Egg or chicken?
What will come first, the much delayed Regional Plan 2021 for Goa or Goa’s Mineral Policy? If the former is out first, this government will fall and that is the odds on favourite and not all the income tax raids in the world will make Humpty Dumpty (read as in the seven MLA’s called the G7) fall from the wall. So, the Mineral policy will come out first because Jairam Ramesh, the Union Minister, has asked Digambar Kamat to impose a moratorium on new mining leases. The Minister of State for Environment & Forests has also returned all the proposals sent to him from Goa. Both decisions were taken under the provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006. To make damn sure everybody in Goa understands this, the Director, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Dr. O.L Ahujaraj even shot off a memo, a copy of which was delivered to the Goa State Pollution Control Board.
Litmus Test
The Regional plan won’t be out because our politicians strongly believe in ‘development’ which in Goa means building huge, expensive buildings which is why the Corporation of the City of Panjim (CCP) is planning to build a spanking new headquarters for itself. Because in Goa development is meant only for the self-development of politicians. And guess who will make a whack on the proposed Rs 97 crore building, though this is something that is very much in the air at the moment. Talking about air, if it gets down from there and becomes reality (or should I say Realty?) on the ground, it will mean demolishing the CCP’s existing building and constructing a new one. Unless of course, the CCP has the guts to take on the Army which has this huge plot of land adjacent to its headquarters in a prime location tucked away in the heart of Panjim which it uses as some kind of garage. The land belongs to the CCP. And if you still are confused over what will come out first, here’s a benchmark to help you make your decision. None of the 8,600 suggestions/objections made by the public have been considered for the Regional Plan by the people in charge. On the other hand, the PWD has signed an agreement with Sesa Goa by which it will acquire land for the mining company whose annual profits exceed Goa’s budget to build a 10 km long road from Codli to Panchwadi.
Should GSPC change its name?
The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPB) has received 45 complaints from individuals on mining ore dust pollution between July 1, 2009 and November 13, 2009. All the GSPB did was forward the complaint letters to such authorities as the local police station in the area, the Director of Transport or Director of Mines and Geology. What could be worse than that? So, is GSPB confused about its role in life and is actually trying to prevent punitive action against mining polluters? It should consider changing its name to Goa State Protection of Polluters Control Board.
Notorious Public
It’s not only the people who run government and those that bring it down occasionally so they can sit on the throne that are greedy and corrupt. It is also those that sit on the sidelines. Show me a trader or vendor who won’t cream you off and top it with a prayer on how corrupt the entire political establishment is. There is a new entrant to the greedy brigade – Notary Public and Sub-Registrars. The Sub-Registrar in Vasco da Gama demands and gets Rs 3,000 per sale agreement he attests. The gratifying thing is he does not assess his ‘self-development fee’ on the basis of the value of your newly-bought house like the official taxman does, he just set his ‘fee’ at Rs 3,000 and has stuck to that till last week. Considering his rather large fiefdom which includes lucrative real estate areas like Vasco itself, Sancoale and further, this modern day feudal lord hardly ever looks up from his desk as he collects his daily plunder. He even pockets the change left over after billing you for the T-Form. Not so the Notary Public. These men and women across Goa look only at that line, that damaging line that reveals how much you paid for that house, factor in that unsaid black money (and experience has gained them much knowledge) and slam you with a fee that could knock you off that cheap furniture you find in every lawyer’s office. Sometimes you get a rather convoluted lecture (I was witness to one recently in Panjim) on the revenue loss to government which you are not supposed to understand why at that point in time, but becomes abundantly apparent in a flash after you are told the cost of that crucial signature.
Cashing in on river Mandovi
Aditya Puri, the HDFC’s MD stretched his banking experience to the banks of the river Mandovi in Ribandar just after the Chorao Island ferry crossing. Awed villagers there wonder what it takes for Goans to build such a huge bungalow on the banks of the river with a swimming pool thrown in for good measure. Further down the road villagers say a son of Anju Timblo bought out the erstwhile Camelot (the antique furniture shop) and is restoring it in a way only she can do, swimming pool and all (again), and with the gusto of all that experience gained from building her 5-star resort Cidade de Goa at Curla, Vainguinim beach near Dona Paula. But, can she restore our lost faith in her through the restoration work currently going on?
Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Weighty Issues
Going (coco)nuts over Assembly questions
Not a week passes without some central government ministry, state ministry, or the Supreme Court making some comment or the other on the justification of the Right To Information (that’s the only right you have in India gifted by Sonia Gandhi, the rest is all bakwas) or, whether it is really within your rights. Never mind the very essence of RTI, which I thought was your right to information. Period. But, look at the way your MLAs waste official money and time of government babus and clerks. The questions asked in the March Budget Session of the Goa Assembly literally and figuratively outweigh any RTI question that may have been asked across the length and breadth of India. By outweigh I don’t mean overshadow, I mean they truly tipped the scales. The MLA from St. Cruz, Victoria Fernandes asked to list the beneficiaries of various schemes of the Agriculture Department. The answer all of 1,549 pages, I thought, must have weighed at least 5 kilogrammes. What on earth did she want to know that for? Another question asked by her, more or less covered the same areas, with some deviations like whether the government intends to start new schemes; whether the government has explored the various potential uses of the coconut, other than for cooking (!); details of the support price scheme i.e amount given to various persons in the past two years for various agriculture produce covered along with names and addresses. Names and addresses, addresses! For crying out loud, what in blazes for? Since Victoria I think doesn’t have a beef with Agriculture Minister Vishwjeet Rane, she must really hate the department’s officials who must have spent weeks correlating piles of information to produce the 971 pages produced to the Assembly. Factor in the 40 copies handed over to MLAs, media and those with less baggage to carry, that was a lot of wasted paper. And many trees must have been cut so Victoria could seem earnest.
PhD anyone?
But was Victoria given the right answers? You will never know, will you? She wanted to know the list of beneficiaries who have taken the benefit of the support price for various crops (constituency-wise that too) such as sugarcane, beetlenut etc from June 2007 till date. Constituency wise! Now YOU would be within your rights to think she might be doing her doctorate.
Rane through the wringer
You pick, but the March 2010 Budget Session did look like suspiciously like a Question-Rane Week. Why would the Mayem MLA Anant Shet want to know whether the government has plans to offer the various schemes of the department to farmers cultivating their fields in property owned by the government or under custodian of Evacuee Property? Or, why would the Mandrem MLA Laxmikant Parsekar want to know the taluk-wise quantity of paddy produced in the last three years, the area under cultivation, details of farmers who have got the benefit of the support price –their names and benefit availed. The answers given went into 73 pages. There was this weighty question asked of Rane by Manohar Parrikar. ‘Give the number of referral cases from various health centres to Asilo Hospital and Hospicio Hospital,’ the question said. The answer was 9,967 cases. But the 195 pages really went to answer ‘give details with name of patient, date of referral and reasons for referral for the last two years’. Rane is also the Health Minister. But for lighthearted quizzing, this question from the Siolim MLA Dayanand Mandrekar, whatever his intentions were, must take the cake, bakery and leftovers too. The question put to the Power Minister Aleixo Sequeira was ‘give the number of posts filled by the Electricity Department from 2008 till date with details like names, dates of advertising the posts, interview dates and copies of their educational certificates.’ The answers took 575 pages. Class participation comes with a price for the babus and forests!
Long arm of the law
The Law Commission was set up on April 6, 2009 and a grant-in-aid of Rs 35 lakh was given to be spent till March 2, 2010. Here’s how it spent your tax bucks. Salaries Rs 16,24,678. Honorarium to members (sitting fee of Rs 1,500) Rs 1,11,000. Domestic travel Rs 37,189. Office expenses Rs 2,25,304. P.O.L Rs 1,32,185. Wages Rs 1,700. Advertising Rs 2,840. Total Rs 21,34,896. An extra Rs 11,42,528 was spent on its chairman. Breakup: Salaries paid to his personal staff Rs 11,05,339. Tour expenses Rs 37,189. Now Goa would actually not need a Law Commission if it had an Advocate General who could deliver says my friend Aires Rodrigues. So, was it created to accommodate Ramakant Khalap, its chairman, because then why the cabinet status rank for him? Just for the record all previous chairman of Law Commissions across India are retired High Court or Supreme Court Judges.
The first Law Commission was appointed by the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu on July 20, 1968 in pursuance of a government resolution dated July 18, 1968 to examine the Portuguese Laws in force. The Government appointed Gopal Apa Kamat as chairman, the law secretary O.P Garg as a member and made Tito de Menezes as its third member (appointed by the chairman). The tenure of the Commission was for a period of three years in the first instance.
Today, the two other members are Cleofato Coutinho and Mario Pinto Almeida, both lawyers. There is a huge task ahead of them, but of that later.
Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
Not a week passes without some central government ministry, state ministry, or the Supreme Court making some comment or the other on the justification of the Right To Information (that’s the only right you have in India gifted by Sonia Gandhi, the rest is all bakwas) or, whether it is really within your rights. Never mind the very essence of RTI, which I thought was your right to information. Period. But, look at the way your MLAs waste official money and time of government babus and clerks. The questions asked in the March Budget Session of the Goa Assembly literally and figuratively outweigh any RTI question that may have been asked across the length and breadth of India. By outweigh I don’t mean overshadow, I mean they truly tipped the scales. The MLA from St. Cruz, Victoria Fernandes asked to list the beneficiaries of various schemes of the Agriculture Department. The answer all of 1,549 pages, I thought, must have weighed at least 5 kilogrammes. What on earth did she want to know that for? Another question asked by her, more or less covered the same areas, with some deviations like whether the government intends to start new schemes; whether the government has explored the various potential uses of the coconut, other than for cooking (!); details of the support price scheme i.e amount given to various persons in the past two years for various agriculture produce covered along with names and addresses. Names and addresses, addresses! For crying out loud, what in blazes for? Since Victoria I think doesn’t have a beef with Agriculture Minister Vishwjeet Rane, she must really hate the department’s officials who must have spent weeks correlating piles of information to produce the 971 pages produced to the Assembly. Factor in the 40 copies handed over to MLAs, media and those with less baggage to carry, that was a lot of wasted paper. And many trees must have been cut so Victoria could seem earnest.
PhD anyone?
But was Victoria given the right answers? You will never know, will you? She wanted to know the list of beneficiaries who have taken the benefit of the support price for various crops (constituency-wise that too) such as sugarcane, beetlenut etc from June 2007 till date. Constituency wise! Now YOU would be within your rights to think she might be doing her doctorate.
Rane through the wringer
You pick, but the March 2010 Budget Session did look like suspiciously like a Question-Rane Week. Why would the Mayem MLA Anant Shet want to know whether the government has plans to offer the various schemes of the department to farmers cultivating their fields in property owned by the government or under custodian of Evacuee Property? Or, why would the Mandrem MLA Laxmikant Parsekar want to know the taluk-wise quantity of paddy produced in the last three years, the area under cultivation, details of farmers who have got the benefit of the support price –their names and benefit availed. The answers given went into 73 pages. There was this weighty question asked of Rane by Manohar Parrikar. ‘Give the number of referral cases from various health centres to Asilo Hospital and Hospicio Hospital,’ the question said. The answer was 9,967 cases. But the 195 pages really went to answer ‘give details with name of patient, date of referral and reasons for referral for the last two years’. Rane is also the Health Minister. But for lighthearted quizzing, this question from the Siolim MLA Dayanand Mandrekar, whatever his intentions were, must take the cake, bakery and leftovers too. The question put to the Power Minister Aleixo Sequeira was ‘give the number of posts filled by the Electricity Department from 2008 till date with details like names, dates of advertising the posts, interview dates and copies of their educational certificates.’ The answers took 575 pages. Class participation comes with a price for the babus and forests!
Long arm of the law
The Law Commission was set up on April 6, 2009 and a grant-in-aid of Rs 35 lakh was given to be spent till March 2, 2010. Here’s how it spent your tax bucks. Salaries Rs 16,24,678. Honorarium to members (sitting fee of Rs 1,500) Rs 1,11,000. Domestic travel Rs 37,189. Office expenses Rs 2,25,304. P.O.L Rs 1,32,185. Wages Rs 1,700. Advertising Rs 2,840. Total Rs 21,34,896. An extra Rs 11,42,528 was spent on its chairman. Breakup: Salaries paid to his personal staff Rs 11,05,339. Tour expenses Rs 37,189. Now Goa would actually not need a Law Commission if it had an Advocate General who could deliver says my friend Aires Rodrigues. So, was it created to accommodate Ramakant Khalap, its chairman, because then why the cabinet status rank for him? Just for the record all previous chairman of Law Commissions across India are retired High Court or Supreme Court Judges.
The first Law Commission was appointed by the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu on July 20, 1968 in pursuance of a government resolution dated July 18, 1968 to examine the Portuguese Laws in force. The Government appointed Gopal Apa Kamat as chairman, the law secretary O.P Garg as a member and made Tito de Menezes as its third member (appointed by the chairman). The tenure of the Commission was for a period of three years in the first instance.
Today, the two other members are Cleofato Coutinho and Mario Pinto Almeida, both lawyers. There is a huge task ahead of them, but of that later.
Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
VAT's Going On?
VAT’s what and What’s VAT
That’s what. Most of you know that VAT (Value Added Tax) is the new tax regime that replaced the old. Some of you in industry know of another VAT regime named after the daughter of a certain south Goa politician based out of Circuit House in Margao, Goa’s commercial capital in addition to now being south Goa’s tax capital where a single window system at Circuit House caters to all the ‘personal development’ tax collected. Believe me, never in the annals of Indian taxation at least outside Laloo Prasad Yadav’s erstwhile Bihar has this kind of VAT been so defined and refined, to the extent tax assesses are required to leave their mobiles and pens outside the Commissioner’s chamber, if you get my drift.
This is how Goa’s tax regime works, but first let’s look at how it worked recently in the Taleigao plateau. A manufacturer got an order to supply water storage tanks and was informed by the concerned assistant engineer (AE) that if he was not paid a commission of five per cent he would reject the order; and, or, if the manufacturer did not supply the order he would blacklist the company. A kind of Hobson's Choice if you will –‘if you do not pay VAT your product will be rejected and if you do not supply, your company will be blacklisted.’ This rare to find tough-as-nails company told the AE to take a hike. Eventually, the supply was made and the AE still demanded his commission. You would think this irredeemable specimen of a human would let things lie. Not so. He kept pressurizing the supplier. What happened in time, I hope to tell you soon.
So you think you can dance
This ain’t about the popular TV serial -this is so that you know the Public Works Department (PWD) has Twinkles Toes too. The same said manufacturer the next time around responded to a bunch of PWD tenders worth roughly Rs 38 lacs.
What the manufacturer next heard was the familiar crack of the ring master’s whip and the waltz began. On the dance floor it works like this: first (step forward) the manufacturer was not allowed to quote (a manufacturer with a national presence only was allowed to quote which says a lot about the government’s BS of supporting local industrialists). Next, the local manufacturer demanded to know the basis on which it was rejected through a Right to Information request, as a result of which the PWD took one step backwards (see, this is part of the boogie steps) and retendered the process.
Now, the second time around the same manufacturer quoted around 20 per cent lower, and the PWD used a rather vague rule to eliminate it. Few in the industry knew enough to educate me on this, but it appears there is a loophole to crack the whip even on low bids in a band range of of 15-20 per cent. Mind you, the manufacturer was the lowest bidder in all nine tenders and was told by the chief engineer that it had to pay advance VAT (get my drift again) to the lady with the Twinkle Toes at Circuit House. This time, the manufacturer told the PWD chief engineer he could take a flying leap.
The funny thing is, the manufacturer’s rates went up just after the tender was announced, meaning that the PWD’s estimate price of Rs. 7/litre was fixed when prices were even lower. Had the local manufacturer’s prices not been raised a little before the tender due to the cost increase, the difference would have been 30 per cent plus. So, despite being the premium brand, the PWD feels it is too cheap. Its brand is among the higher priced tanks and if its quoted price was around 20 per cent lower, you as a taxpayer have the right to know on what basis the PWD fixed the estimated rate price. You will also be within your rights (those of you who have the courage to ask, that is) what kind of prices is PWD paying? Why is it spending taxpayers’ money and getting the lousiest rate for bulk purchases?
Not sticking to the straight and narrow
The picture we have is of real estate builders making pots of money after bulldozing (literally and figuratively) their way through Goa mowing down a hill here, converting land there so that some outsider can come and enjoy the sun and sea for a week every year. But things are not always that hunky dory, I’m glad to report. Someone in the business was telling me that a prominent builder does not get a walk-in just because he is has an all-India brand name to reckon with. Normally building loans are given out in three ways: the entire amount is handed over on the basis of an approved plan, the money is parceled out on a time-line basis in a way as to release the amount at different stages of building and finally, on the basis of construction. Needless to mention the last resort is adopted in cases when you don’t trust a builder to follow an approved plan. The prominent Delhi-builder gets this treatment “because I cannot trust them as they are known to deviate from an approved plan.” The building industry source tells me “legally they may be right but technically wrong and the latter is what concerns us.” So, now we know why certain housing projects that promised the sun and the moon have been stalled. And, why it is advertising, like the sun won’t rise on Monday morning.
Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
That’s what. Most of you know that VAT (Value Added Tax) is the new tax regime that replaced the old. Some of you in industry know of another VAT regime named after the daughter of a certain south Goa politician based out of Circuit House in Margao, Goa’s commercial capital in addition to now being south Goa’s tax capital where a single window system at Circuit House caters to all the ‘personal development’ tax collected. Believe me, never in the annals of Indian taxation at least outside Laloo Prasad Yadav’s erstwhile Bihar has this kind of VAT been so defined and refined, to the extent tax assesses are required to leave their mobiles and pens outside the Commissioner’s chamber, if you get my drift.
This is how Goa’s tax regime works, but first let’s look at how it worked recently in the Taleigao plateau. A manufacturer got an order to supply water storage tanks and was informed by the concerned assistant engineer (AE) that if he was not paid a commission of five per cent he would reject the order; and, or, if the manufacturer did not supply the order he would blacklist the company. A kind of Hobson's Choice if you will –‘if you do not pay VAT your product will be rejected and if you do not supply, your company will be blacklisted.’ This rare to find tough-as-nails company told the AE to take a hike. Eventually, the supply was made and the AE still demanded his commission. You would think this irredeemable specimen of a human would let things lie. Not so. He kept pressurizing the supplier. What happened in time, I hope to tell you soon.
So you think you can dance
This ain’t about the popular TV serial -this is so that you know the Public Works Department (PWD) has Twinkles Toes too. The same said manufacturer the next time around responded to a bunch of PWD tenders worth roughly Rs 38 lacs.
What the manufacturer next heard was the familiar crack of the ring master’s whip and the waltz began. On the dance floor it works like this: first (step forward) the manufacturer was not allowed to quote (a manufacturer with a national presence only was allowed to quote which says a lot about the government’s BS of supporting local industrialists). Next, the local manufacturer demanded to know the basis on which it was rejected through a Right to Information request, as a result of which the PWD took one step backwards (see, this is part of the boogie steps) and retendered the process.
Now, the second time around the same manufacturer quoted around 20 per cent lower, and the PWD used a rather vague rule to eliminate it. Few in the industry knew enough to educate me on this, but it appears there is a loophole to crack the whip even on low bids in a band range of of 15-20 per cent. Mind you, the manufacturer was the lowest bidder in all nine tenders and was told by the chief engineer that it had to pay advance VAT (get my drift again) to the lady with the Twinkle Toes at Circuit House. This time, the manufacturer told the PWD chief engineer he could take a flying leap.
The funny thing is, the manufacturer’s rates went up just after the tender was announced, meaning that the PWD’s estimate price of Rs. 7/litre was fixed when prices were even lower. Had the local manufacturer’s prices not been raised a little before the tender due to the cost increase, the difference would have been 30 per cent plus. So, despite being the premium brand, the PWD feels it is too cheap. Its brand is among the higher priced tanks and if its quoted price was around 20 per cent lower, you as a taxpayer have the right to know on what basis the PWD fixed the estimated rate price. You will also be within your rights (those of you who have the courage to ask, that is) what kind of prices is PWD paying? Why is it spending taxpayers’ money and getting the lousiest rate for bulk purchases?
Not sticking to the straight and narrow
The picture we have is of real estate builders making pots of money after bulldozing (literally and figuratively) their way through Goa mowing down a hill here, converting land there so that some outsider can come and enjoy the sun and sea for a week every year. But things are not always that hunky dory, I’m glad to report. Someone in the business was telling me that a prominent builder does not get a walk-in just because he is has an all-India brand name to reckon with. Normally building loans are given out in three ways: the entire amount is handed over on the basis of an approved plan, the money is parceled out on a time-line basis in a way as to release the amount at different stages of building and finally, on the basis of construction. Needless to mention the last resort is adopted in cases when you don’t trust a builder to follow an approved plan. The prominent Delhi-builder gets this treatment “because I cannot trust them as they are known to deviate from an approved plan.” The building industry source tells me “legally they may be right but technically wrong and the latter is what concerns us.” So, now we know why certain housing projects that promised the sun and the moon have been stalled. And, why it is advertising, like the sun won’t rise on Monday morning.
Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
A Golden Opportunity
All that glitters is not gold
It’s what Indian politicians do, acquire land and donate it to rich industrialists who never look a gift horse in the mouth, but the extent to which Goan politicians will go to boggles the mind in land-scarce Goa. This attempt to acquire land near Margao should concern even the worst cynic who thinks this is a good thing that’s happening. In this case, land is being acquired for Daivadnya Samaj, a society of goldsmiths which during the period when the landowners were legally trying (actual date: August 21, 2007) to prevent the acquisition actually failed to renew its registration which had lapsed. Strange but true.
What is even more odd is the fact that a certain Daivadnya Samaj member owns 6,000 sq. mt of land, a distance of about 500 mt. from the land that is sought to be acquired. The beneficiaries are just 15 members of the society but the golden egg for Chief Minister Digambar Kamat behind this bizarre land acquisition is perhaps the vote bank of the goldsmiths who are mostly supporters of the BJP. According to Pundalik Virdikar, a journalist and one of the two victims of yet another land acquisition scam, Daivadnya Samaj (registration no. 97/GOA097 dated 29.7.97) applied to the Collector, South Goa on August 24, 2006 for the 5,347 sq. mt of land at Calcondem, Navelim, Margao for a “community welfare project”. The figures 15 and 5,347 matched together ought to convince you what this community welfare project will end up becoming!
Strange, odd, bizarre
After considering every imaginable dimension and stretching himself to the limit, the Deputy Collector awarded the victims a compensation of, hold on tight to your armrests, Rs 45,567. Ok, if you are horizontal on the floor and still clutching your Herald in shock, the figure even now should read Rs 45,567 which technically has to be shared with the Margao Communidade. Now, Digambar Kamat I wrote in this column recently spent Rs 37,399 (April 2008-March 2009) and Rs 67,363 (April 2007 and March 2008) on refreshments to entertain his visitors at the Secretariat. Turn cold on the thought that your montris think this low of your inherited land and what could be all the financial security you have. Just to make your Sunday even more pleasantly miserable, do be informed that of the compensation award of Rs 45,567, Rs 11,411 was gratuitously awarded as additional compensation under two different sections of the acquisition act! I have since been trying to imagine the twisted, perverse, wicked sense of humour of those men who wrote that very mean act, and, why it hasn’t been changed since.
Earlier you read of two facts, one called ‘strange’, the other called ‘odd’. This is bizarre. Because, earlier the same land was being acquired for a government village school playground, but was subsequently stopped and the intent advertised in a newspaper on April 16, 2007, which means the two acquisition processes (at least) actually overlapped each other. Remember Daivadnya Samaj applied for the land on August 24, 2006.
If there’s money, there’s honey
Something’s fishy in the oft disturbed waters of Cortalim. There was the Bharti Shipyard minor tsunami earlier if you recall which the villagers, bless their hardened souls, doused after much betrayal from their MLA and the Chicalim sarpanch Raul D’Costa who was clearly behind Bharti’s plan to build a second shipyard. There is something sinister going on now if you consider that the local MLA Mauvin Godinho is suddenly showing interest in building a 10 mt wide road (where no road is needed) to the coast. When asked why so wide, he reportedly said that the road had to be wide enough to accommodate a drainage system. Now, in a state where building Ravindra Bharatis (one currently being built in Baina, Vasco, another on the Verna-Dabolim airport road of all places) and hosting the International Film Festival of India for which (Rs 1,26,90,578) was spent only on hotel accommodation) at taxpayer’s cost is legitimate if you stretch a point, a lonely road to nowhere sounds odd. Nah, can’t be, there’s no money to be made here.
But wait, there’s got to be a raison d’ etre. It turns out there is. It appears an industrialist from Mormugao taluka with cash to spare for the good life and whose heart was never really in the family business, wants to set up a marina there. Unlike the other marina rumours, this one is for real, which is why some panchas belonging to the Chicalim Village Panchayat (VP) are now (bee)sy rallying behind the Queen Bee to build that beehive (apologies to Mayawati, the daulat-ki-beti who got stung by the money mala not the bees hovering overhead), oops sorry, road. As one bee in the VP said to another, “See honey, there’s always money where the honey is.”
Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
It’s what Indian politicians do, acquire land and donate it to rich industrialists who never look a gift horse in the mouth, but the extent to which Goan politicians will go to boggles the mind in land-scarce Goa. This attempt to acquire land near Margao should concern even the worst cynic who thinks this is a good thing that’s happening. In this case, land is being acquired for Daivadnya Samaj, a society of goldsmiths which during the period when the landowners were legally trying (actual date: August 21, 2007) to prevent the acquisition actually failed to renew its registration which had lapsed. Strange but true.
What is even more odd is the fact that a certain Daivadnya Samaj member owns 6,000 sq. mt of land, a distance of about 500 mt. from the land that is sought to be acquired. The beneficiaries are just 15 members of the society but the golden egg for Chief Minister Digambar Kamat behind this bizarre land acquisition is perhaps the vote bank of the goldsmiths who are mostly supporters of the BJP. According to Pundalik Virdikar, a journalist and one of the two victims of yet another land acquisition scam, Daivadnya Samaj (registration no. 97/GOA097 dated 29.7.97) applied to the Collector, South Goa on August 24, 2006 for the 5,347 sq. mt of land at Calcondem, Navelim, Margao for a “community welfare project”. The figures 15 and 5,347 matched together ought to convince you what this community welfare project will end up becoming!
Strange, odd, bizarre
After considering every imaginable dimension and stretching himself to the limit, the Deputy Collector awarded the victims a compensation of, hold on tight to your armrests, Rs 45,567. Ok, if you are horizontal on the floor and still clutching your Herald in shock, the figure even now should read Rs 45,567 which technically has to be shared with the Margao Communidade. Now, Digambar Kamat I wrote in this column recently spent Rs 37,399 (April 2008-March 2009) and Rs 67,363 (April 2007 and March 2008) on refreshments to entertain his visitors at the Secretariat. Turn cold on the thought that your montris think this low of your inherited land and what could be all the financial security you have. Just to make your Sunday even more pleasantly miserable, do be informed that of the compensation award of Rs 45,567, Rs 11,411 was gratuitously awarded as additional compensation under two different sections of the acquisition act! I have since been trying to imagine the twisted, perverse, wicked sense of humour of those men who wrote that very mean act, and, why it hasn’t been changed since.
Earlier you read of two facts, one called ‘strange’, the other called ‘odd’. This is bizarre. Because, earlier the same land was being acquired for a government village school playground, but was subsequently stopped and the intent advertised in a newspaper on April 16, 2007, which means the two acquisition processes (at least) actually overlapped each other. Remember Daivadnya Samaj applied for the land on August 24, 2006.
If there’s money, there’s honey
Something’s fishy in the oft disturbed waters of Cortalim. There was the Bharti Shipyard minor tsunami earlier if you recall which the villagers, bless their hardened souls, doused after much betrayal from their MLA and the Chicalim sarpanch Raul D’Costa who was clearly behind Bharti’s plan to build a second shipyard. There is something sinister going on now if you consider that the local MLA Mauvin Godinho is suddenly showing interest in building a 10 mt wide road (where no road is needed) to the coast. When asked why so wide, he reportedly said that the road had to be wide enough to accommodate a drainage system. Now, in a state where building Ravindra Bharatis (one currently being built in Baina, Vasco, another on the Verna-Dabolim airport road of all places) and hosting the International Film Festival of India for which (Rs 1,26,90,578) was spent only on hotel accommodation) at taxpayer’s cost is legitimate if you stretch a point, a lonely road to nowhere sounds odd. Nah, can’t be, there’s no money to be made here.
But wait, there’s got to be a raison d’ etre. It turns out there is. It appears an industrialist from Mormugao taluka with cash to spare for the good life and whose heart was never really in the family business, wants to set up a marina there. Unlike the other marina rumours, this one is for real, which is why some panchas belonging to the Chicalim Village Panchayat (VP) are now (bee)sy rallying behind the Queen Bee to build that beehive (apologies to Mayawati, the daulat-ki-beti who got stung by the money mala not the bees hovering overhead), oops sorry, road. As one bee in the VP said to another, “See honey, there’s always money where the honey is.”
Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Verna's water woes
Verna, a watery graveyard?
It has come full circle. Mauvin Godinho’s idea of an Electronic Estate at Verna, since it was started has been weathering storm after storm on the surface. Down below in nature’s underground there is another battle being fought, this one to protect scarce groundwater resources. And though there is a so-called Water Resources Department (WRD) in Goa, it is always only concerned citizens who appear to be concerned. The people that investigated the depleting groundwater resources in the Verna plateau (Report of the committee constituted to study water resources management in the Verna Industrial Estate), among them, the Voice of Villagers/Nagao, Verna, came up with this. From among the 326 industrial units inspected by the team, it was observed that 192 borewells including two open wells had been sunk. That’s a whole lot of wells, while the rest of Goa thirsts for water.
Water plateaued?
There’s no saying how much water these 194 wells spout because the industrialists are as sensitive as your government is secretive, but it appears that it works out to 8,470 cu. mt annually or 23.20 cu. mt per day. At least this is what was officially reported to the WRD. In case you didn’t know, a normal sized water tanker that you must hire, because the PWD isn’t so spirited about digging borewells for your sake, carries 12 cu. mt or 12,000 litres of water. Keep this figure in mind as you read on. Seventeen industries dug two or more borewells. Thirteen more were seen around the huge estate, while the PWD dug another seven exclusively for the industrial units. Strange but true --the WRD sunk eight borewells to evaluate the groundwater table. Talk about throwing good money after bad. Of course, the WRD hasn’t a clue about the long term behaviour of the groundwater table. It wants you to check with them after three years because the test wells have just been dug. But time, just like water, is what the lower lying villages don’t have. But the fact of the matter is some borewells have been dug to a depth of 130 mt, others to a depth of 70 mt; and as a result there could be a huge difference in the groundwater resource levels.
River runs dry
When Siemens was prevented from excavating land within the estate (referred to in the previous column) on Monday last by Joao Philip Pereira, it was because of the fear that the excavation would affect the water channel through which water flows from the estate into the valley further down into Verna, through Nuvem and onto Cavellossim. In fact, according to him, the PWD is pumping water from at least one borewell to an overhead tank to Mardol village and selling it to consumers at the price of processed water.
Obfuscation watered down
The six-member team had on board two officials each from the WRD and two from the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), so all this comes from the horse’s mouth –the nonofficial members were Pereira and Edwin Pinto. It said five industries including Microlab, Parle Export, Siddi Vinayak (Kingfisher mineral water), Hindustan Coca Cola and Funtacy, consumed 469.11 cu. mt water per day. Though Hindustan Coca Cola has piped water, it draws water from the borewell on a 24-hour basis to keep pace with its huge demand. If you have been caught high and dry so far by the tizzy pace of the water flow, here’s a ready reckoner. The 326 units inspected consumed 8470 cu. mt annually (23.20 cu. mt per day). That’s what they declared to WRD, remember? The PWD supplies GIDC 561 cu. mt of water per day. This is as per the average billing of PWD to GIDC based on the last available 12 month period. Again, according to the industrial units which have borewells, their per water consumption is 3,073 cu. mt per day, and it is estimated that 1,380 cu. mt per day is sucked out through other wells outside the estate by consumers like Meta Copper & Alloys Ltd., Mardol Restaurant and Mardol Temple Trust, that sunk a total of 13 wells (these consumers are included in the figure of 326 units inspected by the team.) When you tote up the secondary figures (all officially declared) and discover that they don’t add up to the total consumption, this is only because no one appears to know what really goes on at Verna.
Mosquitoes and D’Artagan
Why should Churchill Alemao apologise to the G7 who are truly beginning to act like that self-exalted group of nations? Shouldn’t the G7 apologise to you instead for wasting your valuable tax money almost every week this year jetting off to Pune, Bombay and Delhi to meet Sharad Pawar etc? If Churchill must apologise it must be to be to the descendents of Alexandre Dumas who wrote that classic ‘The Three Musketeers’ which narrates the adventures of D'Artagnan after he leaves home to become a guard of the musketeers. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, inseparable friends who live by the motto "all for one, one for all". As for mosquitoes, shouldn’t anybody who bleeds your tax money, not be called a mosquito? Churchill might have done his homework for once, because mosquitoes cause more human suffering than any other organism on this planet. Here read ‘human suffering’ as ‘development deprivation’ because thanks to those tax bucks going down the drain, you don’t even have garbage disposal among the many things you don’t have.
Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
It has come full circle. Mauvin Godinho’s idea of an Electronic Estate at Verna, since it was started has been weathering storm after storm on the surface. Down below in nature’s underground there is another battle being fought, this one to protect scarce groundwater resources. And though there is a so-called Water Resources Department (WRD) in Goa, it is always only concerned citizens who appear to be concerned. The people that investigated the depleting groundwater resources in the Verna plateau (Report of the committee constituted to study water resources management in the Verna Industrial Estate), among them, the Voice of Villagers/Nagao, Verna, came up with this. From among the 326 industrial units inspected by the team, it was observed that 192 borewells including two open wells had been sunk. That’s a whole lot of wells, while the rest of Goa thirsts for water.
Water plateaued?
There’s no saying how much water these 194 wells spout because the industrialists are as sensitive as your government is secretive, but it appears that it works out to 8,470 cu. mt annually or 23.20 cu. mt per day. At least this is what was officially reported to the WRD. In case you didn’t know, a normal sized water tanker that you must hire, because the PWD isn’t so spirited about digging borewells for your sake, carries 12 cu. mt or 12,000 litres of water. Keep this figure in mind as you read on. Seventeen industries dug two or more borewells. Thirteen more were seen around the huge estate, while the PWD dug another seven exclusively for the industrial units. Strange but true --the WRD sunk eight borewells to evaluate the groundwater table. Talk about throwing good money after bad. Of course, the WRD hasn’t a clue about the long term behaviour of the groundwater table. It wants you to check with them after three years because the test wells have just been dug. But time, just like water, is what the lower lying villages don’t have. But the fact of the matter is some borewells have been dug to a depth of 130 mt, others to a depth of 70 mt; and as a result there could be a huge difference in the groundwater resource levels.
River runs dry
When Siemens was prevented from excavating land within the estate (referred to in the previous column) on Monday last by Joao Philip Pereira, it was because of the fear that the excavation would affect the water channel through which water flows from the estate into the valley further down into Verna, through Nuvem and onto Cavellossim. In fact, according to him, the PWD is pumping water from at least one borewell to an overhead tank to Mardol village and selling it to consumers at the price of processed water.
Obfuscation watered down
The six-member team had on board two officials each from the WRD and two from the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), so all this comes from the horse’s mouth –the nonofficial members were Pereira and Edwin Pinto. It said five industries including Microlab, Parle Export, Siddi Vinayak (Kingfisher mineral water), Hindustan Coca Cola and Funtacy, consumed 469.11 cu. mt water per day. Though Hindustan Coca Cola has piped water, it draws water from the borewell on a 24-hour basis to keep pace with its huge demand. If you have been caught high and dry so far by the tizzy pace of the water flow, here’s a ready reckoner. The 326 units inspected consumed 8470 cu. mt annually (23.20 cu. mt per day). That’s what they declared to WRD, remember? The PWD supplies GIDC 561 cu. mt of water per day. This is as per the average billing of PWD to GIDC based on the last available 12 month period. Again, according to the industrial units which have borewells, their per water consumption is 3,073 cu. mt per day, and it is estimated that 1,380 cu. mt per day is sucked out through other wells outside the estate by consumers like Meta Copper & Alloys Ltd., Mardol Restaurant and Mardol Temple Trust, that sunk a total of 13 wells (these consumers are included in the figure of 326 units inspected by the team.) When you tote up the secondary figures (all officially declared) and discover that they don’t add up to the total consumption, this is only because no one appears to know what really goes on at Verna.
Mosquitoes and D’Artagan
Why should Churchill Alemao apologise to the G7 who are truly beginning to act like that self-exalted group of nations? Shouldn’t the G7 apologise to you instead for wasting your valuable tax money almost every week this year jetting off to Pune, Bombay and Delhi to meet Sharad Pawar etc? If Churchill must apologise it must be to be to the descendents of Alexandre Dumas who wrote that classic ‘The Three Musketeers’ which narrates the adventures of D'Artagnan after he leaves home to become a guard of the musketeers. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, inseparable friends who live by the motto "all for one, one for all". As for mosquitoes, shouldn’t anybody who bleeds your tax money, not be called a mosquito? Churchill might have done his homework for once, because mosquitoes cause more human suffering than any other organism on this planet. Here read ‘human suffering’ as ‘development deprivation’ because thanks to those tax bucks going down the drain, you don’t even have garbage disposal among the many things you don’t have.
Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
Women's Bill or Women will have to pay the Bill
Sao Matias’ women dumped
There’s an SMS joke circulating. It says the Women’s Bill really means women will have to pay all the bills henceforth. As jokes go, it’s funny. But this isn’t. For 21months now, (since June 2008) Tulsidas Kundaikar has been the acting sarpanch (reserved for women) of the Sao Matias Village Panchayat; Divar island villagers ridicule that he could stay that way for life. In picturesque Sao Matias, that of course could be picture perfect for Kundaikar. His longevity, thanks to the perfidy of some panchas began years ago because Sao Matias like most VPs in Goa mocks the Panchayati Raj system without a care in the world. Between 2002-03, the sarpanch was Anil Sawant; for the next five months the Vanxim (an adjoining island and part of the VP) panch Dominic D’Souza was made sarpanch, but was forced to resign later. Unfortunately for Kundaikar, Sao Matias was reserved for women and Asha Pai, was elected sarpanch till 2008 when she was ‘retired’ by Kundaikar. This time however, it was a little harder and a coup d’etat had to be staged and four panches had to be sequestered at Hotel Seema, Ribandar on the day the sarpanch election was held. Kundaikar even had a rubber stamp made later that says ‘Acting Sarpanch’ which in an ironic way (the rubber stamp that is) is symbolic of the shambolic VP.
S(a)o sad Matias
Things have changed these days in sleepy Sao Matias and attempts are being made to break Kundaikar’s cartel of four panchas (plus himself). His refusal to repair the roads in the ward of woman panch Luda Athaide, who is willing to become the sarpanch, cries out loud for change. The roads in this ward have been in a sad state for years while Kundaikar got a little used road in his ward tarred before the recent Zilla Parishad elections which some villagers say only exposes Kundaikar’s proclivity to ignore the Catholic- dominated ward. A resident of the ward was harassed by the Old Goa police after he protested strongly to the VP secretary about his stonewalling him. The secretary Mahesh Naik has been in office for five years and villagers say his time is up officially. The Director of Panchayat has stonewalled all written requests asking why fresh sarpanch elections are not being held; and also to reveal the legal period for an acting sarpanch to be in office. But, all the director says is an evasive ‘there is no support’. Kundaikar says Luda Athaide is not ‘experienced’ sounding suspiciously like the director himself. And you can bet he believed that of Asha Pai too, but who proved to be a good administrator. Kundaikar’s and Naik’s combined ‘experience’ however failed to prevent an employee of the Public Sector company Goa Shipyard Ltd from contesting the last panchayat elections despite directly holding ‘office of profit’. So, what expertise does it take to run a VP that routinely fails to avail of government grants; and has a development track record that reads like a huge ZERO? An acting Sarpanch, perhaps!
New Wave
Denied flat owners banding together could be the new fight-for-your-rights movement in Goa because the 41 men and lone woman politician are busy nurturing their pension funds and doing up their houses lavishly and don’t have the time of day for you and me. So watch out builders, something will crack soon. A draft action plan to form an apex association of flat owners is currently being formulated with an objective to get flat owners’ legislation. This happened after residents of Chowgule Gardens in Zuarinagar got in touch with their fellow sufferers living in the Jairam Complex in Neuginagar, Panjim. The thing to keep in mind for them is this government is one of builders and builder lobbies and apparently of mine owners too. That is if Parrikar who never, ever, provides the evidence is to be believed.
Stick in the mud
Driving back home after a Margao interview for this column, I spotted Joao Philip, that intransigent activist the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) loves dearly to hate. There’s always a story with him around for pain-in-the-butt journos like me. Animated as ever Joao, waving a GIDC stay order (dated March 15, 2010), was trying to stop Siemens from illegally excavating land inside the Verna Industrial Estate close to the main entrance. You – and you must from past experience – wonder why GIDC the root cause of the degradation of the Verna plateau, actually issued that order? It’s only because Joao and his fellow villagers forced the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Chief Secretary to act. Here’s another mucky tale to do with mud. Turns out that the Margao Town and Planning Department investigated Francisco ‘Miccky’ Pacheco’s land filling racket in Colva village on February 2, 2010and discovered that he filled 1,350 sq mt of land to a varying depth of 85 cms. This of course was revealed only after the Colva Civic and Consumer Forum led by Judith Almeida opposed him. Miccky was asked to stop further filling and ordered to produce NOC’s, if any and there aren’t any, within seven days from February 25, 2010, the day he was served the notice. Why are concerned citizens only concerned in Goa?
Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
There’s an SMS joke circulating. It says the Women’s Bill really means women will have to pay all the bills henceforth. As jokes go, it’s funny. But this isn’t. For 21months now, (since June 2008) Tulsidas Kundaikar has been the acting sarpanch (reserved for women) of the Sao Matias Village Panchayat; Divar island villagers ridicule that he could stay that way for life. In picturesque Sao Matias, that of course could be picture perfect for Kundaikar. His longevity, thanks to the perfidy of some panchas began years ago because Sao Matias like most VPs in Goa mocks the Panchayati Raj system without a care in the world. Between 2002-03, the sarpanch was Anil Sawant; for the next five months the Vanxim (an adjoining island and part of the VP) panch Dominic D’Souza was made sarpanch, but was forced to resign later. Unfortunately for Kundaikar, Sao Matias was reserved for women and Asha Pai, was elected sarpanch till 2008 when she was ‘retired’ by Kundaikar. This time however, it was a little harder and a coup d’etat had to be staged and four panches had to be sequestered at Hotel Seema, Ribandar on the day the sarpanch election was held. Kundaikar even had a rubber stamp made later that says ‘Acting Sarpanch’ which in an ironic way (the rubber stamp that is) is symbolic of the shambolic VP.
S(a)o sad Matias
Things have changed these days in sleepy Sao Matias and attempts are being made to break Kundaikar’s cartel of four panchas (plus himself). His refusal to repair the roads in the ward of woman panch Luda Athaide, who is willing to become the sarpanch, cries out loud for change. The roads in this ward have been in a sad state for years while Kundaikar got a little used road in his ward tarred before the recent Zilla Parishad elections which some villagers say only exposes Kundaikar’s proclivity to ignore the Catholic- dominated ward. A resident of the ward was harassed by the Old Goa police after he protested strongly to the VP secretary about his stonewalling him. The secretary Mahesh Naik has been in office for five years and villagers say his time is up officially. The Director of Panchayat has stonewalled all written requests asking why fresh sarpanch elections are not being held; and also to reveal the legal period for an acting sarpanch to be in office. But, all the director says is an evasive ‘there is no support’. Kundaikar says Luda Athaide is not ‘experienced’ sounding suspiciously like the director himself. And you can bet he believed that of Asha Pai too, but who proved to be a good administrator. Kundaikar’s and Naik’s combined ‘experience’ however failed to prevent an employee of the Public Sector company Goa Shipyard Ltd from contesting the last panchayat elections despite directly holding ‘office of profit’. So, what expertise does it take to run a VP that routinely fails to avail of government grants; and has a development track record that reads like a huge ZERO? An acting Sarpanch, perhaps!
New Wave
Denied flat owners banding together could be the new fight-for-your-rights movement in Goa because the 41 men and lone woman politician are busy nurturing their pension funds and doing up their houses lavishly and don’t have the time of day for you and me. So watch out builders, something will crack soon. A draft action plan to form an apex association of flat owners is currently being formulated with an objective to get flat owners’ legislation. This happened after residents of Chowgule Gardens in Zuarinagar got in touch with their fellow sufferers living in the Jairam Complex in Neuginagar, Panjim. The thing to keep in mind for them is this government is one of builders and builder lobbies and apparently of mine owners too. That is if Parrikar who never, ever, provides the evidence is to be believed.
Stick in the mud
Driving back home after a Margao interview for this column, I spotted Joao Philip, that intransigent activist the Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) loves dearly to hate. There’s always a story with him around for pain-in-the-butt journos like me. Animated as ever Joao, waving a GIDC stay order (dated March 15, 2010), was trying to stop Siemens from illegally excavating land inside the Verna Industrial Estate close to the main entrance. You – and you must from past experience – wonder why GIDC the root cause of the degradation of the Verna plateau, actually issued that order? It’s only because Joao and his fellow villagers forced the Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and Chief Secretary to act. Here’s another mucky tale to do with mud. Turns out that the Margao Town and Planning Department investigated Francisco ‘Miccky’ Pacheco’s land filling racket in Colva village on February 2, 2010and discovered that he filled 1,350 sq mt of land to a varying depth of 85 cms. This of course was revealed only after the Colva Civic and Consumer Forum led by Judith Almeida opposed him. Miccky was asked to stop further filling and ordered to produce NOC’s, if any and there aren’t any, within seven days from February 25, 2010, the day he was served the notice. Why are concerned citizens only concerned in Goa?
Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com
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