Flying Circus VI

Thanksgiving to the Lord

I said it before and I say it again. Tirupati is like a magnet for many of our montris and our chief montri. He was there on June 23. It’s not a coincidence that Kamath was there days after Babush merged his UGDP into the Congress giving the Grand Old Party 19 MLAs. That’s not all. Kamath is secure now that he has co-opted the “CEO” of the Group of Seven. No wonder he was in Tirumala to give thanks.

Mumbai, here I come

Manohar ‘Babu’ Azgaonkar, Minister for Panchayat Raj & RDA

The flight plans of our montris tend to sometimes reveal a little bit about them, like for instance, visiting Mumbai is like an adrenalin rush for many. It varies too. Nilkanth Halarnkar got his rush recently promising everything he wasn’t, for the love of God, ever going to keep but had to say because they think you and I are dimwitted. Other montris get their rush flying Business Class. It’s free in any case. Babu Azgaonkar gets his, flying to Mumbai. Of his fifteen flights made between April 2008-January 2010, ten were made to Mumbai, and only two to Delhi. But he did, by the way, go easy on your tax bucks, flying Business Class on four occasions only. Don’t thank him yet, he might change his flying habit after reading this. In fact, the government could do well by accepting his flight fares as an average or MRP if you will for flying your montris to Mumbai and Delhi. Babu Azgaonkar could, as a matter of fact, offer his services as adviser on low cost flying. Case in point: his flight Mumbai-Kolhapur cost you a piddling (compared to what his compadres-in-the-air blew) just Rs 3,350 in April, a time when fares actually sizzle. Take a look.

2008 You pay they fly

11-13 April, Mumbai, Rs 13,585+702, total Rs 14,287; 23-25 April, Delhi, Rs 25,150+615, total Rs 25,765; 26-29 April, Mumbai-Kolhapur, Rs 3,350+702, total Rs 4,052; 26-28 June, Mumbai, Rs 7,600+780; total Rs 8,380; 02-03 August, Mumbai, Rs 16,609+442, total Rs 17,051; 19-22 September, Mumbai, Rs 7,555+962, total Rs 8,517; 11-14 October, Mumbai, Rs 17,385+962, total Rs 18,347; 23-24 October, Mumbai, Rs 8,320+520, total Rs 8,840; 17-19 November, Mumbai, Rs 7,895+72, total Rs 8,597.

2009

06-10 January, Delhi-Mumbai, Rs 14,953, 04-06 April, Mumbai, Rs 19,819+702, Rs 20,521; 06-08 June, Mumbai, Rs 7,258+780, total Rs 8,038; 01-03 July, Mumbai, Rs 4,708+702, total Rs 5,410; 04-11 November, Hyderabad-Tirupati-Hyderabad, Rs 13,458+1,101, total Rs 14,468. Strangely, when Vishwajeet Rane also flew to pray at the Lord Venkateshwara Temple in July 2008 his Economy Class airfare cost Rs 43,439. That’s why I say take his as the basis for future reference.

2010

13-15 January, Mumbai, Rs 1,058+702, total Rs 10,760.

Filipe Neri Rodrigues, Minister for Water Resources & Forests.

He seems to be a rarity among our council of ministers, barely zipping here and there unlike the others who sprout wings soon after induction into the cabinet.

2008

30 June-03 July 2008, Mumbai, Rs 13,078+962, total Rs 14,040.

2009

06-08 January Delhi, total Rs 11,850; 06-07 July, Delhi, Rs 13,896+520, total Rs 14,416.

The Flying Club Cost so far:

Vishwajeet Rane Rs 17,56,397

Churchill Alemao Rs 14,28,633

Digambar Kamat Rs 13,26,144

Joaquim Alemao Rs 12,34,442

Mickky Pacheco Rs 11,98,946

Babush Monseratte Rs 6,48,115

Babu Azgaonkar Rs 1,87,986

Dayanand Narvekar Rs 1,36,275

Ravi Naik Rs 4,08,749

Filipe Rodrigues Rs 40,306

Grand Total: Rs 83,65,993

Whose pleasure?

A lot has been said about the crap (literally) dumped by the offshore Casinos and pleasure vessels, more so after the pollution control board woke up from hibernation, blinked, poked its still-drowsy head into the squalid waters of the Mandovi, and surfaced quickly pronto as if it had sighted the Loch Ness monster. Only this was not the north of Scotland. It was not even our own little Nessie (as the Scots affectionately call the LN). It was like the crap hit the ceiling as the saying goes. Everyone was running helter-skelter, one daily (not Herald) even turning it into a circus. Whatever happened to action taken? If there was action to be taken, that is. Anyway, here’s an itsy bitsy bit (but which ought to raise a stink no less) of information, no one bothered to dig up then. My point being for all the crap and garbage the poor Mandovi gets, see what your government gives the rich Casino and pleasure vessel owners in return? Talk of inverse proportional benefits to the rich!

The Captain of Ports Department has four jetties in Panjim. The Malim jetty which the Mandovi Fisherman Marketing Co-Op Society has virtually commandeered and where someone, I am not sure who, even collects an entry fee from shoppers brave or foolish enough to buy the rather expensive fish sold there. The other three jetties are allegedly used on a temporary basis for berthing mainly the pleasure boats on what is called “touch and go basis”. Quaint. Only your government could think of such a catchy turn of phrase. These are the Patto jetty where the Goa Tourism Development Corporation’s, Priya Darshani River Cruises, Parsadise Cruises, Aqua World and Savio Messias are allowed to anchor or moor their vessels, leave out the ‘touch and go bit’ –it just doesn’t work like that. Now, all this information I garnered from the department itself. There is the Captain of Ports jetty, the eastern part of which is like or was like a permanent home for Leela Ventures from as far back as December 12, 2007. The fourth and last is the jetty on the western side of the Captain of Ports building leased to Goa Coastal Resorts and Recreation from October 24, 2008. All this for a song – an itsy bitsy Rs 4.30 lakh per annum. The reasons why these prized assets are not publicly auctioned but are furtively granted at the rulers’ sanctorum at Porvorim where pockets are touched and the bidder departs pleased as punch, are not known. All I can offer is that a helluva clever pickpocket, operating within those hallowed portals, made good use of the ancient Port Rules of 1983 and between toucher and touched got the compliant Captain of Ports to oblige. How touching! Thanksgiving to the Lord.


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