VOX POPULI
by
S Kamat
as
Aam Admi
Issue: 285 Date: 10.06.2019
Contents:
1. Putting A Stop To Slanderous Comments Made Against The Mahatma
2. Anti-Rabies Program Can Be Used To Catch Stray Dogs & Isolate Them From
Public
3. Neymar Going The Maradona Way
4. Cortalim Diversion Road Should Be Taken Up On Top Priority
5. Bury Sonsoddo In Mining Pits
Putting A Stop To Slanderous Comments Made Against The Mahatma
Nowadays with the media explosion everyone seems to be making comments about everything sans knowledge, sans responsibility. Not only that the media tending towards sensationalism picks up these comments and gives them undeserving exposure. There is no attempt by the media to weigh the import of the matter and its impact on people. One would in the first instance expect that those making these comments particularly against well known and respected persons who have contributed towards nation building and are no longer alive, that they first assess their own position with respect to contribution to the nation before they voice their opinion. We have had lately comments made against Mahatma Gandhi and at the same time praising Godse successively from an aspiring actress, an accused in a terror case who has won in the recent Lok Sabha election and become a MP and finally an IAS officer working with the Maharasthra government. These are listed in the order of what one feels is the level of awareness each of the persons have in terms of what they said. It is particularly disappointing for such an instance to come from an IAS officer whose education and training should have given her to express a more balanced view. The other two instances can be attributed to lack of knowledge and/or information in the case of the actress and political and organisational compulsions of the politician. To bring a certain amount of rationality in these matters one could think of maybe giving Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of The Nation, the status of the National Flag where a certain code of conduct is set out in its usage and thus eliminate the chance of slanderous comments being made against him.
Anti-Rabies Program Can Be Used To Catch Stray Dogs & Isolate Them From Public
We have in Goa which should be true for the rest of the country where the government on its own or through well-meaning NGO's are conducting rabies inoculation on stray dogs. While in principle this program needs to be lauded, one thinks that we need to take a broader view related to the problems about stray dogs. These canines are a nuisance to every community across India by their shit dirtying building areas, roads, open ground and near garbage dumps where they additionally strew the garbage all around etc. Also with their noise by barking at all times of the day and particularly night they contribute to noise pollution and insomnia among some people. These strays have been known to attack human beings particularly small children and old people to the extent of killing some of them across India. When you are catching them for giving them the rabies shots which exercise in physical success is probably just one out of a pack of 10 dogs since as soon as the strays see the dog catchers they start barking to warn their canine friends and run away. In any case with the small number of strays that you are catching and then releasing them again, why do you not take them off the roads, to shelters or wherever so they are off the roads creating nuisance for the community at large. Here a policy decision can be taken to give people a first chance of adopting these strays as pets and then release them in packs into the adjoining jungles far away from where they were caught or start culling them. Here one has to understand that keeping dogs as pets is not an issue but having strays on the roads is a serious community problem and it is time that we have stray dog-free roads. Therefore we should now initiate a concerted program to catch stray dogs and get rid of them.
Neymar Going The Maradona Way
With the controversies that Neymar seems to be getting into on a very regular basis and matching that frequency with the injuries that he has been picking up, he seems to be going the Maradona way. Maradona at the peak of his career started getting into needless controversies related to drug abuse, financial misdealings and family problems which took a toll on his physical self and from thereon it was all downhill for the South American legend. Neymar was doing well at Barcelona even after Suarez joining with the trio being named MSN - Messi Suarez and Neymar, and carrying the club to dizzying heights in the La Liga. Sharing the load with Messi and Suarez in Barcelona's attack, Neymar was comfortable with the workload not drawing too much from his physical frame. But the move to Paris St Germain seemed to start the slide in Neymar's career with injuries piling up, staying away from the game because of that and consequential mental pressure which probably started him down the road with his both on-field and off-field scandals. The recent banning of Neymar from multiple games for bad on-field behaviour and then being removed from the Brazil captaincy would take a toll on his already disturbed psyche. Neymar is still young and as long as he gives his body enough time to heal and concentrates on just his football, there is hope for him otherwise football would have seen yet another shooting star flash across its firmament.
Cortalim Diversion Road Should Be Taken Up On Top Priority
Background: For those who have visited Goa you would have noticed the NH17 runs over the Zuari river bridge which is the only access to Panjim, the capital city, for those arriving by air at Dabolim airport and those who arrive by train at Madgaon in South Goa. Additionally apart from tourists and those travelling on work between Panaji and Madgaon, there are regular commuters between the two cities who travel for employment and have to compulsorily cross the Cortalim circle and the Zuari river bridge. With the construction of the new Zuari river bridge and its progress commuting at this point has become more and more difficult with traffic jams of up to a couple of hours sometimes these days with people missing flights, getting their work disrupted and even ambulances with patients held up in the jams. As is usual in India any development work is taken up without looking into the plight of the people that may get impacted. In essence people are taken for granted. The attitude being that if the public wants the new bridge it needs to suffer. No road map is drawn for the public and their needs are not factored in during the construction leading to pain all around which sometimes causes disruptions and consequent project delays. Thus for any project the public should insist for a plan for them while the development project is put through.
Article Starts Here : CM Sawant has made a completely irresponsible statement recently about the Cortalim diversion road which he said can be ready in another 8 months compared to the earlier promise of the then PWD Minister to have it ready before the present monsoon. Sawant needs to remember that it was the BJP government only that made this commitment and he should stand by it. Though the monsoon is already upon us, the least that can be done is have the diversion road ready positively by Oct 2019 before the new tourist season begins. The then PWD Minister had made the commitment after examining a number of alternative options and then finalised the present orientation parallel to the Konkan railway tracks. What the citizens were told was that a contractor to build the road was the the only thing to be decided. If as the CM has now said that that Dileep Buildcon will build the diversion road, then since they are the primary contractors for the Zuari bridge, they would have the full ability to expedite making of the diversion road since no coordination would be involved like if it were given to a separate contractor. The other aspect to this Issue is that critical infrastructure issues should not be shelved because of political reasons and then give excuses to the public. The fact that the MGP to which the earlier PWD Minister belonged, left the government has got nothing to do with the citizens for which reason the diversion road is supposedly delayed. The citizens particularly the daily commuters who travel between Panjim and Madgaon are suffering daily with longer and longer traffic jams at the Zuari bridge and at Cortalim. They are also exposed to risk of life and limb when they travel over the existing roads near the Zuari bridge construction. In such a circumstance CM Sawant making a case for further delays of the diversion road is unacceptable. Even the present road over which the traffic is moving at the Cortalim site, the road surface is akin to a country road with potholes and ups and downs on it. Particularly at night with the road also badly lit and even with no traffic it is extremely dangerous for 2-wheelers and cars to ply on the road. It is time therefore that CM Sawant pulls up Dileep Buildcon to improve the condition of the road not only at Cortalim but along the entire stretch where they are involved in the construction of the new Zuari Bridge. They can be given the example of the Atal Setu where during the construction L&T though remiss at times to ensure free and comfortable transit on roads below the bridge on the Porvorim side from the Sai Circle to the river, were responsive enough to hotmix the road and take precautions with the construction materials and processes so it did not become a risk to the travelling public. Dileep Buildcon must be asked to replicate that action if not to better it at the new Zuari Bridge site. CM Sawant also needs to be reminded that while taking up any development activity it is important to look at the impact of that activity during its being put through on the citizens who are proximate to the activity and who use the present infrastructure and ensure their reasonable comfort and safety. It is just not enough to say like in the present case with the new Zuari Bridge that once the bridge comes up all problems will be solved but while constructing the bridge the problems faced by the people need be tackled in a responsible and time bound manner and not in the callous way as it is now. The contractor, Dileep Buildcon, should also be closely monitored and ensured that there are no more slippages and the project is completed on time, which per revised estimate is Dec 2020. CM Sawant also should not take the long suffering Goan public for granted in the matter of the new Zuari Bridge since there is always a limit to trying the patience of the people too much and for too long.
Bury Sonsoddo In Mining Pits
Background: Almost 50 years ago a 8000 sq. meters piece of land on the outskirts of Madgaon town was selected as a garbage dumping site by the authorities. Today the garbage dump covers the entire land and towers some 30 meters from the ground. The town in the meanwhile has expanded and the dump which was on the outskirts is now one of the principal areas of Madgaon and more towards the city centre. Garbage five decades back and until even maybe a decade back was not segregated and the dump stinks to high heaven. During the rains the garbage runs off with the polluted water dirtying the roads and making the surface unsafe for motorists. Attempts have been made to cover the entire dump with plastic sheets before the monsoons which has turned out to be impractical. The dump generates methane, an inflammable gas, and off and on you have fires at the dump like about 10 days ago which raged for 4 days. That these fires are instigated by miscreants and those with diverse agendas is not ruled out. Over the last 20 years we have had many experts come in and offer diverse technologies but nothing has worked out for the benefit of those living near the Sonsoddo dump except that each of these experts have become richer along with sundry officials and politicians. So the best would be to say - R.I.P Sonsoddo and start with a clean slate elsewhere.
Article Starts Here : In Goa everybody talks but there are few people who act and that is the reason why Sonsoddo has reached such nuisance proportions. It has been festering for years now and the municipal and government authorities have been nurturing it, in a manner of speech. During this time we have many experts and agencies who have come and given suggestions on how to tackle the issue which has not resolved the matter in any real sense. The latest is the self-styled experts who under the pretence of solving the problem push their own products. A gullible and ignorant municipality and government falls prey to these designs since the mountain of garbage at Sonsoddo looms large on theirs and the peoples horizons. A certain amount of connivance between these experts and/or agencies and some individuals within the authorities cannot be ruled out. Thus the Sonsoddo mountain has become a source of money for different people who exploit it for their nefarious ends under the guise of helping out. Where Lallu Prasad Yadav made money out of fodder, we in Goa are allowing ourselves to be fleeced by people making money out of garbage at Sonsoddo. This is being said in the context of the latest bill of some Rs. 30 crore submitted by the agency who is currently managing the dump. At the same time Sonsoddo has become synonymous with stink, garbage and nuisance. The people of who live near the dump in Sonsoddo are at the end of their patience what with the latest fire and smoke menace which is reported to have thankfully stopped now. So to solve the problem what we need to do is to firstly, recognise that managing the dump is not going to work and the best way is to get rid of it. We have many mining pits around Goa which can be used to dump the garbage of Sonsoddo into them, fill it up and then cover the garbage with a foot or two of soil. Over time, 20 years at the least, this will merge with the environment and no one will be able to make out that garbage was dumped there. This will clear Sonsoddo and then return it back to the citizens living there by making a beautiful public garden. Secondly, stop dumping any more garbage at Sonsoddo. Find another mining pit to dump new garbage and follow the above principle once it becomes full. This has been successfully done in Singapore where garbage was dumped on outlying islands which are now beautiful parks and nature reserves where people flock to see flora and fauna. We could also have dumped the garbage on our outlying islands but since we have these mining pits which are already an eyesore, it is best we fill them up. This is the only way that Sonsoddo can be cleared otherwise time and again it will become a nuisance and used by devious people to make money at the cost of the people.
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