Ho, Ho, Ho
Though Christmas is months away and there’s the monsoon to come first, I am constrained to use the term exhilarated because Panjim’s First Lady Caroline Po’s Eureka-like recognition of the fact that Panjim has both garbage and parking problems, brought that out. Nasty me. Seriously, Archimedes, as he was washing, thought of a manner of computing the proportion of gold in King Hiero's crown by seeing the water flowing over the bathing-stool. He leaped up as one possessed or inspired, crying, 'I have found it! Eureka!'. Some say he did all that in the nude. Do you see some semblance now? To think that for all these years I thought the garbage was someone’s eco idea of dressing up Goa’s environmentally abused (on the river as well) capital. Thus my expression of joy at being relieved of this illusion. After all, if the Chinese can make eco-friendly keyboards from bamboo, I thought garbage was that someone’s generic idea of using colourful waste to brighten up our alleys and countryside. And if you think I am joking, drive down nights past the temple at Mapusa and be amazed by the phenomenon of shinning plastic. A colleague says it is the light reflected by plastic garbage that creates the reflected yellow haze all round. Anyway, after Po removes all the few rotting cars and bikes, one dearly hopes she turns her attention to the overwhelmingly more shops and garages that have usurped their frontages. Quite a few I named in this column not too long ago.
Death Wish
Churchill Alemao appears to have a death wish of the worst kind. I am trying to figure out if it’s the kind taht Charles Bronson acted out in ‘Death Wish’ and the film’s four sequels. Is it the kind bloodthirsty rioters show towards equally bloodletting anti-riot police by literally braving their bared chests? You see that in communal riots. The script in this latest confrontation with his party of the day call him a serialized rebel) is that Mickky Pacheco is hell bent on disqualifying him, and if he can take two down with one shot, that would include Churchill’s brother Joaquim Alemao as well. That much the janta knows. What few know is that Vishwajit Rane is pulling Mickky’s strings. So, while Mickky gets to screw the happiness of his arch enemy, Vishwajit gets to use him, and the whole world gets to think Churchill has a Death Wish. What Vishwajit does not know is that two plus two, do not add up to what Mickky and him think it adds up to. But, if you read the earlier line carefully, it is clear Vishwajit doesn’t care. Churchill is worse than the most raged bull in the China shop you can think of and there is no way on earth that political peace can reign over Goa if he is disqualified. Period. So what are Mickky and Vishwajit achieving? After talking to some of the cleverest politicians in town, this is what I gathered -nobody really knows. Mind you Mickky and Vishwajit have fined tuned their act (you think) to the extent if the government falls, father, Pratapsing Rane, is still the Speaker, and can disqualify Churchill at any time. They say there’s no real gameplan here, it’s just that Vishwajit wants to be the greater of all the evils around and forever hold his Devil’s trident threateningly over the heads of Digambar Kamat and GPCC president Subhash Shirodkar. And since they are both not in the Congress, they make the Congress look like dung. That and that only, and about the only thing that makes sense in this huge farce being played out on an election eve. WOW, it’s got to be Goa.
YippEE it’s IFFI
To conclude here are details of the remaining expense overheads incurred by this government to hold that mother-of-all headaches for people living in Panjim and especially in Campal. If you recall, the last time I gave you three of the ten overheads. These are the others. Make what you will of it.
Event Management Agency -1
Alternate Brands Pvt. Ltd (of the Times Group) -Rs 1,55,98,200
Artists -2
Local artists –Rs 1,22,38,279
Others –Rs 16,43,265
Installations (Kerkar Art complex) –Rs 3,50,000
Stages at smaller venues –Rs 9,50,000
Total: Rs 1,51,81,544
Exp-Short Film Centre -3
Accommodation/lunch –Rs 4,87,629
Jury sitting fees –Rs 1,38,000
Prizes –Rs 12,96,580
Travel –Rs 1,54,424
Misc –Rs 29,212
Total: Rs 21,05,845
Car Rentals -4
Majid Daud Khan –Rs 1,89,750
Vailankani Auto Hires –Rs 10,00,000
Total: Rs 11,89,750
Exp-Film Bazaar -5
Goa Marriott Resort –Rs 11,54,861
AVI Audio Visuals –Rs 6,81,014
Ranjan Kamath –Rs 2,00,000
Total: Rs 20,35,875
Printing & Stationery -6
Total: Rs 20,91,978
Delegates Travel -7
Vinsan Travel Assistance Bureau –Rs 1,01,91,507
Reimbursements/transfers/cheques –Rs 4,67,618
Kingfisher Airlines –Rs 27,32,059
Air India –Rs 2,28,236
Total: Rs 1,36,19,420
Publicity Expenses –Rs 17,54,148
Add this to the three expense overheads written about last week, and it adds up to Rs 6,73,12,814 of your misspent bucks. Yet your taps still run dry, your garbage piles up and your power fails you like never before.
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
Thursday, April 30, 2009
A Costly Extravaganza
Emperor rules
Would the Maquinez Palace at the Old GMC precinct in Campal, Panjim have been better off if the Entertainment Society of Goa had simply pawned it off to that Dilli mall wallah. Many think so. Now look what you have to put up with; a luxurious, just-can’t afford, tamasha called International Film Festival of India. And by the way, four years down the line, it has not only not become the Cannes of India but it’s not even getting there. The star power went out of the festival because of the criticism that the festival could not attract A-listers, but that was supposed to be replaced by meaningful cinema and premieres of much-looked-forward to films. But that ain’t happening by a long shot.
It’s just an expensive extravaganza. Costly because it cost Rs 10,35,92,909 in 2005-06, Rs 14,63,01,925 in 2006-07 and Rs 11,65,55,195 in 2007-08… that’s a humungous Rs 36,64,50,029. Only in Goa, did you say? But you can’t blame the Entertainment Society of Goa for this wasteful expenditure - it’s the emperors who rule from the Secretariat on the hill that decide how tax money is to be wasted. It’s just that only the ESG (being in the front line) gets the stick from us. I said wasteful, because even ESG admitted IFFI did not have the required brand image for the event management company to be able to get enough sponsorships of the money kind. Though it must be said Alternate Brand Solutions Ltd of the Times Group did get paid a whopping Rs 4,49,440 and Rs 1,55,98,200 as organizational expenses. There are the beneficiaries of course like the two 5-Star hotels that skim off the cream, so to speak, year in and year out. For example, in 2005-06 a total of Rs 2,12,97,010 was spent on boarding and lodging (in all hotels), in 2006-07 a total of Rs 1,04,62,560 was incurred and in 2007-08 the figure was Rs 1,23,37,876 (see detailed boarding/lodging figures below.)
Organizational Expenses -1
Inox Leisure Ltd - Rs 6,27,853
Goa Heritage Action Group - Rs 40,000
Universal Studios - Rs 86,240
Felicitation of film personalities MIB
(Ministry for Information and Broadcasting) - Rs 2,10,593
Interpreters - Rs 5,000
Miscellaneous expenses - Rs 14,056
Dinner/Stay for Union Minister of State (MoS, GoI) - Rs 45,041
Alternate Brand Solutions Ltd (function) - Rs 4,49,440
IFFI Guide –Arnab Banerjee - Rs 15,000
Hiring TVs for ticketing centre - Rs 1,15,000
Hire of walkie-talkies - Rs 26,100
Hire of computers - Rs 1,73,600
Honorarium for festival executives - Rs 2,35,1550
Total: Rs 41,59,473
Boarding/Lodging -2
Panaji Residency - Rs 17,636
Bawa International - Rs 7,35,716
Cidade de Goa - Rs 60,10,291
Aury Mendes Representations -Rs 1,02,741
Hotel Ashok - Rs 39,110
Circuit House - Rs 200
Goa Marriott – Rs 24,54,56
Hotel Campal – Rs 7,560
Class City Investments – Rs 6,62,549
JW Marriott – Rs 26,169
Total: Rs 78,47,428
This was the way in which the RTI information was handed over to me, so I simply can’t help you decipher what some of the non-hotel names represent. Your guess is as good as mine, they are hotels all right, and I suspect trying hard to keep the tax man at bay.
Exp-IFFI TV -3
Whistling Woods International - Rs 13,29,699
Ginger Hotels – Rs 3,71,451
Viegas Vision – Rs 22,000
Vinay Electricals – Rs 6,000
Total: Rs 17,29,150
Export Film Bazaar -4
Goa Marriott – Rs 11,54,861
AVI Audio Visuals – Rs 6,81,014
Ranjan Kamath – Rs 2,00,000
Total: Rs 20,35,875
There are in all 11 expense overheads incurred by IFFI. What you have seen are just four of them. Makes you wonder why successive governments compete to hold IFFI. Could it be for the benefit of the tourism industry? Looks like that. You wouldn’t be off the mark also if you wondered from the little evidence before, why appoint an event management agency to host IFFI if you must pay festival executives a princely sum of Rs 23,51,550 to do (from the generous payout) apparently a sizeable amount of the groundwork. Considering also, the groundwork covered in this column thus far is only worth Rs 1,57,71,926 of the Rs 6,73,12,814 spent to foist IFFI on you and me. And as I pointed out last week, Rs 1 crore from that was paid to Alternate Brand Solutions Ltd., Mumbai, a Times Group company that successfully bid and won the tender to organize the IFFI-2008.
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Would the Maquinez Palace at the Old GMC precinct in Campal, Panjim have been better off if the Entertainment Society of Goa had simply pawned it off to that Dilli mall wallah. Many think so. Now look what you have to put up with; a luxurious, just-can’t afford, tamasha called International Film Festival of India. And by the way, four years down the line, it has not only not become the Cannes of India but it’s not even getting there. The star power went out of the festival because of the criticism that the festival could not attract A-listers, but that was supposed to be replaced by meaningful cinema and premieres of much-looked-forward to films. But that ain’t happening by a long shot.
It’s just an expensive extravaganza. Costly because it cost Rs 10,35,92,909 in 2005-06, Rs 14,63,01,925 in 2006-07 and Rs 11,65,55,195 in 2007-08… that’s a humungous Rs 36,64,50,029. Only in Goa, did you say? But you can’t blame the Entertainment Society of Goa for this wasteful expenditure - it’s the emperors who rule from the Secretariat on the hill that decide how tax money is to be wasted. It’s just that only the ESG (being in the front line) gets the stick from us. I said wasteful, because even ESG admitted IFFI did not have the required brand image for the event management company to be able to get enough sponsorships of the money kind. Though it must be said Alternate Brand Solutions Ltd of the Times Group did get paid a whopping Rs 4,49,440 and Rs 1,55,98,200 as organizational expenses. There are the beneficiaries of course like the two 5-Star hotels that skim off the cream, so to speak, year in and year out. For example, in 2005-06 a total of Rs 2,12,97,010 was spent on boarding and lodging (in all hotels), in 2006-07 a total of Rs 1,04,62,560 was incurred and in 2007-08 the figure was Rs 1,23,37,876 (see detailed boarding/lodging figures below.)
Organizational Expenses -1
Inox Leisure Ltd - Rs 6,27,853
Goa Heritage Action Group - Rs 40,000
Universal Studios - Rs 86,240
Felicitation of film personalities MIB
(Ministry for Information and Broadcasting) - Rs 2,10,593
Interpreters - Rs 5,000
Miscellaneous expenses - Rs 14,056
Dinner/Stay for Union Minister of State (MoS, GoI) - Rs 45,041
Alternate Brand Solutions Ltd (function) - Rs 4,49,440
IFFI Guide –Arnab Banerjee - Rs 15,000
Hiring TVs for ticketing centre - Rs 1,15,000
Hire of walkie-talkies - Rs 26,100
Hire of computers - Rs 1,73,600
Honorarium for festival executives - Rs 2,35,1550
Total: Rs 41,59,473
Boarding/Lodging -2
Panaji Residency - Rs 17,636
Bawa International - Rs 7,35,716
Cidade de Goa - Rs 60,10,291
Aury Mendes Representations -Rs 1,02,741
Hotel Ashok - Rs 39,110
Circuit House - Rs 200
Goa Marriott – Rs 24,54,56
Hotel Campal – Rs 7,560
Class City Investments – Rs 6,62,549
JW Marriott – Rs 26,169
Total: Rs 78,47,428
This was the way in which the RTI information was handed over to me, so I simply can’t help you decipher what some of the non-hotel names represent. Your guess is as good as mine, they are hotels all right, and I suspect trying hard to keep the tax man at bay.
Exp-IFFI TV -3
Whistling Woods International - Rs 13,29,699
Ginger Hotels – Rs 3,71,451
Viegas Vision – Rs 22,000
Vinay Electricals – Rs 6,000
Total: Rs 17,29,150
Export Film Bazaar -4
Goa Marriott – Rs 11,54,861
AVI Audio Visuals – Rs 6,81,014
Ranjan Kamath – Rs 2,00,000
Total: Rs 20,35,875
There are in all 11 expense overheads incurred by IFFI. What you have seen are just four of them. Makes you wonder why successive governments compete to hold IFFI. Could it be for the benefit of the tourism industry? Looks like that. You wouldn’t be off the mark also if you wondered from the little evidence before, why appoint an event management agency to host IFFI if you must pay festival executives a princely sum of Rs 23,51,550 to do (from the generous payout) apparently a sizeable amount of the groundwork. Considering also, the groundwork covered in this column thus far is only worth Rs 1,57,71,926 of the Rs 6,73,12,814 spent to foist IFFI on you and me. And as I pointed out last week, Rs 1 crore from that was paid to Alternate Brand Solutions Ltd., Mumbai, a Times Group company that successfully bid and won the tender to organize the IFFI-2008.
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Chill, Dude
Take a Rest(yl) Agent S
Over the space and time of three columns titled ‘GIDC’s cover-ups,’ ‘We the People,’ and ‘Is the pot calling the kettle black’ the activities of a certain Agent S and Agent B in ‘arranging’ plots at various industrial estates were exposed. Well, this really pissed off Agent S who has unsuccessfully tried to elicit information on how I got hold of all that information (not RTI Btw) or rather who my informants are. Not happening Agent S, I belong to the old school of journos –hard as rock, just ask around. But, I humbly recommend you take Restyl, say 0.25 mg daily, and calm down. Among the ‘volunteers’ he asked for help or has been pledged help, is a man from Margao who sometimes writes. All this makes me wonder why Nitin Kuncolienkar moaned that Goa’s activism was detrimental to industry progressing. Point is when there is so much of business like for instance the kind described in those columns it does mean Goa has nothing to worry about. After all, you can’t expect all businesses’ to be registered with the BSE or, for that matter the Register of Companies, can you?
Land of honey
Exactly what I mean. There’s money to be made in Goa and again you really don’t need PriceWaterhouse to tell you how. Look what it did for Satyam. It cost your government Rs 6,73,12,814 to host, err foist on you and me, the International Film Festival of India, 2008, as of February 19, 2009 as per the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG.) If you read between the lines, it could mean there is more to come. Sometimes making money in Goa is not the main dish, it is only the garnish. And this time, the Government of India did not invest a pie. This is how it all started. The ESG as is routine now, called for bids from event management companies (EMA) in a two bid system –technical and financial. Three EMAs Wizcraft Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, Alternate Brand Solutions Ltd. (ABSL), Mumbai and Brilliant Entertainment Networks, New Delhi, qualified to bid. As I have been saying continuously in the past, nothing Goa does, ever benefits aam admi companies or aam admi for that matter, not even holding the annual St. Francis Xavier’s feast. An evaluation committee of the government’s all-time favourite men and woman (not a typo) using an evaluation criterion and point system later allotted them marks.
Keeping the natives out
The eligibility criteria are 10 marks given for a minimum Rs 45 crore cumulative turnover in the past three financial years. Five additional marks for cummulative turnover above Rs 45 crore but below Rs 80 crore in the three years. Five additional marks for cummulative turnover above Rs 80 crore in the same three years. Reminds you of the TV serial ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway’ produced by comedian Drew Carey. More the cumulative turnover, lesser the points. That’s the perverse way Drew Carey gives his actor-comedians points sometimes, adding a huge fun element to the show. Jokes apart, what a Brilliant (pun intended) way to keep the natives out. Sheer Wizcraft huh. As if to mark up their brilliance a notch, ESG allotted two marks per each international event and one mark per national event organized during the same period.
More ways than one
Then there are marks awarded for a sponsorship criteria that went like this. If a bidder had between Rs 100 lakh and Rs 500 lakh of cumulative sponsorship in the same three years, ten marks were awarded. For above Rs 500 lakh and Rs 10 crore, ten additional marks were awarded. For above Rs 20 crore of cumulative sponsorship, ten additional marks were awarded. Silly me, I didn’t ask ESG to show evidence of proof of turnover and sponsorship ability. But, I’m learning fast. Not that it has any (I am sure of that) or, the means for that matter to verify the evidence, but then again in the land of ordinances proof of life is never necessary. For the record ABSL of the Times Group got the maximum marks and were awarded the EMA contract.
But wait, where are all the sponsorships? The high-flying ABSL could bring in only Rs 1 crore, which means IFFI 2008 cost the Goa government a whopping Rs 5,73,12,814 because ABSL could bring only a miserly Rs 1 crore to the table. ESG understandably blames it (low sponsorship) on the ‘tugs and pulls’ between it and the Directorate of Film Festivals, also on the ‘lack of brand image for IFFI.’ Notwithstanding that, shouldn’t it be mandatory for high-flying EMAs to stick to their declared reputations especially when it concerns sponsorship commitments. No excuses, please. ESG did after all ignore the natives and go pan-India allegedly to tap the best.
Tailpiece: A rival has been arm twisting freelance journalists earning their money the hard way from writing for Herald2day. It’s happened twice so far. Oh dear, the rival doesn’t know it takes two to Tango. Let the Tango begin.
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Over the space and time of three columns titled ‘GIDC’s cover-ups,’ ‘We the People,’ and ‘Is the pot calling the kettle black’ the activities of a certain Agent S and Agent B in ‘arranging’ plots at various industrial estates were exposed. Well, this really pissed off Agent S who has unsuccessfully tried to elicit information on how I got hold of all that information (not RTI Btw) or rather who my informants are. Not happening Agent S, I belong to the old school of journos –hard as rock, just ask around. But, I humbly recommend you take Restyl, say 0.25 mg daily, and calm down. Among the ‘volunteers’ he asked for help or has been pledged help, is a man from Margao who sometimes writes. All this makes me wonder why Nitin Kuncolienkar moaned that Goa’s activism was detrimental to industry progressing. Point is when there is so much of business like for instance the kind described in those columns it does mean Goa has nothing to worry about. After all, you can’t expect all businesses’ to be registered with the BSE or, for that matter the Register of Companies, can you?
Land of honey
Exactly what I mean. There’s money to be made in Goa and again you really don’t need PriceWaterhouse to tell you how. Look what it did for Satyam. It cost your government Rs 6,73,12,814 to host, err foist on you and me, the International Film Festival of India, 2008, as of February 19, 2009 as per the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG.) If you read between the lines, it could mean there is more to come. Sometimes making money in Goa is not the main dish, it is only the garnish. And this time, the Government of India did not invest a pie. This is how it all started. The ESG as is routine now, called for bids from event management companies (EMA) in a two bid system –technical and financial. Three EMAs Wizcraft Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, Alternate Brand Solutions Ltd. (ABSL), Mumbai and Brilliant Entertainment Networks, New Delhi, qualified to bid. As I have been saying continuously in the past, nothing Goa does, ever benefits aam admi companies or aam admi for that matter, not even holding the annual St. Francis Xavier’s feast. An evaluation committee of the government’s all-time favourite men and woman (not a typo) using an evaluation criterion and point system later allotted them marks.
Keeping the natives out
The eligibility criteria are 10 marks given for a minimum Rs 45 crore cumulative turnover in the past three financial years. Five additional marks for cummulative turnover above Rs 45 crore but below Rs 80 crore in the three years. Five additional marks for cummulative turnover above Rs 80 crore in the same three years. Reminds you of the TV serial ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway’ produced by comedian Drew Carey. More the cumulative turnover, lesser the points. That’s the perverse way Drew Carey gives his actor-comedians points sometimes, adding a huge fun element to the show. Jokes apart, what a Brilliant (pun intended) way to keep the natives out. Sheer Wizcraft huh. As if to mark up their brilliance a notch, ESG allotted two marks per each international event and one mark per national event organized during the same period.
More ways than one
Then there are marks awarded for a sponsorship criteria that went like this. If a bidder had between Rs 100 lakh and Rs 500 lakh of cumulative sponsorship in the same three years, ten marks were awarded. For above Rs 500 lakh and Rs 10 crore, ten additional marks were awarded. For above Rs 20 crore of cumulative sponsorship, ten additional marks were awarded. Silly me, I didn’t ask ESG to show evidence of proof of turnover and sponsorship ability. But, I’m learning fast. Not that it has any (I am sure of that) or, the means for that matter to verify the evidence, but then again in the land of ordinances proof of life is never necessary. For the record ABSL of the Times Group got the maximum marks and were awarded the EMA contract.
But wait, where are all the sponsorships? The high-flying ABSL could bring in only Rs 1 crore, which means IFFI 2008 cost the Goa government a whopping Rs 5,73,12,814 because ABSL could bring only a miserly Rs 1 crore to the table. ESG understandably blames it (low sponsorship) on the ‘tugs and pulls’ between it and the Directorate of Film Festivals, also on the ‘lack of brand image for IFFI.’ Notwithstanding that, shouldn’t it be mandatory for high-flying EMAs to stick to their declared reputations especially when it concerns sponsorship commitments. No excuses, please. ESG did after all ignore the natives and go pan-India allegedly to tap the best.
Tailpiece: A rival has been arm twisting freelance journalists earning their money the hard way from writing for Herald2day. It’s happened twice so far. Oh dear, the rival doesn’t know it takes two to Tango. Let the Tango begin.
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Traffic Jam on the Mandovi
A ‘Touch and Go’ problem
I love this turn of phrase coined by the Captain of Ports Department because it describes exactly how this government lives – precariously. Everything it does is usually ‘up in the air.’ A case in point is the eight pleasure boats that were not permitted to dock at the jetty alongside DB Bandodkar Marg. It was revealed during the recent Assembly session that the eight boats were issued ‘touch and go’ permission which means they can only embark and disembark passengers. It’s a different matter these vessels are nearly always, except when cruising down the congested Mandovi, permanently in a ‘touch’ position. Either that or, I need a cataract operation done. There you are, didn’t I tell you this government is as vague as vague can be? The other turn of phrase that will always stay with me is ‘adaptive reuse’. The Entertainment Society of Goa coined that when it tried to lease the Maquinez Palace to a mall owner from Dilli some time back. Mercifully, that one could never reinvent itself and went into adaptive disuse but this one (touch and go) however could regrettably go to the wire.
Floating sumos -2
Last week, I pointed to the floating elephants in the River Mandovi and their lengths – Santa Monica (33.5 x 10 x 3.35m) owned by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) and Swastik (43.5 x 12 x 3m) owned by Swastik Cruises. This is the full list of the herd: Emerald Prince (21.75 x 8.2 x 1.5m), Kapil (22.5 x 9 x 2.85m), Paradise (30 x 10 x 3m) Blessing – owned by Swastik Cruises (24 x 7.5 2.3m), Shantadurga – owned by GTDC (24.9 x 8.36 x 2.61m), Malvika (25.5 x 6 x 2.32m), Swastik Vijaye –Swastik Cruises (16 x 5 x 1.5m), Alexander (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68m), Columbus (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68m), Napoleon (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68m), Vasco da Gama (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68) – all owned by Sea Scan Pleasure Cruises, Barcolento (29 x 6.1 x 1.83m), Princess de Goa (37 x 12 x 3.2m), Noah’s Ark –owned by Mundas Hospitality (33.53 x 6.7 x 1.51m), Carnival (24 x 6.27 x 2.54m), Paradise-11 (36 x 14 x 3m), and Coral Queen (30 x 11.5 x 3m).
It all adds up to DISASTER
There must be big money to be made on the much abused Mandovi because Kapil, Malvika and Princess de Goa are owned by Priyadarshani River Cruises, while Paradise and Paradise-11 are owned by Paradise Ventures. Add these to the dimensions I gave you last week of the casinos and it all amounts to frankly too much floating bulbous bow (the bulging forward part of a ship) in only a short length of the Mandovi. Add these all to 219 of the 641 barges registered in Goa (wonder where the others are?) and you have an Expressway of danger. Add that to the water carrying or bunkering vessels that ply up and down the river supplying barges with either water or fuel. Add that to the 20 under-50 passenger capacity vessels. And, you have a sum total of 258, all moving up or downstream. Now, imagine what happens when a Panjim-Betim ferry with its single engine fails one day to zebra cross past a barge or vessel bearing down on it. One word –DISASTER.
And more
It isn’t only the Panjim waterfront that is congested. There are 218 passenger and parasailing boats with official permission to operate on various beaches. Add that to god-knows-how many boats operating without NOCs and there is danger lurking everywhere because to this figure, you need to add 71 mostly FRP passenger boats, water scooters, etc.
Tailpiece: The names of people and so-called writers arm-twisted into defending the mother-of-all ordinances has added up to quite a neat figure. Some were more audacious than others, like the one who called the rest of us ‘empty vessels.’ Other vassals using what I can only describe as language carpentry begged, borrowed and stole meanings to define ‘public interest.’ One language carpenter even brought out his gardening tools. Reading the Herald, I understood for the first time that ‘public’ means ‘one person’ only, okay two, if you must insist. And that ‘interest’ means pursuit of an individual’s happiness. Now Digambar Kamat and his 38 men and one woman will have to pass an Ordinance that will facilitate changing the meaning of ‘public’ and ‘interest’ in all school textbooks. I guess, so they can put the final nail into our collective coffin, they could call it the ‘Public Interest Ordinance’ and pre-date it to come into effect before the mother-of-all ordinances. Now, that’s what you could call transparency in government.
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
I love this turn of phrase coined by the Captain of Ports Department because it describes exactly how this government lives – precariously. Everything it does is usually ‘up in the air.’ A case in point is the eight pleasure boats that were not permitted to dock at the jetty alongside DB Bandodkar Marg. It was revealed during the recent Assembly session that the eight boats were issued ‘touch and go’ permission which means they can only embark and disembark passengers. It’s a different matter these vessels are nearly always, except when cruising down the congested Mandovi, permanently in a ‘touch’ position. Either that or, I need a cataract operation done. There you are, didn’t I tell you this government is as vague as vague can be? The other turn of phrase that will always stay with me is ‘adaptive reuse’. The Entertainment Society of Goa coined that when it tried to lease the Maquinez Palace to a mall owner from Dilli some time back. Mercifully, that one could never reinvent itself and went into adaptive disuse but this one (touch and go) however could regrettably go to the wire.
Floating sumos -2
Last week, I pointed to the floating elephants in the River Mandovi and their lengths – Santa Monica (33.5 x 10 x 3.35m) owned by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) and Swastik (43.5 x 12 x 3m) owned by Swastik Cruises. This is the full list of the herd: Emerald Prince (21.75 x 8.2 x 1.5m), Kapil (22.5 x 9 x 2.85m), Paradise (30 x 10 x 3m) Blessing – owned by Swastik Cruises (24 x 7.5 2.3m), Shantadurga – owned by GTDC (24.9 x 8.36 x 2.61m), Malvika (25.5 x 6 x 2.32m), Swastik Vijaye –Swastik Cruises (16 x 5 x 1.5m), Alexander (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68m), Columbus (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68m), Napoleon (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68m), Vasco da Gama (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68) – all owned by Sea Scan Pleasure Cruises, Barcolento (29 x 6.1 x 1.83m), Princess de Goa (37 x 12 x 3.2m), Noah’s Ark –owned by Mundas Hospitality (33.53 x 6.7 x 1.51m), Carnival (24 x 6.27 x 2.54m), Paradise-11 (36 x 14 x 3m), and Coral Queen (30 x 11.5 x 3m).
It all adds up to DISASTER
There must be big money to be made on the much abused Mandovi because Kapil, Malvika and Princess de Goa are owned by Priyadarshani River Cruises, while Paradise and Paradise-11 are owned by Paradise Ventures. Add these to the dimensions I gave you last week of the casinos and it all amounts to frankly too much floating bulbous bow (the bulging forward part of a ship) in only a short length of the Mandovi. Add these all to 219 of the 641 barges registered in Goa (wonder where the others are?) and you have an Expressway of danger. Add that to the water carrying or bunkering vessels that ply up and down the river supplying barges with either water or fuel. Add that to the 20 under-50 passenger capacity vessels. And, you have a sum total of 258, all moving up or downstream. Now, imagine what happens when a Panjim-Betim ferry with its single engine fails one day to zebra cross past a barge or vessel bearing down on it. One word –DISASTER.
And more
It isn’t only the Panjim waterfront that is congested. There are 218 passenger and parasailing boats with official permission to operate on various beaches. Add that to god-knows-how many boats operating without NOCs and there is danger lurking everywhere because to this figure, you need to add 71 mostly FRP passenger boats, water scooters, etc.
Tailpiece: The names of people and so-called writers arm-twisted into defending the mother-of-all ordinances has added up to quite a neat figure. Some were more audacious than others, like the one who called the rest of us ‘empty vessels.’ Other vassals using what I can only describe as language carpentry begged, borrowed and stole meanings to define ‘public interest.’ One language carpenter even brought out his gardening tools. Reading the Herald, I understood for the first time that ‘public’ means ‘one person’ only, okay two, if you must insist. And that ‘interest’ means pursuit of an individual’s happiness. Now Digambar Kamat and his 38 men and one woman will have to pass an Ordinance that will facilitate changing the meaning of ‘public’ and ‘interest’ in all school textbooks. I guess, so they can put the final nail into our collective coffin, they could call it the ‘Public Interest Ordinance’ and pre-date it to come into effect before the mother-of-all ordinances. Now, that’s what you could call transparency in government.
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Friday, April 3, 2009
Row, row, row your boat.....
What’s the point?
One grudgingly, albeit necessarily, at times tends to sympathise with Capt. AP Mascarenhas, the Captain of Ports (CoP.) Saddled with the job of surveying hundreds of barges and with a deputy based in Mormugao, his department’s efficiency is legendary, so much so barge owners, some of whom had a brush with him, admit they once asked Pratapsing Rane when he was chief minister to have him replaced. He however has inherited a marine workshop under the River Navigation Department (RND) which if you use the word incompetent to describe it would hardly cover ten per cent of its ineptitude. The RND has had ministers in charge who, over the last ten years perhaps visited the workshop fewer times than you have fingers on one hand. The current one might even be stretched to find its location.
The Pecking Order
The CoP and his hydrographic surveyor, Sagar Chandra Rai, were ordered by the Home Department to provide mooring space in the Mandovi to five casinos come hell or high water (cannot resist the pun!) Why Home, when you have a have a Minister for Ports and also a River Navigation Minister, is a question that will never be answered. Because, the Captain of Ports Department comes under the Minister for Ports and therefore, at least on paper, he is supposed to be technically equipped to consider the many factors that cause overcrowding in the River Mandovi. From this specialized view point at least, if not for any other, one would assume the Minister for Ports would be involved. Besides, the Home Department does not have the technical expertise or even the jurisdiction. For this same reason, the crores earned from licensing the casinos should go to the River Navigation Department which could use it to build new and modern ferries instead of having to make do with the push-cart ferries it has in its fleet today. But that’s another story. Or, is there another angle to this story? A US journalist Michael S. Malone once said ‘One of the best ways to win any game is to write the rules.’ Strange as it may seem, somehow Ravi Naik appears to have read him!
WWF on the Mandovi
Well almost that if you use your by now well honed sense of imagination. The casinos look like testosterone-driven wrestlers grappling inside a ring that must surely have been miniaturized in Japan. Their physical measurements are: mv Caravela: length 63.05m, breadth 10.20m, depth 3.40m; mv Pride of Goa 66.10m, 23.80m, 4 m; mv The Leela 35.33m, 12.9m, 3.90m; mv Arabian Sea King 30.45m, 9.40m, 3.50m; and mv 70m, 13.40m, 3.75m.
Guess who else is there?
There are 641 barges registered in Goa (452 with the Deputy CoP in Mormugao and 189 with the CoP in Panjim.) Of this figure, 219 barges were operating in Goa when the CoP last made a head count on September 30, 2008. It gets merrier and merrier. There are 20, under 50-passenger capacity tourism-related boats registered with the CoP, permitted to ply in the inland waterways of Goa.
Here’s a stunner – tourist boats less than 15 net tons plying on the beaches of Goa are issued NOC’s by the CoP for the specific period (September 16-May 31.) These types of boats are not issued any registration certificate. In other words no one in the CoP or Home Department (I am being sarcastic here) even glanced at these boats before they were allowed to be risked upon the tourists that come to Goa. In other words these pleasure boats are also a potential peril to tourists. Last year, 218 boats were issued NOC’s to operate between September 16-November 7, 2008. Worse, there are also no dry docking or survey rules laid out by the CoP for the casinos plying in Goa, firstly, because the Indian Steam Vessels Act was written in 1917. Secondly, since the mv Caravela sailed into Goa on February 17, 2001 no one bothered to factor in the casinos. Then again in no other maritime State in India, has a Home Department ever been even remotely involved with floating ships of any kind.
Floating sumos
Consider the size of the other floating menaces in this tiny but crucial Panjim’s Mandovi water-front, and this is why this column has been in the past warning of the potential danger. Of this, more next week, but for the moment consider the Goa Tourism Development Corporation’s own Santa Monica which is 33.5 m long, while the pleasure cruiser owned by Swastik Cruises is rather long at 43.5 m. Shall we say a disaster of Titanic proportions is waiting to happen?
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
One grudgingly, albeit necessarily, at times tends to sympathise with Capt. AP Mascarenhas, the Captain of Ports (CoP.) Saddled with the job of surveying hundreds of barges and with a deputy based in Mormugao, his department’s efficiency is legendary, so much so barge owners, some of whom had a brush with him, admit they once asked Pratapsing Rane when he was chief minister to have him replaced. He however has inherited a marine workshop under the River Navigation Department (RND) which if you use the word incompetent to describe it would hardly cover ten per cent of its ineptitude. The RND has had ministers in charge who, over the last ten years perhaps visited the workshop fewer times than you have fingers on one hand. The current one might even be stretched to find its location.
The Pecking Order
The CoP and his hydrographic surveyor, Sagar Chandra Rai, were ordered by the Home Department to provide mooring space in the Mandovi to five casinos come hell or high water (cannot resist the pun!) Why Home, when you have a have a Minister for Ports and also a River Navigation Minister, is a question that will never be answered. Because, the Captain of Ports Department comes under the Minister for Ports and therefore, at least on paper, he is supposed to be technically equipped to consider the many factors that cause overcrowding in the River Mandovi. From this specialized view point at least, if not for any other, one would assume the Minister for Ports would be involved. Besides, the Home Department does not have the technical expertise or even the jurisdiction. For this same reason, the crores earned from licensing the casinos should go to the River Navigation Department which could use it to build new and modern ferries instead of having to make do with the push-cart ferries it has in its fleet today. But that’s another story. Or, is there another angle to this story? A US journalist Michael S. Malone once said ‘One of the best ways to win any game is to write the rules.’ Strange as it may seem, somehow Ravi Naik appears to have read him!
WWF on the Mandovi
Well almost that if you use your by now well honed sense of imagination. The casinos look like testosterone-driven wrestlers grappling inside a ring that must surely have been miniaturized in Japan. Their physical measurements are: mv Caravela: length 63.05m, breadth 10.20m, depth 3.40m; mv Pride of Goa 66.10m, 23.80m, 4 m; mv The Leela 35.33m, 12.9m, 3.90m; mv Arabian Sea King 30.45m, 9.40m, 3.50m; and mv 70m, 13.40m, 3.75m.
Guess who else is there?
There are 641 barges registered in Goa (452 with the Deputy CoP in Mormugao and 189 with the CoP in Panjim.) Of this figure, 219 barges were operating in Goa when the CoP last made a head count on September 30, 2008. It gets merrier and merrier. There are 20, under 50-passenger capacity tourism-related boats registered with the CoP, permitted to ply in the inland waterways of Goa.
Here’s a stunner – tourist boats less than 15 net tons plying on the beaches of Goa are issued NOC’s by the CoP for the specific period (September 16-May 31.) These types of boats are not issued any registration certificate. In other words no one in the CoP or Home Department (I am being sarcastic here) even glanced at these boats before they were allowed to be risked upon the tourists that come to Goa. In other words these pleasure boats are also a potential peril to tourists. Last year, 218 boats were issued NOC’s to operate between September 16-November 7, 2008. Worse, there are also no dry docking or survey rules laid out by the CoP for the casinos plying in Goa, firstly, because the Indian Steam Vessels Act was written in 1917. Secondly, since the mv Caravela sailed into Goa on February 17, 2001 no one bothered to factor in the casinos. Then again in no other maritime State in India, has a Home Department ever been even remotely involved with floating ships of any kind.
Floating sumos
Consider the size of the other floating menaces in this tiny but crucial Panjim’s Mandovi water-front, and this is why this column has been in the past warning of the potential danger. Of this, more next week, but for the moment consider the Goa Tourism Development Corporation’s own Santa Monica which is 33.5 m long, while the pleasure cruiser owned by Swastik Cruises is rather long at 43.5 m. Shall we say a disaster of Titanic proportions is waiting to happen?
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
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