Walk the talk
Last Friday morning, they had to be the most resilient lot in Goa, because you can’t be more hardy than the Friday Mapusa market vendors, who, braving the punishing, pouring rain, covered their wares, and waited, glumly for the more foolhardy buyer like me to come wading along. Even the woman selling rock salt was there, so were some of the plant sellers, who perhaps lost more plants to the flooding waters, than they sold. Truly, it was a wretched Friday, and made me want to call up the editors of magazines who have serially voted Goa as the best and most trendy place to be in. My point, you ask? Our montris need to walk along this path too, literally. They live in glass houses, pretending to be concerned about people’s welfare, and waiting to pounce like vipers on opportunities that come their way. And, it’s not always about making money. It is also about the opportunity to stay in power for another term. Like the issue Mr. Atanasio Monserrate a.k.a ‘Babush’ picked, that is, he said the Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat could reoccupy its home in Dona Paula if the ‘B’ Company boys at the Taleigao panchayat were to get a one-time ‘compensation’ of Rs 2 crore; and all the house tax accrued from the parked be parked in the panchayat. So, screw the sentiments of the people of Taleigao (the rest of Goa included) who fought hard to stop, what can accurately be called a hoax of ‘concrete’ proportions, if you get my drift. What next Mr. Monserrate? Tax Goans for setting their eyes on what is left of the tambdi bhaji fields before they join the rest of the concrete jungle that was once beautiful Caranzalem?
But, not this way
Remember all the tax money spent to perk up the already stately homes of our montris, Dayanand Narvekar included, despite the fact he was struck of the privileged list, albeit temporarily. Here’s more on our nawabs and their princely perks, which brings me to a point I should have made a long time ago in this column. Pandurang Madkaikar, the Prince of Cumburjua, is the only one I know who when in power, hasn’t been lavish with your tax money. And, that’s saying a lot these days. This week it’s the turn of Ramkrishna Dhavlikar, who spent just Rs 28,924.65 of your tax money perking up his official bungalow. Dhavlikar, among one half of the Band of Brothers) is the man with the thing for vanishing high security number plates that cost a bomb, and I still wonder why you protest so much. Never mind the cost dumbo, your registration plate car just turned stealth with his help. The Indian Navy has stealth warships, and you have a stealth car now that evades police radar. Go get it. You won’t regret it.
Mr. Ravi Naik, the home minister, spent Rs 1,44,399.13 to do up his official bungalow and it went like this. Rs 7,900 on a steel cupboard, Rs 23,000 on a washing machine. For the rest, read on.
Movers and packers
Apparently spartan in the luxury area, Mr. Naik however showed a huge preference for handy items and splurged your tax money on exactly 86 categories of items. And, I make this point again. What the heck happened to all replaced items? I mean who takes away old refrigerators, washing machines and cooking stoves every time new ones are bought? And then, Mr. Naik decides to change residence. So, what does he do? He simply goes shopping again. Remember, the man who strangely as home minister licensed all the floating casinos on the Mandovi, had earlier spent Rs 5,25,185 of your tax bucks to paint another bungalow where he also installed a FRP (fibre reinforced plastic) cabin costing Rs 1,07,342, but then shifted residence on October 21, 2007 to the bungalow called ‘Herambh’.
Unhealthy trend
This Tuesday, health minister Vishwajeet Rane came calling to Divar after the islanders demanded a public health centre. And were they surprised! Not by his visit silly, but by his insistence that Divar must provide suitable accomodation for the centre and its staff. So, the islanders are asking (in private of course) ‘why do we need you then. And, isn’t? your government the expert on acquiring huge land at the drop of a hat even if it is to build stadiums that none will use eventually?’ As they say, GOOD QUESTION.
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Friday, October 16, 2009
The real thing
I was traveling last week to Pondichery and as a result had to miss out, albeit temporarily, on how your montris think your tax money collection is their personal ‘piggy bank’. Fortunately for me and writing this column, it matters little where in India you are, to be reminded about the misfortune we endure having our 42 elected peoples’ representatives working for us. More exactly, when you are in Chennai, where for instance, you can feel how Information Technology was made to work for the people. Whereas, in Goa it took a single MLA to make IT work for him, and for his pockets only. I am talking about the Rajiv Gandhi IT Park in posh Dona Paula where real estate sharks were encouraged to park themselves.
Two more universities in Tamil Nadu, I read in the newspapers, are working micro-satellites for a possible launch by end-2009. I am told they were encouraged by ANUSAT, India’s first ever micro satellite built by Anna University, Chennai, and launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) last April from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. The project’s team operated from the College of Engineering, Guindy and MIT, Chromepet, both in Chennai. Contrast this with the miserable performance of our own engineering colleges and the government’s attempt not too long ago to acquire land belonging to the Goa University, and no guesses on whom this high value land would have been sold to for mere peanuts.
Besides this, a group of students from engineering colleges in Bangalore and Hyderabad is working on an 850 gm pico satellite under ISRO guidance. Bottomline: Whereas, IT in Goa means real estate in the three southern States it means inventing the more difficult-to-make micro satellites which requires miniature technology. Just to make you squirm a bit more, do be informed that I booked my Volvo AC BUS travel to Pondicherry from Chennai online, which meant I had to make only a single trip to the bus station (to actually catch the bus). Compare this to the rumbunctious behaviour of the touts operating at Patto in Panjim, or KTC’s sleepy counters in Margao and Panjim. Or, be really crushed by this September 19 headline “First heart transplant at GH”. The story was about the Chennai Government General Hospital’s first ever heart transplant! In Goa, the last eye-catching headlines (from GMC) were about dirty linen and falling ceiling fans. I’ll say we have a long way to go, baby!
The other man’s grass is always green
But this is not to say everything is hunky dory outside. In fact, as in Goa, so too in Pondicherry (btw, official name is Puducherry), it’s a foreign takeover when it comes to business. And therefore, for instance, tourism in Pondy has made even its juice and bread cost an arm and a leg and the perpetrators of this fraud are some locals but mostly foreigners who run cafes, restaurants and are even real estate agents. I ran into this helpful young American girl who has moved to Pondy some months ago and runs a diner in rue Labordanais, serving breakfast and juice. After tramping around the Latin Quarter of Pondy – which, incidentally, is mostly clean but for some piles of garbage in certain streets – I was thirsty and parked myself in her diner and ordered a mango juice. Visions of a thirst-quenching fresh fruit juice filled my mind but imagine my shock when she returned in a jiffy with a glass of tinned mango juice!! I was awed – outraged is more like it – when she charged me Rs 60. The con job was repeated on another thirsty idiot – Rs 60 for a glass of orange juice that came from a tetrapack, the kind you see crammed in super-market shelves. Was she charging for the “ambience” which basically consisted of some easy chairs, some ethnic cushions against a glass frontage from where you could see the world go by? Or did she perchance think dollar rates were okay considering most of her clients are foreigners?
Talk of hype…
Then there is Satsangha, which is on the map of any tourist brochure on Pondy. As you walk in, there is a menu (which is fairly common like restaurants in France) with a picture of the French chef). First of, with all that tall grass hiding hordes of mosquitoes, I spent the evening scratching or slapping at my legs and arms to deal with these winged insects which carry all kinds of diseases. Second, I ordered pasta and got spaghetti. Did the French owner (who was not there) think I, an Indian, would not know the difference? Or did his Indian chef – who was supposed to show up at my table and do some PR but did not come (come on, that was not a tall order considering only two tables were occupied) – did not know the difference? Anyway, again a whopping bill for a fraud.
While India has no angels in the real estate industry – how many times have you encountered a sleazy broker in the booming real estate market in Goa? –the ones I met in Pondy took the cake. Firstly, it’s a segment cornered by some foreign women who obviously are high maintenance. So while you are used to brokers charging two per cent as a commission, in Pondy, one of them told me she charged a jaw-dropping 15 per cent! So, the poor sods who go to them looking for a long stay apartment fork out commissions that obviously pay for these women’s lifestyles.
Poetic Justice
But having said this, I must say I was floored by a bakery (they call it boulangerie in French) on the road to Auroville which had an array of mouth-watering confections for prices that can be called a steal. A big piece of pizza came for just Rs 31(yes, it’s true or c’est vrai as the French would say) and – hold your breath – true blue brown bread for just Rs 18. The irony is that a bakery in town called Baker Street (which is highly recommended in all tourist brochures) sold brown bread for Rs 90. Even a Frenchman was startled when he handed over a C note and got just Rs 10 back. Incidentally this bakery is run by a local. Talk of poetic justice!
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
I was traveling last week to Pondichery and as a result had to miss out, albeit temporarily, on how your montris think your tax money collection is their personal ‘piggy bank’. Fortunately for me and writing this column, it matters little where in India you are, to be reminded about the misfortune we endure having our 42 elected peoples’ representatives working for us. More exactly, when you are in Chennai, where for instance, you can feel how Information Technology was made to work for the people. Whereas, in Goa it took a single MLA to make IT work for him, and for his pockets only. I am talking about the Rajiv Gandhi IT Park in posh Dona Paula where real estate sharks were encouraged to park themselves.
Two more universities in Tamil Nadu, I read in the newspapers, are working micro-satellites for a possible launch by end-2009. I am told they were encouraged by ANUSAT, India’s first ever micro satellite built by Anna University, Chennai, and launched by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) last April from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota. The project’s team operated from the College of Engineering, Guindy and MIT, Chromepet, both in Chennai. Contrast this with the miserable performance of our own engineering colleges and the government’s attempt not too long ago to acquire land belonging to the Goa University, and no guesses on whom this high value land would have been sold to for mere peanuts.
Besides this, a group of students from engineering colleges in Bangalore and Hyderabad is working on an 850 gm pico satellite under ISRO guidance. Bottomline: Whereas, IT in Goa means real estate in the three southern States it means inventing the more difficult-to-make micro satellites which requires miniature technology. Just to make you squirm a bit more, do be informed that I booked my Volvo AC BUS travel to Pondicherry from Chennai online, which meant I had to make only a single trip to the bus station (to actually catch the bus). Compare this to the rumbunctious behaviour of the touts operating at Patto in Panjim, or KTC’s sleepy counters in Margao and Panjim. Or, be really crushed by this September 19 headline “First heart transplant at GH”. The story was about the Chennai Government General Hospital’s first ever heart transplant! In Goa, the last eye-catching headlines (from GMC) were about dirty linen and falling ceiling fans. I’ll say we have a long way to go, baby!
The other man’s grass is always green
But this is not to say everything is hunky dory outside. In fact, as in Goa, so too in Pondicherry (btw, official name is Puducherry), it’s a foreign takeover when it comes to business. And therefore, for instance, tourism in Pondy has made even its juice and bread cost an arm and a leg and the perpetrators of this fraud are some locals but mostly foreigners who run cafes, restaurants and are even real estate agents. I ran into this helpful young American girl who has moved to Pondy some months ago and runs a diner in rue Labordanais, serving breakfast and juice. After tramping around the Latin Quarter of Pondy – which, incidentally, is mostly clean but for some piles of garbage in certain streets – I was thirsty and parked myself in her diner and ordered a mango juice. Visions of a thirst-quenching fresh fruit juice filled my mind but imagine my shock when she returned in a jiffy with a glass of tinned mango juice!! I was awed – outraged is more like it – when she charged me Rs 60. The con job was repeated on another thirsty idiot – Rs 60 for a glass of orange juice that came from a tetrapack, the kind you see crammed in super-market shelves. Was she charging for the “ambience” which basically consisted of some easy chairs, some ethnic cushions against a glass frontage from where you could see the world go by? Or did she perchance think dollar rates were okay considering most of her clients are foreigners?
Talk of hype…
Then there is Satsangha, which is on the map of any tourist brochure on Pondy. As you walk in, there is a menu (which is fairly common like restaurants in France) with a picture of the French chef). First of, with all that tall grass hiding hordes of mosquitoes, I spent the evening scratching or slapping at my legs and arms to deal with these winged insects which carry all kinds of diseases. Second, I ordered pasta and got spaghetti. Did the French owner (who was not there) think I, an Indian, would not know the difference? Or did his Indian chef – who was supposed to show up at my table and do some PR but did not come (come on, that was not a tall order considering only two tables were occupied) – did not know the difference? Anyway, again a whopping bill for a fraud.
While India has no angels in the real estate industry – how many times have you encountered a sleazy broker in the booming real estate market in Goa? –the ones I met in Pondy took the cake. Firstly, it’s a segment cornered by some foreign women who obviously are high maintenance. So while you are used to brokers charging two per cent as a commission, in Pondy, one of them told me she charged a jaw-dropping 15 per cent! So, the poor sods who go to them looking for a long stay apartment fork out commissions that obviously pay for these women’s lifestyles.
Poetic Justice
But having said this, I must say I was floored by a bakery (they call it boulangerie in French) on the road to Auroville which had an array of mouth-watering confections for prices that can be called a steal. A big piece of pizza came for just Rs 31(yes, it’s true or c’est vrai as the French would say) and – hold your breath – true blue brown bread for just Rs 18. The irony is that a bakery in town called Baker Street (which is highly recommended in all tourist brochures) sold brown bread for Rs 90. Even a Frenchman was startled when he handed over a C note and got just Rs 10 back. Incidentally this bakery is run by a local. Talk of poetic justice!
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Privy purse
Third dimensional
At least someone wrote in to say she was in agreement with what I said last week … that a good many anti-building activists raising a ruckus are those who own small plots of land but with their homes already built. The lady from Orlim however wrote in adding a third dimension. She says ‘many activists are ex-Mumbaites who have benefited from the builders lobby by selling their small flats for exorbitant prices and are now returning to their motherland to make trouble for their humbler cousins who have been busy toiling to keep their homes going.’ My, my, this truly enhances the quality of the street level activist. Talk of double standards. She goes on to say: ‘In our village too activists only tried to sabotage the regional plan committees’ work and gained popularity with endless articles in the press which was ever obliging and never bothered with facts.” Amen to that.
What’s it going to take?
What will it take for us drivers to get the Ribandar stretch of the road to Panjim, repaired? The islanders of Divar have put up with the pathetic state of the roads on the island for years. While the island’s arterial roads were tarred some months ago, the stretch from Bainginium got from bad to worse. And at Ribandar the less said about the state of the road, the better. At nights, a herd of cattle parked opposite the Sao Pedro chapel confront drivers with an altogether different nightmare. So, what’s it going to take? Bigger vehicle maintenance bills, or some biker killing himself by colliding with the cattle?
Privy purse?
It’s got to be that or, they are the ‘chosen ones’. ‘Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people’ (Exodus 19:5-6). What more can one say of our montris. The week before last I wrote that Rs 18,13,926 of your, by now very expendable, tax money was spent renovating the official residence of Digambar Kamat between June 8, 2007 and now. To do up the official residence of the Home Minister, Ravi Naik, Rs 5,25,185 was spent. It went like this: Rs 4,17,843 went to paint the bungalow; add some repair costs to that. Installing an FRP (fibre reinforced plastic) cabin cost Rs 1,07,342. Now, why on earth do you think he would need that? As a swine flu shelter, you think? Rs 2,49,202 was spent to paint the bungalow (F-0-1) of the Health Minister, Vishwajeet Rane. Chosen ones? Indeed. In actual fact, Naik ordered the bungalow to be painted internally and externally but then shifted residence on October 21, 2007 to the bungalow called ‘Herambh’.
The Color of Money
That was the motion picture about a young pool hustler learning the tricks of the trade from an old pro, based on the novel by Walter Tevis. Paul Newman earned an Academy Award for his performance as the aging pool shark Eddie in this film, which was released in 1986. Where’s the connection? That’s not hard to figure out, but for the moment let’s say this is how you get hustled out of your tax money. Rs 1,03,779 was spent to paint (externally only) and to carry out ‘urgent repairs’ to F-0-2, the official bungalow of the Public Works Department Minister, Churchill Alemao. Rs 9,36,450 was incurred to carry out ‘various repairs’. Replacing a chandelier and a wall fitting in the hall cost Rs 24,817. A horizontal (!) water heater cost Rs 19,690. Rs 30,650 was spent to fit an air conditioner in a ‘separately constructed room’ in the (his) chamber at the Government Secretariat at Porvorim. That amounts to a whopping Rs 1,11,5,386.
Gory details
Now, this is the really, really frustrating part. Rs 4,97,292 of your tax bucks was spent to buy precisely 82 items for the official bungalow of Digambar Kamat. But what boggles the mind, are items like the two TVs (Rs 19,000+Rs 90,000) a refrigerator, folding ladder, and several wall clocks. So, who took away the earlier ones then? What happened to the original curtains also, because new curtains were bought for Rs 1,32,231. And, for crying out loud, why buy four wall paintings for Rs 76,000. I can understand our montris not wanting to use their predecessor’s towels and linen, but it does seem strange when you have to replace every single conceivable kitchenware, cookware, crockery and cutlery or, do they want to start with a clean slate, so to speak. Because, when you need a rice strainer (Rs 360), it does prove they start from the beginning. All one can is when someone else is being suckered, our montris become fastidious!
All this reminds me of the furore in Dilli over External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his deputy Shashi Tharoor staying in five-star hotels for the last three months. They both defended themselves saying they were picking up the tab. But even if one overlooks Shashi Tharoor (he did declare assets of nearly Rs 30 crores as a candidate from Thiruvanathapuram) and chalk it down to his earnings from his career as a diplomat with the UN and from his books, what was Krishna’s source of income considering he has been a career politician? To think he could afford Rs one lakh per day on the presidential suite at Hotel Ashoka for the last three months!! Am I giving our montris ideas? God forbid!
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
At least someone wrote in to say she was in agreement with what I said last week … that a good many anti-building activists raising a ruckus are those who own small plots of land but with their homes already built. The lady from Orlim however wrote in adding a third dimension. She says ‘many activists are ex-Mumbaites who have benefited from the builders lobby by selling their small flats for exorbitant prices and are now returning to their motherland to make trouble for their humbler cousins who have been busy toiling to keep their homes going.’ My, my, this truly enhances the quality of the street level activist. Talk of double standards. She goes on to say: ‘In our village too activists only tried to sabotage the regional plan committees’ work and gained popularity with endless articles in the press which was ever obliging and never bothered with facts.” Amen to that.
What’s it going to take?
What will it take for us drivers to get the Ribandar stretch of the road to Panjim, repaired? The islanders of Divar have put up with the pathetic state of the roads on the island for years. While the island’s arterial roads were tarred some months ago, the stretch from Bainginium got from bad to worse. And at Ribandar the less said about the state of the road, the better. At nights, a herd of cattle parked opposite the Sao Pedro chapel confront drivers with an altogether different nightmare. So, what’s it going to take? Bigger vehicle maintenance bills, or some biker killing himself by colliding with the cattle?
Privy purse?
It’s got to be that or, they are the ‘chosen ones’. ‘Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people’ (Exodus 19:5-6). What more can one say of our montris. The week before last I wrote that Rs 18,13,926 of your, by now very expendable, tax money was spent renovating the official residence of Digambar Kamat between June 8, 2007 and now. To do up the official residence of the Home Minister, Ravi Naik, Rs 5,25,185 was spent. It went like this: Rs 4,17,843 went to paint the bungalow; add some repair costs to that. Installing an FRP (fibre reinforced plastic) cabin cost Rs 1,07,342. Now, why on earth do you think he would need that? As a swine flu shelter, you think? Rs 2,49,202 was spent to paint the bungalow (F-0-1) of the Health Minister, Vishwajeet Rane. Chosen ones? Indeed. In actual fact, Naik ordered the bungalow to be painted internally and externally but then shifted residence on October 21, 2007 to the bungalow called ‘Herambh’.
The Color of Money
That was the motion picture about a young pool hustler learning the tricks of the trade from an old pro, based on the novel by Walter Tevis. Paul Newman earned an Academy Award for his performance as the aging pool shark Eddie in this film, which was released in 1986. Where’s the connection? That’s not hard to figure out, but for the moment let’s say this is how you get hustled out of your tax money. Rs 1,03,779 was spent to paint (externally only) and to carry out ‘urgent repairs’ to F-0-2, the official bungalow of the Public Works Department Minister, Churchill Alemao. Rs 9,36,450 was incurred to carry out ‘various repairs’. Replacing a chandelier and a wall fitting in the hall cost Rs 24,817. A horizontal (!) water heater cost Rs 19,690. Rs 30,650 was spent to fit an air conditioner in a ‘separately constructed room’ in the (his) chamber at the Government Secretariat at Porvorim. That amounts to a whopping Rs 1,11,5,386.
Gory details
Now, this is the really, really frustrating part. Rs 4,97,292 of your tax bucks was spent to buy precisely 82 items for the official bungalow of Digambar Kamat. But what boggles the mind, are items like the two TVs (Rs 19,000+Rs 90,000) a refrigerator, folding ladder, and several wall clocks. So, who took away the earlier ones then? What happened to the original curtains also, because new curtains were bought for Rs 1,32,231. And, for crying out loud, why buy four wall paintings for Rs 76,000. I can understand our montris not wanting to use their predecessor’s towels and linen, but it does seem strange when you have to replace every single conceivable kitchenware, cookware, crockery and cutlery or, do they want to start with a clean slate, so to speak. Because, when you need a rice strainer (Rs 360), it does prove they start from the beginning. All one can is when someone else is being suckered, our montris become fastidious!
All this reminds me of the furore in Dilli over External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his deputy Shashi Tharoor staying in five-star hotels for the last three months. They both defended themselves saying they were picking up the tab. But even if one overlooks Shashi Tharoor (he did declare assets of nearly Rs 30 crores as a candidate from Thiruvanathapuram) and chalk it down to his earnings from his career as a diplomat with the UN and from his books, what was Krishna’s source of income considering he has been a career politician? To think he could afford Rs one lakh per day on the presidential suite at Hotel Ashoka for the last three months!! Am I giving our montris ideas? God forbid!
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
Sound and fury
Finger pointing
If you have been reading the Herald, you would have read of the allegations, finger pointing etcetera etcetera leveled by Sheila Gracias and Dr. Marconi Correia at the Cansaulim-Arrosim-Cuelim-Village Panchayat Gram Sabha meeting on August 16, and at a few more gatherings before this meeting. Is there a connection here and a happening trend? It’s possible, because people have been telling me that a good percentage of villagers who are raising a hue and cry are those who do not own properties (apart from their small homes) and also, sadly bhatkars. Foot loose and fancy free now and very rich too having sold huge properties, they hang out with villagers pretending to be activists. And please, there is absolutely no inference here to anyone in these three villages. But it’s happening, and the Varca taxi drivers would be my ‘Exhibit A’ submission in a debate on this.
The other side
And as a coin has two sides, this one does too. And this is the version of Blanche Pereira, the Sarpanch, who says that at an extraordinary meeting of the Gram Sabha on April 11, to discuss the Regional Plan (RP) 2021, attended by 81 members; she asked them if they wanted to reserve parts of the land as open spaces for the village of Cansaulim. According to her, none voiced their opinion and two resolutions to this effect were passed (no. 13 and 14). According to her, Mathany Saldanha and Marconi Correia were present.
In fact according to Blanche Pereira, this meeting was specifically held because at an earlier Gram Sabha on March 29, 2009, Sheila Gracias had alleged that the meeting was futile since in the kit, the 2001 map concerning the RP was not provided. According to the Sarpanch, kits were officially provided to the VP as early as December 2008 and were available for public scrutiny.
In addition, she says, coloured maps were printed and distributed to the ward committee members. Also, the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department had invited a list of architects on a voluntary basis and the VP body chose Nilesh Salkar of Vasco da Gama, who suggested that the ward committees make their plans and submit them to the TCP in Panjim. According to Blanche, Sheila Gracias had, on the contrary, suggested the name of another architect, Carlos Gracias. He with the other ward committee members went to the wards (according to Blanche Pereira, not all the wards) and identified only the sand dunes, ponds, and lakes. They did not survey the Cansaulim and Arossim beach roads, the existing village roads, and the main district road to the village, the Cansaulim railway station, government schools, and hospitals, which as a result were omitted in the ward plans.
What orchard zone?
On the day of the special Gram Sabha on April 11, she says, the committee members submitted their ward-wise plans duly signed to the VP in the presence of a town planner from Vasco. “There was no discussion on the plans that were submitted. However, Sheila Gracias stood up and said that the beach area should be declared an orchard zone. In reality, the notion of an orchard zone is against the land use laws as recommended by the Centre for land between the 200 m and 500 m High Tide Line. A panch, Ferwin Saldanha then asked everyone present if they wanted to keep their properties as open spaces under the orchard zone which meant no development would be allowed. No one responded. ”
Blanche says that after incorporating the ward level plans into the main plan she invited Carlos Gracias to quote the resolution that said there must be an orchard zone. He could not, and refused to sign the maps. “The resolution of the meeting was approved by all the members present and therefore, accusing me now of not reserving an orchard zone, is baseless. All the plans can be obtained from the TCP under the RTI, if anybody wants to verify what I have said.” She says also that during scrutiny of the combined map by Carlos Gracias, villagers, including all the panchas, gave in writing their objections to the orchard zone.
(Feedback 6658606, 9763718501 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)
If you have been reading the Herald, you would have read of the allegations, finger pointing etcetera etcetera leveled by Sheila Gracias and Dr. Marconi Correia at the Cansaulim-Arrosim-Cuelim-Village Panchayat Gram Sabha meeting on August 16, and at a few more gatherings before this meeting. Is there a connection here and a happening trend? It’s possible, because people have been telling me that a good percentage of villagers who are raising a hue and cry are those who do not own properties (apart from their small homes) and also, sadly bhatkars. Foot loose and fancy free now and very rich too having sold huge properties, they hang out with villagers pretending to be activists. And please, there is absolutely no inference here to anyone in these three villages. But it’s happening, and the Varca taxi drivers would be my ‘Exhibit A’ submission in a debate on this.
The other side
And as a coin has two sides, this one does too. And this is the version of Blanche Pereira, the Sarpanch, who says that at an extraordinary meeting of the Gram Sabha on April 11, to discuss the Regional Plan (RP) 2021, attended by 81 members; she asked them if they wanted to reserve parts of the land as open spaces for the village of Cansaulim. According to her, none voiced their opinion and two resolutions to this effect were passed (no. 13 and 14). According to her, Mathany Saldanha and Marconi Correia were present.
In fact according to Blanche Pereira, this meeting was specifically held because at an earlier Gram Sabha on March 29, 2009, Sheila Gracias had alleged that the meeting was futile since in the kit, the 2001 map concerning the RP was not provided. According to the Sarpanch, kits were officially provided to the VP as early as December 2008 and were available for public scrutiny.
In addition, she says, coloured maps were printed and distributed to the ward committee members. Also, the Town and Country Planning (TCP) department had invited a list of architects on a voluntary basis and the VP body chose Nilesh Salkar of Vasco da Gama, who suggested that the ward committees make their plans and submit them to the TCP in Panjim. According to Blanche, Sheila Gracias had, on the contrary, suggested the name of another architect, Carlos Gracias. He with the other ward committee members went to the wards (according to Blanche Pereira, not all the wards) and identified only the sand dunes, ponds, and lakes. They did not survey the Cansaulim and Arossim beach roads, the existing village roads, and the main district road to the village, the Cansaulim railway station, government schools, and hospitals, which as a result were omitted in the ward plans.
What orchard zone?
On the day of the special Gram Sabha on April 11, she says, the committee members submitted their ward-wise plans duly signed to the VP in the presence of a town planner from Vasco. “There was no discussion on the plans that were submitted. However, Sheila Gracias stood up and said that the beach area should be declared an orchard zone. In reality, the notion of an orchard zone is against the land use laws as recommended by the Centre for land between the 200 m and 500 m High Tide Line. A panch, Ferwin Saldanha then asked everyone present if they wanted to keep their properties as open spaces under the orchard zone which meant no development would be allowed. No one responded. ”
Blanche says that after incorporating the ward level plans into the main plan she invited Carlos Gracias to quote the resolution that said there must be an orchard zone. He could not, and refused to sign the maps. “The resolution of the meeting was approved by all the members present and therefore, accusing me now of not reserving an orchard zone, is baseless. All the plans can be obtained from the TCP under the RTI, if anybody wants to verify what I have said.” She says also that during scrutiny of the combined map by Carlos Gracias, villagers, including all the panchas, gave in writing their objections to the orchard zone.
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