 50 crores in 2017, but availed of a house and car loan of Rs 45 lakh. Also entitled is Mauvin Godinho who has at least five cars in his garage and property everywhere but took loans of Rs 45 lakhs. And bought a Rs 10 lakh Ducati at the ripe old age of 56! A sweet tooth that Sridhar indulges Pushpa Iyengar in Bangalore The famous chef earned the “godambi” tag because he would garnish all dishes with cashew nuts. The right-angled table in the community hall was groaning with divine sweets, melt in the mouth savouries and tickle your tastebuds masalas. At Gokulasthami he is much sought after by the members of the Iyengar community who can find his hub because the aroma wafting from his kitchen leads you by the nose! -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com July 14 edition
Sawantisms (August 14, 2019) Sawant wants to allow four liquor bottles with permits for tourists, but it only helps them to haggle over the bribe amount. Babush told the revenue minister/ wife, Jennifer, “I doubt your labour officials have even entered the casinos.” When rebuffed by her, he retorted, “The casinos don't even allow the cops to enter.” “Voters will throw him into the sea not to survive, but to be devoured,” Congress' Trajano said Fisheries Minister whose ignorance was for all to see .Read More CREEPY CRAWLIES (AUGUST 14, 2019) Lion Roars "And on the emerging angst over migrants, it appears Dy. Speaker Isidore Fernandes is a foreigner. He reportedly got a Portuguese passport on April 22, 2014! CM Sawant entered the Hall of Blame by blaming NGOs (he claims there are 3,000 regd.and 2000 not regd) for blocking development in the assembly. Blaming NGOs was also Parrikar’s pet peeve Btw. Now development as we know is, for eg. demolishing a part of the iconic Kala Academy and asking GIDC to rebuild a monolith there." ... Read More “The work order for preparation of the CZMP was placed with NCSCM on 29.03.2016 by the Department of Environment (Ref. No: GCZMA/GEN-MISC/13-14/1971) for a quoted amount of Rs 1,11,26,538, indicating the time line for preparation was 6 months. As per work order issued the CZMP was expected to be completed within 6 months, but three years later there is no plan.” -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com for July 30, 2019
www.goanspirit.com SAWANT=No jobs for Goans The CM says 80% reservations for Goans in industries cannot stand the test of law. First pass the law and show us how Goemkarponn you are. Jennifer Monserrate says it's a major policy decision; how is helping ethnic Goans that? Have not BJP govts broken environment rules defying Central regulations, their own regulatory laws while licensing big building constructions ? Did Parrikar not mock the SC order banning bars on national highways, by converting certain sections into State ones? The drug-related foot and mouth malaise of CMs Lion Roars Pramod Sawant blamed parents for their children getting into drugs and defended his police force.Earlier in 2017, Parrikar said in the Assembly that MLAs should refrain from making sensational comments on Goa’s drug use. Media never tire of defending tourism stakeholders as suffering from financial losses. But you barely read anything on Goa's destruction, social disturbance and garbage menace caused by the tourism industry on the other primary stakeholder, the ethnic Goan, you and I. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] www.goanspirit.com
July 16, 2019 edition of www.goanspirit.com GIDC: Goa’s Intensely Destructive Company GIDC's mega projects have changed Goa's topography for the worse and the so-called infrastructure projects have never tendered directly to companies. When you control the prescriptions for vitamin M, why care? GIDC has spent Rs 27.83 crores on the abandoned Ravindra Bhavan at Sancoale. CAG's report said GIDC’s failure to finish the Margao Hospital on time resulted in a Rs 68.76 cr loss. Incidentally, the High Court called the SEZ scam illegal in a “manner not known to law." . LIONROARS A Temple Run It’s one thing for BJP karyakartas/MPs to chorus “Jai Shree Ram”, as a taunt, but Goa has been witness to Catholic MLAs carrying appeasement of their new masters to limits that would make the average Catholic cringe. Vjai who was stunned at having the rug pulled by CM Sawant, has withdrawn his 3 GFP MLAs and is whining about how Sawant has gone against Parrikar’s “legacy”. Parrikar had shown how to cling onto power no matter what, only Sawant has done it more forcefully. There's many a slip between the cup and the lip. Here's mine in the last issue: http://goanspirit.com/has-ttag-lost-the-plot-already-3 -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
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June 4, 2019 Read about the sordid Sonsoddo story. A recap on how politicians have actually used the stinking mess to gain brownie points THE WEEK THAT WAS What has also been the problem is that every incoming government has its own friends to give the contract of the dump to and they would rather let Goans down, but not their crony capitalists. An example was when Urban development minister Joaquim Alemao had visited Sonsoddo during the 2009 fire and had hotly contested any criticism about Hyderabad-based Hyquip saying, “It had worked quite efficiently and I can vouch for that. It was the delay on the part of our government to make payments to them in time that the problems arose for Hyquip.” ... LIONROARS The Economic Development Corporation of Goa has just invented a personal loan scheme for all state/central government workers, corporations, public sector undertakings (PSU), regular teachers/employees of schools, colleges and government aided schools. Here’s the fun part, the loan is for buying vehicles and not for the purposes you thought as you read the above. It gets weird. The Economic Development Corporation of Goa has just invented a personal loan scheme for all state/central government workers, corporations, public sector undertakings (PSU), regular teachers/employees of schools, colleges and government aided schools. Here’s the fun part, the loan is for buying vehicles and not for the purposes you thought as you read the above. It gets weird. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
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MAY 21, 2019 Lion Roars Vijai will have to “weaponise” himself against the BJP Deputy Chief Minister Vijai Sardessai might have to “weaponise” himself now that the BJP’s strength has gone up by three. It won 13 in 2017 and its manufactured strength after the two MGP MLAs Manohar Ajgaonkar and Dipak Pawaskar (and earlier, the two Congress MLAs) defected in March became 14, but 21 is still the half-way mark. It could be a question of not “if” but “when” the same fate that befell his bête-noire and fellow deputy CM, Sudin Dhavalikar, who was ousted from the cabinet unceremoniously, could await him HAS TTAG LOST THE PLOT ALREADY? – 2 Freebee for rich tourists The Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) plans to run a bus service between Dabolim airport and Mobor soon for what obviously is intended to help high-end tourists and a continuation of the war the government has had with “the bad boys of the taxi trade”. As a tax payer, this will become an additional burden on you because the KTC already has an exclusive tourist service from Calangute and Panjim to the airport at a measly Rs 150-100. In any other tourist destination in the world, business sense would have dictated that the rate would be at least five times that (in the local currency) and this (times five more figure) would still be less than a third of the cab fare in that particular country. The Tourism and Travel Association of Goa (TTAG) naturally did not object.. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goanspirit, Goa's Spirited Online Fortnightly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
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www.goanspirit.com Lead Article HAS TTAG LOST THE PLOT ALREADY? – 1 (New Series) "Tourism & Travel Association of Goa's latest rant now is about the foreign junkets by the tourism department and minister. This is not the new normal. It is as old as when Goa’s tourism grew into an industry entirely motivated by personal gain while stumbling forward without a vision. In fact the stakeholders have turned their backs on the degradation of beaches beaches and tourism which is turning away the good tourist. Which is why TTAG needs a scapegoat. Grandiose plans, all commercially unsound and risky, have been made at great expense by consultants from outside Goa and put on ice." LIONROARS ..‘Adaptive reuse’ Yeah. Those two words I love. Takes me back a long time. The Times of India reported that the “much awaited restoration work of the Sakhali fort will start soon”. The focus will be on “recreation space for senior citizens…as well as space where small events can be hosted” - reported on April 29 titled ‘Sakhali fort restoration to focus on adapative reuse.’ Senior citizens. Seriously! This government can’t do much for senior citizens already, but it would like to do it in the Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s constituency Sakhali. Also the phrase “small events” which could turn out eventually to be the very big destructive EDMs, worries me... -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
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NEW ARTICLES POSTED TODAY www.goanspirit.com End of the Ethnic Goan - 4 Goa feels the heat of migrant crime, perfidy-4 As seen from this series migrants of a particular community dominate organized gang crime and criminal intimidation. While, other migrant communities, on the whole, appear to have reached new heights in their perfidious activities. It’s almost as if they have a certain quality to do so. As this was being written, the Old Goa police arrested four persons including Arshad Khan (March 24, 2019), a police constable attached to the Panjim police. The others arrested were Mustafa, Afzal and Karpuswamy, who police said, assaulted Mohammad Haldwale at Indiranagar, Chimbel, a notorious migrant slum colony also referred to in this series.. A Kabrastan next! If migrant colonies proliferate, as is the case currently, it could only mean one thing; that they have a powerful facilitator in the government, waist deep in dirty vote bank politics and with a political skin as thick as the toughest hide. Thus, Vijai Sardesai assumed Digambar Kamat’s mantle some time ago (remember, Digambar Kamat created Moti Dongor) and could even be said to be a torchbearer of sorts. Early in March, 2019 he assured the Muslim community in Margao that his government had sanctioned Rs. 15,16,58,00 to acquire 20,000 sq mt of land for a kabrastan or burial ground.. Also read: LIONROARS/Bridge to nowhere To my mind there are only two ways to build bridges and elevated highways. The first way is the Chinese wayThe second way is the western way, which is, build bridges certainly, but build them within environmental concerns and constrains.Then, there’s the Goan way. Build as big as you can. Acquire farmland and screw the local cultivators. Roughhouse them if necessary. And yes, definitely screw the environment... -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
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www.goanspirit.com End of the Ethnic Goan - 3 >From Zero slums once, now exclusive slums .Less than 5 kms from Panjim, a slum called Indranagar, is different from any other in Goa, growing in size as well as notoriety because of ganglords like Mehboob Mulla Shah alias Bichhu, Joaquim Pereira alias Bhageera and Ashpak Bhengre. When the National Investigation Agency recovered bomb-making equipment from a house in Anjuna, where Yasin Bhatkal, the banned co-founder of the terror group Indian Mujahideen lived in 2011-12; Chimbel was also on their itinerary. In June last year, after a fight between gangs from Merces and Chimbel, police arrested eight gangsters. Of the 20-odd gangsters involved, nearly all were Muslims... Also read: LIONROARS/Time to send the traffic sentinels packing .Six deaths that we know of in the first 10 days of April! In February this year, 19 persons died in accidents. So what were the sentinels, who earn big bucks by standing at street corners and going trigger-happy with their mobiles, doing? While sentinels pick low-hanging fruit (like guys who do not wear helmets), what about reckless drivers who end up traumatizing a family? -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
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Crime’s Middle Name is Migrant-2 The Goan sees crime, murder and often the sex trade flourishing in his own backyard, entirely involving outsiders. Only a handful of hotels (large, medium, or small), full-service restaurants (15 tables/80 seats and above), boutiques, trendy garment stores (in all segments) have been started by Goans in the last decade – against frequent seasonal launches in all these categories by non-Goans; from Candolim to Anjuna... .Murderous Migrants Last year, of the 13 murders in south Goa alone, 11 were committed by migrants. One of the victims was Sucorrina Fernandes and the murder was investigated by the Curchorem police. In another case, a 21-year-old migrant killed 51-year-old Baptisto Roy D’Costa of Colva, in Betalbatim, and robbed him of his gold chain, gold bracelet, two rings and Rs 9,000 and USD 200 in cash. Also Read: SHACK(ED) UP, BUT NOT BOOZE "While the tourist can buy his grog in every nook and cranny literally, your government earned a paltry Rs. 409.97 crore in 2017-18 from sales from a whopping 10,179 licences issued for all of Goa. In other words, there must be something seriously wrong here on an equally gigantic scale even if you take into account Goa’s low taxation rate on alcohol. For the record, Karnataka’s IMFL and beer sales revenue for 2017-18 was Rs 17,948.5 cr." -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
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Sentinels Save Police Face Because lucrative business it definitely is. On February 27, 2019 the government sanctioned Rs 25,89,000 to pay 86 traffic sentinels. Approval was also given for Rs 11,92,000 to pay 47 sentinels that was owed to them. Up to October 2018, over Rs 40,00,00 was paid to our heroes, with one sentinel earning a whopping Rs 8,60,000. So, basically as a tax payer I am underwriting the traffic cop’s salary as well as paying the sentinel for doing the cop’s job!'' .So, do these sentinels really have ethics or, are they just mercenaries? Are they themselves above board? I seriously doubt it. Would a sentinel report a family member, relative or friend to the police? No way. Has one sentinel reported another’s wrongdoing? Possibly, but the police wouldn’t tell us. -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] End of the Ethnic Goan
Pl read my series “End of the Ethnic Goan” in www.goanspirit.com and more. “In bigger towns too like Vasco, Margao, Panjim, except (mercifully) in the odd old quarter of town where landholdings are just too tiny to interest greedy developers. Non-Goan builders even hire non-Goan architects which as a cascading effect. The old Goan way of life is fast deteriorating any way you look at it. It’s getting dangerous too as crime grows at a disturbingly fast pace. This is how middle-class Goans, who have been reduced to becoming only armchair critics, see it. To whine about ‘the good old past’ and to do nothing about it, are in equal parts, new-age Goan folklore, if that makes sense.” -- *When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know. But if you listen, you may learn something new.* * - Dalai Lama * Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Mob:9822152164
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*New in Goanspirit March 10-16, 2014* *Mining Malaise - 7* *A cap that does not fit all* Mine-owners do not want capping because they are eyeing the 1.4 billon tons of iron ore reserves (according to one estimate), and feel Goa should exploit the opportunity when the demand for ore is good, which is what they did during the boom. http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/462-mining-malaise-7 *Rusty Outlook for Iron Ore* *But do the lobbyists know?* Watching international business channels over the past month, two items became obvious to us, the surplus in what is called global seaborne iron ore, against the backdrop of the slowdown in Chinese demand, actually pushed prices up. Contradictory as this may appear, Bloomberg, citing data from Shanghai Steelhome Information Technology, reported that inventories at Chinese ports were 100.2 million tons in the last week of February. http://goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/463-rusty-outlook-for-iron-ore *86 National Tourism Awards (2012-13) won* *Goa not in the picture* A total number of 86 awards were presented in various categories and Goa despite all the hype is nowhere in the picture. Imagine 86 awards to be won, the almost hysterical daily media hype, millions spent on publicity and foreign junkets; and yet Goa won nothing, zero, zilch, zip. It almost looks like the experts are saying '*maka naka* Goa' which apparently is what a lot of European countries are saying too after the Russian invasion. Clearly, things have gotten out of hand. http://goanspirit.com/index.php/footprint-india/461-86-national-tourism-awards-2012-13-won -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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*New in Goanspirit February 24-March 1, 2014* http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/459-russian-menace-human-rights-defenders-bell-the-belyakova-cat *Russian menace: Human Rights Defenders Bell the Belyakova Cat * According to John Mascarenhas, south Goa district president, Human Rights Defenders (HRD), Russian tourists are not only doing business in Goa but are doing so by blatantly flouting India's rules on how tourists should conduct themselves. He has proof, quite a bit actually, and has submitted it to the chief minister, tourism minister, tourism department and police, also the media. No one has reacted so far. *Goanspirit *is the first to give you this information.. *TTAG's Never Ending Demands* The TTAG (Travel Tourism Association of Goa) is back at what it does best, making huge demands on your hard earned tax money http://goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/460-ttag-s-never-ending-demands -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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*New in Goanspirit February 24-March 1, 2014* *What really is the Russian Information Centre?* *Lion Roars - 3* It is not just bigotry that has made anything with a Russian flavor bad news in Goa today. It's the shadowy linkages that seem to exist. What is the connection between Tara Leisure Travel Pvt. Ltd, which 'pioneered' the Candolim-based Russian Information Centre, the Russian tourist mouth piece, and the shadowy non-governmental organisation based in Saligao. The Russian Information Centre (RIC) was established in December ostensibly to give round-the-clock online assistance to Russian tourists. Tara Leisure Travel Pvt. Ltd., is reportedly one of the largest tourism operators in Goa catering to Russian tourists and was incorporated on July 10, 2013. It is classified as a Indian Non-Government Company and is registered with the Registrar of Companies, Goa with an authorized share capital of Rs. 1,00,000 and a paid up capital of Rs. 1,00,000. *Full Story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2014/455-lion-roars-3 http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2014/455-lion-roars-3* *We are being savaged daily* .We found Souza's condemnation of the taxi drivers extremely hurting to middle-income Goans. His take is that the taxi drivers have been cribbing for the past twenty years and still, the government is indiscriminately issuing taxi permits on a daily basis. But the TTAG and its earlier avatars have been whining for thirty long years about the lack of infrastructure, roads, the increase in luxury taxes (done arbitrarily, they have said), demanding that the government (instead of them) promote monsoon tourism etcetera, etcetera; about practically every other thing that for them is not a smooth ride to making their millions. Oh no, for the TTAG there is nary a shortage of hotel rooms. They want more and more rooms to be built, more and more Iffi's to be held, more and more loud music festivals. But when it comes to the taxi drivers and beach shack entrepreneurs, they are like a disease that must be stamped out... *Full Story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/writer-s-flow/456-we-are-being-savaged-daily http://goanspirit.com/index.php/writer-s-flow/456-we-are-being-savaged-daily* *No seven-year itch for Mickky* ...So raiding him at crucial political moments seems to be the modus operandi. This time it is weeks before the Lok Sabha election. The fact that he has political clout and the only way to make him amenable is to hit him where it hurts most is something that has been mastered. Mickky has attracted publicity because he is a public figure. There's nothing big about the raid. If something is found, he would give an explanation, Parrikar said. Parrikar has been blowing hot and cold. Last August, a police complaint by Mickky claiming extortion and defamation led to the sudden arrest of well-known tiatrist, Francis de Tuem *Foot Print India* Convergence Events Pvt Ltd have signed exclusive rights with Scotland-based Swamp Soccer UK Ltd to bring swamp soccer to India; the maiden tournament will start on April 5, 2014 and the winners will represent India in the Swamp Soccer World Cup in Scotland in June 2014. Swamp soccer originated in Finland in the late 90s and is owned by Stewart Miller, a Scotsman, and is played on a wet marshy swamp pitch with a few variations to add fun to the game. *Full Story:* http://goanspirit.com/index.php/footprint-india/457-caravan-to-rajasthan -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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*New in Goanspirit February 17-23, 2014* *How do you solve a problem like Alina Saldanha? - 1* She 'shoots off' press notes on issues, none of which concern us in the constituency (Cortalim). Garbage dumping in Velsao (Velsao-Pale-Issorcim village panchayat) and Cansaulim villages is happening after she became MLA. Her presence as the constituency legislator is evident only by the almost weekly pictures of her in the newspapers. Example: in December she was present when the foundation was laid for the proposed Mapusa Police station building. These are just some of the many refrains on Alina Saldhana, Cortalim constituency MLA by default, one hears, everywhere one goes these days. The Velsao-Pale-Issorcim village panchayat is one among the six panchayats in Cortalim constituency. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/451-how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-alina-saldanha-1 *Lion Roars -2* *Serula: A Failed Communidade* The Panjim-based chartered accountants RL Bhobe Company were hired to audit the 'overall affairs' of the Communidade of Serula for the period from April 2008 to March 2013. Due to lack of complete records with the communidade, the auditors could not accomplish their task and as a result submitted only an interim report to the Goa government. *Lion Roars* gives you complete details of that report. The period that was investigated covers five financial years. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2014/452-lion-roars-2 *Bullying the small guys* Two news items in a local daily on February 13 deserve recall simply because they validate the sad state of affairs in what is now the fast shrinking, infinitesimal small slice of the tourist cake that Goans are allowed to eat, but enjoy without really relishing it. One news report said that the Tourism Department would cancel the shack licenses of 25 shacks for violating the prescribed sound decibels. Goanspirit can vouch for extremely loud music coming from the Deltin Royal on February 8 afternoon (when there is no ban/regulation) which must surely have been heard in the government secretariat in Porvorim and certainly by the same officials who are now threatening their favourite whipping dogs, the shack owners. But, can they house break them? Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/453-bullying-the-small-guys *Ashvem restaurant owner gets notice for playing loud music* Ever since beach shacks came to Goa, there has been music wafting out of them. Over the years, the decibel level has gone up. Now it is ear-splitting. There's nothing new about that. Nor are the protests against the noise pollution with the latest being from Anjuna. But the undercurrent of hostilities in the tourist belt along Morjim, Ashvem, Arambol between locals and Russians, many of whom have put down roots here and have even spread their tentacles into business that has eaten into local livelihoods, is coming to the surface and exploding like the music being played by shacks. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/454-ashvem-restaurant-owner-gets-notice-for-playing-loud-music -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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*NEW* *Lion Roars - 34* *Arossim’s Hyatt – Coastal Blues!* A financial daily on January 9, 2014 announced the sale of the Blue Coast Hotels Ltd (BCHL) owned hotel, Park Hyatt, at Arossim, near Cansaulim. With this the Industrial Financial Corporation of India (IFCI) had once again resumed the process of selling Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa. The SBICAP Trustee Company Ltd (STCL), meanwhile, also published a caution notice on January 17, 2014 in the same financial daily, cautioning that any one intending to deal with the property at Goa would do so at their own risk, cost and consequences as STCL was acting as the debenture trustee for the (Non-Convertible Debentures) NCD issued in March, 2011 pertaining to the hotel. This basically means that, as holders of the NCDs it has an interest in the property by way of a second charge. In the next few months this could turn into ugly sparring by two government-owned agencies over the sale of assets to recover their dues, as STCL has accused IFCI of under-reporting the value of assets pledged with it. Both institutions are looking to recover close to (Rs 300 crore) (Rs. 300,00,000) from the sale………. *Full Story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2014 http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2014* *Bits Bytes* *Team GS* Last week, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, ordered his ACB to investigate how the Navajivan Dudh Sahakari Chairman Bolkarnnem Sancordem Madhavrao Dessai, its MD, Sadanand Kulkarni and officials of the Goa Milk Union skimmed of Rs. 18.60 lakh. Literally hours later, he ordered the ACB to register a case against Anand Bhagwat, earlier working as an executive engineer in the PWD and Tulsidas Narvekar earlier the divisional accountant and officers of Gujarat’s Ketan Construction Pvt. Ltd., for prematurely releasing bank guarantees worth Rs. 2.57 crore in January 2007 which resulted in some losses. Sounds like pittance to us. It is, isn’t it? You expect Parrikar whose drumming of “zero tolerance to corruption” helped him win the election, would go for the much bigger cases of corruption like……. *Full Story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/448-is-this-zero-tolerance http://goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/448-is-this-zero-tolerance* *Education: Slip sliding away* *We are now 3rd from bottom* Under Manohar Parrikar’s watch as Goa’s Education Minister, the state has slipped to 33 on the nation’s Education Development Index (EDI) for 2012-13. It may not be politically correct to say so, but, at an EDI score of .520, it holds the dubious distinction of being third from the bottom, with Uttar Pradesh (.508) ranked 34 and Jharkhand (.452) at 35, saving its blushes. And, these are states on which a variety of internet jokes are passed around….. *Full Story: * *http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/444-education-slip-sliding-away*http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/444-education-slip-sliding-away *Congress clueless in Goa and TN* ……..The recent reconstitution of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee, a month after the appointment of John Fernandes as its president has not energized the party which has sunk into catatonia since its defeat in the March 2012 assembly elections. Fernandes, himself, was resurrected from out of nowhere and has no experience whatsoever in crucial times like these………... *Full story: * *http://goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/447-congress-clueless-in-goa-and-tn*http://goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/447-congress-clueless-in-goa-and-tn *India Footprint* *Kerala shows the way, yet again!* Officials of the Tourism Department and Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) did to shake a leg, and by that we don’t mean globetrotting, like they ritualistically do. When will Goa win an award even remotely close to this? Kerala has just won a UN award for sustainable and eco-friendly tourism – the first for India. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s Ulysses Award, announced last week in Spain, has recognised the initiatives launched by the state-run Kerala Tourism around the backwaters of Kumarakom. *Full Story: * *http://goanspirit.com/index.php/footprint-india/445-kerala-shows-the-way-yet-again*http://goanspirit.com/index.php/footprint-india/445-kerala-shows-the-way-yet-again -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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*NEW* *GOANSPIRIT’S MAN OF THE YEAR AWARDS (Ten in all)* *Fool of the Year*: Tarun Tejpal, for molesting a woman in a moving lift that too in a BJP-ruled state. In doing so, he also set the record for the fastest molestation attempt in recorded history. *Foreigner of the Year*: Caitan Silva and Glen Ticlo, for being the only two Portuguese nationals in the Goa Assembly. *Real Man of the Year*: Goa’s poder, voted by the largest margin by the jury, for being the hardest working Goan and for delivering to your home Goa’s cheapest food in any category, possibly in the entire country…. Full Story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/440-goanspirit-s-man-of-the-year-awards *Devil in Disguise - 2* *Pandurang Dhavalikar’s asset accretion creates records* We take a look this time at his brother Pandurang Dhavalikar’s, asset accumulation. The Priol MGP legislator has been at his game since 2007. At the time of the 2012 election asset declaration, Pandurang Dhavalikar of MGP declared an asset increase of Rs. 11.98 crore (from 1.41 crore to 13.40 crore), an astonishing achievement considering other non-employed Goans had to resort to getting Portuguese passports for the sole purpose of getting employment in foreign countries. Which caused his brother’s unwarranted rant. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/442-devil-in-disguise-2 *Elvis Gomes’ Iberian dream* *Is he obfuscating the facts?* The complaint filed by the personal secretary of the Benaulim legislator Caitu Silva at the Colva police station against Churchill Alemao, his wife Maria Fatima Fernandes, children Sara Anina Alemao, Sharon Alemao and Aninha Alemao for the alleged offence committed by them under CrPC, section 14 of the Foreigners Act, sections 4 and 5 of the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939 and section 12 of the Passport Act, 1967; appears to be farcical. For sure, it was conceived more as a means to deflect attention from his Boss’s own predicament for possessing a Portuguese passport. Full Story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/441-elvis-gomes-iberian-dream *Film making contest to promote India* Incredible India and digital solutions provider Trivone Digital Services Pvt Ltd, have launched a short film contest for travellers to promote tourism in India. The contest, open to both Indian and foreign nationals, aims to promote unexplored destinations and encourage visitors to share their travel adventures. All you need to do is upload your travel videos of less than three minutes on the Pixel13 (www.pixel13.in) website. Only people aged 18 years or above can participate in the free online contest. Full Story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/footprint-india/443-film-making-contest-to-promote-india -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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*NEW* *December 23-29, 2013* *Abhishek Engineers robs River Zuari of 3,850 sq mt* ……..AN EXAMPLE OF THE OWNER UDAY NAIK’s mocking the law is this classic case. In October 2010, the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) following a decision it took at a meeting held on January 15, 2010, specifically approved (GCZMA/S/09-10 dt. 27.10.10) the size of the barge repair workshop blocks to be: Block A – 9.68 x 3.30 mt; Block B – 11.65 x 3.20 mt; the area entirely in Survey no. 16/6 of Dabolim village. Naik, however simply ignored this. The words GCZMA used in its approval letter were “temporary workshop” and “All temporary G.I structure/sheds Block A and B”.. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/437-lion-roars-33 *Ciao Bella* Quality above quantity: that’s the motto of Antonio and Marina Iachella’s Italian Taste Pvt. Ltd, which launched in October. And that is also the cornerstone of this Italian couple’s small business where they depend on word of mouth rather than on spreading their lasagnes and pastas on shelves in supermarkets to bring in customers. They have three licences from the Goa government and are not looking over the shoulder like many foreign visitors in Goa who turn to enterprise without the requisite certification. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/travel/good-living/438-ciao-bella *Dirty Dancing - 4* The state has also reported trafficking for labour. Recently a Goa based North-East association rescued 16 Assamese and Naga labourers who were illegally trafficked to work in Goa's controversial mining sector. The North-East Association of Goa (NEAG) tracked down 16 people working in pathetic conditions in forested mining areas. In May 2012, a consultation was organised in Goa in which eight states including Goa established a network of government agencies, police and non-governmental organizations to collaborate in combating trafficking of girls for commercial sexual exploitation. These states have agreed to work closely in helping to quickly repatriate and rehabilitate the trafficked girls to their home states apart from sharing of information. The states included Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur and West Bengal. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/426-dirty-dancing-4 *Teens binge drink at Christmas* Alcohol consumption among teenagers between the ages of 14 to 19, triples during Christmas and New Year’s Eve, especially in cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Goa, Bangalore, Chandigarh, says the ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation (ASDF). The survey conducted on more than 1,500 teenagers (14 to 19 years) and 1,000 in the age group 20 to 29, revealed this shocking detail: a quarter of respondents reported blowing up between Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 10,000 only on alcohol during Christmas and New Year’s eve celebrations. One-third of Delhiites consume alcohol three times a week during the festive season, the survey found. The major cities in which respondents were interviewed include Mumbai, *Goa*, Cochin, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Delhi-NCR, Chandigarh and Dehra Dun and interestingly it was observed that consumption of liquor is more in vogue in Delhi-NCR, followed by Mumbai, *Goa*, Chandigarh and Bangalore. “Peer pressure, plenty of pocket money and absentee parents mean the drinking age is dropping in metros. There has been a marked increase in alcohol consumption among teenagers and it is strongly influenced by males in the family”. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/footprint-india/439-teens-binge-drink-at-christmas -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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*NEW* *December 9-15* *Devil in Disguise* The MGP’s minister Ramkrishna Dhavlikar wants the government to seize the properties of hardworking Goans with Portuguese passports and give it to Sainik Welfare. But just look at his own track record of living off your tax money .Coming from a politician (who else) whose 2007- declared assets of Rs. 3,00,80,303 rose to Rs. 5,58,50,317 in 2012 without holding a salaried job during this period, we wonder why he would rant about donating these ‘assets’ to Sainik Welfare because he has himself never donated to the army organisation. On the contrary the PWD minister and his brother, the cooperation minister Pandurang Dhavalikar presently ride in spanking new Innovas that have each cost Rs. 11,50,00 paid for from your tax money. Their only contribution (as opposed to ‘donating’) is they continue to bleed the government’s coffers whose only source of funding is your hard earned tax money. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/435-devil-in-disguise *Ticlo’s double whammy and a can of worms* ….There’s a funny side to this also. Both legislators will be rubbing shoulders with true blue Portuguese officials and athletes at the Lusofonia Games to be held January 18-29 which might cause a bit of embarrassment to all in Goa. We can see photo-journalists rubbing their hands in glee at this opportunity of a decade. Unless of course, Parrikar packs them off to Brazil to study the stadiums built for the World Cup 2014. This happens often in Goa. There is good reason too this time around. India has just won its bid to host the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2017and Goa certainly deserves the opportunity to host a few matches... Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/433-ticlo-s-double-whammy-and-a-can-of-worms *Lion Roars - 32* *How barge construction yards encroach on the Zuari* *3,850 sq mt in one case* Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/434-lion-roars-32 *Goanspirit’s recollection of the Eighties drug scene ends with this.* *GOA’S DRUG MENACE: Little has changed in decades - 2* Many years ago, a radio transmitter located in an isolated house on the Arpora road, used to receive messages from Taiwanese freighters heading for the Port of Mormugao. While the house remains to this day, ‘it is situated on a hillock a few hundred metres away from ‘Haystack’; with the advent of the bulk carriers, the charter of the cumbersome freighters has greatly declined, and subsequently affected the modus operandi of drug trafficking into Goa. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/432-goa-s-drug-menace-2 -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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NEW November 25-December 1, 2013 *GOA’S DRUG MENACE: Little changed in decades - 1* This investigative article by *Lionel Messias* appeared on GOA TODAY (January, 1986: THE DRUG MENACE: GETTING HIGH) and is being reproduced now to show that the drug menace as it existed in the Eighties continues in the same vein (pun intended) four decades later with the only change being that the kind of drugs available today are more sophisticated in their chemistry and as a result the *carte du jour *has both diversified and multiplied. Inflation too caught up as it has with every other market commodity. After reading this, you may want to add that in the Goa of today, the consumer profile has however changed dramatically. You would be right in thinking that. *GOA’S DRUG MENACE: Little changed in decades - 1* *Lion Roars – 31* *Slaughter mining makes them rich* ….Jena acquired an iron ore mines in Goa, Indonesia and possibly in Malaysia and is reportedly a relative of the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Jena. He is also reportedly very close to several of Goa’s mining politicians (both BJP and Congress) and regularly handles their cargo. In fact, it is no surprise that Jena, an IIT New Delhi graduate, and earlier one of the largest suppliers of hardware and software to the Central Government and State Governments, got into the mining business in 2005-06 after establishing Jena Enterprises at Margao… http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/431-lion-roars-31 *The foreign influx - 1* *Circa 2013, Goa has become Terra Nova* Back in the eighties, a busload of German tourists from Dabolim airport were met by anti-tourism activists with a splash of cow dung. Such was the opposition to foreign tourists coming to Goa because Goans were worried (not xenophobic) that outsiders would come and ruin Goan culture, devastate the land and Goa would never be the same again. And in retrospect, their fear seems to have been borne out, although there have been exceptions, because Goa has become a playground – whether we like to admit or not – for those who want to “partay”, for those who want to snort/sniff/swallow/smoke drugs and the less said the better about the land. Here not just foreign tourism, but domestic tourism should take the lion’s share of the blame. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/429-the-foreign-influx-1 -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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*NEW* November 11-17, 2013 *Lion Roars -30* *Goa’s mining-dependent politicians* .It is no wonder that the four legislators have been using every platform, every opportunity egging on the government and anybody who is listening for a resumption of mining in Goa. But when you read their rags to riches story in the shortest possible time, their buying of land in the shortest possible time, their running up of colossal debts; you begin to understand exactly for whom they are rooting for. Well, it is certainly not for the *aam aadmi*; they are pleading their own case. The *aam aadmi*are needed when the next elections are due and there’s time for that, for now the cash cow they were milking has gone dry; the cheese and butter no longer there. Unfortunately, the cow which has four compartments or chambers in its stomach (often mistakenly spoken of as four stomachs) couldn’t stomach it. *The Goose with the Golden Egg* The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sanvordem legislator Ganesh Gaonkar had assets of Rs. 7,40,07,274 and liabilities of Rs. 28,41,568 before the last Assembly elections. His land holdings were as follows: Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/424-lion-roars-30 *Nigerians, rid yourselves of them before it’s too late* In October this year about 130 gm of cocaine was found on two Nigerians in separate cases in Delhi. In the first case police arrested Akachukwa Christrofer, who came to India in 2007 on a tourist visa for his garment business. He visited India six times between 2007 and 2010. In 2010, he was arrested for a crime he committed and sent to Tihar Jail for a year. In jail, he befriended fellow Nigerians, involved in drug trafficking. Out on bail, he started selling cocaine he got from a fellow Nigerian, Okka, currently based in Goa. The other Nigerian arrested was Stanley Chimezie, a professional football player, who came to India in 2011 on a medical visa. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/423-nigerians-rid-yourselves-of-them-before-it-s-too-late *Dirty Dancing – 3* *Parlour Power* The raids on massage parlours to stamp out CSE of woman are no solution because it does not go into the root of the problem. Raids happen regularly but massage parlours are like cats which have nine lives. For instance, Lotus Beauty Parlour, a swanky parlour which is notorious in Porvorim, was raided and shut down. But, only briefly because it returned in another avatar this time calling itself Lots, its activities continued like before. It was raided some months ago and is currently closed. Often the police shut down an errant parlour, give the keys back to the owners (metaphorically speaking) because there is money to be made for them; the raids and closure done for public consumption only. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/422-dirty-dancing-3 -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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*NEW* November 4-10, 2013 *Lion Roars -29* *Goa’s mining-dependent politicians* ………To better understand how mining drives government in Goa which means it finances both the Congress and the BJP, let us consider for this week, how the BJP’s Curchorem legislator Nilesh Cabral (41, today) became a crorepati at such a young age. In 2010-2011 his assets were Rs. 13,42,53,207 and liabilities Rs. 9,09,30,693. Cabral owns nine Tata tipper trucks, an Eicher truck, a Tata Tempo, a Tata Mobile (vehicle), three Tata trucks, a Tata ACE, six mini buses, four excavators and two barges; all of which he valued at Rs. 4,16,15,806….. Full story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/420-lion-roars-29 *Dirty Dancing – 2* ………..A friend and a group of his buddies had parked their car which has a non-Goa registration near a fancy massage parlour in Porvorim. Within minutes he was accosted by the parlour’s “agent” asking whether the group was looking for a massage. Obviously massage which someone indulges in to release the tension in the body or even undergoes for health reasons; in this case is a euphemism for cross-massage. And one can extrapolate from there if you catch my drift? The group scooted, making a mental note never to park in the vicinity of a parlour again…. Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/417-dirty-dancing-2 *Hot News* *The police were petrified* The Goa police chief’s defense of his police, that had they acted against the police the rioting would have got worse, is indefensible. It is a lie, the police were scared stiff. The pictures in the local dailies tell the full story exposing even the physical difference (height, upper body strength) between the rioting Nigerians most of whom are thugs in one way or the other, and the Goa police, all of whom joined the force to make easy money. It’s why you join the Goa Police, plain and simple. Country and constitution be damned. Full story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/419-big-brother-parrikar -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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*New* *Lion Roars - 28* *Mickky owes you Rs 5,52,00,000* While Pacheco’s planned entry into mining riches ended in disaster, Nilesh Cabral, the Curchorem legislator, owns 13 trucks, four excavators and two barges. The Sanguem legislator Subhash Phaldessai (assets:Rs 7,08,41,855) is a mining transport contractor and owns 18 trucks. The Sanvordem legislator Ganesh Gaonkar is a “dealer” in iron ore and also a transport contractor. The Sanquelim legislator Pramod Sawant owns two trucks. All four are BJP legislators. The Goa Mining People’s Front convenor Suhas Naik has claimed that even police officers and Road Transport officers own mining trucks but have not registered them on purpose…… Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/414-lion-roars-28 *Mining Malaise - 6* *Mining ban has diverse benefits* ………..This caucus works overtime to tell anybody who is listening that someone for instance over-borrowed to the extent of Rs 3.5 crore (1 crore = 1,00,00,000) and now because mining has stopped, and so he can’t repay his loans; that the Ponda Muncipal Corporation is bankrupt because the men who milked mining, then constructed huge buildings to further exploit their mint, have decided to move on to greener pastures. It goes on and on. Goanspirit knows of a person in Loutolim who bought more trucks (to carry ore) than he should have because it was exploitatively so easy then, but does not know what to do with them now! Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/413-mining-malaise-6 -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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-- Lionel Messias *New* *Goanspirit: October 21 - 27, 2013* *Lion Roars - 27* *No yeast rise for Goan Poders – 2, True Swadeshi* ……According to John Vaz, Vasco’s baker extraordinaire, a three-member family (husband, wife, son) can barely survive making 900 *pao’s* on the first 50 kg of subsidised wheat flour. I have taken this lowest level figure into account to calculate a *poder’s* losses in spite of the subsidy. “Assuming he avails of his subsidy, this works out to Rs 200 per day that is Rs 6,000 per month. At the 50-100 kg rate of consumption, that would be Rs 200 per day if he consumed the maximum of 100 kg. For the 100-150 kg category, that would be Rs 150 per day if he consumed a maximum of 150 kg” (the subsidy is Rs 4 per kg for the first 50 kg; Rs 2 per kg for between 50-100 kg; and Rs 1 for between 100-150 kg.) Vaz says that at present cost of Rs 24 per kg, 50 kg of flour would cost a baker Rs 1,200. “The Association of Goan Bakers have told me that a 10-ton truck of fire wood costs Rs 21,000 (full load), that is Rs 2,100 per ton or roughly Rs 21 per kg. It takes nearly 150 kg to fire up an oven which costs Rs 3,150. Both the cost of flour and firewood works out to Rs 4,350.” ……. Full Story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/407-lion-roars-27 *Passport to Purgatory* ………..We also predict that in time many of these Portuguese passport holders will have their PAN cards, driving licenses, ration cards, aadhar cards and gas connections annulled. Already, Bangladeshis have been arrested for possession of aadhar cards. It’s plain and simple, what holds good for the British and Europeans under the law of the land, holds good for Portuguese citizens as well. And when that happens we also predict a worse holocaust for them, annulment of their right to posses land and houses in Goa for all the same aforesaid reasons. Because this is one of the many terrible ways property matters as we call it are settled in Goa, where land is getting as scarce as Goans themselves……….. Full Story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/writer-s-flow/408-passport-to-purgatory Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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NEW If you receive this more than once, please bear with me. I am understaffed and underpaid, that’s why. *New: Goanspirit: October 7-13, 2013* *Dirty Dancing - 1* *A soft state that’s a lure for CSE* For long, Goa has been viewed as a soft state and one manifestation of that was the recent mujra performance leading to the arrest of a Samajwadi Party legislator not in some obscure hotel/bar/shack/ house in the coastal hub, but Panjim’s Campal area. Arun Pandey, director, ARZ (Anyay Rahit Zindagi), which was conceived in 1997 and is committed to combating trafficking for sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) in Goa, says that the mujra performance at a hotel on August 27 by six girls coming from places as far off as Delhi, Ghaziabad, towns in Punjab and Jharkhand/Chattisgarh, is a new trend. The man who had “supplied” the girls went absconding. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/398-dirty-dancing-1 *Bits and Bytes* Hey Ram It’s no secret that the RSS thinks the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi is a hero. So with the BJP ruling the State and with a CM who took his first political steps in the RSS crucible, is it any wonder that Ravindra Bhavan, which has ex-BJP legislator Damodar Naik as chairman, thought of staging “Mee Nathuram Godse Bolto” - which justifies why he shot Gandhi – on Gandhi Jayanti *Hot News* *Put your money where your mouth is* The poder is celebrated as one of Goa’s icons. Reams are written, poems are composed, lavish praise is rained down on one of Goa’s remaining traditional vignettes. However, no one is willing to put their money where the mouth is. Least of all the government, whose promised subsidy scheme that was launched on June 24 this year by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, has been mere lip service. And before that, no government did anything for them. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/396-put-your-money-where-your-mouth-is *Thekkady takes us by surprise* The best thing about Thekkady in Kerala is that the base town of Kumily has one liquor store (government run) and one bar so you seriously don’t get those turned around baseball cap wearing machos or the bandana boys whose machoism is directly proportional to the number of pegs they down and worse. That means no beer cans, coke cans and broken bottles either. You get instead handsome looking Sedan-driving Malayali couples in their mid-40’s max two kids in tow, no tantrums either, with a sprinkling of Tamilians, equally well behaved, cash to spend and all things nice. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/travel/397-thekkady-takes-us-by-surprise Footprint India *Breaking Bad* Late last month a 28-year-old Delhi businessman was arrested in Anjuna for possession of 1.8 kg of charas. He had been living in Goa for the past six months and intended to start his own restaurant. The building he stayed in was taken on lease. The Goa Police true to form did not reveal his name, their excuse being that it would help their investigation further notwithstanding the fact they had gladly announced his arrest to the media. The words we believe they used were “because of the sensitivity of the case”. There is more than one thing that is true to form in this; the man’s age for one, that he is a north Indian, that he was arrested in Anjuna, and that he wanted to set up a restaurant in Goa. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/footprint-india *Lion Roars – 25* Fleecing the taxpayer Are the middle class being fleeced as tax payers? I certainly am. Not only is the central and state governments fleecing us, the banks too have joined hands. Only in the case of the latter, we remain oblivious to their shenanigans, because few of us bother to access our banks statements to see exactly how. On my last broadband bill of Rs 1,038.21, the tax component was Rs 114.21. To make matters worse BSNL rounded off the figure to Rs 1,039. The decent thing would be to make that Rs 1,038. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/392-lion-roars-25 *The Week That Was* *Shooting from D’Souza’s shoulder* If Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had taken on loose cannon Vishnu Wagh who is the vice-chairman of the Entertainment Society of Goa, it would not have been effective because he himself shoots his mouth off. But getting the low-profile, reticent Deputy CM Francis D’Souza to do his dirty work was a masterstroke. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/twt/395-shooting-from-d-souza-s-shoulder -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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-- NEW If you receive this more than once, please bear with me. I am understaffed and underpaid, that’s why. *New: Goanspirit: September 30- October 6, 2013* September 30-October 6, 2013 *The Battle for Goa’s Blue Bay* Mormugao’s Chicalim bay has always been in the crosshairs of men who will break the law, all laws for that matter, in order to become richer or worse realize a dream (read as in a millionaire’s plaything) like a marina for instance. As always it is perpetrated in the name of development, a word that has become so sacrosanct even in its misuse, that even opposition to the worst kind of environmental degradation is viewed as negativity by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and lobbyists of the hospitality industry. To the extent he recently accused Goans of being “negative” in their approach to his version of development. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/387-the-battle-for-goa-s-blue-bay *Introducing new column: Footprint India* The Market Research Reports, Inc. (the world’s leading source for market research reports and market data) “Travel and Tourism in India to 2017” research says -“Compared to the rest of the country, Goa’s cabbies are a law unto themselves, their rates in the extreme, and they even refuse to help with the luggage.” ….This language specific ad campaign in a clutter-free environment with high recall is what the Goa Tourism Development Corporation should be doing. Instead, Goa’s ministers and officials of the Tourism Department go on their annual pilgrimages selling the same old oversold attractions Goa offers which if Assocham’s figures are correct is definitely not working for the State. Except of course, to add to the tourism revenue of the countries they tour. Goa really must stop the oversell and move on to more aggressive methods which do not revolve around the pleasure of going on foreign junkets by a chosen few. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/footprint-india/391-is-goa-lagging-behind September 30 – October 6, 2013 *An Organic Choice* A visit to the nearly 290-year-old sprawling house of Rui Araujo and his brothers in Chicalim is a lesson in shedding stereotypes. Here is a simple man, with none of the snobbish airs of those who peddle today’s health food fad, who has been growing organic rice for the last four years and is still taking baby steps, but is not shouting from the rooftops about it. One can even say he is taking faltering steps because he’s yet to come up with a foolproof idea to keep pests at bay, but he has made his lifestyle choice for good. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/travel/390-an-organic-choice *The Week That Was* September 30 – October 6, 2013 *Floor crossing alert* Goa Vikas Party (GVP) chief Francisco ‘Mickky’ Pacheco said after the ‘Goans For Dabolim Only’ rally in May, 2013, “I have been fighting both inside and outside the Assembly against Mopa. I have promised Fr. Eremito (Rebello) my full support to oppose the airport at Mopa. I am of the firm opinion that Goa does not require two airports.” But, now, on the verge of catapulting back (he hinted that he would join at a recent press conference) to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) – which has a handful of followers in Goa, which is why its wooing Mickky back into the fold – it will be interesting what he will say. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/contact-us/letters/111-the-week-that-was/388-floor-crossing-alert September 30 – October 6, 2013 *Mani honey* Churchill met Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on a flight from Tiruchy to Chennai and lobbied with him to hasten the disqualification against the Benaulim legislator Caetan Silva. The official reason is Aiyar sent the letter care of the Benaulim legislator at his house because he did not know Churchill’s address! Churchill may have been punished by the people in the assembly elections, but there’s no one who does not know him in Goa, let alone Benaulim. And a letter that simply says “Churchill Alemao” in Goa, not to mention Benaulim, would have got to him. Besides, Aiyar is a very bright man, so surely he would have known sending a copy of the letter to Caitu was a blunder. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/389-mani-honey Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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-- NEW If you receive this more than once, please bear with me. I am understaffed and underpaid, that’s why. *September 16-22, 2013* *Nuvem priests sing the ‘development’ hymn - 1* All the priests who keep getting posted to the Mae dos Porbos church at Nuvem have one thing in common, a pig-headed resolve to build another church even if it means demolishing the existing old-world church that has charmed parishioners from the 16th century onwards. It is like a fixated idea germinated by the ex-pastor Fr. Alvaro Martins and passed on to his replacement Fr. Victor Rodrigues who, hardly having settled down to his new task, began to press forth with this priestly mission to build a new church no matter what the consequences. Fr. Martins first came up with the idea of another church in 2009 which he thrust upon his parishioners with this cryptic sales pitch: “I have a plan, look at it and come back to me with your suggestions”. That was however only a pulpit speech because he had absolutely no wish to be either transparent or democratic in his enterprise. It was a fait accompli all the way. . Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/380-nuvem-priests-sing-the-development-hymn-1 *Lion Roars – 23* *Emperor, King bicker in the Kingdom of Calangute - 1* Strange things happen in the Village Panchayat of Calangute where many of India’s politicians and north Indians overly-loaded-with-black money have invested heavily in the hospitality industry and are therefore indebted to the hospitality of the Calangute Emperor and their host, Joseph Sequeira, currently a panch only but with unlimited funds and a rubber stamp Sarpanch at his disposal. The former sarpanch has nine panchas of the VP’s 11 on his payroll (yes, literally) and therefore has a vice-like grip on his kingdom. As for the black money investments, sure enough these have been exposed in this column to a tiny extent only…... Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/382-lion-roars-23 *Song and Dance before Sunburn* There’s a lot of dance before the songs at “Asia’s biggest electronic dance music event”, scheduled to be held over three days between December 27 and 29. This is the seventh edition of Sunburn which has arguably put Goa on the international music map because it is one of the biggest electronic dance festivals in the country. Last year around 30,000 attended and the event brought the Goa government Rs 1,00,00,000 as entertainment tax. But the festival has always courted controversy and this year is no exception, the only point being that the whole debate has begun nearly four months before the event is scheduled because organizers went online to sell “early bird tickets” from September 11. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/contact-us/letters/111-the-week-that-was/386-song-and-dance-before-sunburn *Sarttorial correctness in the Basilica* More than two years after the 450-year-old Mahalasa Narayani temple at Mardol baldly wrote out a signboard –“Entry restricted to foreigners” and several months after other temples put up signages that they expected visitors to be dressed with decorum, the Basilica of Bom Jesus in Old Goa has followed suit recently. More diplomatically, however, because the signboard uses symbols to describe “acceptable” and “unacceptable” attire. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/news-summary/385-sartorial-correctness-in-the-basilica Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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NEW If you receive this more than once, please bear with me. I am understaffed and underpaid, that’s why. *September 9- 15, 2013* *Lion Roars – 22* *A cross to bear* Parrkar had fielded eight Catholics of the 24 he had given tickets to last Assembly. Also his deputy CM is a Catholic. But now he does not need them because he's ensconced in power. “We know just how much you love Catholics.” -Singer Lawry Travasso in the tiatr Apunn Apleak Dev Somestank. The DLC has also said that all the 25 unauthorised structures, which are not on the roadsides, have been recommended to be retained as some of them act as traffic islands while others do not obstruct traffic. The logic adopted here by the DLC here again does not make sense because it could be construed that someone could get away in the future with building a religious structure provided it also served as a traffic island. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/374-lion-roars-22 *The marina merry dance* In our column Lion Roars – 21 (Is the MPT chairman also Goa’s shadow tourism minister?) that appeared last week we wrote about how the Mormugao Port Trust Chairman P Mara Pandiyan was selectively leaking out information on the two proposed marinas in Goa. It now appears that there is more to it than that; there are more players or should we say stakeholders helped by an over-eager newspaper. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/375-the-marina-merry-dance *Mining malaise - 3* *Here comes the sun* On the anniversary of his completing one year in office, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar announced a financial package for the mining industry saying, “Don’t paint all those associated with mining with a black brush. There are at least 20 to 25 percent of mining dependent people who are desperate to just survive. We feel we should step in and help these people.” And that’s been his motto, swatting away criticism that he has been soft on the mining industry that was indicted in a Rs 35,000 crore (1 crore = 1,00,00,000) scam in a report by the M B Shah Commission in September 2012 that brought mining to a halt. To that end, Parrikar has moved heaven and earth to keep the industry happy while he hopes that the Supreme Court gives the green signal to start up mining, so politically for him and financially for the state (which lost a revenue of Rs 125 crore per month), it will be a win-win. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/377-mining-malaise-3 *Dabang Parrikar* Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar like most politicians does not like the media and he uses every opportunity to say so. But unlike most politicians who are afraid of the judiciary, Parrikar does not shy away, albeit foolishly, from taking potshots at them as well. It has rankled with him that the mining industry had to shut shop because of the judiciary and took away a sizeable chunk of his government’s revenue. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/contact-us/letters/111-the-week-that-was/376-dabang-parrikar *Masterchef in teaching* For a long time, Rita Shinde (nee Peres) was consumed with a passion for cooking. But she was limited by her job with the Customs (she was an appraiser) because of time constraints. Two years ago, she decided to embrace her first love wholeheartedly and so she sought voluntary retirement and that’s how ‘Rita’s Gourmet’ was born. She proved that fondness for cooking can alter your perspective, give you the confidence to take the plunge and make you change your career mid-stream (she had worked for 20 years with the customs) and emerge still content. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/travel/379-masterchef-in-teaching -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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NEW If you receive this more than once, please bear with me. I am understaffed and underpaid, that’s why. *Mining Malaise -2* September 2-8, 2013 Pushpa Iyengar Mining leverage On Thursday, the mother of all rallies was held in the capital where politicians, trade unions and workers came together to get “legal mining” in Goa started soon. Panaji’s Azad Maidan reverberated with “start mining, save Goa” by a huge rally attended by truck owners, barge owners, machinery operators and a slew of others indirectly employed in the mining industry which has been suspended since last September after the M B Shah Commission’s report that mining had bled and plundered Goa to the tune of Rs 35,000 crore (1 crore = 1,00,00,000). But as environmental activist Ramesh Gauns remarked, “Why is it that nobody spoke against the miners and even those who committed illegalities, even without naming them? Is it the environmentalists who are the culprits? It is those who committed the illegalities who have got them into this mess.” Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/366-mining-malaise-2 Pushpa Iyengar *Just desserts * Her warmth and word of mouth have been Melissa’s two secret weapons that have helped her evolve from baking cakes at home 20 years ago to cooking up a storm (five snacks and 12 main courses) when St Teresa School in Vasco celebrated its golden jubilee in 2008 and 1,000 students, former students, teachers and former teachers descended to help celebrate the milestone. “There was a time some years ago I fulfilled a 2,000 cupcake order and it covered virtually every inch of the house, it was unmanageable,” she laughs explaining why she opened her workshop in 2000 on the ground floor of the block of flats she lives in Vasco. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/travel/371-just-desserts *Mali on their mind* Gita Krishnan When your kid flies the coop, you are entitled to dream big dreams. Perhaps she will make a path-breaking discovery, or find a cure for cancer or build striking architectural marvels. Becoming First Lady of a country rarely, if ever, makes it to that list. Post elections in the West African country of Mali, the Goa-born, Bahrain-bred Marissa Coutinho Samake is no longer a contender to the title – at least not for now. But a few weeks ago it was a very real possibility and it could well turn into a reality in the future of the land-locked sub-Saharan country. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/writer-s-flow/368-mali-on-their-mind Team GS *Going, Going, Gone* Last week, Goa’s dream of getting Special Status became a blur on the horizon. One input came from Delhi when the Rajya Sabha was unmoved by MP Shantaram Naik’s argument on August 30 that Goa deserves Special Status to restrain migrants from buying land and other properties in Goa and to stop the indiscriminate influx of migrants. Finally, Naik withdrew his private member’s bill, when he got no support from BJP MPs although the BJP government here had unanimously passed a resolution in June demanding Special Status. Talk of politics! Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/contact-us/letters/111-the-week-that-was/372-going-going-gone Team GS *The fading halo* Successive governments have spent millions on junkets for their tourism ministers and tourism department officials on this fanatical mission to sell Goa abroad. The craziest we can think of was Francisco Sardinha’s (he was chief minister then as I recollect) holidaying in Australia a decade or so ago when he shot of this “we need rich tourists to come to Goa” and Victoria Ferenandes’ trip to Nepal some years ago to sell Goa to international tourists. And yes we did say Nepal, it is a country on our northern border which supplies us an endless number of dance girls and so-called Chinese cuisine cooks. But several decades of frenetic travelling by our ministers (one minister even took is his live-in partner) and officials documented in *Lion Roars* Goa (see the archived section) has gone down the drain as they say. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/369-not-in-my-backyard-you-won-t *Lion Roars – 21* September 2-8, 2013 *Is the MPT chairman also Goa’s shadow tourism minister?* Has the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) chairman P Mara Pandiyan totally exceeded his brief as well as his authority because when I last checked Goa had a tourism minister and also a Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) headed by a chairman, but somehow Pandiyan who incidentally has never complained in the past about his job description, appears to have taken over the jobs of both the tourism minister and GTDC chairman. And no one seems to be complaining. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/367-lion-roars-21 -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked
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NEW If you receive this more than once, please bear with me. I am understaffed and underpaid, that’s why. August 26-September 1, 201320 Pushpa Iyengar *Caught between a rock and a hard place* In a few weeks, the Goa government which suspended mining activities on September 10, 2012, will be observing its first anniversary. The year has been marked by flip flops by Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, as the cacophony by stake holders, egging him to put them back into business, has risen coupled by his realization that such a huge chunk of revenue from the mining industry – Goa’s only industry apart from tourism which filled the coffers to the extent of almost 20 per cent of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) – has vanished. He’s beginning to realize the truth of what his cabinet colleague – Panchayat Raj minister Laxmikant Parsekar – confessed in July: “I have realized that is not an easy task to accomplish what I was shouting about all those years (in the opposition), as several aspects are involved in such an exercise. I have realised the bitter truth that it is extremely difficult to do something that I was demanding for the last several years.” Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/363-mining-malaise-1 August 26-September 1, 2013 *Lion Roars – 20* *Shooting from people’s shoulders* Is the Calangute legislator Michael Lobo using his position and as a consequence of that wasting taxpayer’s money to solve his owns problems? Admitting he was buying property in Guirim for himself he felt that the revenue department was not being fair when it increased the minimum rates for property prices in Goa. He went on to say that the increase in the land rates for the purpose of determining stamp duty and registration of sale deeds was done arbitrarily and without any thought. Lobo of course made it look like he was concerned over the common man’s plight in paying such high sums. No one believed him and the more he speaks these days, the more it only goes against them in more ways than he knows. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/362-lion-roars-20 Travel and Living August 26-September 1, 2013 *Goan liquor producers – 2* *A spring in their step* If it weren’t for the “killer freight” and another slayer called customs duties the Raia-based Springfields (India) Distilleries would have had the pleasure of serving up affordable tequila, the real McCoy that too all the way from Mexico. But you can still get your shots thanks to Villa Vercelli Tequila Silver (the clear variety) the company has begun importing from Tequila Orendain De Jalisio, S.A De C.V. Why pick on a name like Springfields? “It was a lovely day during the rainy season when the paddy fields were lush green and all around seemed to have a great light 'springy ' feel to it - that was actually how we decided on the name,” says Mario. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/travel/361-goan-liquor-producers-2 Hot News August 26-September 1, 2013 *NIT-picking* Team GS For long, Goa has lagged in the higher education sector, with parents sending their children to Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai to get a professional degree. Things have changed in recent years with BITS-Pilani, Goa Management Institute and the National Institute of Technology (NIT) setting up shop here. But NIT, which is functioning temporarily at the Goa Engineering Campus at Farmagudi since the academic year 2010 -11, and now has 400 students, is again in the eye of the storm over land issues. And politicians are to blame for the current outrage among the people by leading them to believe that son-of-the-soil qualification will count to get jobs. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/365-nit-picking-a *The Week That Was* August 26-September 1, 2013 Team GS *One man’s meat is another man’s poison* Two rivals of Parrikar had two different points of view last week on mv Horseshoe, one attacking him and the other backing him.The mayor of Panaji, Surendra Furtado called the decision by Parrikar, the legislator who represents the capital, “a betrayal of the people of Panaji”, while BJP North Goa MP, Sripad Naik, batted for the Chief Minister, saying, “As far as the existing casinos are concerned, they have made investments. Driving them out before their agreements expire will send a wrong signal that Goa is not safe for investments. The existing casinos will stay here till the expiry of their agreements.” Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/contact-us/letters/111-the-week-that-was/364-one-man-s-meat-is-another-man-s-poison -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao
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NEW If you receive this more than once, please bear with me. I am understaffed and underpaid, that’s why. *SHACK ATTACK: Following the script - 4* *Lionel Messias* It’s not only the shack owners that are given the short shrift by the government. The guesthouse owner (also the taxi owner) is another fly in the ointment in the eyes of the government. The smallest guesthouse in Benaulim is required to pay a registration fee of Rs 1,000 to the village panchayat (VP) annually and Rs 500 to the Tourism Department. In return, the department issues it a totally worthless “approved by government” certificate. The village panchayat nothing! The estimated 30 plus guesthouses are part of the VP’s village garbage clearance programme, and no special treatment is accorded to them. Their garbage is cleared twice monthly only. Patxa a six-room guesthouse in Benaulim is a typical example, built on the labours of Geraldine Fernandes and her carpenter husband and after knocking at the doors of quite a few banks and being shown the door. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/354-shack-attack-following-the-script-4 August 19-25, 2013 *Lionroars – 19* *Land of no rules* With every passing month a new hotel is built or a new restaurant opened somewhere between Candolim and Arpora on the coast and towards Saligao inland but where mostly new restaurants are opened. The thrust of course is on the touristy coastal belt between Candolim and Baga. Their owners, unknown even to locals even if you happen to be living next door to them. It is said that an estimated 90 per cent of these are illegal and 100 per cent owned by mainly north Indians, with the only exception currently being the Calangute BJP Legislator Michael Lobo who himself added the De Baga Deck on the Baga main road to his growing collection of business venture and properties in his constitution. Lobo reportedly bought the hot property for Rs 3,00,00,000 not too long ago. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/355-lion-roars-19 August 19-25, 2013 *Pushpa Iyengar* *Vendors say fair not fair* Did chief minister Manohar Parrikar wave a magic wand when he visited Vasco town on Tuesday that led to the Vasco Bhajani Saptah magically getting off the ground, after almost two days were lost amidst much drama? Did he become a ‘trader-whisperer’ and calmed the cacophony of traders, even some councilors who did a volte face after backing a resolution by the Mormugao Municipal Council to bring some order in the stalls which were so haphazard that they shut down the port town for ten days? It is interesting that when Parrikar went to Vasco on Tuesday morning, it was assumed that pacifying vendors who refused to occupy the 700-odd stalls would be crucial to his agenda….. Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/357-vendors-say-fair-not-fair August 19-25, 2013 *Team GS* *Dog and the bone* So far on the appointment of the State Information Commissioner, chief minister Manohar Parrikar, has been bested by advocate-activist Aires Rodrigues. In fact, it may not be far-fetched to say that Rodrigues has been the only fly in the ointment for Parrikar and on the SIC/CIC he’s like a dog with a juicy bone. He won’t let go. So was the real reason to vitiate the choices to further delay appointment of a SIC? So the million dollar question is did Parrikar eat crow or was there a more diabolical plan afoot? Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/contact-us/letters/111-the-week-that-was/359-dog-and-the-bone -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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-- NEW If you receive this more than once, please bear with me. I am understaffed and underpaid, that’s why. * SHACK ATTACK: Following the script - 3* *Lionel Messias* *Strangers in their own land* In April 2008 the shacks of 15 Goans were demolished after the Tourism Department declared their shacks were illegal because their locations were changed from the originally allotted sites. The license fees were not refunded to them. Each year after a great deal of wheeling and dealing, the government allots shack licenses (total: 237) in north Goa and south Goa. In 2008 this writer accessed through RTI (Right to Information) the facts on how a beach restaurant The Sunny Side Up was set up by Anup Sharma on Candolim beach encroaching on government land. How it got past the scrutiny of both the Tourism Department and a private consultant who inspected it in December is another question. Tons of sand were used to elevate the area on which Sunny Side Up was built to raise it above the roofline of the shacks in front of it and give it a view of the sea. Sunny Side Up continues to do business till today thanks to its hard-boiled owner and a government that looks down on its own. *Goanspirit *was able to document the following events that took place in Colva, easily the most abused beach in India by any reckoning: Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/346-shack-attack-following-the-script-3 * August 12-18, 2013* *Pushpa Iyengar* *30 extra minutes does not make the cut* “The extra five minutes in every period does not help at all. On the contrary students get fidgety, are fighting, noisy, throw paper balls around …. In some primary schools, children keep asking ‘Miss, when will the bell ring?’”. This is the heartfelt experience and the on the ground report of a government school teacher about Goa government’s August 6 circular extending school timings by 30 minutes every day constituting a five and half hours day or full-day schooling of six hours for five days a week, to fulfill 1,100 instructional hours for the academic year. Earlier schools had a five hour day. The extra half hour a day, implemented in June this year, had caused a furore among teachers, parents and even political parties over the last several weeks. They had demanded a rollback, but chief minister Manohar Parrikar has stuck to his guns and now the die has been cast with the release of the circular. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/news-summary/349-30-extra-minutes-does-not-make-the-cut *August 12-18, 2013* *Lion Roars -18* *Land sale moratorium easier than Special Status - Concluded* *Food for Thought* There is a moratorium on the sale of agricultural land (till January 1, 2016) in the Ukraine known as the bread basket of Europe only because the moratorium prohibits not only alienation of any land that is designated (zoned) as “farm land”, but it specifically bars all foreign citizens and foreign-owned companies from owning such land. Last month Georgia prohibited the sale of land to foreigners and foreign firms following amendments made to the law on ownership of agricultural land. They establish a moratorium on the sale of land to foreign citizens and companies registered abroad before December 31, 2014. The law also requires the government of Georgia during six months to develop a unified state policy on ownership of agricultural land for rational use and protection of land resources. *By comparision Goa appears to be hell bent on converting all of its land for building purposes or DEVELOPMENT as politicians call that in Goa. From 2012 to March 2013, 53 conversion sanads were issued in Pernem taluka and 461 in Salcette taluka, making it a total of 514 sanads issued. During the same period 74 applications were pending in Pernem and 353 in Salcette. A total of 426 sanads.* Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/347-lion-roars-18 *Faster, Higher, Stronger into the ground* *August 12-18, 2013* *Team GS* Is the Parrikar government laying the ground to get out of holding the Lusofonia Games scheduled in Goa from November 2 to 10 this year? There’s no other explanation when different people in the BJP and the government, including chief minister Manohar Parrikar, have made it clear that a gun is being held to their heads to conduct the games. It’s not the first time that an opposition party has come to power and has to fulfill the commitment made by a government whose party is now in the opposition. Sample these discordant voices: “Even though I am not personally in favour of hosting the games, we are doing so due to the commitments of the earlier government and the games will be completed successfully.” This was Parrikar while addressing the BJP’s Gao Chalo Abhiyan in Canacona on August 9. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/350-faster-higher-stronger-into-the-ground *August 12 -18, 2013
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** editorher...@herald-goa.com** NEW If you receive this more than once, please bear with me. I am understaffed and underpaid, that’s why. August 5-11, 2013 *Lionroars – 17* *Land sale moratorium easier than Special Status* This is something for everyone in Goa to ponder upon, especially the Movement for Special Status to Goa (MSSG) and Goa’s Movement for Special Status (GMSS), because evidently the same status given to Himachal Pradesh is not working. In 2010 the issue of Benami Land Transactions in violation of section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972 and irregularities in the issue of Essentiality Certificates for buying land for development, under the Himachal Pradesh Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 2005; was raised in the HP Vidhan Sabha. A year later in 2011 the HP government appointed D P Sood (retired judge of the HP High Court) to inquire into these issues. Contemplate it, brood over it if you must and it would be considered a job well done, because the pressure groups and everyone else must seriously consider a course change or new strategy. The Special Status route has failed miserably in Himachal Pradesh (HP)…. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/342-lion-roars-17 *August 5-11, 2013* *SHACK ATTACK: Following the script - 2* *Lionel Messias* *Shacks are shackled* ……While successive governments did not bat an eyelid when it came to gambling with the livelihoods of a community that (along with guesthouse owners) was once virtually the host community when sustainable tourism was gathering pace and thought by some to be the right choice for Goa; it did not hesitate when it came to earning revenue from the shack owners ruthlessly increasing the license fee from Rs 10 in the beginning to Rs 60,000 for a 14 m x 7m shack size in 2003. “In 1992, I paid a fee of Rs 50. It was hiked over the years to Rs 5,000, Rs 7,000 at one time and later from Rs 10,000 to Rs 60,000.” The SOWS protested the steep 2003 hike and it was reduced. Full Story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/341-shack-attack-following-the-script-2 August 5 -11, 2013 *Team GS* *Quick gun Murugan* ……..Furtado , when he recently lifted the ban on film shootings also apparently used the occasion to hire himself a script writer because most of what he spouts is flamboyant, excessive and some would Churchill-esque, though he does not have Winston Churchill’s renowned doggedness. The question now is can he deliver? Since, it’s four months, he, an independent, was voted in against all odds (read chief minister Manohar Parrikar), time will tell. Meanwhile, in his shadow boxing with Parrikar, municipal commissioner, Sanjit Rodrigues is getting caught in the cross-fire. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/345-quick-gun-murugan *August 5-11, 2013* *Team GS* * Prabhudesai appointment raises a hornet’s nest* At so many levels, his appointment has raised many eyebrows. First, that he will be Goa’s first second SIC. Although other states have more than one, Goa is too small a state to warrant two and that too considering there seemed to be no urgency in appointing someone although there was a vacancy for many months. Second, that Prabhudesai did not apply but instead he was recommended by activist-doctor Oscar Rebello. Apart from that, Oscar Rebello has left the educational qualifications column in the application blank. So questions are swirling about whether Goa’s second SIC is deficient education-wise. And more to the point, why is the next information commissioner so frugal about information? And Prabhudesai,who has refused to say anything (in fact, he told Goanspirit – “Don’t even say that I said ‘no comment’), had lobbied hard for the post... Read full story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/news-summary/343-prabhudesai-appointment-raises-a-hornet-s-nest *August 5-11, 2013* *Team GS* *Shaking in their boots?* The worst that can happen if an MLA or any public functionary does not file his/her statement of assets and liabilities is that the Lokayukta can report it to a “competent authority”. If the public functionary does not comply even after this report, within two months, then the Lokayukta can publish his/her name in two newspapers and report it to the governor. And all the governor can do is place the report before the Legislative Assembly. Even a wimp will not wince, much less flinch, at this so-called penal action. Read Full Story: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/contact-us/letters/111-the-week-that-was/344-shaking-in-their-boots Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712
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that he was here, say the focus of the meetings and the one to one talks was about energizing the party. “There should be no delay in putting in place a proper organizational set up. Chella Kumar came here to get a proper assessment of the party, ” Khalap said. The fact that the Congress is an opposition party in name only is something that was communicated to the emissary. “You cannot sit coyly, be on the defensive and wait for things to happen,” Khalap, who was quite a firebrand opposition leader for over 15 years during his stint with the Mahastrawadi Gomantak Party says. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/contact-us/letters/111-the-week-that-was/339-people-win-against-megaprojects *FYI on CIC* On April 15, the legislative assembly passed a unanimous resolution demanding special status for Goa citing preservation of cultural identity as one of its primary reasons. However a little more than three months later, it appears that when it comes to walking the talk, this government is deficient. In less than a week’s time, former additional chief secretary of Mahrashtra, Leena Mehendale, looks good to go as the chief information commissioner (CIC). However, when Goanspirit contacted her for her comments, her response was, “No comments please. True I have sent my application, but one learns by now to wait and see.” …….. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/335-fyi-on-cic -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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NEW If you receive this more than once, please endure with me (Goanspirit, remember!). I am dangerously understaffed, and seriously underpaid. That’s the reason why. *Lionroars – 15* July 22-28, 2013 *Hospet-Vasco: no double track; or double talk?/No Hospet-Vasco double track; or is it double talk?* But, Parrikar was right in so far as the point he wanted to make when he said the proposal to double the track was at the behest of industries who want to transport coal from Mormugao Port Trust. And, there lies the road ahead for Goa. But, the foundation for the project first made public in 2011 has already been laid in Londa in Karnataka and could well be the keystone for what is to come after the general elections are held next year, when the dust dies down and the coal consumer lobby will want its pound of flesh. Because that is how it works in India… *Ample land at Sancoale for Dabolim car park* There is ample land available at Sancoale for a car park and whatever else the Airports Authority of India wants to do with scarce land. That’s the good news. The bad news is it is owned by Zuari Agro Chemicals, which it bought from the Communidade of Sancoale in 1971 for a niggardly twenty-five paise per square metre through a certain obliging office bearer in the communidade, a certain resident of Nagao (now deceased), the then sarpanch of the Sancoale village panchayat, Bhagwan Naik (now deceased) and last but not least, the then chief minister Dayanand Bandodkar…… Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/330-lionroars-15 July 22-28, 2013 *Nutritional bang for your buck* *Lionel Messias* At 65, David Gower (“not to be confused with the cricketer, I was born before him”) might have “been a foreigner wherever I lived” – but in the 17 straight years that he has spent in Goa, he appears to have found his mission, possibly, even his passion in life - organic foods. When we met at his residence cum packaging unit in Vaddy, Siolim, he showed me a list of 44 organic cereals, rice, honey etc he had finalized for 2013-14 including several he had hitherto not sold; which he was about to distribute to vendors in Pune. The list also included four pastas (wheat, spinach, carrot, beetroot) he is going to introduce. Their list included not easily found items too like amaranth popped (like in popping of popcorn). Considered to be the fruit of a plant and not a grain; say hello to daily protein needs with complex carbohydrates, as a substitute to animal protein, which often comes packaged with fat and cholesterol. “The interesting thing about the organic business in Goa is that over the past three years, Goans have shown an interest in it,” he says. “Till then it was only the settlers – the moneyed, sophisticated, second-home owners living in Goa who were earnest about organic.” Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/travel/331-nutritional-bang-for-your-buck July 22-28, 2013 *Runaway failures: a tale of failed airport projects -8* *Neemrana no more* In 2010 came the first admission that the Rs 3,000 crore Greenfield international airport at Shahpura (a.k.a Neemrana) in Rajasthan was stuck with the state government (Congress) despite having all the regulatory clearances from the ministry of defence, ministry of environment and forest, ministry of home affairs, director general of civil aviation and airports authority of India. In fact, a steering committee, comprising representatives from the ministries of civil aviation, defence, home affairs, economic affairs and revenue, as well as those from the meteorological department, Airports Authority of India (AAI), directorate general of civil aviation, and the state government, had approved the airport on May 28, 2009, after it had got the necessary approvals. The promoter Rajasthan Aviation Infrastructure India (RAIPL) had signed a MoU with the earlier BJP government to build the project on 4,500 acres in Rajasthan. Not even the offer of five per cent (it was willing to hike that to 13 per cent) sweat equity to the state government could serve as an enticement. The firm claimed to have the financial backing of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Japan, ING Bank, Netherlands, ABN Amro Bank and BMR Advisors including a strategic partnership with Fraport (Frankfurt Airport Services Worldwide, Germany). Fraport is a full service provider in the airport management field and owns the Frankfurt airport in Germany and also has operations in Delhi International airport. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/329-runaway-failures-a-tale-of-failed-airport-projects-8 *The World This Week* July 22-28, 2013 *Promises, promises* To be fair, Parrikar is doing what other ministers and CMs, including his role model, Gujarat’s Narendra Modi, does. Politicans promise the sun, moon and stars. Obviously, politicians feel that people’s memories are very short and they can heap promise upon promise
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-- NEW *Runaway failures: a tale of failed airport projects -7* *July 15-21, 2013* *Federa airport grounded?* *Confusing aviation policy* …..In January 2010 the Airports Authority of India (AAI) did a feasibility study of the proposed airport, 130 km from Ahmedabad, after meeting top government officials and industry organizations. However, the Gujarat government’s commitment to the project has always been suspect and its aviation policy outwardly confused. In June the same year it announced it had created an aviation company to meet the growing demand in the public and private sector. It was to be named Gujarat State Aviation Company (GUJSAC) and would be a public sector enterprise tasked with building infrastructure and providing trained human resources for the fast growing civil aviation sector. It also set up the Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Co. Ltd (GUJSAIL). By the year end, in December, Gujarat declared it would set up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the Dholera international airport to be called Dholera International Airport Company Limited (DIACL), ostensibly to avail of the benefits of the proposed Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) as well as the (also proposed) Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC). The SPV was to study the public private partnership (PPP), implementation of a master plan, land acquisition and the infrastructure required. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/327-runaway-failures-a-tale-of-failed-airport-projects-7 *Lionroars – 13* *July 15-21, 2013* *The rogue VP of Betalbatim* Despite what the news headlines say the heated issue over the gated housing complex in Betalbatim which the villagers are opposing, may not be over yet. This columnist thinks their victory may be a temporary one if the Nuvem legislator Francisco ‘Mickky’ Pacheco is, as I believe, two-timing his own voters in this case; despite all that emerged from the July 12th critical meeting of the village panchayat (VP). And this would not be the first time either. There were just too many strange events that occurred in the run up to this victory and perhaps one of the few occasions a north Indian developer well versed in Goa’s cesspool of deceit and under-the-table money transactions; was vanquished. Let’s begin from the beginning. A resident of Majorda, Alvaro Braganza sold approximately 3,000 sq mt of his land at Betalbatim to a person/s who has come to be known as Ibrahim Sons, predictably through a non resident Goan possibly from the same village but now believed to be a resident of Benaulim. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/325-lionroars-14 *July 15-21, 2013* *Falling rupee could crash land Mopa* It should be the next level of anxiety but nevertheless it’s going to be a reality when Mopa comes, if it comes. When swanky airports built by private companies come, user fees follow because it costs thousands of crores sometimes to build airports. And they are always destined to go skywards as passengers using the Greenfield Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports are discovering, several years after they were completed. So Mopa becoming a reality will definitely come with the rider that travelers will have to fork out big money to use the airport. For those not in the know, the story unfolding at Bengaluru and Hyderabad airports are a glimpse into the future. While at Dabolim, which is run by the Airports Authority of India (a government-agency), Mopa will have a PPP model. Therefore the current airport is not charging flyers an arm and a leg to use it, but at Mopa, the picture will be totally different……. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/news-summary/324-falling-rupee-could-crash-land-mopa *July 15-21, 2013* *Team GS* *Proof of the Pudding….* After 16 months as the chief minister of Goa, it’s time Manohar Parrikar stops acting like an opposition leader whose only focus is to score brownie points off the Congress and get down to governance rather than making expansive promises about accomplishing all and sundry. And nothing happens on the ground. The casino issue is an example. Parrikar is still stuck on exposing the Congress. “The first casino was given the license by Congress. All subsequent casinos came to the state during the tenure of the Congress government. They should answer the people how much money they have made by issuing licenses,” he said last week….. Full story: * * http://goanspirit.com/index.php/contact-us/letters/111-the-week-that-was/328-proof-of-the-pudding *July 15-21, 2013* *Goa’s Vintage Vinters* *Lionel Messias* Like wine is all about how long it is matured, it seems logical to assume that homemade wine makers traditionally called vintners are matured persons themselves. Proof of my age theory is the fact that two of Goa’s truly dedicated vintners are 80 (Dr John Carmo Rodrigues) and 65-years-old (Anselmo Mascarhenas and his co-vintner/wife Mary
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become synonymous with the perception that “they are here to eat” and the non-Congress masterminds were themselves wary of joining forces with such a discredited bunch of leaders that even south Goa, which has always been staunchly pro-Congress, punished them and sent most stalwarts home in the assembly elections last March. The fact that Digambar Kamat in Margao and Aleixo Reginald Lourenco in Curtorim were the only ones who could stave off the anti-Congress tide speaks volumes. July 8-14, 2013 *Team GS* *Long road ahead for Congress* Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/news-summary/319-there-s-never-smoke-without-a-fire However, it was obvious that Aleixo Reginald Lourenco, the front runner to replace Subhash Shirodkar as the GPCC president, has to sweat even the small stuff because of the pulls and pressures. Although, he seems to be the only one in the Congress who is taking on the Manohar Parrikar government, Vijay Sardesai says, “It’s obvious they are thinking ten times before appointing him” although he seems to have some qualifications that should help him cross the finish line. The Curtorim MLA – who was voted for the first time in 2007 after he defeated his mentor Franscisco Sardinha, on a Save Goa Front ticket – is young, relatively fresh, is dynamic and is not controversial. All Digvijay would commit was that by end-July a new GPCC president would be in place. Digvijay thus put paid to Shirodkar’s hopes that he would get another term. But he put to rest the speculation that Pratapsingh Rane would be replaced as the CLP leader. “That is not the issue now,” he said firmly. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/news-summary/322-long-road-ahead-for-congress -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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NEW *July 1-7, 2013 * *Runaway failures: a tale of failed airport projects -5* *Navi Mumbai Greenfield cost escalates 306 per cent!* ……..For the planners of Mopa, here is a pointer: Though the PAP’s dropped their initial demand of compensation of Rs 20 crore per acre, they have stuck to their demand of getting 35 per cent of the developed land. However, the Maharashtra government and Cidco have indicated that 22.5 per cent of developed land can be provided to PAP’s. Cidco has estimated that the market value of the 22.5 per cent developed land will be worth Rs 18 crore per hectare in 2017 against the present value of Rs 15 lakh per hectare. Cidco also wants to develop a world class city for PAP’s adjacent to the airport. Compare this to chief minister Manohar Parrikar’s assurance to compensate the Mopa farmers of between Rs 150- 300 per sq m depending on the type of land and the type of ownership... Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/315-runaway-failures-a-tale-of-failed-airport-projects-5 *Lionroars -12* *Is Sardinha a loose cannon?* Perhaps Sardinha is like a bull in a China shop when it comes to dealing with the emotions of Goans. How else could you explain his ignorance of this rather provocative fact that as much as 22 per cent of homes built in Goa are vacant, revealed last month. There are a total of 5,76,582 houses built in Goa and of these 1,25,503 are vacant, that is, 89,823 houses in urban Goa and 35,680 in rural areas. In south Goa, which elected Sardinha to what will surely be his last avatar in politics there are 52,976 vacant houses (urban 37,597, rural 15,379). There are 72,527 vacant houses in north Goa (urban 52,226- mostly in the Bardez and Tiswadi talukas, rural 20,301). In fact to expect that an increased FAR will put more houses in the market is the height of naivety because large land owners will hike their land prices even more if that were to happen. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/313-lion-roars-12 *A blooming nuisance, says Nuvem* It usually begins with a massive chunk of a hillside being prised open by a builder without official authorization. It’s easier this way because cutting a hill beyond the permissible height is illegal. So builders just go ahead anyway, because they have the money that empowers them to do anything and the law is an ass in any case. Better still, Goa’s town and country planning (TCP) department is so corrupt, it would be out-and-out foolish for a builder to stay within the law. When Bloomz International School armed with the usual “technical clearance” began decimating yet another hillside it was with exactly this empowerment that it went ahead. Bloomz’ empowerment comes from the fact that its owners are Agrawal Minerals Pvt. Ltd which by plain deduction means that they are also deeply into the real estate business. They do that, in fact, in the name of Kayji Real Estate and have an impressive record to boot…. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/news-summary/314-a-blooming-nuisance-says-nuvem -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's Spirited Online Weekly Magazine.* ** Website:www.goanspirit.com Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
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NEW June 24-30, 2013 *Runaway failures: a tale of failed airport projects -4* *Kannur yet to take off* *Land, money in the bag, still no airport* …At various times over the last few years different news breaks were either fed to the media or reported by it. For instance is was reported that shares worth Rs 8,00,00,000 were allotted to the state government in August 2011. Next it was reported that shares worth Rs 122 crores (Rs 1 cr = Rs 1,00,00,000) were allotted to the state government in August 2012. A report said the public sector component of shares has been fully subscribed with BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited) agreeing to invest Rs 170 crores. On receipt of the first instalment of Rs 40 crores as application money, shares for entire Rs 170 crores were allotted in October 2012. Other PSU (Public Sector Undertakings) share holders were reported as the Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd (KMML), State Beverages (Manufacturing and Marketing) Corporation Ltd (KSBC), Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Ltd (KSIE) and KTDC Hotels and Resorts Ltd (KTDC). The issue of shares in private sector, which was held up in court litigation commenced in May 2012. *An affordable Greenfield airport is a passenger’s pipe dream* As the Kerala government obviously clearly has the revenue resources and the clout of its 30 MPs (21 in the Lok Sabha and 19 in the Rajya Sabha) as against Goa’s three MP’s and positively cash-strapped government; the Kannur Greenfield can’t get off the ground. ………. Read full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/308-runaway-failures-a-tale-of-failed-airport-projects-4 *A church that has seen better days* *Lionel Messias* ….The church has a playground whose revenue from two annual feasts and hiring it out to tiatrs and for football tournaments is an estimated Rs 1,00,000 annually. The two feasts are November’s Mae dos Porbes feast and December’s Holy Family feast. But the problem is the Fr. Martins backed Fabrica de Igreja de Mae dos Pobres has hijacked the running of the affairs of the church (also read* An (un)holy mission to make money *- May 20-26, 2013). But what really irked the confraria members is that Fr. Martins falsely declared in a sworn affidavit that the property on which the Mae dos Pobres High School was built belonged to him; and on that basis went on to get government and private funding as well as deal with the town and country planning authorities. Whereas, the land (survey no. 294/1) on which it was built clearly belongs to the Farbica de Igreja de Mae dos Pobres, Nuvem church. The confraria also pointed out that though the stamp paper on which the affidavit was signed was purchased in Margao, it was notarised in faraway Quepem. They ask why? .. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/letters/309-a-church-that-has-seen-better-days *Where your tax money goes* *Lionroars – 11* ………And it appears that we do have the money to spend because Rs 15,80,83,811 of your tax money is right now being spent on developing the site of the temple of Shri Mahalasadevi at Verna. According to the Archeology department, Rs 27,00,43,214.41 has been sanctioned for this project on June 6, 2010 and work began on January 2, 2012. Tendered by the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (GSIDC), the project was to have been completed in March this year but clearly little has been achieved (see picture). Mind you, when GSIDC was set up, it was tasked with the job of building much needed infrastructure for Goa as indicated in its own website calls also says it is a special purpose vehicle (SPV). Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars-2013/307-lion-roars-11 *Finally, Goa Congress gets a CEO* “It means they are taking Goa seriously.” This is the assessment of a senior Congress leader in south Goa about the Congress high command’s appointment of Digvijay Singh as the new general secretary in charge of Goa (also Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh). “He is such a senior leader and despite this state having just two Lok Sabha constituencies, his being named means Congress is finally going in a different way.” His appointment could also mean that wayward sons like Dabolim MLA Mauvin Godinho will have to end his delinquency and return home because this father (Digvijay) won’t forgive him otherwise. It could also mean the appointment of a new leader of the opposition, someone with more oratory (read as: more fiery) skills than Pratapsing Rane. And definitely expect Churchill Alemao not to expect the world from the Congress as his birth right. And without a shadow of doubt expect, because of Team Digvijay-Rahul Gandhi expect a few tickets to given to younger candidates the next time around. This was done in the Karnataka elections recently…….. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/news-summary/306-finally-goa-congress-gets-a-ceo *Made in Goa, but GI elusive* .According to the GHRSSIDC (The Goa
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NEW June 17-23, 2013 *Of subsistent salaries* *Lionroars -10* GIDC's paperless business transactions The GIDC, the biggest (by current ranking) scamster among government departments and corporations after the PWD, has identified the following land to set up the money spinning plots it sells at rock bottom rates on paper but several times that price where paperless transactions are the norm, if you get my meaning. In Tuem (phase-111), Pernem – 79,330 sq m (survey nos. 60 67/1); Poinguinim, Canacona – 3,86,488 sq m (157/1, 157/4 131/1; Latambarcem, Bicholim – 3,43,785 sq m (625/1, 627/0, 632/0, 633/0); Shiroda (phase-11), Ponda taluka – 1,87,825 sq m (965, 974, 975, 989, 980 987); Carambolim, Tiswadi taluka – 2,82,925 sq m (280/1 288/1); Tuem (phase-11), Pernem – 1,19,044 sq m (53/0, 54/1 to 50, 55/1, 57/1 62/22); Madkai, Ponda taluka – 5,00,000 sq m (420, 421, 422, 423, 424, 487, 504, 507, 508, 509, 510, 513, 514 515); Verna (phase-11), Salcette taluka – 2,03,780 sq m (32/1, 1-A, 1-B in Nagoa village, 30/1 to 64, 32, 94/1 to 36, 95/1 to 161 of Verna village, 258 of Loutolim village); Colvale, Bardez takuka – 1,26,317 sq m (205/1, 2, 205/3 to 8, 9, 10, 11, 206/1 to 6, 208/1 to 20, 209/1 to 20, 210/1 to 10, 10-A, 10-B, 10-C, 10—D, 11, 12-A, 12-B, 12-C, 14, 15, 16, 211/1 to 2, 2-A, 2-C, 2-D, 3, 3-A, 4, 4-A, 4-B, 4-C, 5, 6, 7, 8, 212/1 to 8, 213/4 to 23 214/4 to 22); Shiroda, Ponda taluka – 2,66,650 sq m (274/1, 274/2, 468/1, 480/1, 481/1, 482, 484/1, 485/1, 485/2, 488, 489/1, 493, 494, 495/1 496). Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lion-roars/lion-roars- 2013/304-lion-roars-10 June 17-23, 2013 *Runaway failures: a tale of failed airport projects -3* *Run, run, runway* On June 3, 2013 the Kerala High Court banned all construction of the Aranmula airport project for two weeks issuing an interim order on a petition filed by the Aranmula Heritage Village Action Council patron Kummanam Rajasekharan seeking a ban on the construction of the proposed airport and other constructions, by reclaiming paddy land. According to the petitioner, this contravenes the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act. So, for now it’s back to wait and watch. Construction of the 700 acre (an earlier figure said 500 acres) Rs 2,000 crore airport, near Sabarimala, had also been stayed by the National Green Tribunal southern bench, early in April 2013 but the stay vacated in quick time. Aranmula has been identified as a heritage village by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the implementation of the Endogenous Tourism Project. The parliamentary standing committee led by CPM leader Sitaram Yechury has also last month opined that the airport project be shelved pointing out that permission (including the central government’s) was granted ignoring the rule that two airports within 150 km cannot be built. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/303-runaway-failures- a-tale-of-failed-airport-projects-3
[Goanet] New in Goan Spirit this week
NEW THIS WEEK Soft landing on Sriperumbudur It is difficult to ascertain at this point in time when the idea of another airport for Chennai - at Sriperumbudur - was first ideated; but in May 2007, the then Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi did announce that his government had identified 4,820.66 acres of land for the proposed airport. Coming from him as scam after scam in later years led to his party, the DMK, comes as no surprise. But by February 2010 the Greenfield project was shelved. With modernisation of the Chennai airport and taking into consideration traffic growth, the state and union governments decided not to go ahead with the Sriperumbudur project. The main roadblock was the fact that the state government itself realized that many major cities in the world operate with one airport and Chennai really did not have the traffic volume to justify a second airport. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/299-runaway-failures- a-tale-of-failed-airport-projects-2 *Something phony about Lusofonia* *Lionroars -9* To host the 3rd Lusofonia Games in November this year (God only knows why Goa needs to bear this colossal expenditure) an amount of Rs 46,51,33,742 is being spent to refurbish the much revamped Jawaharlal Nehru stadium at Fatorda. In fact the only medal Goa is going to get has already been bagged. The Nehru stadium gets the gold for being the most overhauled stadium within the Lusofonia fraternity. This will also bring back that lost-somewhere smile to your face, the fact that the approved nine disciplines are – athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, football, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball; not chess. Yes, NO CHESS, the only game Goa excels at which this state could have insisted on being the host. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/301-lion-roars-9 *In politics, age is just a number* By his reckoning, Modi who turns 63 in September has two years to go (*the PMs term is five years*). Advani’s red herring a few days heaping fulsome praise on MP chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (who is only 54) – he said Chouhan had to struggle to bring up a state like MP which was part of the notorious underdeveloped BIMARU unlike a developed state like Gujarat – stirred controversy. But he is very eligible going by Parrikar’s yardstick. But as Parrikar said, Nos: 2 and 3 are just in queue, it’s all about No: 1, who should be NaMo according to the Goa CM. Many of BJP’s leaders pass Parrikar’s test - Sushma Swaraj (61), Arun Jaitley (60) Raman Singh (60), CM of Chatisgarh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan (54), CM of Madhya Pradesh and Manohar Parrikar himself is a spring chicken at 57. But again in Parrikar’s words (back in 2009), “At present Advaniji's innings is matured. It is like Sachin Tendulkar. However matured innings he may play, sometime he will have to stop playing. It is like a pickle which takes a year to mature. But if it is kept for two years or so, it gets rancid.” Last heard Sachin Tendulkar who has turned 40 has not retired although the number of times he has to confront the R question is embarrassing. He’s taking the quote by Rahul Dravid, a cricketer and a gentleman, who, when he hung up his boots said, “Age is just a number.” Not just Sachin, all politicians are taking this dictum seriously. *And as far as Goanspirit is concerned, at 40, a cricketer is as old as a dinosaur, 6,500 years even it doesn’t matter. * Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/news-summary/300-in- politics-age-is-just-a-number Waste Management in Germany: Polluter Pays - 2http://goanspirit.com/index.php/writer-s-flow/298-waste-management-in-germany-polluter-pays-2 Thus, the basic principle of “the polluter pays” consequently means the consumer pays, i.e. the public. Taking a short look at nuclear waste and the threats of accidents as witnessed in Fukoshima proves that far beyond the obvious expected fees for the consumers there can be totally unforeseen damages and subsequent costs of tremendous extents. The German nuclear industries, mainly the big power generating companies (E.on, TWE, EnBW and Vattenfall) are legally forced to set aside a sum of more than 30 Billion Euro for whole site contraction and disposal of nuclear waste, in addition to an annual 2.3 Billion Euro as tax for nuclear fuel elements. Yet, nobody knows what the cost will be for the required sustainable nuclear waste repositories and for the treatment of all sorts of contaminated materials, as even the German Federal Court of Auditors remarked. A study published by Greenpeace estimated the costs for the comprehensive opt out that the German government decided for 2022 at 40 Billion Euros. ( http://www.contratom.de/2012/04/11/greenpeace-versorger- haben-zu-geringe-atom-rucklagen/). Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/writer-s-flow/298-waste- management-in-germany-polluter-pays-2
[Goanet] Goanspirit.com
*Runaway failures: a tale of failed airport projects -2* *Soft landing on Sriperumbudur* It is difficult to ascertain at this point in time when the idea of another airport for Chennai - at Sriperumbudur - was first ideated; but in May 2007, the then Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi did announce that his government had identified 4,820.66 acres of land for the proposed airport. Coming from him as scam after scam in later years led to his party, the DMK, comes as no surprise. But by February 2010 the Greenfield project was shelved. With modernisation of the Chennai airport and taking into consideration traffic growth, the state and union governments decided not to go ahead with the Sriperumbudur project. The main roadblock was the fact that the state government itself realized that many major cities in the world operate with one airport and Chennai really did not have the traffic volume to justify a second airport. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/299-runaway-failures-a-tale-of-failed-airport-projects-2 *Something phony about Lusofonia* *Lionroars -9* To host the 3rd Lusofonia Games in November this year (God only knows why Goa needs to bear this colossal expenditure) an amount of Rs 46,51,33,742 is being spent to refurbish the much revamped Jawaharlal Nehru stadium at Fatorda. In fact the only medal Goa is going to get has already been bagged. The Nehru stadium gets the gold for being the most overhauled stadium within the Lusofonia fraternity. This will also bring back that lost-somewhere smile to your face, the fact that the approved nine disciplines are – athletics, basketball, beach volleyball, football, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball; not chess. Yes, NO CHESS, the only game Goa excels at which this state could have insisted on being the host. Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/301-lion-roars-9 *In politics, age is just a number* By his reckoning, Modi who turns 63 in September has two years to go (*the PMs term is five years*). Advani’s red herring a few days heaping fulsome praise on MP chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (who is only 54) – he said Chouhan had to struggle to bring up a state like MP which was part of the notorious underdeveloped BIMARU unlike a developed state like Gujarat – stirred controversy. But he is very eligible going by Parrikar’s yardstick. But as Parrikar said, Nos: 2 and 3 are just in queue, it’s all about No: 1, who should be NaMo according to the Goa CM. Many of BJP’s leaders pass Parrikar’s test - Sushma Swaraj (61), Arun Jaitley (60) Raman Singh (60), CM of Chatisgarh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan (54), CM of Madhya Pradesh and Manohar Parrikar himself is a spring chicken at 57. But again in Parrikar’s words (back in 2009), “At present Advaniji's innings is matured. It is like Sachin Tendulkar. However matured innings he may play, sometime he will have to stop playing. It is like a pickle which takes a year to mature. But if it is kept for two years or so, it gets rancid.” Last heard Sachin Tendulkar who has turned 40 has not retired although the number of times he has to confront the R question is embarrassing. He’s taking the quote by Rahul Dravid, a cricketer and a gentleman, who, when he hung up his boots said, “Age is just a number.” Not just Sachin, all politicians are taking this dictum seriously. *And as far as Goanspirit is concerned, at 40, a cricketer is as old as a dinosaur, 6,500 years even it doesn’t matter. * Full story: http://goanspirit.com/index.php/news-summary/300-in-politics-age-is-just-a-number Waste Management in Germany: Polluter Pays - 2http://goanspirit.com/index.php/writer-s-flow/298-waste-management-in-germany-polluter-pays-2 http://goanspirit.com/index.php/writer-s-flow/298-waste-management-in-germany-polluter-pays-2 Thus, the basic principle of “the polluter pays” consequently means the consumer pays, i.e. the public. Taking a short look at nuclear waste and the threats of accidents as witnessed in Fukoshima proves that far beyond the obvious expected fees for the consumers there can be totally unforeseen damages and subsequent costs of tremendous extents. The German nuclear industries, mainly the big power generating companies (E.on, TWE, EnBW and Vattenfall) are legally forced to set aside a sum of more than 30 Billion Euro for whole site contraction and disposal of nuclear waste, in addition to an annual 2.3 Billion Euro as tax for nuclear fuel elements. Yet, nobody knows what the cost will be for the required sustainable nuclear waste repositories and for the treatment of all sorts of contaminated materials, as even the German Federal Court of Auditors remarked. A study published by Greenpeace estimated the costs for the comprehensive opt out that the German government decided for 2022 at 40 Billion Euros. ( http://www.contratom.de/2012/04/11/greenpeace-versorger-haben-zu-geringe-atom-rucklagen/ ). -- Lionel Messias Editor, *Goan Spirit*, *Goa's
[Goanet] Goan Spirit
New 1. Grassroot democracy in the gutter: read about the total abuse of basic panchayat rules in Nuvem -for example retaining unutilized an amount of Rs 14,85,000 for years without returning it to government , blatant falsifying of accounts ….. http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/290-grassroot-democracy-in-the-gutter 2. Caitu Caught Out: read how a private visit by chief minister Manohar Parrikar ended up in him approving a building in Orlim after the MLA Caitu Silva interceded on behalf of the builder. The town planners themselves had objected to the construction earlier …… http://goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/289-caitu-caught-out 3. Lionroars: The Enertainment Society of Goa goes on another spree of spending your tax money like there is no tomorrow, plus we give you the expense sheet of the International Film Festival of India 2012 so you know exactly how your tax money is misspent……. http://goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/288-lion-roars-7
[Goanet] An errant VP and a delinquent priest
*Lionel Messias* This is the depressing story of an errant village panchayat (VP) of Nuvem and a delinquent priest Fr. Alvaro Martins, parish priest of the Mae Dos Pobres Church in the same village. Read more in Goanspirit: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/lead/275-a-vp-and-a-priest-violate-all-rules -- Lionel Messias Independent Journalist SILENCE SURPASSES SPEECH Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) Website:www.goanspirit.com 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] Lion Roars
*May 13-19, 2013* * BJP now the party goer* It used to be the Congress that was adept at wasting your tax monies. It was like an allergy they couldn’t get rid of. Remember those lavish dinners and entertaining their MLAs and bureaucrats did at the cost of the taxpayer. Remember too Eduardo Faleiro, the erstwhile NRI commissioner. He hardly lived in Goa during his tenure and as a result might have even considered himself to be a non-resident Indian. Congress tourism ministers would plan their travels even as they drove to Raj Bhavan to be sworn in. I kid you of course, but indulge me, it just might have happened at least with one MLA. Read More on the Goanspirit website at: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/277-lion-roars-6 -- Lionel Messias Independent Journalist SILENCE SURPASSES SPEECH Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) Website:www.goanspirit.com 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] Lion Roars
Lionroars -4 Eternal damination Here is another festering sore of a tale to tell. A rich Delhi honcho is building his Goa abode on a road widening area in Cobra vaddo in Calangute, right in front of a chapel where parishioners pray. The site was inspected by the Public Works Department (PWD) on April 9, 2013. The Town and Country Planning Department (TCP), Mapusa issued him an NOC on March 6, 2007 (DB/21628/07/705) to build what may be a residential house. The corrupt and truly morally bankrupt Village Panchayat (VP) of Calangute issued him a construction license on March 10, 2007 (VP/CAL/F-13/06-07/L/3914) and later renewed it on February 7, 2013 (VP/CAL/F-13/12-13/R-16/6302). Since the VP issued its license in exactly five working days from the date the TCP issued its NOC, I checked the March 2007 calendar and discovered March 10 was a Saturday, and March 6 was a Tuesday, that is, five days including the Sunday holiday! Read more about Akhil Gupta's other feats in Calangute and on the morally bankrupt Calangute VP at: http://www.goanspirit.com/index.php/bits-bytes/273-lion-roars-5 -- Lionel Messias Independent Journalist SILENCE SURPASSES SPEECH Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) Website:www.goanspirit.com 125-E, Bellem, Velsao, P.O. Cansaulim, Goa 403712 Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] Special Status for Goa
Will Goa ever get Special Status or will it remain forever a debate for heated discussion only. Read the cover story 'Goa uninvited to the (special) party' on this week's (April 8-14) www.goanspirit.com. We also take a trip to Tiracol to further report on a land grab in progress. It's titled: 'Needed:Time Out for Tiracol'. -- -- Lionel Messias Independent Journalist SILENCE SURPASSES SPEECH Worked for the best: Goa Today, Gomantak Times, Herald, Mid-Day, The Pioneer, Indian Express (Bangalore), Economic Times (Chennai, Hyderabad), Newstime (Hyderabad), Gulf News (Hyderabad) *Read my website:* www.goanspirit.com Tel: 0832-2884484 Mob:9822152164
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Football Politics
LION ROARS Goan football’s repulsive side There is an obnoxious side to Goan football, the most popular game on the planet. This story begins with Churchill Alemao wanting to be president of the Goa Football Association for the term 2010-14. One obstacle he faced was the fact that his brother Joaquim Alemao was the sitting president. How? I’ll explain that in time. Perhaps like Aleixo Sequeira (MLA, Loutolim) he wanted to be elected unopposed. Although Salcete was the largest voting constituency, he also needed the backing of football clubs in Bardez, Ilhas and Mormugao, to get elected unopposed. Ironically, real elections to the GFA had resumed in 2007 after a long lull when Churchill’s brother Joaquim won, but his panel didn’t. Earlier, All-India Football Federation’s (AIFF) secretary, Alberto Colaco merely grouped together Joaquim Alemao, Shivanand Salgaocar, and Srinivas Dempo, arrogating to himself the right of picking the GFA president. In other words they selected, never elected, their surrogate. Result: there was never an election since Savio Messias challenged Vilas Sardessai in 1992, and the thumb rule applied to the yes-men in the GFA’s committee as well. Lousy legacy But J. Alemao was leaving behind a weak legacy that his brother Churchill could not afford to inherit. Goa’s soccer clubs, particularly from Bardez were unrelenting over his broken promise to give each club Rs 50,000, which they claimed he had promised in return for votes in 2007. And that is because J. Alemao, the Urban Development Minister failed to get the Sports Ministry which lords over the Sports Authority of Goa (SAG) which was supposed to bankroll his blatant buyoff. Vengeance is mine The clubs intended to hit back. They picked their moment when Churchill Alemao held a meeting of Bardez clubs at the Green Park hotel (near the Mapusa by-pass road) in August. There are 40-odd Bardez clubs (42, I think). Typically, Churchill brought along some club representatives (Dionisio Sardinha, John Dias, Lavino Rebello among them) from Salcette and declared in his inimitable style that he would only file his nomination if all the clubs in Goa agreed to elect him unopposed. “The clubs want me to be president. I must be voted unopposed.” But a stunned Churchill got only rebuttals. “Where is your brother? Where is the Rs 50,000 he promised? What will you promise this time?” The political playfield was suddenly a different ball game. Here was the rough and tumble of a football game. It got more aggressive. “What have you done for football? Why are you Minister for PWD and not Minister for Sports? 'What happened to the promised lighting at Fatorda?' Why hasn’t Panjim got a ground yet?” The meeting ended with some club representatives walking out in protest. Churchill Alemao realized he had been shown the red card. The defense against him was impenetrable; therefore he decided not to contest despite his great ambition to become president. The Fatorda stadium lighting project valued at nearly Rs 6 cr is stuck with Churchill Alemao, in his capacity as PWD Minister. Specialists in the business say it can be done for less than one sixth of that amount. The Duler stadium floodlight projects officially promoted by J. Alemao is de facto obstructed by him as the Urban Planning Minister (the project is to be implemented by the Mapusa Municipality which is under his ministry). Dark horse This is when the Colaco group panicked and pushed forward the candidature of Srinivas Dempo, always reluctant to become president, and content with playing a supporting role. With Colaco due to retire on September 30, 2010 as the AIFF’s Delhi-based paid general secretary, he would have to be benched on his return to Goa. But he could be made the new GFA general secretary. With the incumbent, Messias, due to retire on October 25, 2010, the post was being transformed from that of honorary to professional. It was to be a paid job and Colaco’s AIFF experience was the end result of a well-thought out tactical plan. The new term is for 2010-2014. It was a shoe-in – a winner all the way, because Colaco intended to be the force behind Dempo, the reluctant GFA office bearer. Dempo was elected, or rather, selected member of the GFA twice, was VP for four years, but the only GFA meeting he ever attended was on September 15, 2010. Rumours had it that he and four other GFA members including J. Alemao would be disqualified for failing to attend four consecutive executive committee meetings. Under ordinary circumstances they ought to have been disqualified a long time ago. The issue was raised in fact at the last general body but J. Alemao’s limp apology was that his ministerial and political duties took preference over GFA. Possession game Except for 2007 when true elections were held, the group marshaled by Colaco has always kept possession of the ball so to speak – to the extent of forming a panel to contest. This is in direct conflict with the GFA constitution which
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Consultancy, the money spinner
The Ghost Who Walks The contract for the colossal new Collectorate building being built at Margao was tendered in December 2007 at a cost of Rs 73,46,34,449. It won’t be ready in June 2010 as scheduled but in December and the cost has already escalated to Rs 77.50 cr which was expected. In fact, already the next projected cost is Rs 93 cr. It will soar (to Rs 100 cr perhaps?) and will go down as the most expensive ever built in Goa. And for what realistic purpose was it built? So that some government babu can harass you even more as you blunder from one floor to another looking for the chap who just stepped out for his umpteenth cup of chai? The government won’t give a Panchayat the talathi it deserves but it will blow Rs 100 cr on a new Collectorate building. A case in point is the Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim Village Panchayat’s talathi who also holds charge of the Velsao-Pale-Issorcim VP which means he comes to work only Mondays and Thursdays at Velsao. Because the Boss Man, the Mamlatdar of Mormugo, wants him there at Vasco da Gama, his base station, every now and then, the poor chap has become like The Phantom -The Ghost Who Walks; for no fault of his. In this case the government gets really mean. To make you go through the pain of a FIIXV, it divided the three villages of Velsao VP between two Mamlatdars. Yes, there is a Mamlatdar and two joint Mamlatdars. Machiavellian? I thought so too. Consultancy, the money spinner 1) The cost of civil works including plumbing, fire fighting and internal electrical works (at the Rs 93 cr level) is an estimated Rs 73,46,34,449 and the consultancy fee (i.e architectural and project management consultancy) is Rs 4,02,57,968. 2) The external electrical work will cost Rs 2,11,49,474 and the consultancy fee is Rs 11,58,991. 3) The cost of the internal, external and special lighting fixtures is Rs 74,40,000 and strange but true, the consultancy fee is Rs 4,07,712. In other words the consultancy fee for items 2 3, both electrical jobs, itself works out to Rs 15,66,703 plus there already is an unknown consultancy fee for internal electrical works factored into item 1 (see above). 4) The elevator work will cost Rs 2,77,00,000 and the consultancy fee is Rs 15,17,960. 5) Air-conditioning the complex will cost Rs 1,93,02,803 and the consultancy fee is Rs 10,57,794. 6) The cost of the telephone exchange and UPS will be Rs 1,33,40,845 and believe it or not the consultancy fee is Rs 7,31,078. 7) The audio visual equipments for the conference room and AV room will cost Rs 44,00,000 and the consultancy fee for this is Rs 2,41,120. 8) The furniture will cost Rs 5,23,29,550 and lo and behold the consultancy fee for this is Rs 28,67,659. 9) There is a miscellaneous cost of Rs 2,32,000 and mercifully they didn’t need a consultant to tell them that. The magic figure at this moment is Rs 92,87,69,403 and the dice is still being rolled. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder You have by now begun to understand the current Cabinet’s compulsive obsession for big buildings and decided to live with it. That much is clear. But it boggles the mind when in a total cost of Rs 88,05,29,121 the consultancy fee works out Rs 4,82,40,282 and is growing. Now figure out the maintenance and other support costs of this monolith and notch that up as one more record that will be set by Goa’s most expensive building yet. And in your village meanwhile the streetlights don’t work, the narrow village roads are potholed, you are forced to buy your own expensive UPS because the power supply is as inconsistent as the figures above. Worse, you won’t be invited to the gala opening of the Collectorate knowing well that will also cost you a small fortune. And in villages a few people continue to clean up the beaches which hordes of domestic tourists dirty for the good of the tourism industry. And yet on September 21, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat flew all the way to Delhi with a delegation to convince the Information Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni not to pull the rug from under the Entertainment Society of Goa. Her ministry wants to reduce the Entertainment Society of Goa’s role in hosting this year’s International Film Festival of India for all the right reasons. But the Goa government can’t have that, can it, considering its other obsession is IFFI; and all the tax-free perks of a good life that go with organizing it? Proof of its fascination is in the very timing of his visit, made when Delhi was in a flap over Jammu Kashmir under its worse siege ever and the Commonwealth Games about to go kaput. Life goes on. Battle of the Bulge The Navy’s growing a belly. You wouldn’t expect the Navy to get the acquisition bug too. A long time ago, the Navy locked down the old road to popular Bogmolo beach. It really hurt because you could cycle down to Bogmolo from Vasco da Gama. It was all done for a sacred cause, blah, blah. All the while, the Navy only employed more men and lost more aircraft, nothing else. The Navy is
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Only in Goa
Miss Moneypenny flows It rained this year more than even Dr Rajendra K Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, could have predicted even if he could be accused of shooting off yet another set of rigged up figures on climate change. In case, you’ve missed this – even global warming has had its unfair share of contradictions, around the world. But then if you are Indian today and doing well in A-broad, and it so happened that you were Rajendra Pachauri, the UN’s bureaucrat with a bee in his bonnet, you can be accused of anything especially if the accuser is a Brit leading newspaper and is called the ‘The Telegraph’. What you don’t know is that it rained in somebody else’s pocket (or many pockets for that matter) like rain water gushing through storm water drains. You could say, the rainfall was straight from the Mint for those with pockets like funnels, wide and channeled directly into some bank account. Either that or the mountains of mining rejects are getting the better of all the government’s feeble attempts to keep Bicholim from going under. My point being, then why waste money if the problem cannot be solved. It happened in Bicholim where Rs 8.84 crores was spent to desilt the Bicholim river which again this year took its wrath out on the residents of Bicholim town especially the Bandirwada and Gaonkarwada areas. Undertaken by the Water Resources Department, the flood control project was supposed to have been accomplished in three ways. 1. Improvement of waterway to Bicholim river from Kudchire to L.I.S Scheme, Vathadev –tendered to Pan Constructions. 2. Improvement to waterways from L.I.S Scheme to Dhabdhaba – tendered to Noorudheen Construction Pvt. Ltd. 3. Improvement of waterways from Dhabdhaba to Bagwada Pilgao – tendered to Apollo Engineers Contractors Pvt. Ltd. Diamonds Are Forever Is a group of retired government babus trying to emulate Sachin Tendulkar who is never going to retire since he can pick and choose where to play? Or is it that a cabinet-full of selectors just want them to bat on, and on. The Chief Minister Digambar Kamat hired RA Verlekar as his officer on special duty. His age as you read this is 67 years and eleven months to be precise. His under secretary, Amrut Gaonkar is 64 years and ten months. He hired Jagdish Kalangutkar as section officer. His age as you read this is 60 years and four months, but that could be considered younger. Eight of his ministers all have OSD’s (doesn’t that sound like some kind of James Bond adaptation) over the age of sixty years. Licence to Kill or not, Joaquim Alemao’s Man Friday is 68 years and two months old. More power to their guns, but what I don’t understand is the government continuing to pay them a hefty pension because pension deductions are being made from their monthly salaries. BTW, Mickey Pacheco and his Man Friday split after many years of Bonding together. Turned out as Mickey says that while he was manning the cash counters, his Man Friday was on special duty secret assignments of the asset accumulation kind. There is a guestimated Rs 3-5 crore missing from the cash till and none of that I am told went overseas if you get my drift. It’s all here, in Goa, in hard real estate. What was that you said about two sides of the same coin? Dr. No(Goan) No silly, this has nothing to do with the Commissioner for NRI Affairs Eduardo Faleiro’s, project (the third edition) of bringing well-heeled Goans settled abroad on a holiday to Goa this November-December. This is about non-Goans employed as doctors in the Goa Medical College (GMC). Call it a limited edition. You thought doctors (lawyers too) was about the only career Goans choose and become. You were right. So, explain this then. How the GMC employed 66 non-Goan doctors till July 2010 and counting. In 2008 it hired 14 doctors. In the two months May-June, 2009 GMC hired 19 (of the 66) doctors and two more in December 2009. In 2010 five doctors were hired. The Goa Dental College Hospital has 13 non-Goan doctors on its rolls. So, now we don’t have dentists too. You wish those Goan Diaspora holidaying here will get their teeth into this? I do too. The Goa College of Pharmacy has two. They were hired in 2009 and 2010 as lecturers. The Institute of Psychiatry Human Behaviour rehired two clinical pathologists after they retired in 2005. For Your Eyes Only The Goa Barge Owners Association (GBOA) president Atul Jadav is going around telling any newspaper that listens that Goa is in dire need of a maritime industrial estate. Inevitably, the case of the Dubai Maritime City was cited as evidence without the corollary of course, that abroad there is definite transparency and definitive law. It pissed off the Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira who called up Jadav. Thing is GBOA wants the government to acquire five lakh sq mts at Bhoma near the Cumbarjua canal. Blunder 1. He was cocksure that the new environment would be protected but agreed the present repair
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Goascam
*Marketing of a scam * This is how it’s done in scamgoa.com. First get the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) to build something as big as is possible, like the Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP) market. For a size guestimate, look at the Ravindra Bhavan being built on the Verna-Dabolim bypass which you might have easily, as you passed by, thought was an indoor stadium. It’s so large, it literally breaks the skyline as you drive by. The GSIDC comes under the Minister for Urban Development Joaquim Alemao, so nothing goes suburban, if you get my drift. Everything stays in-house and nobody knows nothing, though we’ll get to that one day. When that happens, put it down as the mother of all scams. For now we are concerned with scam No. 1 which began when the CCP’s councilors began to take “operational control” of the market complex. Now if you want a career as a thieving scoundrel then take note of the words ‘operational control’ because my friend, it will help you one day. Although I think quite a few Goan families practice it to the hilt. And just in case you pretend not to know, I am talking about yes, division of family property. Point is, it appears till date that no official allotment of the hundreds of shops and stalls was done from the first phase in 2003 till now. It’s possible that some councilors succeeded in ‘allotting’ some shops either to themselves or to their relatives. For the record, 37 shops with double height were built in phase I on the ground floor. Seventy-seven shops with single height were built on the ground floor in phase II, 446 platform spaces were built on the ground floor and 344 stalls built on the first floor. They are all occupied, yet no official allotment has been made! The scam is being investigated since July 2010 and the results if properly investigated by the CCP Commissioner should make Fox Crime (the channel) look amateur. Problem is, so far the CCP has come out with two reports, dated March 3 and July 9, 2010. *Mayoral Pleasure* Between July-August 2003, 52 ‘persons’ are said to have illegally occupied shops when Sanjit Rodrigues was the Commissioner and Ashok Naik the Mayor (May 4, 2003-July 17, 2004). They simply walked in and took over 37 shops of double height each with a carpet area of 18 sq.mt, and 15 other smaller-sized shops. Nobody knows how, but it happened despite GSIDC having a detailed official record of the occupants prior to the demolition (of the old market) matched with the shops/stalls they were to be allotted. The CCP has no record either of rents fixed or collected. It happens in Goa and happened again after phase II was completed and inaugurated in January 2007. This time around (between June 20, 2006-January 21, 2007) when Daulat Hawaldar was the Commissioner and Tony Rodrigues the Mayor, 62 shops were occupied. The CCP called it “occupational control”. A further 446 platform spaces were occupied by what the CCP described in its report as “different types of vendors.” The second CCP report said “the official roll was missing and the Mayor and a few councilors monitored shifting of the vendors and allotment of spaces.” It added: “Again, no record is available on the shifting of these vendors in the 2nd phase”. Now, try doing this anywhere in Goa, unless of course you are a migrant especially in Sancoale or chimbel, and believe me you will get your butt hauled to court. *Vendor’s rock* While India’s elite walk miles to get rid of their bulbous bellies, the poor walk miles just to get food. And so it is. At Panjim’s market, vendors’ rock and roll as happened again in January 2008, this time when Sanjiv Gadkar was the Commissioner or should I say Commissar and Tony Rodrigues continued to be the Mayor. This time, 344 stalls were ‘occupied’ and the report said, “this occupation took place, sans administrative intervention, directly under the supervision of the Mayor and some councilors”. Seriously, now at least do you see what I meant by ‘occupational control’. I was only trying to help. The report added: “In the light of what is stated, it will be improper for the present Commissioner (Elvis Gomes) to go into the roles of the above named, and if desired, the government may initiate a proper inquiry to be conducted by an independent authority to go into the entire issue”. A classic example of obfuscation made only in Goa and is tax free. So, the next time you shop at the market, bargain like hell. Remember, the man/woman conning you has not paid rent, does not have a lease agreement and is using hardware (to make money) paid for by you. OK, so you need a booster shot? It could even ban you from the Commonwealth Games, if it takes place that is, and if you are suddenly accosted with a drug test. This is it. Huge bills amounting to Rs 12,06,952 and Rs 62,20,833 towards unpaid water and electricity consumption have piled up and continue climbing up as are the prices of the vegetables you are buying. Ditto for maintenance
[Goanet] Lion Roars -Polluter does not pay
--- http://www.GOANET.org --- Goanet joins Noel Rebello to raise money for Daddy's Home (Margao, Goa) Sponsor Noel as he climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro (5,882m or 19,298 ft) Make a donation at www.Goanet.org, click on MAKE A DONATION, state Daddy's Home in the Donation comments For more information see: http://bit.ly/SupportDaddysHome --- Polluters do not pay Sheriff of Nottingham Phew, I got tired of the number crunching the last two weeks, so I am going to give us all a respite. I’m just yanking your chain. Sorry, doesn’t happen that way by a long shot. But you know what, when you all wake up from your deep-seated sleep, then maybe we can at least stop the politician at the door, if not shut the door on him. Till then here’s another adrenalin rush. The Sheriff of Nottingham otherwise known as Filipe Neri Rodrigues, the Forest Minister. called another meeting of the Goa State Board for Wildlife that has now come to be virtually an annual affair. The August 25 meet, it turned out, was destined to miss out on crucial issues at hand. Last year, at a similar meet, a tiger enclosure for Bondla was shoved into the faces of all those who attended on the day of the meeting itself. This meet was concerned only with the Goa Forest Development’s intent to tie up with Southern River Adventures Sports Pvt. Ltd. Now, anything that happens in Goa is through the back door, or through a window left ajar. Never the front door. Pity the Madhei river The people living in a 15 km stretch of river from Codal on the northern tributary of the Mhadei which joins the eastern tributary coming from Krishnapur and ending at Sonal, will if this plan is followed through, be the next recipients of a whole slew of irritants including roughnecks who will mix the effervescence of booze with the froth of white water rafting. That, of course in the name of tourism and who gives a crap what you and I think. This is how the Sheriff of Nottingham looks at it, and I quote the actual minutes of the meet: “This stretch of river offers stunning scenery, many exciting rapids (approx. 30) and is perhaps the most challenging than any other rafting section in South India. As in Dandeli, the Mhadei section runs through the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, though at no point of time will forest be touched enroute to any place. It is only the waters which will be used with both the start (Codal-Derodem bridge) and finish point (Sonal) out of the sanctuary limits.” They said that of the sand dunes, remember; of the beaches, of public access to beaches, of the River Princess (the salvage, that is), of IFFI (International Film Festival of India), of SEZs (Special Economic Zones), of, of ……..; all those were pushed through, delete that, bulldozed over you because they were supposed to be good for you. Look what happened. No dunes, 5-star hotels where depleting beaches stood, an iffy IFFI, a stranded Princess and SEZs entangled in lawsuits. Will Dudhsagar fall? A board member Tribolo D’Souza raised the issue again of freeing the limit on the number (98) of vehicles permitted to take tourists to Dudhsagar falls. I am told he does this as ritualistically as the monsoons falling over the Western Ghats. The limit was rightly imposed to protect the area which is part of the Bhagwan Mahavir National Park. Now, apart from being a pal of a pal of the Sheriff of Nottingham, D’Souza owns taxis and has a restaurant there. What more can I say? In fact, the entire approach to the 4/6 laning of NH4A which was on the agenda, was how should I say, as wanting as the Board’s will to protect wildlife. The ‘Kala’ of money This government has a compulsive obsession with building Ravindra Bhavans and Kala Bhavans. Its stated policy is that these edifices are built when people want them, only then. Since you and I have not gone stark raving mad yet despite all that happens around us, we know that’s not true. And culture vultures we are not. The things we want, we don’t get, garbage clearance being just one in a growing list of To Do’s. For many senior citizens these wishes must have gone into their Bucket List. The government had approved Ravindra Bhavans/mini Kala Bhavans for Sanquelim, Mormugao, Pernem, Mapusa, Canacona and Valpoi. Which means your wish list won’t fructify even into the next decade. Because all your tax bucks are poured like concrete into making Goa a haven for bhavans. The score so far; the Ravindra Bhavan at Curchorem, the Rajiv Gandhi Kala Mandir at Ponda and the Ravindra Bhavan at Margao have been constructed. The Ravindra Bhavan at Sanquelim and the Ravindra Bhavan at Baina in Vasco da Gama and the Ravindra Bhavan on the Verna-Dabolim bypass are under construction. …And it’s
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Faleiro Flying Files
--- http://www.GOANET.org --- Goanet mourns the passing of Cornel da Costa in London, England - Sep 10/10 --- Nature of the beast -Public Office Who can blame you, if after you read this you want to avoid the taxman for eternity? In other words like the statutory warning that says smoking could be injurious to your health, reading this is. Certainly don’t show it to your kids, they may want to become politicians. Aires Rodrigues, that other pain in the butt for many, says Rs 3,31,47,262, that is, 3 crores 31 lakh 47 thousand 262 rupees of your tax bucks was spent on NRI Commissioner Eduardo Faleiro and on his often desolate office in the Secretariat at Porvorim from February 23, 2006 till June this year. As you will see, considerable amounts of it were spent combusting aviation fuel, precisely Rs 28,93,260, only on travels abroad sometimes along with his two buddies U.D Kamat, the Director, NRI Affairs and Vice Adm. John D’Silva (retd), Chairman, Overseas Employment Agency of Goa (OEAG), a post that Faleiro created as an extension of the gravy train. Their travels within India cost you Rs 13,53,342 in tax bucks. Total: Rs 42,46,602. Airline counters must love the sight of him in these days of crippling aviation fuel costs and price wars. So does the Kerala-based Centre for Development Studies (CDS) which was paid Rs 20L to do that Goa Migration Study 2008 which I am positive if you googled, you could learn more about the subject. Or, simply choose to ask any one of the many Goan associations abroad which I can vouch will give you authentic answers. Because, talking migration and identity loss has a richly stimulating effect on quite a few Goans these days. Which is perhaps what Faleiro had in mind to be fair to him, but he got his modus operandi all wrong. Praise the Lord for tax money Hallelujah. You can almost hear Faleiro saying that. But shed tears for the tax-payer. I have not seen the report but I wonder how CDS could have researched; 1) The magnitudes and dimensions of migration from Goa and return migration to Goa; 2) Assess annual flow and estimation of remittances from Goan emigrants; 3) Study socio-economic effect of migration on households; 4) Understand rehabilitation issues of return emigrants; within a short span of time. Because the 2008 report was released (released, not handed over to Faleiro) on June 2, 2009. Bingo, Faleiro did make an expensive trip to Kerala on May 10-17, 2009 that cost you Rs 1,39,781 which I know makes you wonder because for that price you could fly around the world. The researchers would have had to run through entire Goa to research any one of the parameters, leave alone all three in so short a time. In fact, it would be interesting to evaluate the flow of remittances if at all the researchers got within even an arm’s length of the figures. I doubt if the Reserve Bank of India has a ballpark figure considering the complexities involved and types (including destinations from) of remittances. Who approved the research methodology? Say a short prayer for Goa University which has at least some Goans and as a result could have done a better job. At least GU would have been answerable to the Goan tax-payer. During that time Feb 2006-June 2010 Faleiro’s rent-free NRI office cost you Rs 67,63,055 on salaries. He gave out grant-in-aid of Rs 30L, that is Rs 20L in 2007-08, Rs 5L each in 2008-09 and 2009-10. Advertising his feats cost Rs 17,72,223. Professional services cost Rs 1,65,717. Other charges, whatever that is, took up Rs 1,60,37,914, I kid you not. Bottomline, while his flying cost Rs 42,46,602, office expenses cost Rs 2,89,00,660. What did it achieve? Positively nothing, apart from the partying at conventions abroad, that is. Green grass on the other side If you think there must have been some positive gains from all that expenditure, think again. After all Churchill Alemao, who knows best what is good for south Goa (and now Karwar too) did say all those mega housing projects provide jobs to Goans as security guards. Then believe this, because under the head achievements, this is what the Under Secretary, Home Department, Foreigner’s Citizenship Division, has to say: 1) “The OEAG has imparted skill up-gradation and foreign orientation”. 2) On the migration study: “Goa is the second State after Kerala to have done a scientific migration study”. 3) “Goa Cards have been issued to nearly 500 Goan expatriates so far on request on payment of Rs 250. Holders get faster access and better attention from government offices and the benefits include concessions by government undertakings, private hospitals, and hotels.” 4) The Goa Buildings (Lease, Rent and Eviction) Control Act, 1968 was amended to protect the property rights
[Goanet] Lion Roars- Wining and Dining Faleiro-style
--- http://www.GOANET.org --- Goanet mourns the passing of Cornel da Costa in London, England - Sep 10/10 --- The chosen ones Last week you read how Rs 3,31,47,262 was spent on the shenanigans of the NRI Commissioner Eduardo Faleiro. When I said partying at conventions, I was serious, very serious. Here’s how some of that money was spent. A symposium on NRIs and family values held at the Goa International Centre, Dona Paula in Panjim on July 22, 2006 cost Rs 2,89,418. A huge sum of Rs 39,31,470 was spent on the Global Goans Convention 2007 held at the Cidade de Goa (yes, the chosen one) on January 3-5, 2007. Rs 7,23,421 was blown up on the 7th Know India programme for Diaspora youth on September 2-15, 2007. No venue was specified in the RTI data. A conference on Indian expats in the Gulf held at Hotel Mandovi, Panjim on March 29, 2008 cost Rs 1,98,308. A sum of Rs 3,88,740 was spent on a conference on building bridges with Africa on July 12, 2008 at the Cidade de Goa. The 1st Know Goa programme for Goan diaspora youth held jointly in Goa and Delhi on November 30 and December 14 of 2008 cost you Rs 13,47,689. I can’t begin to tell you how many times these well-heeled Goan youth must have holidayed in Goa prior to this extravaganza, and now we give them a paid holiday in Goa and one to Delhi just for good measure. Then there was Faleiro’s magnum opus: a conference on migration trends and the Goa Migration Study 2008 at the Goa International Centre held on October 9, 2009. Cost: Rs 1,66,180. Also, if you recall from last Sunday, the study cost Rs 20L, and Faleiro also flew to Kerala at a cost Rs 1,39,781 for the purpose. More tears for tax-payers Next he organized a 2nd Know Goa programme in Goa and Delhi from November 30-December 14, 2008 an extravaganza that cost you Rs 14,99,877. Makes you want to pull out your hair. Finally, a conference called ‘Goans in Europe and Europeans in Goa: Cultural experiences and identity’ at Hotel Nova Goa, Panjim on December 11, 2009 that cost Rs 52,949. Yes, I know that word identity again, and all that money blown on a Lost Cause. Hollywood makes sequels, Faleiro makes re-runs of lost causes or as some would say lost cause found again. In the end, the lost cause really was the Rs 85,98,052 spent on partying at conventions. And when they were not carousing, they were flying. The joy(stick) of flying Between Faleiro, VAdm John D’Silva (retd), Chairman of the Overseas Employment Agency of Goa, and U.D Kamat, the Director for NRI Affairs, they spent Rs 4,22,781 on flying within the country in 2009-10. Faleiro did that Kerala trip that cost Rs 1,39,781 on May 10-17, 2009. He flew to Bangalore on July 1-8 – Rs 40,746, to Delhi on August 2-8 - Rs 59,247, to Delhi on October 20-24 - Rs 1,22,715 and to Bangalore again on January 25-31, 2010 - Rs 9,277. It’s been questioned here before and needs to be posed again. How on earth do Goa’s politicians pay well over Rs 1L for a single (allegedly) ticket? D’Silva flew to Delhi on July 22-25, 2009 – Rs 10,651, to Bangalore and Delhi on August 23-30 – Rs 9,118 and to Delhi on September 7-10, 2009 – Rs 23,248. Kamat flew once, to Hyderabad, on July 25-27 – Rs 7,998. If you see the humour in it, Faleiro’s flying abroad in fact could entitle him to become a non-resident Goan himself. Well, at least, a BRG (barely resident Goan). Run(away) costs In 2008-09 Rs 8,14,833 of your tax bucks was spent on them flying within the country. You could also call it run(away) costs of flying and the pun is hugely intended. Faleiro flew to Delhi on April 24-26, 2008 - Rs 38,885, to Delhi, Vishakapatnam and Hyderabad on June 22-July 6 – Rs 62,333, to Delhi on August 20-27 – Rs 46,985, to Delhi on September 20-23 – at a huge cost of Rs 99,156, to Delhi again on October 19-23 – at a massive, massive cost of Rs 1,46,557, to Delhi on October 28-November 1 – Rs 55,397, to Mumbai on November 11-17 – Rs 25,070, to Delhi on March 1-6, 2009 – again incurring a massive Rs 1,60,997. The question is why did Faleiro spend Rs 6,35,680 flying mostly between April-November of 2008 to destinations one can safely assume had little or nothing to do with his job (officially at least) at hand. Incidentally, both D’Silva and Kamat also did their bit of flying --to the same destinations. So were they shadowing Faleiro or simply duplicating his work? D’Silva flew to Delhi (2), Bangalore and Thiruvananthapuram, while Kamat flew to Delhi (5), Hyderabad and Mumbai. In 2007-08 the trio spent Rs 5,33,805, Faleiro doing the bulk of the costlier flying once again. Like his Rs 1,06,789 flight to Delhi on October 21-27, 2007, another to Mumbai-Vishakhapatnam-Hyderabad-Mumbai on July 2-8, 2007 – Rs 47,194 and another to Mumbai on January 3-6,
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Driving You Crazy
--- http://www.GOANET.org --- Goanet mourns the passing of Cornel da Costa in London, England - Sep 10/10 --- Of Mad Men and Crazy Women on the Roads Last week I asked why the traffic police ever bothered to apologise for the mayhem on the roads. For once I find myself defending them because frankly, theirs is a lost cause. We have many, many madmen and a few crazy women too on the roads. The traffic police identified 60 accident prone zones in the north and 40 in the south, narrowing down the main causes to “rash and negligent driving, over speeding, dangerous overtaking, lane cutting, drunken driving, fault of pedestrians, bad roads, mechanical defects, and stray cattle.” I find five categories missing here; the PWD, the bully government driver, the insensitive taxi driver and the trigger happy truck/utility van driver, 98 percent of whom are migrants who pop in an out of the many cheap bars at regular intervals in the course of work, and/or rich kids whose parents are walking ATMs. Ah, that brings me to Goa’s ubiquitous bars. Somehow this Goan edifice does not figure in the list. Shouldn’t it? Look at the many cars parked outside favourite watering holes on just the one highway itself. In fact rather than the row over late night drinking hours, it should have been about strict closure after 2pm. But that doesn’t happen, so at Gene bar opposite the Goa Institute of Management in Ribandar, for example, no one quits before 4pm which is when the bar shuts down for the afternoon. This is also where quite a few tourists have literally one for the road before driving off to Karnataka! Yet in 2009 ‘under the influence of drinking’ made up a miserly Rs 1,16,200 of the Rs 3,28,25,050 collected as fines by the traffic police. And I almost forgot, the most dangerous of all causes, your friendly neighbourhood MLA who gets hot lined immediately a voter is caught and makes the case go away. Cars with tinted glasses were fined Rs 7,27,700. Improper number plates produced Rs 8,57,900 and then I begin to wonder, is the traffic cop really blameless? Too Fast Too Furious That would be the best way to describe many drivers in Goa and yet two-wheel riders collectively paid Rs 75,83,900 for not wearing helmets and drivers without seat belts paid a collective Rs 20,05,700. Dangerous parking, whatever that means earned fines of Rs 18,55,600 while drivers using a mobile while driving paid Rs 8,37,100 in fines. Which you would think would actually run into several crores considering the only ones who don’t mobile-talk and drive are bus drivers simply because they are in such a tearing hurry to get from point A to B, they have no time for chatter. Though, if their vehicles were fitted with power steering, I wonder! Where am I going with this? Apart from those certified mad men on the roads, I am not too sure the traffic police are entirely or even partially blameless. Right time, right place cops Rash and negligent drivers paid a fine of Rs 36,71,050 of the total of Rs 3,28,25,050. Add Rs 16,00,100 for over speeding to that and it looks too easy for the traffic police. Look again at all the categories above. It is obvious Goa’s drivers (described here) are just easy prey because they don’t care about getting caught. All that the traffic police have to do is wait for the inevitable to happen, like football strikers, many of whom earn their keep by simply poaching which means to be at the right place, at the right time. Then it’s a matter of a simple tap in. Here’s the evidence. No entry was fined a huge, huge Rs 26,70,450 while wrong turning was fined Rs 2,41,200. More proof. The combination of drinking and driving (Rs 1,16,200), rash and negligent driving (Rs 36,71,050) and over speeding (Rs 16,00,100) toted up to Rs 53,87,350 of the total fines of Rs 3,28,25,050. Police predators The police waiting at the right place, at the right time earned them a total of Rs 29,11,650 in fines paid by foolhardy drivers (categories: wrong turn and no entry). Add that figure to fines of Rs 17,19,400 paid by drivers dumb enough to drive without side mirrors, you have a figure of Rs 46,31,050. And remember, this figure has nothing to do with tinted glasses fines (Rs 7,27,700) , improper number plates (Rs 8,57,900), no helmets (Rs 75,83,900), no seat belts (Rs 20,05,700), and dangerous parking (Rs 18,55,600), all of which add up to Rs 1,76,61,850 and does not include that totally uncaring group of drivers driving while using mobiles (Rs 8,37,100). So, it’s really about dumbos dying to get caught and not about the traffic police trying to make our roads safe. There were huge fines paid for driving without tarpaulin Rs 8,79,800, without uniform Rs 6,22,000, violating traffic signals Rs 4,09,000,
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Goa Broke?
*Fishy fiscal propriety* Is Goa going broke? If the answer is no, it could well be getting there. A former development commissioner now back in Delhi once told me the direction in which the Digambar Kamat government was heading, it would hit financial road’s end sooner than later weighed down as it is by a hefty pension bill of an army of retired workers, not to mention the cost of government workers currently occupying table space. As on December 31, 2009 your government’s market borrowings were Rs 229880.23 (in lakhs) up from Rs 163111.72 the previous year. In other words, it borrowed Rs 66768.51 more from the market within the space of just 12 months. This kind of figure does not exactly spell fiscal prudence especially in a state where VAT collection is virtually nonexistent in major areas of the tourism and mining industries. How many restaurants and how many in ancillary services to the mining industry you know, give you a proper tax added on bill even if you ask for one. But I wager you also have an endless list of these and other traders that are plainly affronted if you ask for a bill, a proper one that is, not a hand written bit of notepad paper. By the way, market borrowing sources are those other than the central government and institutions that lend like LIC, NABARD, NCDC, REC, HUDCO and PFC. *The Beginning* At the end of 2007, its market borrowings were Rs 122735.8. In 2006 end it was Rs 100942.89. In 2005 it was Rs 99443.01 and in 2004 end it was Rs 96121.31. Clearly from 2006 its financial management went awry and its borrowings took a frenzied pace. This stands out clearly in all its borrowings from other sources too. For example in 2004 its loan borrowings from the central government stood at Rs 234332.44. By 2009 it went up to Rs 334970.12, a hike of Rs 100637.68. It also borrowed from the six institutional lenders named above. To cut a long and worrying story short by end 2009 it had borrowed Rs 593201.26 up from Rs 346755.77 borrowed in 2004 end. While no Indian state can claim to be financially prudent, point is our MLA’s discuss monitoring of fish sold in the market in the Assembly instead of fiscal discipline. *Deep Blue Sea* It could get worse if the environmentally dangerous Panjim-Vasco Sea Link Project is undertaken considering the consultant Louis Berger Group alone was paid Rs 89 lakh. There’s something between the Congress and the deep sea because successive governments have paid a total of Rs 21.60 lakh towards the Oceanorium project which might needed a lot more oxygen before it begins to breathe, if ever. For the record, Rs 10.60 lakh was paid to the Transaction Advisor and Rs 11 lakh spent to build a compound wall around the project site which so far has seen only rain fall and nothing else. There’s the River Princess calamity. Then there’s also Greenfield Mopa airport project which for sheer lunacy must rank second only to that scam of the century, the Commonwealth Games. National Games 2011 did you say? Yes, there’s that too. *They protest too much* What is with traders and shop owners in Panjim? They protest too much. This time it’s the Municipal Market Tenants’ Association protestations against the Corporation of the City of Panjim’s (CCP) pay parking around the municipal market. In the past, traders have protested every citizen friendly decision of the police traffic cell and the CCP to decongest the crammed city which gets crammed by the building so to speak. It’s bursting at the seams and the buildings keep coming in a wave. Traders in Panjim have usurped public parking space, some of them using devious ways like placing hand carts in front of their shops. In fact I wonder why the traffic cell even bothers to defend itself for the mayhem on the roads but more on that on another day soon. It’s also okay to take over entire pavements. Herald pointed out sometime ago how Kamat Hotel in Panjim conveniently allowed panwallahs outside because it helped their almost entirely tourist clientele forcing locals to walk on the road. The Panjim traffic cell pointed out how shop owners parked their own vehicles on 18th June Road from morning till closing time occupying most of the parking space. There are more blatant examples of appropriation of parking spaces. Do us a favour please, cut the crap and put a zip on that lip of yours. *Here’s really why* This will shock you for their brazenness. The CCP has been left holding a water consumption bill of Rs 12,06,952 and an electricity bill of Rs 62,20,833 which traders in the municipal market have refused to pay. That’s a total of Rs 74,27,785 of money owed to CCP which desperately needs funds. There could be more owed by way of nonpayment of both rent and maintenance charges. Oh yes, these guys are in a league of their own and more. In fact there’s a huge scam waiting to be exposed of the CCP can complete the government-ordered investigation into the scams involving the market which the Goa Infrastructure Development
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Sell-out of Goa by its politicians
*Calling the kettle black* The Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) having its own way in Goa is nothing new. It’s because our politicians, unlike those in other States, just hate to protect anything that is Goan or can be identified as part of Goa. Only recently, the MPT became an exception for the ruling Congress government because frankly it went a tad too far. Remember all those advertisements establishing MPT’s territorial rights in Goa. What impudence! If that happened in Mumbai, Shiv Sena goons would have taken violent action against the source of the irritant. In the sedate South, the DMK in Tamil Nadu would have said “mind it” and that would be that. You doubt that? Google Chennai’s dailies of June 30 and you will see a report with a picture of (workers) of the Chennai Corporation taking over land encroached upon by a 5-star hotel owned by Apeejay Surendra Park Hotels Ltd. In Kochi, there would be no cause for concern in the first place. Malaylees don’t take BS from anyone, outsiders particularly. Kerala said ‘no 60m wide highways’. It ended there. Not Goa, our politicians don’t want to upset the apple cart, if you get my drift. They don’t even protect their own turf. *Expansionistic MPT* The MPT has a slew of expansionist projects, none of which augur well for Goa. If given a free hand to do what it wants, it will not only change the demography, it will change forever the horizon over Baina Bay and Vasco Bay and in future over Betul too. Driving the engine behind it will be the Union Shipping Minister GK Vasan, the MPT will only be a means to an end though it will partake of the cake. Its plans forced the Congress to warn the MPT that implementation of these will change the demography of Vasco da Gama. Coming from the Congress it sounded really funny because that is something the Congress achieved on its own through its inequitable industrial policies, etcetera. I guess it needed to issue a sound byte Goans love to hear. But, using it selectively, is adding insult to injury because WE THE PEOPLE have been saying it for three going on four decades! Or, by saying that, was the Congress reserving its sole right to change the demographics of Goa. Instead of the sound byte, it might begin by finding out what the MPT is doing/has done with a rather large acreage of land leased to it, which it has admitted it failed to monitor. The MPT is sitting pretty on 68 Ha under the dock area in Headland and slopes at Mormugao. In Baina, Vasco da Gama the MPT took on lease 17 Ha. Between 1971 and 1985 various governments allotted it nearly 52 Ha, while the MPT managed to “reclaim” nearly 25 Ha of land. It is possible the government isn’t earning a rupee from this. The government of 1981 leased 3.62 acres to Goa Shipyard Limited and it’s possible it may not have signed a deed agreement till now. For the record, the government of 2007 also leased 10,958 sq mt to GSL. * Lost in Translation* Between March last year and March 2010 all it had achieved was write a series of letters to all concerned in New Delhi, formed a Group of Ministers; but did not even succeed in getting old Portuguese documents translated/researched to put a finger on the touchy subject of jurisdiction and what was inherited and by whom from the Portuguese. In fact, ex-advocate general Carlos Ferreira excused himself from the research and was replaced by lawyer Jose E. Coelho Pereira who apparently also opted out because the ball appears to be back in Ferreira’s court. The GoM met thrice, on October 22, September 26, and October 22 of 2008. So much for the Congress’ concern about demographic change. At stake is about 1,000-1,500 Ha of land and nearly 2.5 km of waterfront land. In other words, it could hit you up to the west of Cortalim. *Joker in the pack* I don’t mean this in a funny way because as if it had an ace in hand, the government got the toothless Goa State Pollution Control Board to dash off yet another letter to the MPT - asking it to consider the cumulative impact of their projects, include these in the EIA/EMP study, hold a public hearing and submit hard copies of the proposed 4 mmtpa coal/coke handling port terminal at berth no. 11. The board also asked MPT to deposit Rs 5 lakh with it towards holding the public hearing. That’s right your concerned government didn’t want to spend Rs 5 lakh on this when it has spent crores on consultancy fees. Yes, it’s the same Pollution Board that hotels in Colva show the middle finger to. The letter was written in May, 2010. No guesses where the MPT put that letter. And oh, in a moment of pique, the GoM voted not to ask MPT for NOCs to conduct any activity on land the MPT claims is theirs. In other words, the GoM proved to be just as toothless and wimpish as the board! *Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars@gmail.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ISSUES BEING DEBATED: In East Africa, despite colonialism, the British afforded the Goan a sliver of a
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Party Time - III
*Carte du jour* The Minister for Revenue Jose Philip entertained modestly (remember, his flying too was moderate compared to his compadres) between April 2009-February 2010, the only relevance here for you as a taxpayer is he entertained some unnamed officials on June 5 and on November 6 he entertained a group of again unnamed police officers and officials of the Mormugao Port Trust, and District Collectors at a total cost of Rs 25,488 at Hotel La Paz. He threw his latest bash (January 7, 2010) for an unnamed group of councillors, officials and ‘dignitaries’. The La Paz bill is awaited. That goes too for the Minister for Home Ravi Naik who kept a low profile unlike his other headline grabbing. Naik threw a dinner for “guests” attending the India Internal Security Conclave 2009 at the Majorda Beach Resort on September 24, 2009. Cost: Rs 90,000. On November 1 he threw a dinner for Diwan Chand (currently Special Secretary, Home) at the Fort Aguada Beach Resort that cost a whopping Rs 1,23,851. And a dinner for IPS probationers visiting Goa at the same hotel that cost Rs 1,38,076 on November 16. For your information, IPS and IAS probationers routinely visit Goa just like every other man or woman who draws a Government of India salary. Which is great if you own a posh hotel, posh restaurant or posh cab, right? But, do we have to wine and dine them at taxpayers cost? Ravi Naik thinks so, because he was back (February 28, 2010) to entertaining, this time a group of 80 unnamed officials at the Hotel Marriott. Bill awaited. Typically, the Minister for Tourism (now ex) Mickky Pacheco entertained a group of Khazakstan delegates at the Park Hyatt on October 7, 2009. Cost: Rs 66,393. Put that down as being for the glory and good of that other fatted cow, the tourism industry. Proof of the pudding! How about this? Manohar Azgaonkar, the Minister for Panchayat threw a bash at Hotel Marriott on September 9, 2009 for delegates attending the “workshop of Principal Secretaries in charge of Panchayati Raj in Indian States” and some unnamed “others”. Cost: Rs 65,189. *Host with the most* It truly does pay to be a big cheese on holiday in Goa. Though, sometimes any kind will do, thank you. You are guaranteed at least one freebie dinner, sometimes two and no proof of your credentials is required. It’s enough if you play the part. Here’s proof of that and of Digambar Kamat’s parties that cost more than Rs 2L. He threw a Rs 3,73,024 dinner on June 27, 2008 for the chairman and members of the 13th Finance Commission and 100 other allegedly big wheels (producers etc) of the South Asian film industry at the Cidade de Goa. How did two very disparate groups come together in Goa, you ask? Could it be the trouble-free access to your easily available tax bucks? Or, that the government tried to kill two birds with one stone or, a combination of both. Remarkably, the same day the Minister for Finance (now ex) Dayanand Narvekar was also dining the chairman and members of the 13th Finance Commission at the same Cidade de Goa. Cost: Rs 87,943. That’s a total of Rs 4,60,967, but two dinners, same invitees? Was the government trying to get around its own self-imposed cap on partying following a series of similar exposures in this same column some time ago? * Open House* Kamat threw a Rs 2,00,227 do for 100 unnamed revelers at the Park Hyatt on August 12, 2008. On October 4, 2008 he blew Rs 3,99,800 on an Id-Milan jamboree at his official residence in Panjim. Amazingly, that night he threw a second, this time, Rs 2,48,460 dinner for some doctors from Maharashtra and Goa on the cruise boat Princess de Goa. On January 24, 2009 he hosted of all people on this planet, delegates of the 57th National Town and Country Planners Congress. That’s right, the same guys who give you the most grief (after politicians) with all their skewed planning. The Rs 3,51,854 dinner was held at Cidade de Goa. A Rs 3,88,927 dinner for delegates of the 12th Conference on e-Governance on IT at Hotel Inn Resort on February 12, 2009. A Rs 2,08,388 dinner at the Cidade de Goa for Jaime Lerner, an expert on urban planning from Brazil. This time guests of the DD Kosambe Festival of Ideas were invited to the dinner proving my point. Exactly a year later, February 12,2010, Kamat would host another dinner (see Party Time -1, July 25) for participants of the same DD Kosambe festival of Ideas at the same venue. So, was Lerner just an excuse to dine these guys? Makes you wonder. *Money for nothing* What’s more, the government’s Protocol Department might have inadvertently added a new dimension to VVIP to mean Visiting Very Important Persons. It incurred independently an expenditure of Rs 29,83,639 on accommodation and food for VVIPs visiting Goa between April 2008 and February 2010. * COST OF THE PARTY* Vishwajeet Rane Rs 4,54,282 Ravi Naik Rs 3,51,927 Aleixo Sequeira Rs 1,31,017 Manohar Azagaonkar Rs 65,189 Miccky Pacheco Rs 66,393 Jose Philip Rs 25,488 *TOTAL: Rs
[Goanet] Lion Roars -Wine and Dine
*Party Time -1* They spent Rs 93,42,544 (see earlier Flying Circus series) flying over a relatively short period of less than two years. Nobody knows why really or what was achieved from it, except the flying was primarily to Mumbai and Delhi, some of it to holiday destinations and pilgrim centres. The Gods must be desperate, you’d think except your *montris* felt getting you to pay for their absolution was okay! Next they let their hair down and partied till the cows came home. Your *montris* of course are nonchalant, showing no remorse in spending your valuable tax bucks for their politicking, holidaying, dining and even when they play pilgrims. You can’t even call it valuable any longer considering the way it’s blown up, in this the latest example, all of Rs 72,00,144 spent to entertain so-called VIP’s between April 2008 and February 2010. For your information, the meaning of VIPs in Goa could be anything from a bunch of sarpanches to officials who came to the 26th Sub-Junior National Aquatic Championships. I did say sub-junior, that’s how underused your tax bucks are. Because you probably think your valuable tax money, ironically called ‘revenue expenditure’ in the lingua franca of government, is being spent on real development. You could also say misspent, but the word misspent like the word ‘development’ too has lost its meaning in Goa. I had almost forgotten, but there was also this little matter of Rs 29,83,639 that the Protocol Department spent on accommodation and food for all VIP’s visiting Goa. That’s a neat Rs 1,01,83,783 and cooking if you add the unpaid bills (explained below). *Let's Party Officially* On April 3, 2009 and twice on April 4 Digambar Kamat blew Rs 3,850, Rs 3,850 and Rs 10,135 on tea and snacks supplied by Kebab Corner at his little used official Altinho residence at what was described as “official meetings”. On May 26 he threw that aquatic championship bash which cost you Rs 50,000. The real shall we say beneficiary was Bhingi Caterer, Ponda. The next month, on June 7, Kamat hosted a dinner for so-called ‘dignitaries’ of the 2nd Marathi Film Festival, 2009 at the Goa Marriott. Cost: Rs 1,42,832. Let’s take a tea break here and try and understand the words ‘official’ ‘dignitary’ and ‘host’. In the jargon of government, ‘official’ means all-inclusive or all-embracing and no questions asked. ‘Dignitary’ well, if I explained that in writing it would need parental guidance for your reading. ‘Host’, in Goa, well, at least it does not mean someone who invites and entertains guests and pays for it. The Goa Marriott was the venue for his next dinner (July 13) in honour of the chairman and members of the 5th Western Region Consultation. Don’t ask. I haven’t a clue. Cost: Rs 43,705. He dined the Chief Secretary at the Taj Exotica on July 18 spending Rs 45,437 and hosted a “budget presentation” dinner at Taj Vivanta on July 24. Cost: Rs 23,285. For all the talking his ministers and Congress MLA’s did during the 12 working days of the Assembly Session from July 21-August 6, 2009, Kamat rewarded them with tea and snacks served up by Kebab Corner at a cost of Rs 72,000. He was back to entertaining the next day August 7, throwing a dinner at Cidade-de-Goa for Narendra Jadhav, member of the Planning Commission. Cost: Rs 62,357. Tea and snacks for god-knows-who on Independence Day at his official residence (no, not the Margao home, that’s his unofficial official residence). Cost to you: Rs 17,000. Provider: Kebab corner. *Party On* On August 30, he threw Jairam Ramesh, the Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest and “others” a party that cost you Rs 1,00,689 at the Cidade-de-Goa. Obviously! While, I sincerely doubt Jairam Ramesh partook of the food with the same gusto as the “others”, I wager he was used more as a scapegoat for the shindig. Unfortunately we don’t get to know who went to the party but the environment must have been good. On September 1, Kamat offered his hardworking MLA’s tea and snacks at a Congress Legislature Party meet at Altinho. Cost: Rs 7,200. Provider: Kebab Corner. He dined Prema Cariappa, Chairperson, Central Social Welfare Board, Delhi at the Sun Sand, Panjim on October 10 that cost Rs 28,153. The chosen one, the Cidade-de-Goa was again the venue (October 12) for a dinner for the Secretary, Information Broadcasting. Cost: Rs 39,852. Then there was dinner (October 28) for newspaper editors at Hotel Mandovi that cost Rs 19,491 and dinner (November 2) for Justice Swatantar Kumar, Chief Justice, Bombay High Court at Hotel Vivanta that cost Rs 54,601. *……And On* Hotel Vivanta was ‘graced’ again by Kamat and his invitees on November 11, 2009, this time believe it or not, in honour of the Council of Young Political Leaders who toted up a tab of Rs 1,16,505. Perhaps they were unaware they were gobbling up your tax bucks. Google says this is an organization dedicated to promoting diplomacy and mutual understanding between cultures through exchanges such
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Party Time - II
*Food for thought* Chief Minister Digambar Kamat spent Rs 22,07,748 entertaining between April 2009-February 2010. It was the turn next of Vishwajeet Rane, the Health Minister. But above the aroma of food, is a certain rot that could become like a resident rot (like decaying wood in your window frame) or like the fragile River Princess that will eventually break into two and become extinct only when its time is up to go to rack and ruin. Not a day before. Kind of dust to dust thing. I am talking about seven floating casinos and the pleasure boats dumping garbage in the Mandovi. In a few days time, August 4 exactly, the Bombay High Court (the only institution that works in Goa for the *aam aadmi,* the rest are all *bakwas*) will hear the writ petition challenging their expulsion from the Mandovi to outer anchorage at Aguada Bay. It’s funny but the official NOC of six (Pride of Goa, Arabian Sea King, The Leela, Casino Royale, San Domino, Caravela) expired during different months in 2009. The NOC of the Boa Sorte expires on August 23, that’s in three weeks. From this point of view, they are plying their trade illegally. But as this case could drag on for years, a status quo is perhaps what the owners want. Because they can use that as a reprieve and it will be business as usual for all. The government won’t win the case either because it will go out on a limb to lose it. Here’s a thought. The insurance policies of six of the casinos expire this year. The policy on the Pride of Goa expires on May 15, 2011. I dunno, but I think the government could write to the insurance companies reminding them of the fact the NOCs have expired, thereby attracting possible legal implications. It might do to suggest that if passenger safety were compromised somehow it could lead to an insurance nightmare. It’s worth a try -- certainly better than all the government duplicity thus far. For the record, the insurance policy of the Arabian Sea King expires on December 22, 2010, The Leela – November 10, Casino Royale – October 15, San Domino – August 7, Caravela – December 22, Boa Sorte – November 2. So there. *You are what you eat* Rane threw his first bash on May 4, 2009, a lunch for a Health Advisory Committee catered by Kebab Corner at a cost of Rs 19,350. On June 28 he dined 40 delegates of Goa Medical College (GMC) meeting at Cidade-de-Goa. Cost: Rs 64,548. By the way Rane’s fave watering hole is the Cidade-de-Goa, where he threw another lunch costing Rs 36,995 for participants of a Health Advisory Council on July 4. Then there was this mother of all meals on August 2 for doctors of the GMC and DHS that cost you Rs 3,16,939 at Cidade-de-Goa. The justification, and I quote was “in respect of achievement and the new initiation of Government of Goa in the health sector.” (Chew on this too - On September 24, a year earlier he threw a party for 250 delegates attending a seminar on “Strategies for improving livelihood security of rural poor” on board the Santa Monica. Cost: Rs 3,10,250. Hiring the vessel cost an extra 25 grand. Food provider: NH 17). The next day, on August 3 he hosted another lunch for the Health Advisory Committee at NH 17. Cost: Rs 16,450. *No free lunch for the aam aadmi* Compare that with what the *aam aadmi* gets. Remember the damage caused to famers Bhagwan V. Naik and Sandeep L. Naik of Menkure village in Bicholim taluka by an elephant a couple of years ago. They each got a compensation of Rs 200 paid by cheque which must have made them even more distraught. By the cheque that is, not the paltry sum. Imagine the embarrassment of producing that to the bank and withdrawing the money a couple of days/ weeks later! And if you are wondering why I give a 2008 example? It’s only to make a virtual comparison. A 2010 comparison would be the Mopa land acquisition rate of Rs 60 per sq. mt that the government is going to give. *Barking up the wrong tree* You read about the thousand plus committees the government formed. This takes the cake. The Forest Department established seven committees between June 2007 and now. What is really amusing are names like this: ‘Identification of balance area of private forest’; ‘State level expert committee for identification of critical wildlife habitats’; ‘South Goa district committee’ – it was formed to identify private forest in South Goa; ‘State Board for Wildlife’; ‘Committee to review/ exam draft working plans of Forest Department’; ‘Governing body of State CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Management Planning Authority)’; ‘Steering committee of state CAMPA’; and ‘Executive committee of state CAMPA’. You ask but where’s the forest? Probably hidden under the forest of committees! The State Board for Wildlife has 39 members with the usual quota of MLAs (including Anil Salgaocar, the mine owner - an irony surely considering that it is excavation of mines that have destroyed forests!) and government babus (understandably). There’s also a cab owner who I think has a bar at
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Flying Circus VII
*Will he upgrade?* *Jose Philip D’Souza, Minister for Revenue* Mercifully, he is not much of a frequent flier. He made 24 flights during that same period. But, now that he has become the National Congress President, heaven help us! Pray that his fairly regular patronage of Economy Class (ten of 24 flights) does not change. *2008 High Maintenance* 06-07 May, Mumbai-Delhi, Rs 16,463+355, total Rs 16,818; 10-19, May, Mumbai-Delhi, Rs 31,538+2,600, total Rs 34,138; a one-dayer on 5 May flying Mumbai-Bangalore, Rs 13,190+95, total Rs 13,285; 02-03 July, Mumbai, Rs 8,400+442, total Rs 8,842. His next five flights including one in 2009 (all but one Economy Class) took him to Delhi, that I speculate happened at the behest of the National Congress Party or the G-7 and that as in the case of the Dhavlikar Brothers Inc, is costing us plenty. The Dhavlikar Brothers, you would know if you have been following this column in the past, burnt up a lot of your tax bucks on account of all the litigation over the disqualification petitions that were fought in the Supreme Court because of them. 1) 25-26 July, Delhi, Rs 31,055+520, total Rs 31,575. 2) 17-18 August, Delhi, Rs 27,432+405, total Rs 27,837. 3) 11-12 September, Delhi, Rs 24,637+405, total Rs 25,042. 4) 22-23 October, Delhi, Rs 24,195+318, total Rs 24,513. So not only do you shell out big bucks to maintain them in high office but also when they get flirty with other political parties. *2009 Missing in Goa* 5) 06-08 August, Delhi, total Rs 11,850. As you can see, all but this flight were the typical quick overnight visitations to Delhi, like quickies - in and out- just about enough time to pay obeisance to their political masters or, be told come back again which I am informed happens frequently. If the CM and Vishawajeet Rane are regulars at Tirupati, then Churchill, Joaquim and even Jose Philip put the shrine of Annai Velankani in Nagapattinam on their agenda. Which is why you see them heading to Trichy, the closest airport to Nagapattinam. Jose Philip’s quick flights to Delhi dominated the year, like so; 19-20 January, Mumbai-Delhi, Rs 24,585+442, total Rs 25,027; 28-29 January, Delhi, total Rs 14,460; 28 Feb-01 March, total Rs 13,799. In fact Jose Philip probably spent more time in Delhi in January and in March than the two central ministers MK Alagiri and Mamata Banerjee who regularly go AWOL even during cabinet meetings. 03-06 March, Mumbai-Lucknow-Mumbai, total Rs 20,458; 11-13 March, Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai, total Rs 24,755; 30 April-2 May, Mumbai, total Rs 8,458; 26 May-01 June, Madras-Trichy-Madras, Rs 28,808+1,395, total 30,203; 02-03 June, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 16,367+520, total Rs 16,887; 18-20 August, Delhi, Rs 15,006+665, total Rs 15,671; 29-30 August, Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 28,200+483, total Rs 28,683; 25-27 September, Mumbai, Rs 8,785+702, total Rs 9,487. He flew thrice to Mumbai/Delhi in a single month: 1) 06-10 December, Mumbai, Rs 7,074+1,222, total Rs 8,296. 2) 19-20 December, Delhi, Rs 16,250+405, total Rs 16,655. 3) A one-dayer to Delhi on 21 December that cost you Rs 33,599. And another one-dayer to Mumbai on 8 January 2010 that cost you Rs 17,608. And like me you might wonder what more can our montris achieve in a day in Delhi or Mumbai that cannot be done over the mobile. Is it because neither side trusts each other, and therefore need to eyeball each other? After all, the carry-case lie detector like the portable blood pressure monitor hasn’t been invented yet. *The Flying Club Cost so far:* Vishwajeet Rane Rs 17,56,397 Churchill Alemao Rs 14,28,633 Digambar Kamat Rs 13,26,144 Joaquim Alemao Rs 12,34,442 Mickky Pacheco Rs 11,98,946 Babush Monseratte Rs 6,48,115 Babu Azgaonkar Rs 1,87,986 Dayanand Narvekar Rs 1,36,275 Ravi Naik Rs 4,08,749 Filipe Rodrigues Rs 40,306 Jose Philip D’Souza Rs 4,79,446 *Grand Total: Rs 88,45,439* *“It is a Bullshit”* Famous last words of drug peddler-in-denial Yaniv Benhaim a.k.a Atala. He used them to describe almost everything except himself, which if he did, would be the only truth he ever spoke. Famous last words because by the time you read this, he would have flown the coop. If he hasn’t it is only because Atala has decided to stay back to learn more from our politicians courtesy the Goa Police deliberately bungling the investigation. Where do you think he learnt to blame the media for getting into a spot and also to deny afterwards that a top politician’s son is involved in drug peddling? Huh, where? It’s from our politicians. Look at it this way, stay back and he gets to at least learn which Notary Public has a valid license if push comes to shove and he ends up needing an affidavit to be notarised. If he sticks around Ravi Naik and Digambar Kamat) can use his ‘innocence’ as a reference on Goa being drug-free. Why, he could even join the Congress which is looking for recruits, now that he is ‘free from all sin.’ Where do you think the police got the idea of going to Sweden to interrogate
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Flying Circus VIII
*Government of gatecrashers* It’s terrifying the way the Congress government acquires land, your land. One way to avoid that would be to sell your land, if you have sizeable tracts of it, that is, and if it lies next to or near an existing industrial estate. Of course if you are a bhatcar with land along the coast and you haven’t yet sold it, all you need to do is look heavenwards and you will spot those hundreds of Delhi vultures hovering in the skies, claws sharpened, waiting to zoom in on your land. That settled, here’s why you must sell your land under the first category before the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), Goa’s home-cloned land-predator casts its covetous glances your way. It is looking to buy a simple matter of just 20 lakh sq mts. And for what? A pittance is what you will get if you sell. *Pressure cooker effect* The IDC told “the newspaper you can trust” that it intends to acquire 20 lakh sq mts of land, your land, near various industrial estates. When this particular daily gets to know first; it’s either the real thing/ a test case to gauge public sentiment/ or both. There’s a background to this. If you live, god forbid, in the villages say for example between the Verna industrial estate and say a village like Utorda along the coast; you will know soon what is meant by the pressure cooker effect. I give these two examples -- Verna, because of its burgeoning growth that affects the villagers in its vicinity; Utorda, because if you drive down to the Uttorda beach, you will see for yourself that three Delhities have bought several lakh sq mts on either side of the road choking off the beach to villagers. To the left and right of the road is the existing Heritage Resort. Abutting all that is owned by Heritage on the left of the road, is more land owned by Goa Inn and even it has a bit of land ahead of the Heritage property and touching the road. So, on the left you have Heritage and Goa Inn. On the left of the road and ahead of the Heritage property is property owned by the Competent Group (further up the road) close to the beach. So, on the right you have Heritage again and Competent. It’s easier to understand if you were standing there. But trust me all that is left for the locals to enjoy is the narrow road. I choose Verna, because IDC has already acquired land there. Just for the record, the IDC has acquired a mind boggling 70,49,594 sq mts so far. That’s why I call it frightful. * Final Episode of Profligacy* So is this bill of Rs 93,82,850, your montris stitched you up with and which ends the Flying Circus series. Talk of profligacy! Are you not appalled at how Rs 93,82,850 can be spent by a dozen montris, without a care in the world. Still, relief could be impending. Vishwajeet Rane is back in the Congress, maybe Babush (who is also back in the Congress) has abandoned the plan to dislodge Digambar Kamat from within, since they (he, Rane and others) could not do it when they cobbled together the G-7 and saw coup after coup fail. The G-7 seems to have lost its fizz completely. Mickky' Pacheco has jaundice (and that’s the least of his problems, even he will freely acknowledge), Babush and Vishwajeet are now sleeping with the enemy. G-7 has shrunk to G-4. And it will be a year at least before they get restive. Happy days are here again. Ramkrishna (Sudhin) Dhavlikar, Minister for Transport *2008-The Road Most Travelled* He began his flying dashing off on 01-02 April to Delhi, Rs 29,690+50, total Rs 30,210; and when his mission obviously failed, he turned to prayer because on 05-08 May he flew Mumbai-Pune-Shirdi-Pune, and you footed the bill of Rs 24,288+847, total Rs 25,135. He was back to the routine thing: 27-30 May, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 25,245+903, total Rs 26,148. His next flight obviously a junket, saw him board a Delhi- He wasH Jammu-Mumbai flight on 18-21 June, Rs 32,236+788, total Rs 33,024. 26-27 June, Delhi, Rs 12,405+355, total Rs 12,760. Things were not working out for the rebellious G-7 or things simply got overheated (remember, even Churchill was going to join up if he had another shot at being CM) going by his frequent flying in July and August: 08-10 July, Delhi, Rs 22,750+615, total Rs 23,365; 16-17 July, Mumbai, Rs 12,830+520, total Rs 13,350; 25-28 July, Pune-Mumbai, Rs 15,045+703, total Rs 15,748; 05-07 August, Delhi, Rs 31,285+702, total Rs 31,987;13-14 August, Mumbai, Rs 19,105+355, total Rs 19,460; 25-27 August, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 26,460+412, total Rs 26,872. That ‘s six flights in two months all done by Business Class because Sudhin Dhavlikar likes doing his private business in a classy way. That too when you and I are paying. 14-17 October, Mumbai, Rs 15,970+797, total Rs 16,767; 27-29 December, Mumbai, total Rs 9,130. *2009 - The DA King* He began the year doing the usual in-out of Delhi/Mumbai. But look at the DA on one of his trips. It exceeded the fare cost. 06-09 January, Delhi, total Rs 31,760; 12-14 January, Mumbai, Rs 9,238+9,807, total Rs
[Goanet] Lion Roars: Some Pain, but all Gain?
*UP STETHOSCOPE* Suspecting they are being scammed, at least 18 insurance companies, including four in the public sector, have delisted more than 150 hospitals in Delhi and the National Capital Region (or NCR, which is basically the Delhi region) from their designated list for Mediclaim insurance. Could a virus strain of this scam have already affected the hospital scheme that entitles you to cashless medical facilities in Goa? The news broke last week and the position on this could change. Your periscope (like a submarine) should be up and looking. In this case, you would need a stethoscope to grope for the evidence. You should like a doctor be able to feel the heavy breathing of anticipation within the corridors of government officialdom and the medical fraternity. The pounding of heart beats. The hard medical facts are, your government reimbursed a huge Rs 11,64,02,329 in 2008-2009 to 16 of the 21 empanelled hospitals under Mediclaim. In 2009-2010 up till February 28, 2010 the government paid Rs 8,04,16,423 to 18 of the 21 hospitals under the Mediclaim scheme (see list for actual details). The government owes an additional Rs 5,73,14,125 to 14 hospitals for the period 2009-10. All in all that makes it a mammoth Rs 25,41,32,877 the government paid a clutch of hospitals. You sense some fiddling here? O course, you do, because either we are a very, very ill community and must be all laid up which would explain the sussegad in us. Or, as you rightly diagnosed, it must be a few hundred unwell who are making an even smaller group of people glowing with good health extremely rich with all that moolah. Who said wealth does not bring happiness? Because even a pinprick of the Rs 25,41,32,877 has to make you feel good. Call it wellness. *Dr. DIAGNOSTIX* A doctor’s diagnosis is that the list itself of sick persons who are asked by the Directorate of Health Services to reimburse the hospitals directly is very small. The reasons are obvious. But the list of sick given the benefit of a cashless transaction is huge. The reasons are obvious again. No transparency at this level means more cash for officialdom and hospitals. In an ironic way cashless for you means more cash for them. That’s why the 18 insurance companies have a deep suspicion and have acted before the virus spreads. Let’s see what happens in Goa next. *UNDER INTENSIVE CARE* *HOSPITALS IN GOA* In the two financial years 2008-09, 2009-10 (up to February 28) Apollo Victor Hospital, Margao was paid Rs 3,76,98,886 and Rs 2,31,76,294; Om Urology, Panjim Rs 16,93,772 (08-09 only); Chodankar Hursing Home, Porvorim Rs 70,37,216 and Rs 31,60,789; Goa Manipal Hospital, Dona Paula Rs 2,80,573 and Rs 8,34,672; NUSI Hospital, Cuncolim Rs 41,91,702 and Rs 2,56,538; Vivus, SMRC, Vasco Rs 80,10,911 and Rs 37,36,403; Vrundavan Hospital, Mapusa Rs 28,01,801 and Rs 40,12,195; Grace Cardia Care, Margao Rs 4,97,927 (09-10 only); SMRC Vasco Rs 95,449 (09-10 only). *HOSPITALS OUTSIDE GOA* KLES Hospital, Belgaum Rs 2,85,53,156 and Rs 1,62,38,625; RG Stone, Mumbai Rs 29,62,421 (08-09 only); Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai Rs 72,65,972 and Rs 75,05,163; Wockhardt Hospital, Bangalore Rs 77,96,635 and Rs 54,64,240; Kasturba Hospital, Manipal Rs 14,00,117 and Rs 17,47,054; Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune Rs 3,11,715 and Rs 1,00,077; Sankara Netralaya, Chennai Rs 7,49,837 and Rs 5,96,368; Santosham Chest, Chennai Rs 84,743 (08-09 only); Neogen, Bangalore Rs 55,62,872 and Rs 1,24,852; Wockhardt Hospital, Mumbai Rs 2,63,507 (09-10 only); Manipal Heart Foundation, Bangalore Rs 1,18,796 (09-10 only); Belgaum Cancer, Belgaum Rs 1,14,474 (09-10 only). REIMBURSED IN 2008-09 Rs 11,64,02,329 REIMBURSED IN 2009-10 Rs 08,04,16,423 *TOTAL: Rs 19,68,18,752 * REIMBURSEMENT PENDING WITH GOVERNMENT (2009-10) Apollo Victor Hospital, Margao Rs 1,75,55,000 Chodankar Nursing Home, Porvorim Rs 9,08,665 Goa Manipal Hospital, Dona Paula Rs 10,45,000 Vivus, SMRC, Vasco Rs 50,78,000 Vrundavan Hospital, Mapusa Rs 15,05,000 Grace Cardia Care, Margao Rs 5,60,000 Campal Clinic, Panjim Rs 41,60,000 KLES Hospital, Belgaum Rs 1,43,40,000 Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai Rs 6,55,000 Wockhardt Hospital, Bangalore Rs 24,28,000 Kasturba Hospital, Manipal Rs 6,65,000 Sankara Netralaya, Chennai Rs 4,25,000 Neogen, Bangalore Rs 78,09,460 Belgaum Cancer, Belgaum Rs 1,80,000 *TOTAL: Rs 5,73,14,125* *GRAND TOTAL: Rs 25,41,32,877* *Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars@gmail.com * Publish Post http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=66535506346487524 Save Now http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=66535506346487524 Save as Draft http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=66535506346487524
[Goanet] Lion Roars- Mickky made merrry flying (Flying Circus -V)
SAVE AS DRAFT http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=66535506346487524postID=4647257712514399639 Flying Circus - V You ain't seen nothin yet! Fortunately for your tax bucks, Francisco ‘Mickky’ Pacheco, the former Minister for Tourism blinked first in the Mexican stand-off and resigned, but don’t pop that bubbly yet, your good cheer could end sooner than later. Because, instinct suggests that Srikanth Halarnkar as tourism minister (as I write this on June 15) may already have both eyes on the tourism convention calendar and a hand on the phone. You have doubts? Then why did he say post-induction: “I have no demands blah, blah, blah”. Plus this gem: “I will resign my ministership if Mickky Pacheco gets back” or words to this effect. In the double-talk of politicians, it simply, means: “Demands? Boy, I haven’t even begun/just wait till I start making them.” Also, for the reason that tourism ministers and officials of both the Goa Tourism Development Corporation and Tourism Department simply can’t resist packing their bags and taking off behind their masters on foreign junkets, like supporting actors, in the Flying Circus. In the past, it happened each time a new minister took charge, Mickky only took it to a new level. His reputation for long-haul flying even gave Manohar Parrikar the opportunity to sack him as a minister while on an expense-paid trip on 4 June 2004. Heaven help us if he were the sports minister today. His air and World Cup tickets would have been a waste after costing us an arm and a leg. To think, he would have stayed the entire course of the World Cup. On Mickky’s trail On 09-17, 2008 November he flew Mumbai-London-Mumbai which cost Rs 2,54,489 and was paid DA of Rs 23,076. The question is, should a government perk like DA be paid to a minister on a foreign junket when even his restaurant tips are covered. It’s logical or rather or rather makes sense if a minister flies off to Mumbai, but abroad, DA? Then there was his cab fare (see what I mean?) of Rs 2,40,000 (did he hire helicopters?) and hotel expenditure of Rs 1,49,310 making it a grand total of Rs 6,66,875 of tax money squandered away. Wasted, because what good does it do, participating in foreign tourism conventions to sell Goa over and over again with nothing new to offer and even less to show by way of improved tourist infrastructure. The squalor in the Colva creek will persist, tourists will continue to balance sightseeing with garbage sighting, and get short-changed at each transaction virtually. Mickky gets picky On 20-24, 2009 September he flew Mumbai-Dubai-DME (Russia)-Dubai-Mumbai, Business Class which cost Rs 53,710, was paid DA of Rs 8,104, strangely did not incur any cab fare but incurred a hotel expenditure of Rs 81,600. Total: Rs 1,43,414. Goldfinger gets brazen Yeah, I know, I know, he doesn’t wear them nowadays, but I couldn’t resist it. He was airborne again on 09-22 November, 2009 flying Doha-London-Helsinki-Copenhagen-Zurich-Rome-London-Doha, Business Class, spending Rs 1,87,621 on airfare, got paid DA of Rs 64,650, spending nothing on cab fare and incurring a huge Rs 1,36,386 on hotels. Total: Rs 3,88,657. All of which really, really makes the airfare of Rs 2,54,489 to London very, very suspect, as is the equally questionable cab fare of Rs 2,40,000 and I do know London cab fares are exorbitant. But to spend Rs 34,285.71 per day on cabs when you are supposed to be hard selling Goa! Whatever the facts behind these three hugely unnecessary junkets, Micky did manage to spend Rs 11,98,946 of your hard earned money. But with every new fact tumbling out on la affaire Mickky, go figure the hows and wherefores. Fellow rambler, Minister for Education 2008 Year of Coincidence Like his buddies, Babush began his flying with that familiar airdash to you know where on 22-23 September, at a cost of Rs 57,510+355, total Rs 57,865; followed by another to Delhi on 25-26 November, Rs 51,320+355, total Rs 51,675. Why coincidence? It just happened that of the 17 flights he took, nine took place when Vishwajeet Rane was also in Mumbai, which to the Goa G-7, is like Davos is to the real G-8 and corporate czars. For the same reason that on 15-21 December (cost: Rs 24,705+1,655, total 26,360) when he flew to Mumbai, Rane was there (18-24). Still think I’m on a flight of fancy? 2009 more happening together He began the year with a flight to Delhi-Mumbai between 06-11 January, that cost Rs 60,828. Rane was there too (06-09). 08-11 April, Mumbai, Rs 19,868+960, total Rs 20,828; 13-17 April, Mumbai, Rs 19,868+1,185, total Rs 21,053. Monseratte’s next five flights to Mumbai coincided with Rane being there YET AGAIN. Rane was in Mumbai on 27 April-01 June. The flights are: 1) 27-28 April, Mumbai, Rs 22,013+520, total Rs 22,533. 2) 15-24 May, Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 63,787+2,340, total Rs 66,127. 3) 19-21 May, Mumbai, Rs 20,268+780, total Rs 21,048. 4) 22-24 May, Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 61,706+702, total Rs 62,408. 5) 27-28 May,
[Goanet] Lion Roars -Flying Club VI
Thanksgiving to the Lord I said it before and I say it again. Tirupati is like a magnet for many of our montris and our chief montri. He was there on June 23. It’s not a coincidence that Kamath was there days after Babush merged his UGDP into the Congress giving the Grand Old Party 19 MLAs. That’s not all. Kamath is secure now that he has co-opted the “CEO” of the Group of Seven. No wonder he was in Tirumala to give thanks. Mumbai, here I come Manohar ‘Babu’ Azgaonkar, Minister for Panchayat Raj RDA The flight plans of our montris tend to sometimes reveal a little bit about them, like for instance, visiting Mumbai is like an adrenalin rush for many. It varies too. Nilkanth Halarnkar got his rush recently promising everything he wasn’t, for the love of God, ever going to keep but had to say because they think you and I are dimwitted. Other montris get their rush flying Business Class. It’s free in any case. Babu Azgaonkar gets his, flying to Mumbai. Of his fifteen flights made between April 2008-January 2010, ten were made to Mumbai, and only two to Delhi. But he did, by the way, go easy on your tax bucks, flying Business Class on four occasions only. Don’t thank him yet, he might change his flying habit after reading this. In fact, the government could do well by accepting his flight fares as an average or MRP if you will for flying your montris to Mumbai and Delhi. Babu Azgaonkar could, as a matter of fact, offer his services as adviser on low cost flying. Case in point: his flight Mumbai-Kolhapur cost you a piddling (compared to what his compadres-in-the-air blew) just Rs 3,350 in April, a time when fares actually sizzle. Take a look. 2008 You pay they fly 11-13 April, Mumbai, Rs 13,585+702, total Rs 14,287; 23-25 April, Delhi, Rs 25,150+615, total Rs 25,765; 26-29 April, Mumbai-Kolhapur, Rs 3,350+702, total Rs 4,052; 26-28 June, Mumbai, Rs 7,600+780; total Rs 8,380; 02-03 August, Mumbai, Rs 16,609+442, total Rs 17,051; 19-22 September, Mumbai, Rs 7,555+962, total Rs 8,517; 11-14 October, Mumbai, Rs 17,385+962, total Rs 18,347; 23-24 October, Mumbai, Rs 8,320+520, total Rs 8,840; 17-19 November, Mumbai, Rs 7,895+72, total Rs 8,597. 2009 06-10 January, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 14,953, 04-06 April, Mumbai, Rs 19,819+702, Rs 20,521; 06-08 June, Mumbai, Rs 7,258+780, total Rs 8,038; 01-03 July, Mumbai, Rs 4,708+702, total Rs 5,410; 04-11 November, Hyderabad-Tirupati-Hyderabad, Rs 13,458+1,101, total Rs 14,468. Strangely, when Vishwajeet Rane also flew to pray at the Lord Venkateshwara Temple in July 2008 his Economy Class airfare cost Rs 43,439. That’s why I say take his as the basis for future reference. 2010 13-15 January, Mumbai, Rs 1,058+702, total Rs 10,760. Filipe Neri Rodrigues, Minister for Water Resources Forests. He seems to be a rarity among our council of ministers, barely zipping here and there unlike the others who sprout wings soon after induction into the cabinet. 2008 30 June-03 July 2008, Mumbai, Rs 13,078+962, total Rs 14,040. 2009 06-08 January Delhi, total Rs 11,850; 06-07 July, Delhi, Rs 13,896+520, total Rs 14,416. The Flying Club Cost so far: Vishwajeet Rane Rs 17,56,397 Churchill Alemao Rs 14,28,633 Digambar Kamat Rs 13,26,144 Joaquim Alemao Rs 12,34,442 Mickky Pacheco Rs 11,98,946 Babush Monseratte Rs 6,48,115 Babu Azgaonkar Rs 1,87,986 Dayanand Narvekar Rs 1,36,275 Ravi Naik Rs 4,08,749 Filipe Rodrigues Rs 40,306 Grand Total: Rs 83,65,993 Whose pleasure? A lot has been said about the crap (literally) dumped by the offshore Casinos and pleasure vessels, more so after the pollution control board woke up from hibernation, blinked, poked its still-drowsy head into the squalid waters of the Mandovi, and surfaced quickly pronto as if it had sighted the Loch Ness monster. Only this was not the north of Scotland. It was not even our own little Nessie (as the Scots affectionately call the LN). It was like the crap hit the ceiling as the saying goes. Everyone was running helter-skelter, one daily (not Herald) even turning it into a circus. Whatever happened to action taken? If there was action to be taken, that is. Anyway, here’s an itsy bitsy bit (but which ought to raise a stink no less) of information, no one bothered to dig up then. My point being for all the crap and garbage the poor Mandovi gets, see what your government gives the rich Casino and pleasure vessel owners in return? Talk of inverse proportional benefits to the rich! The Captain of Ports Department has four jetties in Panjim. The Malim jetty which the Mandovi Fisherman Marketing Co-Op Society has virtually commandeered and where someone, I am not sure who, even collects an entry fee from shoppers brave or foolish enough to buy the rather expensive fish sold there. The other three jetties are allegedly used on a temporary basis for berthing mainly the pleasure boats on what is called “touch and go basis”. Quaint. Only your government could think of such a catchy turn of phrase. These are the Patto
[Goanet] Flying Circus(II) - Soccer Circus
Flying Circus (II) - Soccer Circus Narvekar's clipped wings The former Finance IT Minister Dayanand Narvekar spent only Rs 1,36,275 on his flying but that was only because Digambar Kamat pressed his ejection seat button jettisoning him out of the cabinet, which Narvekar would of course argue, was done prematurely. Whatever their ‘code of conduct’ as politicians, his freefall resulted in him losing his ministership and as a result also his free membership to the Frequent Flyers club of government ministers. But, hey he did enjoy himself in the brief period he got to fly among the clouds. You could say he was on Cloud Nine! 2008 06-09 April, 2008, Mumbai-Delhi, Rs 34,765+962, total Rs 35,727. He also flew to Bhuj, known for its palaces in traditional Kutchi style, spending 11 days in Bhuj, Gujarat flying Bangalore-Delhi-Mumbai-Bhuj-Mumbai Business Class between 17-28 April, 2008 at a cost to you of Rs 84,112+ Rs 2,360, total Rs 86,472. He flew again between 18-20 May, 2008, Mumbai (Rs 13,556+520) at a total cost to you of Rs 14,076. Business as usual Another aficionado of the travel-at-taxpayers-cost is Joaquim Alemao, the Minister for Urban Development. Of his 27 flights between April 2008 and January 2010 he flew Economy Class only once, perhaps only because there wasn’t a Business Class seat available. His flying cost you Rs 12,34,442. 2008 28 April-04 May, Mumbai, Rs 16,930+1,655, total Rs 18,585; 24-26 June, Bangalore-Mumbai, Rs 37,210+1,135, total Rs 36,345; 19-20 July, Mumbai, Rs 19,910+442, total Rs 20,352; 08-09 August, Bangalore, Rs 24,237+442, total Rs 24,679; 18-19 August, Bangalore, Rs 17,765+442, total Rs 18,207; 05-08 September, Bangalore-Calcutta, Rs 54,635+1,040, total Rs 55,675; 11-13 October, Bangalore-Calcutta, Rs 84,330+577, total Rs 84,907. While his recent flights seem to have taken him to Bangalore for reasons best known to him, his rather expensive flight to Calcutta on 11-13 October most certainly had nothing to do with the working of the government, more likely I guess with the fact that Churchill Brothers played Mohun Bagan in Calcutta on January 8. My research with a small margin for error also shows that a Goa-Mumbai flight at that point in time cost Rs 16,600 by Economy Class. What’s more, a Goa-Bangalore air ticket then cost Rs 11,919, a Bangalore-Calcutta flight cost Rs 29,444, a Calcutta-Mumbai flight cost Rs 22,664 and a Mumbai-Goa flight cost Rs 10,134 (Indian Airlines-Business Class fares). That makes it a total of Rs 74,161, well short of the Rs 84,330 Alemao spent. It was back to Mumbai for him : 21-25 October, Mumbai, Rs 24,705+1,300, total Rs 26,005; 13-17 November, Mumbai, Rs 26,070+1,097; Rs 27,167. His next flights completely expose the man’s enormous appetite for flying free. Between 08-09 August he flew to Delhi at a cost to you of Rs 58,070+482, total Rs 58,552. He was back to doing his quick Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VToL) like the Indian Navy’s Sea Harriers to Delhi between 23-24 December flying there at a cost of Rs 61,455. Go figure how he could manage to spend so much of your money because the airfares defy interpretation, mine at least, the increasing ATF cost (aviation turbine fuel) notwithstanding. 2009, crashing landing your tax bucks Yet another quickie VToL flight between 23-24 December took him to Mumbai this time at a cost of Rs 30,658 and another between 20-21 January at a cost of Rs 37,852 and he ended his dizzy dashing off, this time a one-dayer, to Delhi on 19 February at a cost of Rs 45,085. And so it went. 14-16 March, Mumbai, total Rs 19,460; 14-16 March, Mumbai total Rs 19,460. Here’s a funny thing. He wasn’t paid DA for any of these flights. Poor man. Then came this whopper of a flight between 27-29 March when he flew Bangalore-Delhi-Mumbai at a cost to you of Rs 83,783+962, total Rs 84,745. 19-21 May, Mumbai, Rs 19,129+702, total Rs 19,831; another Goliath of a flight between 23-24 May to Delhi at a cost to you of Rs 67,684+442, Rs 68,126. In fact it’s all downhill (for your tax buck, that is) for you from here onwards, so fasten your seat belt while Alemao enters rarified air burning up your tax bucks like a jet’s afterburner that increases the thrust (in their case lust for flying) of a jet engine by feeding fuel into the hot exhaust (in your case leaving your tax bucks exhausted) gases. 11-15 June, Delhi-Mumbai-Chennai, Rs 73,795+1,222, total Rs 75,017; 20-21 June Mumbai, Rs 25,863+442, total Rs 26,305; 30 August-01 September, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 74,220+702, total Rs 74,922; 30 September-03 October, Mumbai, Rs 23,868+962, total Rs 24,830; 19-21 October, Delhi, Rs 58,480+702, total Rs 59,182. 2010 Alemao was back in India’s soccer capital between 06-09 January flying Mumbai-Calcutta-Mumbai at a cost of Rs 87,969+960, total Rs 88,929; another quick VToL between 20-21 January at a cost of Rs 57,274+442, total Rs 57,716 and finally 28-30 January, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 86,278+702, total Rs 86,980. The Flying Club Cost so far: Ravi
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Pigs have wings - Flying Circus(V)
More reason to squeal like pigs He was in the news recently for all the wrong reasons, calling us names, proving yet again and like a spoilt child that he just wouldn’t tolerate even being rapped on the knuckles. Actually he was, ahem, squealing like a pig! Remember, he accused the concerned citizen leading the opposition against the Cavellossim bridge of being a loner in his battle; he said the same thing when someone led a protest against the Mumbai builder who is turning a part of Carmona into a concrete jungle for the rich to holiday. Clearly, Churchill Alemao brooks no opposition on the ground. In the air, he is king of all he surveys. Take a look at his flying exploits between April 2008 and January 2010, all paid by your tax bucks of course. The cost: Rs 14,28,633. 2008 Business with pleasure The Union Minister for railways Mamta Banerjee spends more time in Kolkatta than in Delhi, the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers is perpetually in Madurai when he should be in Delhi. Not so our our Goa montris who are in Delhi at the drop of a hat. 06-09 April, Delhi, Rs 24,626+1,040, total Rs 25,666; 17-18 April, Delhi, Rs 25,120+355; Rs 25,475. A one-dayer to Mumbai on 29 April that cost you just Rs 16,789 (Rs 16,607+182) because he flew Economy Class one way and quite obviously travelled without the human baggage the poor man seems to be saddled with. 31 May-01 June, Mumbai, Rs 20,034+442, total Rs 20,476; 04-05 June, Bangalore-Mumbai, Rs 37,448+277, total Rs 37,725; 14-15 June, Mumbai, Rs 20,634+520, total Rs 21,154; 23-24 June, Delhi, Rs 37,595+355, total 37,950. This is five overnight flights and a one-dayer in seven flights so far, and must surely add a new dimension to his line of work. 04-09, Chennai-Bangalore, Rs 29,327+1,482, total Rs 30,809; 12-16 September, Delhi, Rs 59,072+1,135, total Rs 60,207. The next one is something only Alemao Inc. could pull off. Between 07-13 October he flew Delhi-Calcutta at a cost of Rs 86,985+1,057, total cost Rs 88,042. If you remember brother Joaquim made that same rather expensive flight also to Calcutta on 11-13 October which I figured most certainly had nothing to do with the working of government, unless off course freebie flying is part of governance. So, what were the siblings doing in Calcutta? The answer could be in the fact that Churchill United played Chirag United on 12 October. Sadly, Churchill United drew 0-0 despite the huge fan support they got from Goa, if you get my drift. And then, these two overnight flights: 20-21 October, Delhi, Rs 51,596+520, total Rs 52,116; 12-13 December, Delhi, Rs 34,501. 2009 Delhi calls 07-08 January, Delhi-Mumbai, total Rs 67,208; 12-13 January, Delhi, Rs 53,796; 22-25 January, Delhi-Mumbai, total Rs 36,355, that’s three flights in a single month. 17-19 February, Delhi, total Rs 36,505. Churchill spent six days in Delhi between 25 February-03 March flying there Economy Class for Rs 14,986 only. But you can’t help noticing can you, the high cost of flying to Delhi prior to that, plus the huge difference in air fares, proving my point that there is something fishy going on. My theory is flying solo is not something our montris like to do, the more the merrier seems to be the motto. There is cause to mull over, because he flew back again on 05-12 March at a penny pinching fare of Rs 13,702. The big spending was back when he flew Delhi-Mumbai on 13-16 March at a cost to you of Rs 42,751+710, total 43,461, and if you hadn’t noticed his DA went up too but which for unknown reasons he did not claim for a short period. 16-22 March, Delhi, Rs 15,836+1,523, total Rs 17,359. He ended March, a month of tireless flying (5 flights, 25 days spent in Delhi), but entirely necessary in Goa’s treacherous power-play, with this jaw-breaker of a flight to Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai on 25-31 March that cost Rs 1,14,999 plus DA of Rs 1,705. But, it’s the flight cost that hurts. In fact of his 39 flights, he flew Economy Class only five times, clubbing Economy Class with Business Class thrice. And, so it went. 01-06 April, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 48,772+1,222, total Rs 49,994; 26-29 April, Delhi, Rs 32,783+1,040, total Rs 33,823; 06-07 May, Mumbai, Rs 14,463+520, total Rs 14,983; 21-23 May, Delhi, Rs 55,243+702, total Rs 55,945; 09-11 June, Delhi, Rs 33,360+780, total Rs 34,140; 08-09 August, Delhi, Rs 58,732+364, total Rs 59,069; 20-21 August, Delhi, Rs 34,999+260, total Rs 35,259, 03-9 September, Madras-Tiruchipally-Madras, Rs 44,144+945, total Rs 45,089; 19-23 September, Delhi, Rs 33,750+1,300, total Rs 35,050; 30 September-02 October, Mumbai, Rs 24,823+702, total Rs 25,525; 11-13 October, Delhi, Rs 33,235+780, total Rs 34,015; 22-24 October, Pune-Mumbai, Rs 24,600+504; total Rs 25,104; 31 October-02 November, Mumbai, Rs 22,276+615, total Rs 22,891; 09-10 November, Mumbai, Rs 21,393+364, total Rs 21,757; 23-25 November, Mumbai-Madras-Tiruchirapally-Madras, Rs 26,830+530, total Rs 27,360. Thus while the CM went to invoke the Gods in
[Goanet] Lion Roars- Don't have wings, but will still fly
Flying Circus back in town -1 Yes, I am back with the Flying Circus and the flying expenses of ourmontris courtesy your tax bucks. Your Chief Minister spent Rs 13,26,144 flying mainly to New Delhi between April, 2008 and January 2010 my guess is on those frequent fire-fighting missions to stave off those seven MLA’s who seem to have an everlasting grudge against his “style” of ruling which means they won’t rest till he resigns which implies Kamat could almost permanently be airborne as his flying itinerary so far will prove. So really, one of the perks of being Goa’s CM is you get to fly frequently to Delhi and live in a 5-star hotel paid for again by your tax bucks. His to-ing and fro-ing worked out to 59 flights in 22 months at a cost of Rs 60,279 per month. Factor in the days spent in Delhi or Mumbai and the travel time and you will know how many days your Chief Minister was in the air in that short period. 2008 Digambar Kamat – (travel date) 14-16 April (place visited) Mumbai, (airfare) Rs 18,350 + (DA) Rs 442, total Rs 18,792; 18-19 April, Delhi, Rs 11,113+355, total Rs 11,468; 22-23 April, Mumbai-Delhi, Rs 15,624+483, total Rs 16,107; 29-30 April, Mumbai, Rs 10,320+355, total Rs 10,675; 01-03 May, Bangalore, Rs 7,283+702, total Rs 7,985; 09-11 May, Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 20,410+615, total Rs 21,025; 27-29 May, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 19,825+578, total Rs 20,403; 31 May-01 June, Mumbai, Rs 8,100+277, total Rs 8,377; 18-19 June, Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai, Rs 17,080+190, total Rs 17,270. 01-02 July, Mumbai-Delhi, Rs 17,300+355, total Rs 17,655; 09-10 July, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 16,067+483, total Rs 16,550. Some of his high-cost flying needs scrutiny, especially as the costs are supposedly for single return airfares. For instance, between 14-17 July he flew Delhi-Mumbai Business Class at a cost of Rs 49,468+962, total Rs 50,430. 22-24 July, Delhi, Rs 12,444+780, total Rs 13,224. The same thing applies elsewhere: 29-30 July, Mumbai-Delhi-Delhi, Rs 49,375+446, total Rs 49,821. 06 August, Mumbai, Rs 21,615, total Rs 21,605; 10-12 August, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 26,398+537, total Rs 26,935. Ditto for 08-10 September, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 47,371+702, total Rs 48,073; 12-14 September, Delhi, Rs 13,275+483, total Rs 13,758. The same here: 22-24 September, Delhi, Rs 36,317+615, total Rs 36,932; 12-14 October, Delhi, Rs 18,864+615, total Rs 19,479, 02-04 November, Delhi, Rs 15,762+665, total Rs 16,427; 09-10 November, Delhi, Rs 14,469+405, total 14,874; 14-15 November, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 24,675+182, total 24,857; 21 November, Mumbai-Delhi, Rs 28,741+182, total Rs 28,923; 01 December, Mumbai, Rs 26,043+95, total Rs 26,138; 04-07 December, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 19,429+962, total Rs 20,391; 26-27 December, Mangalore, Rs 13,660+230, total 13,890. Also, work this one out for yourself. Kamat made four one day trips to Mumbai on August 6, 2008, on November 21, 2008 Delhi-Mumbai, on December 1, 2008 to Mumbai and July 26, 2009 to Mumbai. Voted on swarag or earth? You would think after being voted into power, politicians would feel indebted to the people who queued up in the scorching sun to cast their ballots. But no, they seem to think only divine intervention got them to their gaddis. But this is audacious. Even Digambar Kamat’s flights to Tirupati to pray at the Lord Venkateshwara Temple were paid by you. Between 22-23 June, 2008 he flew Mumbai-Hyderabad-Tirupati-Hyderabad at a cost of Rs 19,770+190. Total: Rs 19,960. Between 18-23 June, 2009 he took yet another Mumbai-Hyderabad-Tirupati-Hyderabad flight that cost you Rs 18,261+1,138. Total: Rs 19,399. And again between 03-07 January, 2010, this time taking the Mumbai-Shamshabad (Hyerabad’s new airport)-Tirupati-Shamshabad flight at a cost to you of Rs 33,583+1,097. Total: Rs 34,680. Curiously the Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane undertook the same pilgrimage in the first week of July, 2008 (on that later) but apparently failed to evoke Lord Venkateshwara’s blessing as he has not been able to unseat Kamat. But really, do we have to pay for this? Do the gods approve? 2009 04-08 January, Mumbai, Rs 15,380+1,222, total Rs 16,602; 07-10 February, Delhi, Rs 20,383+925, total Rs 21,308; 12-16 February, Mumbai-Calcutta (Dimapur)-Guwahati-Mumbai, Rs 37,984-635, Rs 38,619; 18-20 February, Mumbai, Rs 13,732+624, total Rs 14,356; 28 February-02 March, Delhi, Rs 18,427+780, total Rs 19,207; 13-15 March, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 16,348+355, total Rs 16,703. Here’s an expensive Economy Class flight: 16-20 May, Mumbai-Delhi, Rs 35,478+1,003, total Rs 36,481; 21-24 May, Delhi, Rs 15,422+743, total Rs 16,165; 10-13 June, Delhi, Rs 16,415+925, total Rs 17,340; 06-07 July, Delhi, Rs 13,896+520, total Rs 14,416; 10-12 July, Mumbai, Rs 8,630+780, total Rs 9,410; 14-15 July, Mumbai-Delhi, Rs 16,398+446, total Rs 16,844; 26 July, Mumbai, Rs 8,472+95, total Rs 8,567; 15-19 August, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 14,702+1,040, total Rs 15,742; 27-28 August, Mumbai, Rs 13,200+364, total Rs 13,564; 03-04 September, Delhi, Rs 19,383+483, total Rs
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Austerity, what's that??
FLYING CIRCUS -11 A healthy flight schedule This week let’s have a look at the travel forays of Vishwajeet Rane, the Minister for Health. Yes, the man and his henchmen called the Group of Seven (G7) whose constant pressure on the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat to quit is like a virus that has no cure, but could be good for the bottomline of the airline industry, and the reason that kept Kamat airborne for the most part of his 22-month period between April, 2008 and January 2010 (Mirror May 16). 2008 01-06 April (travel date), Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai (place visited), (airfare) Rs 50,420 + Rs 1,560 (DA), total Rs 51,980. As I wrote last Sunday, some of these airfares don’t just square up with the real fares. This one definitely looks on the higher side even when you factor in Rane’s stated preference for Business Class travel. 09-15 April, Mumbai, Rs 18,250+Rs 1,742, total Rs 19,692; 21-22 April, Mumbai, Rs 18,250+442, total Rs 18,692; 05-06 May, Mumbai, Rs 19,940+442, total Rs 20,382. Between 13 May-03 June Rane spent 21 days vacationing in Mumbai (or whatever he did there for such a long period) and got paid a DA of Rs 5,642. Total cost: Rs 25,582. 06-08 June, Mumbai Rs 20,540+702, total Rs 21,242; 12-14 June, Mumbai, Rs 20,540+624, total Rs 21, 164. Between 18-20 June he flew Delhi-Mumbai at a cost of Rs 51,415+615 (total cost: Rs 52,030). This time Rane flew Economy Class yet still landed up paying almost the same fare he paid for his first flight (01-06 April) but the longer Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai route flying Business Class. Something’s amiss surely. 27-28 June, Mumbai, Rs 20,540+442, total Rs 20,982; 30 June-01 July, Delhi, Rs 42,850+355, total Rs 43,205 and yet another Business Class flight. To Kamat’s credit, he flew Business Class on a total of four flights only, while, Rane flew Business Class on 35 of the total of 52 flights during the same period Kamat flew a total of 59 times. Quite obviously Rane’s flying around cost you more too at Rs 17,56,397 against Kamat’s Rs 13,26,144. But, put that down to his vanity and extravagance, if you like. Austerity is not a word our montris are familiar with but Rane seems to have taken that to its height – almost as much as the flight that was transporting him for his various jaunts. 2008 and still flying 03-05 July, Mumbai-Shamshabad-Tirupati-Bangalore, Rs 43,439+530, total Rs 43,969; 09-10 July, Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 59,980+446, total Rs 60,426. Rane flew on consecutive days to Delhi on 16 July flying Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 21,625+95, total Rs 21,720 and on 17 July flying Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 21,625+260, total Rs 21,885, which tells you much on how your tax bucks are wasted as the Group of Seven indulge in their healthy (according to them) game of toppling Kamat. 24-27 July, Bangalore-Coimbatore-Bangalore, Rs 34,095+845, total Rs 34,940; 06-07 August, Mumbai, Rs 21,510+364, Rs 21,874. Rane had another longish vacation in Mumbai between 06-16 September at a total cost of Rs 25,238. 11-15 October, Mumbai, Rs 22,418+1,300, total Rs 23,718; 19-27 October, Mumbai-Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 63,399+2,340, total Rs 65,739; 02-04 November, Mumbai-Delhi, Rs 37,723+780, total 38,503; 09-13 November, Mumbai, total Rs 13,991; 21 November, Mumbai-Delhi, total Rs 32,415; 04-06 December, Delhi-Mumbai, total Rs 59, 727; 18-24 December, Mumbai, total Rs 36,514. 2009 the Big ‘B’ of Business Class As a frequent flier to Mumbai, Rane deserves to be named the Big ‘B’ of Business Class because he flew Economy Class on three occasions of the many flights he made in 2009 and in fact up to 2010. 06-09 January, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 57,063, total Rs 57,063; 28 January-01 February, Mumbai, total Rs 13,692; 18-20 February, Mumbai, total Rs 20, 393. Between 26 February-01 March he evidently went on holiday flying Delhi-Jammu-Delhi at a total cost to you of Rs 64,390. 03-04 March Mumbai, total Rs 20,720; 08-11 March, Mumbai, total Rs 21,832. Between 13-19 March he spent a whopping Rs 90,623 flying the route Delhi-Bangalore-Kochi-Mumbai and quite clearly had some unofficial business to finish soon between 29 March-06 April at Mumbai flying there at a cost of Rs 20,867. Unfinished, did I say? He was back again in favourite Mumbai where he stayed longer between 27 April-01 June and his airfare cost you Rs 21,425 but his 35-day Mumbai jaunt cost you an extra Rs 9,282 by way of DA. 05-10 June, Mumbai-Coimbatore-Mumbai, Rs 37,639+1,560, total Rs 39,199. I can’t comprehend this one either, that is, the flight cost of Rs 60,078-624 travelling Business Class to Delhi-Mumbai between 17-19 June. In truth none of his more expensive flight costs make sense when you compare the market rates for a single passenger. 15-19 July, Mumbai, Rs 14,035+1,040, total Rs 15,075; 11-16. August, Mumbai, Rs 22,182+1,482, total Rs 23,664. Rane was back with another high-priced Business Class airfare flying to Delhi-Mumbai between 19-22 August at a cost of Rs 69,871+1,222. Total cost: Rs 71,093. 25-31 August, Mumbai, Rs 23,086+1,742, total
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Not so cool
Blistering May It’s going to be blistering the rest of May, sizzling even. Remember the Rs. 7,40,686 that Shaikh Aftab scammed in his capacity as supervisor of the accounts and taxation section of the Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP). The sting was first exposed by the Comptroller and Accountant General of India and intimated to the Director of Municipal Administration on February 2, 2010. The CCP’s report was due last month. All eyes now are on the Administration-cum-Accounts Officer of the CCP and one truly wishes he didn’t have his shades on while he was doing his investigation. ……and facilitation money But if May really sizzles it will because of the threat of the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) decision to terminate the contract given to Kanaka Infratech Ltd., Mumbai for ‘improvement of infrastructure at Patto Plaza in Panjim reported by an English daily on April 25. Mouthing his utter disgust at the company for miserably failing to deliver, EDC’s MD WV Murthy said no money had been paid to the company till now. Whoa, hold your horses, no money paid to the contractor yet, despite the fact the newspaper reported the so-called beautification project of Patto Plaza began in October 2009. Do infrastructure firms work for free? Murthy didn’t tell the paper, but the tender was worth Rs 9,20,38,780.70. Why sizzling? Because EDC despite its denial to the paper has actually paid Kanaka Infratech an amount of Rs 46,01,939 in accordance with the contract. Come now Mr. Murthy all builders and contractors are paid a huge advance, because that is what they use to start work and also from where the facilitation fee is paid to people. FYI, facilitation money was formerly called speed money, Vitamin M and Dhirubhai Ambani once famously called it ‘managing government’. Now, after the IPL (Indian Premier League) it is called facilitation fee. The advance was paid against a bank guarantee. So, is it going to be another legal saga like the true story of the sunken River Princess off Candolim and the salvaging firm Jaisu Shipping and bank guarantees and ………. Etc. etc. One thing bothers me though. The EDC has always harped on the landscaping as it calls it, of Patto Plaza. Even the newspaper quoted it as saying so. Details of the work order I have, clearly call it work that includes improvement of the existing infrastructure wherever needed. As far as I can recollect, the existing so-called infrastructure was built two decades ago and began deteriorating from Day 1 itself. Fact is, the Rs 9,20,38,780.70 is coming out of your pockets to pay for EDC’S past mistakes. Fact is, the Rs 46,01,939 has come out of your pocket. Future fact: EDC is going to re-tender the project (the report said). This cost too will come out from your pockets. I said Blistering, didn’t I? Farmers as bakras It’s truly an irony that a small state like Goa which cannot produce enough for its own citizens should even think of an agriculture mall when bigger states which produce all the essential (also called core vegetables) fruits and vegetables and not the seasonal vegetables that Goan farmers grow (melons, string beans, raddish etc) more for their own sustenance because they cannot double up as labourers like their counterparts in other states, have not done so. Chandrababu Naid started the single-window clearance 10 years ago. It’s no secret that the single window was only used for self-aggrandisement of politicians not industry or agriculture. The “rythu bazaars” (farmers market) concept started during Naidu’s time with much fanfare was supposed to delete the middleman (read politicos) so that farmers could sell directly to buyers and get a decent price. But that did not happen as farmers in AP were the first to commit suicide because they had no other way out of their debt traps. Designed to be a platform to better their lot, instead rythu bazaars became a synonym for corruption as retailers flocked there with their baskets and bought fruits and vegetables cheaply and sold them for double the price at their outlets. The rich became richer and the poor became poorer. Another example In Tamil Nadu, the uzhavar santhai (farmer’s markets) were started some years ago again to help farmers get a better price for their produce. It was evocatively described as “to help housewives exercise their haggling skills with illiterate farmers”. But if these markets were such a success story, then you would not have biggies like Reliance Fresh, More (Aditya Birla) and Heritage Farm Fresh (ironically owned by Naidu himself), raking in huge profits. Granted their prices are reasonable for an urban population which fits in shopping amidst a busy day schedule, but have farmers, who form the first step of this human chain, benefitted? This episode should answer that question. In January this year, farmers in a village in Krishnagiri district, TN boycotted ‘uzhavar santhai’ protesting against “official apathy”. About 13 farmers set up shops outside
[Goanet] Lionroars - Learn from the young
*Vanxim Vanquished* Jelton Fernandes, all of just 17, is one of those few concerned citizens in an apathetic Goa I keep writing about in this column. He lives on Vanxim island tucked away north-west off Divar island and in the news these days because of the literally thousands of tons of sand that is being illegally extracted in the stretch from the old Captain of Ports jetty opposite the Jesus Christ Church of Vanxim up to the ferry jetty where the islanders cross over to Divar. The Captain of Ports jetty was where boats once ferried people from Vanxim directly to Panjim. No longer. Divar is where maximium apathy happens. Vanxim falls under the Sao Matias Village Panchayat and its sole panch Manuel Furtado couldn’t care less about the sand extraction and watches blithely as part of Vanxim’s shore gets eroded. Neither does the Sao Matias acting Sarpanch Tulsidas Kundaikar, who has been in office since June 2008. Kundaikar even had the audacity to tell a news channel that he had done all he could, which was shooting off letters to the Mines Department, the Goa Marine Police and Captain of Ports (CoP) and specifically picked on the extremely susceptible Captain A P Mascarenhas,(who retires next month) for his ‘inaction’ blaming the official squarely. But Kundaikar is an old hand at this, for years he blamed Mascarenhas for the government’s dismal record of building ferry boats. Though the illegal sand extraction has been going on for the past three months, Kundaikar didn’t think it was necessary to inform the Cumbarjua MLA Pundurang Madkaikar, till (unconfirmed yet) Sunday April 25 when another concerned villager Edgar D’Mello and Jelton met him protesting his own inaction. Earlier a group of about 15 Vanxim villagers also met him. The marine police did make on a joyride to the site. How else can you describe a boat trip when your cops come in a swift boat and don’t pursue the slow and cumbersome sand boats that promptly scooted off and no arrests made. In the backdrop of the calm river and two beautiful islands, joyride it was. *Inside Job* While it is mostly non-islanders who are robbing the island of its precious eco-protection (some of them are from the neighbouring island of Akhada) what has hurt Vanxim villagers most is that people from the island itself like Tulsidas Parab, Padmanath Bhosle, Ramesh Bhosle, Bhalchandra Bhosle, Amrut Volvoikar, Shivanand Bhosle and Kishore Tari are as high as their knees in the sand extraction racket. Bhalchandra Bhosle and Amrut Volvoikar own two boats each which shows there is money to be banked, and there are an estimated 60-70 boats that work the sand bank there. The manner in which a single boat is loaded easily fills up a large sized truck. Many of these Sand Extractors have provided the migrant workers hired to load the boats with crude shacks to live and no toilets. *Admission of Guilt* This doesn’t happen too often, the government admitting to ailments caused by mining dust, but when it does, you can be sure nothing good ever comes out of it. The Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane admitted that inhalation of inorganic and organic dust leads to various respiratory diseases like anthracosis, silicosis, asbestosis, sclerosis etc., all from ‘heavy mining pollution’ he confessed. Now, we all know how mediocre government medical care is and this does not include some of the talented doctors at the Goa Medical College Hospital for example. But did you know that the mining belt that has made billionaires of a few and thousands of villagers sick by contrast. The list of mine owners under the jurisdiction of the five health centres reads like a Who’s Who of Billionaire Mine Owners (see below) and overwhelms you with a sense of frustration. Because, compare their billions with the miserly facilities available in some of them which are mere sub-centres. *The List* *Sub-Centre Kevona under PHC Quepem:* 1. Salgaocar mine Chunimol iron ore mine - Sirsorem mine. 2. VM Kadnekar (Magnum), Sirsorem, Rivona. 3. Sesa Goa, Sirsorem, Rivona. 4. BH Mavani-Timblo mines at Columba. 5. FR Mines (Hiralal Kalidas Mines)-Fomento Mines at Columba. *Sub-Centre Caurem area:* 1. GN Agrwal, Borchi Morchi Mine, Maina Caurem. 2. Salgaocar Mining Industries, Jalarwaddo Dongar mine at Maina. 3. Shaikh Salim mine, Devopan Dovongor mine at Kavrem. 4. Jairam B. Neugai, Tembechem Dongor mine at Maina. 5. Vaikhant M. Kadnekar, Bateagal iron ore mine at Maina. 6. Hyder Kassim Khan, Vangi Bhindi – Advana mine, Sulcorna. *Primary Health Centre, Bicholim:* 1. Sesa Goa at Pilgao, Mayem and Shirgao. 2. Bandekar mines, Shirgao. 3. Salgaocar mines, Shirgao. 4. Bandodkar mines, Advalpal. 5. Chowgule mines, Poira, Mayem. *Primary Health Centre, Sanquelim:* 1. Sesa mines, Virdi. 2. Damodar Mangalji mines, Navelim. 3. ILPL mines, Tishe Maina Karmona. 4. Timblo mines, Maina, Dingne. 5. VM Salgaocar mines, Velge, Kothambi. 6. Sesa Goa, Surla, Dingne. 7. VM Salgaocar mines, Velge, Surla, Kudne. 8. Bandekar
[Goanet] Lion Roars - Politicians are about self-development
Egg or chicken? What will come first, the much delayed Regional Plan 2021 for Goa or Goa’s Mineral Policy? If the former is out first, this government will fall and that is the odds on favourite and not all the income tax raids in the world will make Humpty Dumpty (read as in the seven MLA’s called the G7) fall from the wall. So, the Mineral policy will come out first because Jairam Ramesh, the Union Minister, has asked Digambar Kamat to impose a moratorium on new mining leases. The Minister of State for Environment Forests has also returned all the proposals sent to him from Goa. Both decisions were taken under the provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006. To make damn sure everybody in Goa understands this, the Director, Ministry of Environment Forests, Dr. O.L Ahujaraj even shot off a memo, a copy of which was delivered to the Goa State Pollution Control Board. Litmus Test The Regional plan won’t be out because our politicians strongly believe in ‘development’ which in Goa means building huge, expensive buildings which is why the Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP) is planning to build a spanking new headquarters for itself. Because in Goa development is meant only for the self-development of politicians. And guess who will make a whack on the proposed Rs 97 crore building, though this is something that is very much in the air at the moment. Talking about air, if it gets down from there and becomes reality (or should I say Realty?) on the ground, it will mean demolishing the CCP’s existing building and constructing a new one. Unless of course, the CCP has the guts to take on the Army which has this huge plot of land adjacent to its headquarters in a prime location tucked away in the heart of Panjim which it uses as some kind of garage. The land belongs to the CCP. And if you still are confused over what will come out first, here’s a benchmark to help you make your decision. None of the 8,600 suggestions/objections made by the public have been considered for the Regional Plan by the people in charge. On the other hand, the PWD has signed an agreement with Sesa Goa by which it will acquire land for the mining company whose annual profits exceed Goa’s budget to build a 10 km long road from Codli to Panchwadi. Should GSPC change its name? The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPB) has received 45 complaints from individuals on mining ore dust pollution between July 1, 2009 and November 13, 2009. All the GSPB did was forward the complaint letters to such authorities as the local police station in the area, the Director of Transport or Director of Mines and Geology. What could be worse than that? So, is GSPB confused about its role in life and is actually trying to prevent punitive action against mining polluters? It should consider changing its name to Goa State Protection of Polluters Control Board. Notorious Public It’s not only the people who run government and those that bring it down occasionally so they can sit on the throne that are greedy and corrupt. It is also those that sit on the sidelines. Show me a trader or vendor who won’t cream you off and top it with a prayer on how corrupt the entire political establishment is. There is a new entrant to the greedy brigade – Notary Public and Sub-Registrars. The Sub-Registrar in Vasco da Gama demands and gets Rs 3,000 per sale agreement he attests. The gratifying thing is he does not assess his ‘self-development fee’ on the basis of the value of your newly-bought house like the official taxman does, he just set his ‘fee’ at Rs 3,000 and has stuck to that till last week. Considering his rather large fiefdom which includes lucrative real estate areas like Vasco itself, Sancoale and further, this modern day feudal lord hardly ever looks up from his desk as he collects his daily plunder. He even pockets the change left over after billing you for the T-Form. Not so the Notary Public. These men and women across Goa look only at that line, that damaging line that reveals how much you paid for that house, factor in that unsaid black money (and experience has gained them much knowledge) and slam you with a fee that could knock you off that cheap furniture you find in every lawyer’s office. Sometimes you get a rather convoluted lecture (I was witness to one recently in Panjim) on the revenue loss to government which you are not supposed to understand why at that point in time, but becomes abundantly apparent in a flash after you are told the cost of that crucial signature. Cashing in on river Mandovi Aditya Puri, the HDFC’s MD stretched his banking experience to the banks of the river Mandovi in Ribandar just after the Chorao Island ferry crossing. Awed villagers there wonder what it takes for Goans to build such a huge bungalow on the banks of the river with a swimming pool thrown in for good measure. Further down the road villagers say a son of Anju Timblo bought out the erstwhile Camelot (the antique furniture shop)
[Goanet] Lion Roars
A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY All that glitters is not gold It’s what Indian politicians do, acquire land and donate it to rich industrialists who never look a gift horse in the mouth, but the extent to which Goan politicians will go to boggles the mind in land-scarce Goa. This attempt to acquire land near Margao should concern even the worst cynic who thinks this is a good thing that’s happening. In this case, land is being acquired for Daivadnya Samaj, a society of goldsmiths which during the period when the landowners were legally trying (actual date: August 21, 2007) to prevent the acquisition actually failed to renew its registration which had lapsed. Strange but true. What is even more odd is the fact that a certain Daivadnya Samaj member owns 6,000 sq. mt of land, a distance of about 500 mt. from the land that is sought to be acquired. The beneficiaries are just 15 members of the society but the golden egg for Chief Minister Digambar Kamat behind this bizarre land acquisition is perhaps the vote bank of the goldsmiths who are mostly supporters of the BJP. According to Pundalik Virdikar, a journalist and one of the two victims of yet another land acquisition scam, Daivadnya Samaj (registration no. 97/GOA097 dated 29.7.97) applied to the Collector, South Goa on August 24, 2006 for the 5,347 sq. mt of land at Calcondem, Navelim, Margao for a “community welfare project”. The figures 15 and 5,347 matched together ought to convince you what this community welfare project will end up becoming! Strange, odd, bizarre After considering every imaginable dimension and stretching himself to the limit, the Deputy Collector awarded the victims a compensation of, hold on tight to your armrests, Rs 45,567. Ok, if you are horizontal on the floor and still clutching your Herald in shock, the figure even now should read Rs 45,567 which technically has to be shared with the Margao Communidade. Now, Digambar Kamat I wrote in this column recently spent Rs 37,399 (April 2008-March 2009) and Rs 67,363 (April 2007 and March 2008) on refreshments to entertain his visitors at the Secretariat. Turn cold on the thought that your montris think this low of your inherited land and what could be all the financial security you have. Just to make your Sunday even more pleasantly miserable, do be informed that of the compensation award of Rs 45,567, Rs 11,411 was gratuitously awarded as additional compensation under two different sections of the acquisition act! I have since been trying to imagine the twisted, perverse, wicked sense of humour of those men who wrote that very mean act, and, why it hasn’t been changed since. Earlier you read of two facts, one called ‘strange’, the other called ‘odd’. This is bizarre. Because, earlier the same land was being acquired for a government village school playground, but was subsequently stopped and the intent advertised in a newspaper on April 16, 2007, which means the two acquisition processes (at least) actually overlapped each other. Remember Daivadnya Samaj applied for the land on August 24, 2006. If there’s money, there’s honey Something’s fishy in the oft disturbed waters of Cortalim. There was the Bharti Shipyard minor tsunami earlier if you recall which the villagers, bless their hardened souls, doused after much betrayal from their MLA and the Chicalim sarpanch Raul D’Costa who was clearly behind Bharti’s plan to build a second shipyard. There is something sinister going on now if you consider that the local MLA Mauvin Godinho is suddenly showing interest in building a 10 mt wide road (where no road is needed) to the coast. When asked why so wide, he reportedly said that the road had to be wide enough to accommodate a drainage system. Now, in a state where building Ravindra Bharatis (one currently being built in Baina, Vasco, another on the Verna-Dabolim airport road of all places) and hosting the International Film Festival of India for which (Rs 1,26,90,578) was spent only on hotel accommodation) at taxpayer’s cost is legitimate if you stretch a point, a lonely road to nowhere sounds odd. Nah, can’t be, there’s no money to be made here. But wait, there’s got to be a raison d’ etre. It turns out there is. It appears an industrialist from Mormugao taluka with cash to spare for the good life and whose heart was never really in the family business, wants to set up a marina there. Unlike the other marina rumours, this one is for real, which is why some panchas belonging to the Chicalim Village Panchayat (VP) are now (bee)sy rallying behind the Queen Bee to build that beehive (apologies to Mayawati, the daulat-ki-beti who got stung by the money mala not the bees hovering overhead), oops sorry, road. As one bee in the VP said to another, “See honey, there’s always money where the honey is.” Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars@gmail.com
[Goanet] Lion Roars
Weighty issues Going (coco)nuts over Assembly questions Not a week passes without some central government ministry, state ministry, or the Supreme Court making some comment or the other on the justification of the Right To Information (that’s the only right you have in India gifted by Sonia Gandhi, the rest is all bakwas) or, whether it is really within your rights. Never mind the very essence of RTI, which I thought was your right to information. Period. But, look at the way your MLAs waste official money and time of government babus and clerks. The questions asked in the March Budget Session of the Goa Assembly literally and figuratively outweigh any RTI question that may have been asked across the length and breadth of India. By outweigh I don’t mean overshadow, I mean they truly tipped the scales. The MLA from St. Cruz, Victoria Fernandes asked to list the beneficiaries of various schemes of the Agriculture Department. The answer all of 1,549 pages, I thought, must have weighed at least 5 kilogrammes. What on earth did she want to know that for? Another question asked by her, more or less covered the same areas, with some deviations like whether the government intends to start new schemes; whether the government has explored the various potential uses of the coconut, other than for cooking (!); details of the support price scheme i.e amount given to various persons in the past two years for various agriculture produce covered along with names and addresses. Names and addresses, addresses! For crying out loud, what in blazes for? Since Victoria I think doesn’t have a beef with Agriculture Minister Vishwjeet Rane, she must really hate the department’s officials who must have spent weeks correlating piles of information to produce the 971 pages produced to the Assembly. Factor in the 40 copies handed over to MLAs, media and those with less baggage to carry, that was a lot of wasted paper. And many trees must have been cut so Victoria could seem earnest. PhD anyone? But was Victoria given the right answers? You will never know, will you? She wanted to know the list of beneficiaries who have taken the benefit of the support price for various crops (constituency-wise that too) such as sugarcane, beetlenut etc from June 2007 till date. Constituency wise! Now YOU would be within your rights to think she might be doing her doctorate. Rane through the wringer You pick, but the March 2010 Budget Session did look like suspiciously like a Question-Rane Week. Why would the Mayem MLA Anant Shet want to know whether the government has plans to offer the various schemes of the department to farmers cultivating their fields in property owned by the government or under custodian of Evacuee Property? Or, why would the Mandrem MLA Laxmikant Parsekar want to know the taluk-wise quantity of paddy produced in the last three years, the area under cultivation, details of farmers who have got the benefit of the support price –their names and benefit availed. The answers given went into 73 pages. There was this weighty question asked of Rane by Manohar Parrikar. ‘Give the number of referral cases from various health centres to Asilo Hospital and Hospicio Hospital,’ the question said. The answer was 9,967 cases. But the 195 pages really went to answer ‘give details with name of patient, date of referral and reasons for referral for the last two years’. Rane is also the Health Minister. But for lighthearted quizzing, this question from the Siolim MLA Dayanand Mandrekar, whatever his intentions were, must take the cake, bakery and leftovers too. The question put to the Power Minister Aleixo Sequeira was ‘give the number of posts filled by the Electricity Department from 2008 till date with details like names, dates of advertising the posts, interview dates and copies of their educational certificates.’ The answers took 575 pages. Class participation comes with a price for the babus and forests! Long arm of the law The Law Commission was set up on April 6, 2009 and a grant-in-aid of Rs 35 lakh was given to be spent till March 2, 2010. Here’s how it spent your tax bucks. Salaries Rs 16,24,678. Honorarium to members (sitting fee of Rs 1,500) Rs 1,11,000. Domestic travel Rs 37,189. Office expenses Rs 2,25,304. P.O.L Rs 1,32,185. Wages Rs 1,700. Advertising Rs 2,840. Total Rs 21,34,896. An extra Rs 11,42,528 was spent on its chairman. Breakup: Salaries paid to his personal staff Rs 11,05,339. Tour expenses Rs 37,189. Now Goa would actually not need a Law Commission if it had an Advocate General who could deliver says my friend Aires Rodrigues. So, was it created to accommodate Ramakant Khalap, its chairman, because then why the cabinet status rank for him? Just for the record all previous chairman of Law Commissions across India are retired High Court or Supreme Court Judges. The first Law Commission was appointed by the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu on July 20, 1968 in pursuance of a government resolution dated July 18,
[Goanet] Lion Roars
VAT's Going On? VAT’s what and What’s VAT That’s what. Most of you know that VAT (Value Added Tax) is the new tax regime that replaced the old. Some of you in industry know of another VAT regime named after the daughter of a certain south Goa politician based out of Circuit House in Margao, Goa’s commercial capital in addition to now being south Goa’s tax capital where a single window system at Circuit House caters to all the ‘personal development’ tax collected. Believe me, never in the annals of Indian taxation at least outside Laloo Prasad Yadav’s erstwhile Bihar has this kind of VAT been so defined and refined, to the extent tax assesses are required to leave their mobiles and pens outside the Commissioner’s chamber, if you get my drift. This is how Goa’s tax regime works, but first let’s look at how it worked recently in the Taleigao plateau. A manufacturer got an order to supply water storage tanks and was informed by the concerned assistant engineer (AE) that if he was not paid a commission of five per cent he would reject the order; and, or, if the manufacturer did not supply the order he would blacklist the company. A kind of Hobson's Choice if you will –‘if you do not pay VAT your product will be rejected and if you do not supply, your company will be blacklisted.’ This rare to find tough-as-nails company told the AE to take a hike. Eventually, the supply was made and the AE still demanded his commission. You would think this irredeemable specimen of a human would let things lie. Not so. He kept pressurizing the supplier. What happened in time, I hope to tell you soon. So you think you can dance This ain’t about the popular TV serial -this is so that you know the Public Works Department (PWD) has Twinkles Toes too. The same said manufacturer the next time around responded to a bunch of PWD tenders worth roughly Rs 38 lacs. What the manufacturer next heard was the familiar crack of the ring master’s whip and the waltz began. On the dance floor it works like this: first (step forward) the manufacturer was not allowed to quote (a manufacturer with a national presence only was allowed to quote which says a lot about the government’s BS of supporting local industrialists). Next, the local manufacturer demanded to know the basis on which it was rejected through a Right to Information request, as a result of which the PWD took one step backwards (see, this is part of the boogie steps) and retendered the process. Now, the second time around the same manufacturer quoted around 20 per cent lower, and the PWD used a rather vague rule to eliminate it. Few in the industry knew enough to educate me on this, but it appears there is a loophole to crack the whip even on low bids in a band range of of 15-20 per cent. Mind you, the manufacturer was the lowest bidder in all nine tenders and was told by the chief engineer that it had to pay advance VAT (get my drift again) to the lady with the Twinkle Toes at Circuit House. This time, the manufacturer told the PWD chief engineer he could take a flying leap. The funny thing is, the manufacturer’s rates went up just after the tender was announced, meaning that the PWD’s estimate price of Rs. 7/litre was fixed when prices were even lower. Had the local manufacturer’s prices not been raised a little before the tender due to the cost increase, the difference would have been 30 per cent plus. So, despite being the premium brand, the PWD feels it is too cheap. Its brand is among the higher priced tanks and if its quoted price was around 20 per cent lower, you as a taxpayer have the right to know on what basis the PWD fixed the estimated rate price. You will also be within your rights (those of you who have the courage to ask, that is) what kind of prices is PWD paying? Why is it spending taxpayers’ money and getting the lousiest rate for bulk purchases? Not sticking to the straight and narrow The picture we have is of real estate builders making pots of money after bulldozing (literally and figuratively) their way through Goa mowing down a hill here, converting land there so that some outsider can come and enjoy the sun and sea for a week every year. But things are not always that hunky dory, I’m glad to report. Someone in the business was telling me that a prominent builder does not get a walk-in just because he is has an all-India brand name to reckon with. Normally building loans are given out in three ways: the entire amount is handed over on the basis of an approved plan, the money is parceled out on a time-line basis in a way as to release the amount at different stages of building and finally, on the basis of construction. Needless to mention the last resort is adopted in cases when you don’t trust a builder to follow an approved plan. The prominent Delhi-builder gets this treatment “because I cannot trust them as they are known to deviate from an approved plan.” The building industry source tells me “legally they may be right but technically wrong and the
[Goanet] Lion Roars
--- Sign the Petition requesting The Honble Minister of State for Environment and Forests (I/C) to maintain the moratorium on issuing further environmental clearances for mining activities in Goa http://goanvoice.org.uk/miningpetition.php --- Verna's water woeshttp://freebirdingoa.blogspot.com/2010/04/vernas-water-woes.html *Verna, a watery graveyard?* It has come full circle. Mauvin Godinho’s idea of an Electronic Estate at Verna, since it was started has been weathering storm after storm on the surface. Down below in nature’s underground there is another battle being fought, this one to protect scarce groundwater resources. And though there is a so-called Water Resources Department (WRD) in Goa, it is always only concerned citizens who appear to be concerned. The people that investigated the depleting groundwater resources in the Verna plateau (Report of the committee constituted to study water resources management in the Verna Industrial Estate), among them, the Voice of Villagers/Nagao, Verna, came up with this. From among the 326 industrial units inspected by the team, it was observed that 192 borewells including two open wells had been sunk. That’s a whole lot of wells, while the rest of Goa thirsts for water. *Water plateaued?* There’s no saying how much water these 194 wells spout because the industrialists are as sensitive as your government is secretive, but it appears that it works out to 8,470 cu. mt annually or 23.20 cu. mt per day. At least this is what was officially reported to the WRD. In case you didn’t know, a normal sized water tanker that you must hire, because the PWD isn’t so spirited about digging borewells for your sake, carries 12 cu. mt or 12,000 litres of water. Keep this figure in mind as you read on. Seventeen industries dug two or more borewells. Thirteen more were seen around the huge estate, while the PWD dug another seven exclusively for the industrial units. Strange but true --the WRD sunk eight borewells to evaluate the groundwater table. Talk about throwing good money after bad. Of course, the WRD hasn’t a clue about the long term behaviour of the groundwater table. It wants you to check with them after three years because the test wells have just been dug. But time, just like water, is what the lower lying villages don’t have. But the fact of the matter is some borewells have been dug to a depth of 130 mt, others to a depth of 70 mt; and as a result there could be a huge difference in the groundwater resource levels. *River runs dry* When Siemens was prevented from excavating land within the estate (referred to in the previous column) on Monday last by Joao Philip Pereira, it was because of the fear that the excavation would affect the water channel through which water flows from the estate into the valley further down into Verna, through Nuvem and onto Cavellossim. In fact, according to him, the PWD is pumping water from at least one borewell to an overhead tank to Mardol village and selling it to consumers at the price of processed water. *Obfuscation watered down* The six-member team had on board two officials each from the WRD and two from the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), so all this comes from the horse’s mouth –the nonofficial members were Pereira and Edwin Pinto. It said five industries including Microlab, Parle Export, Siddi Vinayak (Kingfisher mineral water), Hindustan Coca Cola and Funtacy, consumed 469.11 cu. mt water per day. Though Hindustan Coca Cola has piped water, it draws water from the borewell on a 24-hour basis to keep pace with its huge demand. If you have been caught high and dry so far by the tizzy pace of the water flow, here’s a ready reckoner. The 326 units inspected consumed 8470 cu. mt annually (23.20 cu. mt per day). That’s what they declared to WRD, remember? The PWD supplies GIDC 561 cu. mt of water per day. This is as per the average billing of PWD to GIDC based on the last available 12 month period. Again, according to the industrial units which have borewells, their per water consumption is 3,073 cu. mt per day, and it is estimated that 1,380 cu. mt per day is sucked out through other wells outside the estate by consumers like Meta Copper Alloys Ltd., Mardol Restaurant and Mardol Temple Trust, that sunk a total of 13 wells (these consumers are included in the figure of 326 units inspected by the team.) When you tote up the secondary figures (all officially declared) and discover that they don’t add up to the total consumption, this is only because no one appears to know what really goes on at Verna. *Mosquitoes and D’Artagan* Why should Churchill Alemao apologise to the G7 who are truly beginning to act like that self-exalted group of nations? Shouldn’t the G7 apologise to you instead for wasting your valuable tax money almost every
[Goanet] Lion Roars
--- Sign the Petition requesting The Honble Minister of State for Environment and Forests (I/C) to maintain the moratorium on issuing further environmental clearances for mining activities in Goa http://goanvoice.org.uk/miningpetition.php --- Women's Bill or Women will have to pay the Billhttp://freebirdingoa.blogspot.com/2010/04/womens-bill-or-women-will-have-to-pay.html *Sao Matias’ women dumped* There’s an SMS joke circulating. It says the Women’s Bill really means women will have to pay all the bills henceforth. As jokes go, it’s funny. But this isn’t. For 21months now, (since June 2008) Tulsidas Kundaikar has been the acting sarpanch (reserved for women) of the Sao Matias Village Panchayat; Divar island villagers ridicule that he could stay that way for life. In picturesque Sao Matias, that of course could be picture perfect for Kundaikar. His longevity, thanks to the perfidy of some panchas began years ago because Sao Matias like most VPs in Goa mocks the Panchayati Raj system without a care in the world. Between 2002-03, the sarpanch was Anil Sawant; for the next five months the Vanxim (an adjoining island and part of the VP) panch Dominic D’Souza was made sarpanch, but was forced to resign later. Unfortunately for Kundaikar, Sao Matias was reserved for women and Asha Pai, was elected sarpanch till 2008 when she was ‘retired’ by Kundaikar. This time however, it was a little harder and a coup d’etat had to be staged and four panches had to be sequestered at Hotel Seema, Ribandar on the day the sarpanch election was held. Kundaikar even had a rubber stamp made later that says ‘Acting Sarpanch’ which in an ironic way (the rubber stamp that is) is symbolic of the shambolic VP. *S(a)o sad Matias* Things have changed these days in sleepy Sao Matias and attempts are being made to break Kundaikar’s cartel of four panchas (plus himself). His refusal to repair the roads in the ward of woman panch Luda Athaide, who is willing to become the sarpanch, cries out loud for change. The roads in this ward have been in a sad state for years while Kundaikar got a little used road in his ward tarred before the recent Zilla Parishad elections which some villagers say only exposes Kundaikar’s proclivity to ignore the Catholic- dominated ward. A resident of the ward was harassed by the Old Goa police after he protested strongly to the VP secretary about his stonewalling him. The secretary Mahesh Naik has been in office for five years and villagers say his time is up officially. The Director of Panchayat has stonewalled all written requests asking why fresh sarpanch elections are not being held; and also to reveal the legal period for an acting sarpanch to be in office. But, all the director says is an evasive ‘there is no support’. Kundaikar says Luda Athaide is not ‘experienced’ sounding suspiciously like the director himself. And you can bet he believed that of Asha Pai too, but who proved to be a good administrator. Kundaikar’s and Naik’s combined ‘experience’ however failed to prevent an employee of the Public Sector company Goa Shipyard Ltd from contesting the last panchayat elections despite directly holding ‘office of profit’. So, what expertise does it take to run a VP that routinely fails to avail of government grants; and has a development track record that reads like a huge ZERO? An acting Sarpanch, perhaps! *New Wave* Denied flat owners banding together could be the new fight-for-your-rights movement in Goa because the 41 men and lone woman politician are busy nurturing their pension funds and doing up their houses lavishly and don’t have the time of day for you and me. So watch out builders, something will crack soon. A draft action plan to form an apex association of flat owners is currently being formulated with an objective to get flat owners’ legislation. This happened after residents of Chowgule Gardens in Zuarinagar got in touch with their fellow sufferers living in the Jairam Complex in Neuginagar, Panjim. The thing to keep in mind for them is this government is one of builders and builder lobbies and apparently of mine owners too. That is if Parrikar who never, ever, provides the evidence is to be believed. *Stick in the mud* Driving back home after a Margao interview for this column, I spotted Joao Philip, that intransigent activist the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) loves dearly to hate. There’s always a story with him around for pain-in-the-butt journos like me. Animated as ever Joao, waving a GIDC stay order (dated March 15, 2010), was trying to stop Siemens from illegally excavating land inside the Verna Industrial Estate close to the main entrance. You – and you must from past experience – wonder why GIDC the root cause of the degradation of the Verna plateau, actually issued that order? It’s only
[Goanet] Lion Roars
Travails behind a dream house *Garden Undone* Battle lines have been drawn at Chowgule Gardens in Zuari Nagar close to the Reliance power plant where reps of 114 resident families took me on a tour last Sunday narrating a series of unfulfilled promises made by Chowgule Real Estate Construction Co. Pvt. Ltd, a decade after it constructed the first of ten residential blocks of flats. Over the ten years as the remaining nine blocks were built, residents, some of whom (in the block called ‘Nest’) have gone to the Consumer Court (hearings are underway), and claim the builder has not signed sale agreements with them till now. Result: at least one ex-Delhiite had to buy a scooter in Delhi because he couldn’t produce a residential certificate to the dealer here. The residents think the builder did not get permission either from the Regional Directorate of Civil Aviation or the Flag Officer Goa Area (FOGA) for permission to build at least some of the blocks as Chowgule Gardens falls within the funnel area (airspace for landing) of Dabolim airport. This appears to be the thinking after the builder got a letter (dated 08.11.1992) from FOGA asking it to produce building plans before it undertook any construction. Residents say the builder has refused to show them any FOGA permission and therefore think this is one of the reasons why sale agreements have not been signed. FOGA however had no objection to the builder developing plots. The list of complaints seems endless. Residents claim the septic tanks are dangerously close to the building blocks. This much is clearly visible, as are the shoddy sewer openings (most in various stages of collapse) built several inches above the ground level and not on level with the ground as should be done. Residents also claim they have no knowledge if the septic tanks open out to soak pits as is the norm. In the case of the Nest built in 2007 comprising 14 flats, the underground water storage tank has developed visible leaks. *Unkept Promises* The builder’s promises as told to the buyers and advertised in the website (copies of website pages produced to the Consumer Court) was subsequently revised and evidence of all this removed: landscape gardens including children’s playing equipment, round-the-clock security, comprehensive maintenance schemes, garbage disposal, including a list of other property management promises; and future plans that included provision of pool table, gymnasium, card room, library and indoor games. Residents say ten years down the line none of these promises have been kept, a fact that I could see for myself when they took me around the approximately 3, 500 sq. mt of open lung space covered with tall dry wild grass! The larger of these spaces distributed around Chowgule Gardens as known to the residents is 1,385 sq. mt, 630 sq. mt, 355 sq. mt, 130 sq. mt and 99 sq. mt. On June 28, 2008, the builders wrote to the Nest flat owners (the most vociferous of the ten block owners) pointing out now that the main entry road within the complex was a public road it therefore had to be maintained by the VP of Sancoale; that a (missing compound wall) would be constructed (not done till date); but generally evaded most of the 34 issues the Nest residents raised earlier –denying even that they had committed to provide the club house announced in the website. The builders even refused to commit themselves on the issue of providing accounts for electricity/water connection charges, registration/stamp duty charges which the residents claimed they had paid in excess. And the battle goes on. * Beware* Take heed. The next time you want a mobile broadband service provider, insist on a practical demonstration and only where you live, irrespective of the reputation of the provider. It does not matter whether the provider is into social industry or is up there in the market capitalisation hierarchy. At ground zero, it’s all about whether you are within enough radial distance of the provider’s antenna. Period. Take heed, because if you want out later even after paying a couple of thou, they are always a step ahead. Latest is, they have bodied together and will lodge a complaint against you with the Vigilance regulatory and Institution for national defaulters for banking industry and other telecom operators. So no matter how pissed you are over a particular provider’s service, they won’t let you waltz off into the arms of another provider without settling all their ‘dues’ never mind the fact that you never connected once. Your only recourse if you want peace of mind: invite them home and take it from there, diplomatically! * Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars@gmail.com *
[Goanet] Lion Roars
--- *** Follow Goanet on Twitter *** http://twitter.com/goanet --- *Things go better with …..* Methinks our *montris *should be poster boys for the cola companies. And everything is official about it, in a manner of speaking! With due respect to Pepsi, Coca Cola and our very own *desi* Thums Up who have spent big bucks getting Shah Rukh Khan/ Ranbir Kapoor/ Deepika Padukone, Aamir Khan and the energetic Akshay Kumar respectively to sell their product. In fact, I quote here another popular oldie line Coke’s Ad boys scripted: ‘Continuous quality is quality you can trust’. Nuff said about the makers of carbonated drinks, but I couldn’t resist this, because look at the one liner from the point of view of our *montris* on the Hill (Porvorim Secretariat) and it simply wouldn’t hold water, not a drop of it. Because where is the continuous quality as far as our montris are concerned and also the fact that you simply can’t trust them? *Your montris* guzzled an enormous Rs 3,52,417 worth of refreshments and I guess lots of tea (also called the “cup that cheers” or “cuppa” if you are British) as well. Well a lot of undeserved others did consume bottles of it courtesy them and of course your tax bucks came handy. Raise a Thumbs Up to the Minister for Panchayati Raj RDA who continued to entertain between April 2008-March 2009, as he did with gusto in the previous year (Rs 71,650), this time spending Rs 58,580. Bottle caps continued to pop and *cha *continued to flow in the chamber of the Minister for PWD, Science Technology where the cost of the guzzle went up to Rs 44,990. In that year, April 2008-March 2009, the Home Minister spent Rs 37,937. The Chief Minister spent Rs 37,399. The Minister for Education spent Rs 34,227. The Minister for Tourism refreshed his visitors to the extent of Rs 32,321, the Minister for Water Resources Forest Rs 28,069, the Minister for revenue Rs 24,779, the Minister for Health Craftsmen Training Rs 23,599. The Minister for Urban Development Spent Rs 15,233.The fizz continued to effervesce in April and May 2009 and your political whiz kids or should we be saying fizz kids spent Rs 40,609 and the bubble cost your tax bucks the most inside the chamber of the Minister for Panchayati Raj RDA – Rs 8,217. As well as inside the chambers of the Minister for PWD, Science Techonology – Rs 6,138 and Minister for Education – Rs 10,291. Really, what goes on inside the chamber of the Panchayati Raj Minister? Grassroot democracy or is it just letting grass grow under their feet! As I said before their fizz is your fall. *An aside * BTW, with sugar prices going off the charts, cola companies have been told to import their own sugar. All these years, the *aam aadmi *went thirsty because water got diverted to make soft drinks. But when the government realised in addition to the aam aadmi’s miserable life, things were turning bitter for itself, it’s moving to plug usage. If nothing, UPA-2 would have the blessings of parents of impressionable children who emulate their role models. But what will our guzzlers on the Hill do? Nada. * Fence Eating the Crop* Whatever happened to the Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat dreamt up by Dayanand Narvekar whose mental image of it was really to make it a realty habitation at the very least? Everyone thought of it as idle hope because only recently I too met yet another young person from Goa (this time a woman from Divar) who found work at a call centre in Bombay that pays her a monthly salary of Rs 30,000 and health coverage for her family: “Do you think I would ever get that in Goa”. You can’t argue this even in a daydream. Mr. Narvekar pushed through an outrageous scam that nestled between Dona Paula and the Goa University that was as outsized as its physical area of 2,47,525.02 sq. mt. The so-called IT plots of which some clever realtors had already begun to lay their grubby hands on, was planned to be on a sizeable 1,80,868.40 sq. mt or 73.07 per cent of the proposed IT park. *Gravitate in the Habitat* The green areas which the Info Tech Corporation of Goa Ltd made a song and dance about when I interviewed its overpaid director (remember his salary was increased to Rs 1,00,000 per month later?) was earmarked at 37,174.06 SQ. MT (1.91 per cent of the park) and another 2,47,535.70 sq. mt designated as area for ‘circulation, parking and walkway’. Yeah right! Imagine if some of the plotters (oops, plot holders in the Habitat) decided to take that literally and walk(a)way, as is done in most of Goa’s industrial estates, with a bit of extra land with the connivance of the Info Tech Corporation which would have learnt by then from the Goa Industrial Development Corporation that has mastered the art of turning a blind eye on encroachment! Well, ask yourself why 2,47,535.70 sq. mt
[Goanet] Lion Roars
--- *** Follow Goanet on Twitter *** http://twitter.com/goanet --- ** * * *The view from the other side* Some years ago when a friend had gone to Pattaya in Thailand he admitted that his ears burned with the suggestions “to have a good time” made to him from a network of people ranging from a waiter, a taxi driver, the hotel receptionist, to some random guy on the beach. There was just no getting away from the lurid suggestions on offer for a price. But sad to say, I hear that tourists coming to Goa too are attacked by touts selling sleaze. From seemingly innocuous suggestions to be escorted by a girl to a dance bar where you buy the said girl a drink – say a shot of tequila for Rs 150 – to an oily chap sidling up and asking “would you like a foreigner for the night?” A group from Chennai including a photojournalist are now convinced that Goa is a sex destination. So much for the tourism minister issuing instructions down the line to remove bikini babes from all brochures/posters selling Goa as a tourism destination so that tourists will think it is a family destination. I’m told that the group was even waylaid on the beach, in their guest house, even a shack where they were having a leisurely beer by someone offering free entry coupons to some nightspots. For those who took the bait, they got shaken down for every rupee they had. Apparently, for those who like arm candy while entering these nightspots, the deal is very clear. One song, one shot and the girl is by your side. You want her company for another song, it will cost you another shot of tequila/whisky/ brandy/ whatever is your poison. The trick is also that while you get steadily drunk, the girl only fakes it – as in every “shot” is actually a peg of soft drink or even water – so that she is fresh to ‘entertain’ the next customer and the routine is repeated. So, do the math on how much she will earn after circulating for several hours. And by the time the shutters come down, everyone involved in the scam has made a neat pile! Mr Tourism Minister, are you reading this? Maybe it’s also time to acknowledge that the moral fibre of Goa has not only been destroyed by tourism but also that some of the stake-holders in the tourism pie that are responsible for headlines such as “Goa, the rape capital of India” are amidst us. * * *Say No to Drugs* Our home minister recently declared – after a young girl from Delhi ODed on a cocktail of drugs – that Goa has no drug culture. This ostrich-like attitude by our *montris *for several decades is what has led to Goa getting a bad name. Again hear it from the other side. The owner of a prominent restaurant serving French and Italian cuisine in Pondicherry that draws tourists like a magnet, declared – “Goa has a drug background, Pondicherry has a spiritual background.” Is Mr Ravi Naik listening? Or for that matter, the tourism minister? * * *Sartorial Splendour* This reminds me of our Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik who tied himself in knots trying to retract his infamous statement that the rape of a woman “who moves with strangers for days together even beyond midnight” should be “treated differently.” Since that outbreak of foot in the mouth disease, he’s been busy with his job as the AICC’s in-charge of Tamil Nadu. After his recent visit to review the progress of party elections in that state, he was again shooting off his mouth. Frankly, with the contradictory statements coming out from different leaders about the existing alliance, his input that the ties between the DMK and Congress was strong just added to the babel. But since he seems to favour quotable quotes, here’s a gem: “In Tamil Nadu, unless a politician wears a ‘*lungi’*, he does not get votes. If he (politician) wears a shirt and pants there...he loses.” Even Chidambaram wears a white *lungi*(btw, they call it ‘*veshti’ *in TN). Somebody tell him that Chidambaram is not the toast of UPA-2 because of his sartorial sense but because of the sensibility and good common sense he brings to his job. Or maybe Naik was thinking of Chidambaram’s predecessor Shivraj Patil who found time to change his attire repeatedly and did not have a single hair out of place in his bouffant (to look natty for the TV cameras) while terrorists were having a field day planting serial bombs in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur …. *Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars@gmail.com*
[Goanet] Lion Roars
--- *** Follow Goanet on Twitter *** http://twitter.com/goanet --- *Elbowed out in Mapusa* Do you know why locals can never find a spot to park at Mapusa’s paid parking? It’s because the town’s Godfathers have given taxis the pride of place, and other taxi drivers who can’t squeeze in there, as an alternative, park in the remaining areas which you would think should have been reserved for the likes of you and me. Not happening, never going to happen I’ll go out on a limb to say. You see your cab driver here makes as much as his counterpart in New York --well, at least the fares he charges are the same as in the Big Apple-- so he can afford to park there, even if it is for several hours. Another reason you and I can never find parking space is because tourists in their SUVs often treat the car park as a rest and recreation area. Locals going to the Friday Market as a result are compelled often to park inside the Garden Centre building, a fair distance away and have to trudge to and fro with their bags. *28 days of work* Did you notice Panjim’s traffic cops making money hand over fist on February 1st? They descended on the city with a vengeance never seen before and they made a pile and were shameless as only they can be. And all the while as they were performing their sleight of hand tricks, the ‘regulars’ that is, the trucks bringing goods into the city were left alone as they continued like they do every day, to disrupt traffic which often has to wait as entire consignments are unloaded in the middle of a road. February must be a great month for traffic cops –they work for only 28 days but get paid for 31, plus those additional benefits just described. *Only in Goa* It happens only here. Many shop owners are back to insisting on a two per cent ‘levy’ on credit card transactions. Ask them why and they tell you rather audaciously that the banks on the contrary charge them a fee. This self-levied ‘duty’ happened many years ago, but was mercifully withdrawn. But it’s back. Whereas you can migrate to any mobile provider and still retain your old number, all done, at a mere transfer cost of Rs 19. In Goa, Vodofone at least refused me –‘wait till March end’-- when I decided to quit Idea which most times is as dead as the Dodo if not unreachable. *A hush-hush housing project* Pilar is described as a village that is entrenched atop a hill and hence makes available breathtaking views of the Mandovi river. It is the next frontier that will be conquered now that the coast in North and South Goa is chok-a-block with building projects whether they are hotels or houses. It’s supposed to be hush-hush but the paperwork is almost complete. The Radisson or rather Zuri Varca Goa White Sands Resort Casino Goa is all set to start another project in addition to the two it already has. Pilar is the location and apartments is the project. Those living along the river Mandovi – all the way from Miramar to Old Goa – will be envying the residents in the new project at Pilar because not only is the village untouched so far but the view will be to die for. But why hush-hush? That’s a no-brainer considering Gram Sabhas have been reverberating with outrage from locals about the damage to the environment by rapacious builders. So mum is the word. *The taste of Thanda * It’s back to the Secretariat where all the fun (read: entertainment) takes place. The canteen owner up on the hill must be a happy man. Just goes to show, you don’t need a beach shack license to rake in the moolah. The Hill will do fine, thank you. Between April 2007 and March 2008 your *Montris*spent Rs 3,68,785 on refreshments only or cool drinks as they are called at any Railway station platform across India. To be honest, not all of them or their thirsty visitors needed to be refreshed. But this one is a real corkscrew -- they consumed the least during the warmest months! Thus, they consumed Rs 13,524 worth of refreshments in April 2007, Rs 4,848 in May and Rs 19,517 in June of the same year. But in November the figure was Rs 59,254, Rs 30,913 in December 2007 and Rs 43,787 in January 2008. Their consumption lost its fizz in March 2008 dropping to Rs 32,159. The Chief Minister spent a lavish Rs 67,363 entertaining visitors, the Home Minister Rs 35,787, the Revenue Minister Rs 22,196, the Water Resources Forest Minister Rs 18,751. The Urban Development, bless his kind soul, spent just Rs 7,539. The Panchayati Raj Minister spent Rs 71,650. The Tourism Minister spent Rs 27,510. The Minister for Health spent Rs 30,345, the Minister for PWD, Science Technology Rs 34,101. The Minister for Transport/SW spent Rs 17,596. Another one liner to add to the shack inference made --if you feel thirsty, simply visit your friendly neighbourhood* Montri *up on the hill. That’s it
[Goanet] Lion Roars
--- *** Follow Goanet on Twitter *** http://twitter.com/goanet --- *Conversantly anti-Goan* Seriously, have you noticed how one in ten persons Goan or, living in Goa is either an author with several prefixes you read about in the local dailies, the most popular being ‘eminent’ because local journos think a linguistic element has to be attached to said word ‘author’ or; is a social worker. Despite there being little or no evidence (visible at least) of their track record, the social worker outnumbers ten-to-one the author. And it has been said brutally that one of these authors has been stridently anti-Goan, though I must confess that I have not read his particular book or books. And though I swear there is no co-relation between that and what comes next; why are so many long-term resident Brits and far too many long-term Non-resident Indians so vociferously anti-Goan? *Proof of ‘their’ Pudding* In fact I am getting quite tired of Brits telling me or rather as they put it, ‘reminding’ me of the way Goa’s tourism industry is heading: ‘for disaster, mind ya.’ Grr. And here’s their indictment –well, at least the Brits think so, ‘because the Brits are coming in lesser numbers.’ I am also quite tired of hearing of Brits claiming to be experts on tourism, that they have answers, not one, but many, for every problem afflicting the tourism industry. Some of course make it look as if only they have the magic potion, the universal remedy as it were, they claim has been effective the world over. Ahh yes, they always point out to some world tourist destination and yet they live in Goa. To them I say each time: (1) “You don’t like the place, just leave. Why suffer Goa?” Or I slam this gem on home, it’s a real whammer. (2) Why don’t you try Hong Kong where the roads are kosher, the queues work wonderfully, the road discipline is brilliant, you don’t have Goans maids and the tourism minister won’t insult your sensibilities every now and then?” Then I drive in the knife, a double whammy, if you like: “Point is, can you afford HK?” See now, why it works. *Buggers and Beggars* But this pisses me off the most like 10 on the Richter scale which is all (this time) long-term Non-resident Indians and most (this time) long-term resident Brits think they are doing Goa a huge favour ‘by sustaining Goa’s economy with our presence and the money we spend.’ Blah, blah, blah. Poor buggers, they think we are beggars (BTW, I saw an Indian who lives abroad buying an item in Margao’s biggest department store and forking over money and telling the girl “to keep the change”.) There never is a discussion on how terribly boring the English Premier League is, more particular the hit and run play of Liverpool. There will never be a debate on whether Gordon Brown was really a bully as was alleged in the past week. Or, for that matter that murders per capita makes Britain the most dangerous country in Europe, not Estonia? But then it is always going to be Scarlett and the recent rape cases. *Lies broken down* Look around you, 70 per cent of the 3-5 Star hotels are owned by non-Goans who take away all of their profits. Yes, I know it’s so easy for NRI’s in particular to say: “So, why don’t you build your own hotels?” Yeah right, if it were so easy, why don’t you then, huh, huh? Let’s not even get into how many Goans are employed by the industry, which is why a trade union forum is currently discussing the issue of demanding that a 10 per cent service tax be made mandatory and that this be given to hotel employees. That I am told will hike a waiter’s salary to Rs 13,000 and that Mr/Mrs. NRI will make Goans want to work as waiters and not go abroad. I won’t discuss what else makes Goans not want to work in the tourism industry because that has been done many times in the past in this column and I don’t like repeating myself like they do. But here’s food for thought. The less glamorous mining industry, the Goa Mineral Ore Exporters Association tells me, if you consider employment including in the vast spread of allied industries like truck transport, the barge industry, barge repair industry, other ancillaries like truck tyres, spare parts and even the used tyre replacement business (these are used to protect the sides of barges); its work force far exceeds that of the tourism industry. And if you think mining pollutes and it does, the garbage generated by the tourism industry is of greater proportions and affects greater areas in Goa than mining does. There is more to this. GMOEA says the tourism industry could possibly argue that the money generated directly by the industry (which apart from the taxi trade has less allied industries, and an even lesser number based in Goa) matches that generated directly by the mining industry, but GMOEA says if
[Goanet] Lion Roars
Sunday, January 24, 2010 Mr No-Allhttp://freebirdingoa.blogspot.com/2010/01/mr-no-all.html Denial Mode There is no drug scene in Goa. It is created by the media, by press people. You will not get drugs here.” That was Goa’s home minister Ravi Naik. Normally one would say famous last words, but in the case of Ravi Naik, any comment from him has a Teflon effect on him (And he has made many including the insensitive one that women should not wear dupattas after Mahanand Naik was found to be involved in serial killings and all the victims had been strangled with a dupatta). So, although former CM Manohar Parrikar says he is “unfit” to be a minister, nothing is likely to come of it. You don’t believe me? Look at Exhibit A – Scarlet Keeling whose viscera was found to contain a cocktail of drugs and booze. So much for Ravi Naik’s denial. Take a walk down Baga’s roads and I’ll bet the whiff of the sweet-smelling marijuana will assail your nostrils. So no potheads at the rave parties, Mr Minister? But Naik’s made a career out of denials. Soon after a Russian teenager, Elena Sukhonova was found mysteriously dead on the tracks within hours after she was found till 3 a.m. in a popular Baga hangout, Ravi Naik said foreigners conduct themselves “irresponsibly” in Goa. Not only did that comment get the Russian consul’s back up, it also disturbed people in various sections of society. But the only thing he did not deny is Jyoti Dhavalikar’s involvement with the Sanatan Sanstha which was allegedly behind the Margao blasts. He, in fact, said police was investigating the fact that she seemed to be a volunteer at the sprawling Sanstha premises every day. But wait, is not Jyoti’s husband, Goa’s transport minister Sudin Dhavalikar, his bête noire? Different strokes for different folks. No Denying This Though The PMO is concerned over the cost of central ministers blabbing over their mobiles and has asked mobile providers to connect with it. Together they want to bring down costs so that the yak yakking of montris is not going to cost you and me big bucks. You can bet the PMO is concerned, and so should Digambar Kamat be. But then again in the land of freebies and subsidies, who cares? The Chief Minister (9822129339) himself talked up a bill of Rs 37,682.16 between April 2007 and March 2008 chalking up an incredible Rs 10,130.63 in November 2007. On his second official mobile (9922508060) he clocked Rs 11,866.71. Total: Rs 49,548.87. The Home Minister (9922508066), Mr. Denial Mode himself actually denied his vocal cords considerably. He didn’t talk between April-June 2007 and in August 2007 and incurred a bill of only Rs 6,192.97 during the same said above period. Incidentally, when the Sanathan Sanstha episode broke out, one journalist reported that he answered his mobile but excused himself saying he was “in the bathroom” and could the caller call after 20 minutes. Twenty minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, even sixty minutes later, he did not bother to pick up his phone. Talking up a storm is clearly not one of his vices! The Minister for Finance (9822165611) cost you Rs 1,47,470.62. Yes, that’s right. His walkathon in August 2007 cost you Rs 65,944.74. Now August has 31 days, so that would mean he yakked at a cost of Rs 2,127. His continuous chatter in September 2007 cost you Rs 22,692.69. Talking, Walking Like the Ad says, ‘Talking, Walking’. But do heed this statutory warning: Copying them could cause you Lock Jaw. Still don’t you wish that all your Montris observed Maunvrat (Vow of Silence). Better still in the Himalayas! The Minister for Revenue (9922941761) ran up a bill of Rs 47,955.92. The Minister for Forests/Water (9822198009) ran up a bill of Rs 12,330.62. The Minister for Transport (9822180645) ran up a bill for Rs 42,816.83. The Minister for Fisheries/Urban Development (9822188899) chalked up a bill of Rs 1,63,613.32. His talking in October 2007 toted up a bill of Rs 50,020.97 which went from your tax money. He continued to chatter into the next month too (November) recording Rs 54,636.98. You would be right if you thought either of the two bills would set the talkathon record for your Walking, Talking and I might add Flying Montris. You are so wrong. Your walking, talking handsfree champ is someone else, so don’t switch to silent mode yet. Wait a week more. Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars@gmail.com)
[Goanet] Lion Roars
Touche’ A friend tells me that when she went to Paris over 20 years ago, the one pleasure she looked forward to is to smoke in public and not scandalize anyone. Since then smoking is not so cool and smoking in public is a no-no. Many bars in Goa have a no smoking sign and most respect the ban too, the exception being the bars on the coast. Gone are the days when train travelers lit up under the “smoking is prohibited” sign with casual indifference. Today anti-smokers are in the majority and will carry the day when they protest against someone flouting the law. But not so in Panjim, our capital, it would seem. There was this young woman who walked down the pavement outside Hotel Nova Goa in Panjim blowing smoke nonchalantly on Tuesday this week. She was a foreign tourist and should have known better. Even in Irish pubs, you cannot smoke anymore. So how does a tourist so blatantly break the law with impunity? When politicians like Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik and our own Home Minister Ravi Naik mouth anachronistic mumbo jumbo about how a woman tourist should conduct herself, all of us progressive sections get riled. But when a tourist smokes in public, we should get sanctimonious too. After all, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander! Our Hollering Honchos Last week I promised to ring in Goa’s Walking, Talking champ. He is Joaquim Alemao, the Minister for Fisheries and Urban Development. In between April 2008 and March 2009 he mouthed an amazing talkathon that cost you and me Rs 1,55,601. Your man incurred a bill of Rs 1,63,613.32 between April 2007 and March 2008 using his mobile 9822188899 which is what I wrote last week. In October 2008 alone his yakking cost you Rs 40,348 and in July 2008 it cost you Rs 30,594. The mind boggles when you think he talked up a bill of Rs 3,19,214 in two years. The keys on his mobile must be made of titanium, the metal they make rockets with, to have withstood such wear and tear. His current bill talking to lawyers in Mumbai and to Musli Power (the sponsors of Churchill Brothers) over the Odafe issue, you can bet will go beyond mind boggling. But then in the land of freebies and subsidies (and I haven’t even touched the proverbial tip of the iceberg in this column yet, believe me) who cares? But, if you want to mull over where your hard earned tax bucks go, do Google www.freebirdingoa.blogspot.com, for past updates. Strangely his brother Churchill Alemao, the PWD Minister, ran up a bill of Rs 60,061 in the same 2008-09 period. In the two months April-May 2009, Joaquim ran up a bill of Rs 68,479. In May alone his bill was Rs 67,158. Among this band of brothers, one likes to talk and other is a silent wonder? Police Conversation Back to same April 2008-March 2009 period. Digambar Kamat’s (9822129339/9922508060) talking cost you Rs 24,984.40 and Rs 14,557.22. Our montris generally talked themselves hoarse. Jose Philip D’Souza, the Revenue Minister, had much to say. Cost to you: Rs 34,505.93. Surprisingly Miccky Pacheco (992102174) ran up a bill of just Rs 1,527.15. Now, either he stopped talking or Lyndon Monteiro, his Man Friday did all of the talking, as he is prone to do. But with the Group of 7 back in action trying to get a new chief minister, for your sake only mind you, all this light chitchat will be history. Something’s Fishy Politicians on permanent chat mode I can understand. In the land of subsidies, freebies and of plentiful opportunities for bhailos, I can understand when your tax money is prodigiously gifted to the wrong people. But in these days when it’s cheaper to get tanked on booze than to fill your hungry belly, what I can’t understand is the high subsidy paid to trawler owners. There’s this scheme called the ‘Goa Value Added Tax based subsidy on HSD oil consumed by fishing vessels scheme 2006’- an amount equivalent to Rs 6 per litre or the actual VAT paid whichever is less; is paid to the owner of a fishing vessel eligible under this scheme as subsidy, limited to a quota of 16,000 KL/year for the whole fishing industry. Also, under the 100 per cent centrally sponsored scheme called ‘The Fishermen Development Rebate’ a rebate of Rs 1.50 lts of HSD oil is paid. Now why did they not think of that for say, if you wanted to get tanked drinking Urrack or ‘Jungle Juice’, coconut feni and caju feni. Because, from among the many other genuine reasons I can think of, it would help the dying breed of toddy tappers who risk life and limb clambering coconut trees. The really bad news is the subsidy runs into crores of rupees (the sordid details next week), but the sad news is you pay through your nose for fish, while the trawler owners laugh all the way to be bank. Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars@gmail.com)
[Goanet] Lion Roars
Fish out of water That’s us, you and me, the real fish out of water albeit in a different context here. Remember last week I said that there’s this scheme called the ‘Goa Value Added Tax based subsidy on HSD oil consumed by fishing vessels scheme 2006’ wherein an amount equivalent to Rs 6 per litre or the actual VAT paid whichever is less is paid to the owner of a fishing vessel eligible under this scheme as subsidy; limited to a quota of 16,000 KL/year for the whole fishing industry. Also, under the 100 per cent centrally sponsored scheme called ‘The Fishermen Development Rebate’ a rebate of Rs 1.50/lt of HSD oil is paid. Under the VAT racket (can’t think of a better word considering the price of fish) the trawler owners could sink their teeth into Rs 9,57,40,396 of your by now much abused tax money in 2005-06. In 2006-07, the bait was Rs 9,54,38,213. In 2007-08, the payout was Rs 9,42,65,076 and in 2008-9, it was Rs 7,75,74,167. Now, that is a huge, huge Rs 36,30,17,852 blown up on trawler owners over a mere four years during which time the price of fish has soared like the amazing Flying Fish. Unlike the Biblical ‘fish and loaves multiplication’ – at least that came to pass feeding the really, really hungry – our ‘rich’ trawler owners many of whom own sprawling and colourful homes and drive SUVs get to reap the harvest, so to speak. Under the ‘Fishermen Development Rebate’ Rs 39,59,000 was fed to them in 2004-05. In 2005-06 a subsidy of Rs 2,89,00,000 was paid. In 2006-07 the subsidy was Rs 1,50,00,00. In 2008-09 the subsidy paid was Rs 2,05,54,000. Now, here’s a punch in the pectoral (aka body blow) since we are talking fish terminology here. This particular subsidy works out to Rs 8,22,48,000 and together they total Rs 44,52,65,852. But then this is the land of freebies, subsidies and golden opportunities for bhaillos. Hook, Line and Sinker But this I think is the real deal. In 2005-06 the trawlers burnt up a phenomenal 1,63,88,317 litres of HSD Oil. In 2006-07 the diesel consumed was 1,62,74,165 litres. In 2007-08 it was 1,60,31,480 litres and in 2008-09 it was 1,71,95,560 litres. You do the math, is it really worth it, all that diesel burnt up, that is. Worse, did they really, burn up all that? You be the judge. All I can say is there is something extremely fishy going on out at sea and it’s all not about catching fish. What next? If the Fisheries Minister Joaquim Alemao is to be believed, and he said so recently, the Goa government will now subsidize trawlers owners to the extent of Rs 50,000 each if they fit their trawlers with GPS (Global Positioning System) which is to be made mandatory for the nearly 1,200 trawlers in Goa. Sticky Fingers It’s official. After the sellout of Goa two years ago, it’s now a buyer’s market. In fact, like some of the landowners in Nerul who sold their farm land to a North Indian who then promptly proceeded to build the biggest house there including a helipad, many land owners are now regretting their anxiety to sell though it made them cash-rich. Turns out, this broker tells me that a bunch of marauding Dilli brokers are actively selling any property they can lay their grubby hands on, to buyers in New Delhi. It works like this. They present Goans with dollar signs in their eyes in the form of an MoU that offers to pay an advance that is tantalizing enough for Goans, who apart from that Gulf job, know of no other way to make big bucks the easy way. The broker, who all this while has been pretending to be the buyer then rushes off to Delhi, returning a few months later with an entirely new buyer. What the broker promised would be ‘soon’ now turns out to mean many months later. In the case of some dumb Goans, when they eventually decide to sell out to a new buyer because they couldn’t wait any longer, they are hauled off to court. The loophole cleverly presented by the Men in Black (lawyers) is an equally shrewdly encrypted ‘grace period’ which is nebulous and undefined even in court. So often ‘grace period’ is gracelessly made out to be enough months to give the Dilli broker time to find buyers. When I last checked there was at least one clever broker doing the same thing. And guess what, a South-based builder tells me he duped a couple of foreigners. In fact, there’s money pouring in from the Hospet-Bellary Reddy Brothers who shorn off the brick red sheen of their iron ore, are now shining in Goa buying up land. There’s also this other ‘settler’ you need to particularly fear. You will know him when he starts to give you his spiritual B….. S….. . Believe me, you will know. But, do try really hard not to be that Goan with the ‘fate accompli’, because then even God can’t help you. Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars@gmail.com)
