Calling the kettle black
The Transport Minister Ramakrishna Dhavlikar has warned that if the government reneged on the contract awarded to Shimnit Utsch India Pvt. Ltd., to supply high security number plates, it ‘would have to pay through its nose’ the liquidated damages that would become payable to Shimnit. Boohoo. Of course, no figures were given to back the claim. There never are. On the contrary, the men responsible for not understanding the factors before they signed on the dotted line, might also be up for a bloody nose. Because, this is the way things are done in Government. In the business world, it’s called ‘backward integration’. In government, it works like this; first you swallow a huge dose of vitamin M. Fortified, you promise the sun and moon; and when inevitably you end up in the doghouse you backtrack, simultaneously threatening all sides. It happened with SEZs and is happening with the floating casinos. But expect more on this because Manohar Parrikar has a few tricks up his sleeve, so do some more concerned citizens from out of State, because there is much Dhavlikar does not know about the high security registration plates.
Talking about paying through the nose, between February 2005 to February 2009 your Government spent Rs 46,18,467 as legal fees paid to various lawyers in Dilli to defend the State before the Supreme Court. This includes some lakhs spent on opposing the petition filed by Dhavlikar challenging his disqualification by the Speaker Pratapsingh Rane.
Dhavlikar should have done his home work before he went gung ho on this one, after all there is this possibility of a bloody nose if the government has to compensate the SEZ applicants, sorry recipients of the government’s goodwill. There’s also this huge problem of the thousand of trucks, cars and even all kinds of two-wheelers with registrations from States like Himachal Pradesh, Dilli (naturally) and of course from Karnataka and Maharashtra that are in Goa almost permanently. These vehicles must be registered in Goa within 11 months. Their owners live here, work here or have businesses in Goa. What is Dhavlikar going to do about them? The answer, is he will ignore them, pretending they don’t exist. In fact, I can see yet another set of rules for Bhaillos and another for Goemkars.
Government goes shopping for Dhavlikar
I came across these details the other day which might interest you. Replacing a ‘garden fitting’ at his official Altinho bungalow cost the same government Rs 1,39,350. Must have been one hell of a garden fitting and unfortunately, I can’t throw more light on this. Replacing an air conditioner cost Rs 35,228. To set up home for him at F-0-1 in Altinho, the government spent Rs 28,924.65 on items like plastic mugs, a gas stove and a mixer grinder. Makes you wonder who took away all the stuff before he moved in. Among the other items the government bought with the Rs 28,924.65 are: double bed sheet set, dust bins, dusters, glasses, thermos flask, spoons, kitchen knife, pressure cooker, dinner plates, cups, pillows, more double bed sheets, bedspreads, towels, pillow covers, and door mats. There’s also this little detail of your government buying him a spanking new Honda City for Rs 8,78,000. I am beginning to think our MLAs richly deserved that salary hike.
Aires Rodrigues Vs Subodh Kantak
Digging up more dope on his bête noire Aires says that a close relative of his, a lawyer called Leena Anish Dharwadkar, who worked under Subodh Kantak was paid Rs 7,65,000 from February 2005 to March 2008 by way of fees. She has now been appointed manager (legal) at the Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (GSIDC) on a salary of Rs 30,000 per month. GSIDC also appointed an assistant legal manager called Mohini Ramanathan Nair. Not bad, eh, Mr Dhavlikar, your government does have money to spend through both nostrils. Aires Rodrigues says Kantak himself was a GSIDC director from February 1, 2006 and resigned on September 13, 2007. He asks did Kantak resign to ensure that the selection of his kin to a key post did not look too obvious. Are you kidding?
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Friday, August 21, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
What models they'll make!!
A Madame Tussauds for Goa?
Perhaps the oldest colonial edifice in Goa, the old Secretariat building, or Adil Shah Palace or Palacio da Idalcao is currently being renovated at a cost of Rs 3,86,37,880 and the expenditure required to complete the renovation is currently pegged at Rs 7,25,62,120. This of course is peanuts compared to, I think, the Rs 36 crore that was spent to give Adil Shah’s inheritors a spanking new Assembly at Porvorim. It is the government’s intention to turn the old Secretariat “into a cultural centre thereby establishing art galleries, museums etc.” While it’s more than probable that the Rs 7,25,62,120 could rocket into space like the Agni-3 currently doing trials; what is true is that the government is fuzzy as to what it intends to do with it.
So be prepared for a mall to come up there or something equally kitschy. Because, apart from Madame Tussauds wax replicas of forty plus two you know who, past and present, I can’t think of anything else that can be preserved there for posterity. Can you? No, you can’t because the upkeep of the statues and artifacts was criticised in that very Assembly last week. And, if a raison d’etre be required, there is always the parallel of the UP chief minister to fall back on. But, trust me on this one, there are already a million Dilliwallahs jostling for a part of the action.
Remember, the Entertainment Society of Goa came up with ‘adaptive reuse’ when it wanted to lease out the Macquinez Palace (old GMC building, Campal, Panjim) to a Dilliwallah for a mall? On this one you are going to need a Thesaurus to come with an appropriate phrase. Here’s a thought: adaptive reuse is the process of adapting old structures for purposes other than those initially intended. And our montris are really, really good at this, don’t you think?
Proof of the Pudding
The you know who built their own Palacio da Idalcao (officially known as Goa Niwas, Chanakyapuri, Delhi) at a cost till date of Rs 16,72,69,000 and the projected cost is expected to be Rs 19,70,22,800. See, it’s always about “projected”. And of course the projected can get even more. What the government would call projected, but what I would say is easily predictable. For instance, if my memory serves me right, the original cost of the new Assembly at Porvorim was Rs 13 cr. It was re-estimated to cost Rs 26 cr. The information I have does not say how much our Government paid, or rather, you and I paid for the land to build the Goa Niwas, or, why so typically, your government always has an ‘estimated cost put to tender’ and an ‘up to date expenditure’. But then, we all know why, don’t we? In the first is where the creamy layer lies, in the second, is where the crème de la crème lies. Get it?
For the record
Civil & plumbing works –Rs 52770013 (estimated cost put to tender) Rs 92532650 (up to date expenditure); interior works – Rs 12572819.64- Rs 12393000; internal electrification -Rs 7715584-Rs 11897761; fixtures & fans –Rs 2081429-Rs 1982408; EPABX system –Rs 809329-Rs 492535; CCTV & car call system –Rs 1421155-Rs 520267.
Cops privatized?
Has the police department privatized its traffic cell, is a question people are asking these days and especially because after the UPA bounced back, its disinvestment plan is in place now that the Left which put a spoke in the wheel, is not part of the centre. It’s like this, in every vantage point in Goa, traffic police can be seen pocketing their self-imposed fines. In Panjim, they do it under the shade of the Mandovi bridge. You can also see them at the Cortalim traffic isle earning their keep, or at Filsu bar down the river side below where they celebrate with lunch and a few pegs. So, it’s being asked on the roads, has the department stopped paying salaries?
The office of the deputy superintendent of Police (traffic) traffic headquarters, Altinho, Panjim took this to a new level. A colleague gave me a challan served at his home in Aquem, I repeat SERVED TO HIM BY TWO POLICE CONSTABLES AT HIS HOME, charging him with driving his car at Quepem on a particular date and time (details withheld, but I have the original with me). He is now supposed to pay a fine of Rs 100 at the Altinho office. On that date and time he was in Panjim and neither he nor anybody else in the family drove to Quepem. Was his car selectively picked, was it randomly singled out or did the cops, err, as a car whizzed past contrive to get a number which turned out to be his. Let’s give the cops the benefit of the doubt, but to hand-serve the notice deploying two cops for a misdemeanor like not wearing a seat belt? Really now. There’s also this lawyer, quite a few people know in Margao who was also a victim. He was all fire and brimstone at first, but …… So, there might just be some truth in that rumour. God forbid!
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Perhaps the oldest colonial edifice in Goa, the old Secretariat building, or Adil Shah Palace or Palacio da Idalcao is currently being renovated at a cost of Rs 3,86,37,880 and the expenditure required to complete the renovation is currently pegged at Rs 7,25,62,120. This of course is peanuts compared to, I think, the Rs 36 crore that was spent to give Adil Shah’s inheritors a spanking new Assembly at Porvorim. It is the government’s intention to turn the old Secretariat “into a cultural centre thereby establishing art galleries, museums etc.” While it’s more than probable that the Rs 7,25,62,120 could rocket into space like the Agni-3 currently doing trials; what is true is that the government is fuzzy as to what it intends to do with it.
So be prepared for a mall to come up there or something equally kitschy. Because, apart from Madame Tussauds wax replicas of forty plus two you know who, past and present, I can’t think of anything else that can be preserved there for posterity. Can you? No, you can’t because the upkeep of the statues and artifacts was criticised in that very Assembly last week. And, if a raison d’etre be required, there is always the parallel of the UP chief minister to fall back on. But, trust me on this one, there are already a million Dilliwallahs jostling for a part of the action.
Remember, the Entertainment Society of Goa came up with ‘adaptive reuse’ when it wanted to lease out the Macquinez Palace (old GMC building, Campal, Panjim) to a Dilliwallah for a mall? On this one you are going to need a Thesaurus to come with an appropriate phrase. Here’s a thought: adaptive reuse is the process of adapting old structures for purposes other than those initially intended. And our montris are really, really good at this, don’t you think?
Proof of the Pudding
The you know who built their own Palacio da Idalcao (officially known as Goa Niwas, Chanakyapuri, Delhi) at a cost till date of Rs 16,72,69,000 and the projected cost is expected to be Rs 19,70,22,800. See, it’s always about “projected”. And of course the projected can get even more. What the government would call projected, but what I would say is easily predictable. For instance, if my memory serves me right, the original cost of the new Assembly at Porvorim was Rs 13 cr. It was re-estimated to cost Rs 26 cr. The information I have does not say how much our Government paid, or rather, you and I paid for the land to build the Goa Niwas, or, why so typically, your government always has an ‘estimated cost put to tender’ and an ‘up to date expenditure’. But then, we all know why, don’t we? In the first is where the creamy layer lies, in the second, is where the crème de la crème lies. Get it?
For the record
Civil & plumbing works –Rs 52770013 (estimated cost put to tender) Rs 92532650 (up to date expenditure); interior works – Rs 12572819.64- Rs 12393000; internal electrification -Rs 7715584-Rs 11897761; fixtures & fans –Rs 2081429-Rs 1982408; EPABX system –Rs 809329-Rs 492535; CCTV & car call system –Rs 1421155-Rs 520267.
Cops privatized?
Has the police department privatized its traffic cell, is a question people are asking these days and especially because after the UPA bounced back, its disinvestment plan is in place now that the Left which put a spoke in the wheel, is not part of the centre. It’s like this, in every vantage point in Goa, traffic police can be seen pocketing their self-imposed fines. In Panjim, they do it under the shade of the Mandovi bridge. You can also see them at the Cortalim traffic isle earning their keep, or at Filsu bar down the river side below where they celebrate with lunch and a few pegs. So, it’s being asked on the roads, has the department stopped paying salaries?
The office of the deputy superintendent of Police (traffic) traffic headquarters, Altinho, Panjim took this to a new level. A colleague gave me a challan served at his home in Aquem, I repeat SERVED TO HIM BY TWO POLICE CONSTABLES AT HIS HOME, charging him with driving his car at Quepem on a particular date and time (details withheld, but I have the original with me). He is now supposed to pay a fine of Rs 100 at the Altinho office. On that date and time he was in Panjim and neither he nor anybody else in the family drove to Quepem. Was his car selectively picked, was it randomly singled out or did the cops, err, as a car whizzed past contrive to get a number which turned out to be his. Let’s give the cops the benefit of the doubt, but to hand-serve the notice deploying two cops for a misdemeanor like not wearing a seat belt? Really now. There’s also this lawyer, quite a few people know in Margao who was also a victim. He was all fire and brimstone at first, but …… So, there might just be some truth in that rumour. God forbid!
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Monday, August 3, 2009
Rich Man, Poor Man
Cue on queue
Soon I will have to stand in a queue at my panchayat waiting to be issued a permit that proves I am a resident of Divar Island and therefore entitled to cross the ferry free. That is because my government dreamed up some eccentric freebie to help us islanders, instead of just giving us some decent ferries to cross over. It’s gotten so bad that a ferry will actually land on one side, its humans and vehicles disembark, and the ferry will hightail it to somewhere else on an SoS mission where yet another ferry has broken down. Musical ferries, it’s that bad. But, if it’s weird news you want: it’s in my DNA to give. The ferryboat Harmal is 22 years old, Penha-de France 19, Vagator 21, Colva 10, Diwar 10, Pomburpa 12 and Harvalem 18. In fact, some of them, because of the holes they have, remind me of the glass-bottomed boats I have seen in Mauritius and the Andamans and Nicobar Islands to view the flora and fauna. But between June 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009, our montris bought 22 cars at a cost of Rs 1,71,66,180 for themselves. Penny pinching is only for us aam aadmi as you can see. By the way, gamblers going to the floating casinos (never understood what ‘offshore’ means) will have to establish they are not Goans. I guess that means another kind of queue. This is getting tedious.
Thankfully tank full
Guess what, our ruling class is on clover, even if they’ll have you believe not financially and therefore are forced to continually upgrade their allowances or tuck at our cost; remember the assets they declared before the elections when we discovered their wives owned most of it? But here, I am talking about travelling from point A to point B. There are two jeeps (part of the escort) that drop the CM to his residence at Margao, from where ever he is, and return to Panjim. Next morning, they go all the way back to Margao etcetera, etcetera. And you think he is a petrol guzzler! Nah, that distinction goes to Tourism Minister Mickkey Pacheco parading his Hummer around Colva beach at nights, not to mention the temerity of parking it outside the hallowed Goa Assembly recently. When actor Suniel Shetty imported his many years ago, stats showed the Hummer’s fuel consumption could siphon off the Sal River inside a month. In other words, I am told it’s an ungenerous 3 km per litre. Poor man, Mickky could run dry one of these days. Not his purse, dope (considering he recently confessed that his winning in a casino was over a crore), the Hummer’s tank. By the way, General Motors which declared bankrupty recently is looking to hive off the expensive (1,00,000 dollars) car to another manufacturer because in the US, recession has driven people to small cars that economise on fuel. But here, it’s another story! India Shinning!
Oops!
Three weeks ago I wrote about how the Directorate of Health Services hired 280 guards, 6 security supervisors and 3 security officers to guard its 28 establishments, 22 of which are public health centres. I got an email saying that the RTI data was wrong. The email which contained not only the sender’s name but mobile no. too, said the actual figure was: security guards 525, women security guards 25, security supervisors 6, and security officers 3. The cost involved was a lot more than the Rs 198.10 lakh, the email revealed. The tender awarded to G4S was from August 1, 2008 and not from January 1, 2008, which now makes that a lesser period but for apparently a bigger expenditure. G4S is a multinational agency, a collaboration of Group 4 Falk of Britain and Securicore of America and not a Delhi-based agency, as I mentioned. And what I had said earlier was what was signed, sealed and delivered. Wonder who’s right?
One for the road
Quite literally. Of the 22 expensive cars our montris bought for themselves, 11 were Honda city cars each costing Rs 9,00,000, the kind of money it would take to repair a ramshackle of a ferryboat. Yeah, I know the government thinks it’s Rs 30,00,000 each. That’s another story. A Toyoti Innova costing Rs 9,05,680 allotted to the King of Kargoa (the to be merged State of Goa and Karwar) was in replacement of a car (GA-07-G-9700) which had run a measly 35,000 kms. A Toyota Corolla costing Rs 9,98,350 allotted to Jose Philip D’Souza was in replacement of a car (GA-07-G-0026) which had done just 28,000 kms. It’s another matter the two cars were re-allotted, my point is why does this government feel obliged to even offer an excuse or reason for spending your tax money. Just do it, as the ad says. No one’s looking. Besides, we expect nothing else from our extravagant montris!
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Soon I will have to stand in a queue at my panchayat waiting to be issued a permit that proves I am a resident of Divar Island and therefore entitled to cross the ferry free. That is because my government dreamed up some eccentric freebie to help us islanders, instead of just giving us some decent ferries to cross over. It’s gotten so bad that a ferry will actually land on one side, its humans and vehicles disembark, and the ferry will hightail it to somewhere else on an SoS mission where yet another ferry has broken down. Musical ferries, it’s that bad. But, if it’s weird news you want: it’s in my DNA to give. The ferryboat Harmal is 22 years old, Penha-de France 19, Vagator 21, Colva 10, Diwar 10, Pomburpa 12 and Harvalem 18. In fact, some of them, because of the holes they have, remind me of the glass-bottomed boats I have seen in Mauritius and the Andamans and Nicobar Islands to view the flora and fauna. But between June 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009, our montris bought 22 cars at a cost of Rs 1,71,66,180 for themselves. Penny pinching is only for us aam aadmi as you can see. By the way, gamblers going to the floating casinos (never understood what ‘offshore’ means) will have to establish they are not Goans. I guess that means another kind of queue. This is getting tedious.
Thankfully tank full
Guess what, our ruling class is on clover, even if they’ll have you believe not financially and therefore are forced to continually upgrade their allowances or tuck at our cost; remember the assets they declared before the elections when we discovered their wives owned most of it? But here, I am talking about travelling from point A to point B. There are two jeeps (part of the escort) that drop the CM to his residence at Margao, from where ever he is, and return to Panjim. Next morning, they go all the way back to Margao etcetera, etcetera. And you think he is a petrol guzzler! Nah, that distinction goes to Tourism Minister Mickkey Pacheco parading his Hummer around Colva beach at nights, not to mention the temerity of parking it outside the hallowed Goa Assembly recently. When actor Suniel Shetty imported his many years ago, stats showed the Hummer’s fuel consumption could siphon off the Sal River inside a month. In other words, I am told it’s an ungenerous 3 km per litre. Poor man, Mickky could run dry one of these days. Not his purse, dope (considering he recently confessed that his winning in a casino was over a crore), the Hummer’s tank. By the way, General Motors which declared bankrupty recently is looking to hive off the expensive (1,00,000 dollars) car to another manufacturer because in the US, recession has driven people to small cars that economise on fuel. But here, it’s another story! India Shinning!
Oops!
Three weeks ago I wrote about how the Directorate of Health Services hired 280 guards, 6 security supervisors and 3 security officers to guard its 28 establishments, 22 of which are public health centres. I got an email saying that the RTI data was wrong. The email which contained not only the sender’s name but mobile no. too, said the actual figure was: security guards 525, women security guards 25, security supervisors 6, and security officers 3. The cost involved was a lot more than the Rs 198.10 lakh, the email revealed. The tender awarded to G4S was from August 1, 2008 and not from January 1, 2008, which now makes that a lesser period but for apparently a bigger expenditure. G4S is a multinational agency, a collaboration of Group 4 Falk of Britain and Securicore of America and not a Delhi-based agency, as I mentioned. And what I had said earlier was what was signed, sealed and delivered. Wonder who’s right?
One for the road
Quite literally. Of the 22 expensive cars our montris bought for themselves, 11 were Honda city cars each costing Rs 9,00,000, the kind of money it would take to repair a ramshackle of a ferryboat. Yeah, I know the government thinks it’s Rs 30,00,000 each. That’s another story. A Toyoti Innova costing Rs 9,05,680 allotted to the King of Kargoa (the to be merged State of Goa and Karwar) was in replacement of a car (GA-07-G-9700) which had run a measly 35,000 kms. A Toyota Corolla costing Rs 9,98,350 allotted to Jose Philip D’Souza was in replacement of a car (GA-07-G-0026) which had done just 28,000 kms. It’s another matter the two cars were re-allotted, my point is why does this government feel obliged to even offer an excuse or reason for spending your tax money. Just do it, as the ad says. No one’s looking. Besides, we expect nothing else from our extravagant montris!
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Schooled to Boss
The Manovikas farce
The education ‘arrangement’ (I would like to call it that) in Goa is just like the Goa Assembly notwithstanding the two MLAs who forged their educational qualifications. But, to think the Manovikas High School in Margao qualifies! The recent AGM (July 10) of the school run by Therese Almeida, the founder with proven quality, was vintage Goan. Double standards, classic two-facedness, etcetera. The lights were put off when the ‘ruling class’ felt they had enough of the ‘opposition’ and Therese Almeida stormed out with a section of parents following meekly in her wake. In the Assembly, MLAs are expelled physically only when they resist going by themselves, so, I guess they are better. One PTA (parents, teachers association) member summed up the whole episode like this: ‘If she is going to such lengths, she has something to hide’. A routine PTA election meet turned out to be a platform for the school management to browbeat a section of parents. It began with a non agenda item when a newly recruited teacher obviously tasked with the job, began praising the management. She lambasted those parents who she felt were preventing the management from paying teachers the VI th pay commission scale. Her diatribe was a culmination of what every class teacher had been telling students in class, “Some parents are stopping our increments”. Sources say it is Therese Almeida who is instigating new teachers to make it look like some parents are not supporting the growth of the school. Her unspoken order: ‘never question me’. In other words create a heated debate and deftly deflect from the real issues that concerns students and therefore parents.
Divide and Rule
Divisive, did I say? One parent spoke well about the school but then added that parents opposing a fee hike were ‘anti-school.’ Another parent sang the same tune, adding, he was willing to pay ‘10 times more for a good education.’ But naturally, he works on a floating casino! And, the fees roughly are upwards of Rs 40,000 per year. The anti-parent stuff went on and on! An office bearer of an association that has gone to court on an issue relevant here (to the teachers pay actually) was personally attacked by Therese Almeida, who went to the extent of denying him an opportunity to speak. The man was even heckled by a section of parents. When the PTA president, ironically in the ‘opposition’ pleaded his case, he too was booed. The two parents were trying to get some clarity on the issue of the teachers not being paid their dues –strangely, a banned topic all these years at Manovikas.
Dance of Democracy
And, lo and behold when the elections were finally held, traumatic wouldn’t even begin to describe what unfolded. The 180 parents present were made to sign the ‘secret’ ballot papers and write their names down. This was done to prevent an ‘opposition’ member from getting elected. It also forced the teachers to vote for the ‘right’ candidate. The ‘opposition’ leader lost, but he did get 65 of the 180 votes. Take away the votes of the 40 teachers, it means the ‘official’ candidate had a close call. 140-65=75; 65+40=105. In a democracy, the ‘opposition’ would have won.
It would take several columns to describe the fracas at the PTA meet. But do know that Therese Almeida walked out, her chastising over, followed meekly by the teachers and some parents. Now, this is when that Goan duplicity stood out once again like a festering sore that refuses to heal. There were still 30/40 parents in the hall. The lights were switched off. Is this the way a PTA is conducted? No respect was shown to parents who wanted to present their side of the case, not necessarily on the ‘official’ side. However that one act of switching off the light won over a few parents.
Talk of cronyism and nepotism
Once outside the same hecklers became neoconverts. Two possible reasons. One they had already shown their allegiance to the director inside. Outside, they had to enact the double game, to show they were united with the other parents. As some hecklers justified, “we did not want to, but in the grapevine the news was you do not want to pay fees.” Therese Almeida no doubt made it appear that because parents are not paying the higher fees the school cannot hike salaries. Point is, there is little transparency here. The trust is a charitable organization and claims IT benefits -it is not supposed to make profits. It is also stuffed with an engineer and an architect, who have been awarded school construction contracts; a son- in- law (a daughter is a teacher), a former chairman’s daughter, and a former student in the electronics business.
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
The education ‘arrangement’ (I would like to call it that) in Goa is just like the Goa Assembly notwithstanding the two MLAs who forged their educational qualifications. But, to think the Manovikas High School in Margao qualifies! The recent AGM (July 10) of the school run by Therese Almeida, the founder with proven quality, was vintage Goan. Double standards, classic two-facedness, etcetera. The lights were put off when the ‘ruling class’ felt they had enough of the ‘opposition’ and Therese Almeida stormed out with a section of parents following meekly in her wake. In the Assembly, MLAs are expelled physically only when they resist going by themselves, so, I guess they are better. One PTA (parents, teachers association) member summed up the whole episode like this: ‘If she is going to such lengths, she has something to hide’. A routine PTA election meet turned out to be a platform for the school management to browbeat a section of parents. It began with a non agenda item when a newly recruited teacher obviously tasked with the job, began praising the management. She lambasted those parents who she felt were preventing the management from paying teachers the VI th pay commission scale. Her diatribe was a culmination of what every class teacher had been telling students in class, “Some parents are stopping our increments”. Sources say it is Therese Almeida who is instigating new teachers to make it look like some parents are not supporting the growth of the school. Her unspoken order: ‘never question me’. In other words create a heated debate and deftly deflect from the real issues that concerns students and therefore parents.
Divide and Rule
Divisive, did I say? One parent spoke well about the school but then added that parents opposing a fee hike were ‘anti-school.’ Another parent sang the same tune, adding, he was willing to pay ‘10 times more for a good education.’ But naturally, he works on a floating casino! And, the fees roughly are upwards of Rs 40,000 per year. The anti-parent stuff went on and on! An office bearer of an association that has gone to court on an issue relevant here (to the teachers pay actually) was personally attacked by Therese Almeida, who went to the extent of denying him an opportunity to speak. The man was even heckled by a section of parents. When the PTA president, ironically in the ‘opposition’ pleaded his case, he too was booed. The two parents were trying to get some clarity on the issue of the teachers not being paid their dues –strangely, a banned topic all these years at Manovikas.
Dance of Democracy
And, lo and behold when the elections were finally held, traumatic wouldn’t even begin to describe what unfolded. The 180 parents present were made to sign the ‘secret’ ballot papers and write their names down. This was done to prevent an ‘opposition’ member from getting elected. It also forced the teachers to vote for the ‘right’ candidate. The ‘opposition’ leader lost, but he did get 65 of the 180 votes. Take away the votes of the 40 teachers, it means the ‘official’ candidate had a close call. 140-65=75; 65+40=105. In a democracy, the ‘opposition’ would have won.
It would take several columns to describe the fracas at the PTA meet. But do know that Therese Almeida walked out, her chastising over, followed meekly by the teachers and some parents. Now, this is when that Goan duplicity stood out once again like a festering sore that refuses to heal. There were still 30/40 parents in the hall. The lights were switched off. Is this the way a PTA is conducted? No respect was shown to parents who wanted to present their side of the case, not necessarily on the ‘official’ side. However that one act of switching off the light won over a few parents.
Talk of cronyism and nepotism
Once outside the same hecklers became neoconverts. Two possible reasons. One they had already shown their allegiance to the director inside. Outside, they had to enact the double game, to show they were united with the other parents. As some hecklers justified, “we did not want to, but in the grapevine the news was you do not want to pay fees.” Therese Almeida no doubt made it appear that because parents are not paying the higher fees the school cannot hike salaries. Point is, there is little transparency here. The trust is a charitable organization and claims IT benefits -it is not supposed to make profits. It is also stuffed with an engineer and an architect, who have been awarded school construction contracts; a son- in- law (a daughter is a teacher), a former chairman’s daughter, and a former student in the electronics business.
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
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