Walk the Talk

Touche’

A friend tells me that when she went to Paris over 20 years ago, the one pleasure she looked forward to is to smoke in public and not scandalize anyone. Since then smoking is not so cool and smoking in public is a no-no. Many bars in Goa have a no smoking sign and most respect the ban too, the exception being the bars on the coast. Gone are the days when train travelers lit up under the “smoking is prohibited” sign with casual indifference. Today anti-smokers are in the majority and will carry the day when they protest against someone flouting the law. But not so in Panjim, our capital, it would seem. There was this young woman who walked down the pavement outside Hotel Nova Goa in Panjim blowing smoke nonchalantly on Tuesday this week. She was a foreign tourist and should have known better. Even in Irish pubs, you cannot smoke anymore. So how does a tourist so blatantly break the law with impunity? When politicians like Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik and our own Home Minister Ravi Naik mouth anachronistic mumbo jumbo about how a woman tourist should conduct herself, all of us progressive sections get riled. But when a tourist smokes in public, we should get sanctimonious too. After all, what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander!

Our Hollering Honchos

Last week I promised to ring in Goa’s Walking, Talking champ. He is Joaquim Alemao, the Minister for Fisheries and Urban Development. In between April 2008 and March 2009 he mouthed an amazing talkathon that cost you and me Rs 1,55,601. Your man incurred a bill of Rs 1,63,613.32 between April 2007 and March 2008 using his mobile 9822188899 which is what I wrote last week. In October 2008 alone his yakking cost you Rs 40,348 and in July 2008 it cost you Rs 30,594. The mind boggles when you think he talked up a bill of Rs 3,19,214 in two years. The keys on his mobile must be made of titanium, the metal they make rockets with, to have withstood such wear and tear. His current bill talking to lawyers in Mumbai and to Musli Power (the sponsors of Churchill Brothers) over the Odafe issue, you can bet will go beyond mind boggling. But then in the land of freebies and subsidies (and I haven’t even touched the proverbial tip of the iceberg in this column yet, believe me) who cares? But, if you want to mull over where your hard earned tax bucks go, do Google www.freebirdingoa.blogspot.com, for past updates. Strangely his brother Churchill Alemao, the PWD Minister, ran up a bill of Rs 60,061 in the same 2008-09 period. In the two months April-May 2009, Joaquim ran up a bill of Rs 68,479. In May alone his bill was Rs 67,158. Among this band of brothers, one likes to talk and other is a silent wonder?

Police Conversation

Back to same April 2008-March 2009 period. Digambar Kamat’s (9822129339/9922508060) talking cost you Rs 24,984.40 and Rs 14,557.22. Our montris generally talked themselves hoarse. Jose Philip D’Souza, the Revenue Minister, had much to say. Cost to you: Rs 34,505.93. Surprisingly Miccky Pacheco (992102174) ran up a bill of just Rs 1,527.15. Now, either he stopped talking or Lyndon Monteiro, his Man Friday did all of the talking, as he is prone to do. But with the Group of 7 back in action trying to get a new chief minister, for your sake only mind you, all this light chitchat will be history.

Something’s Fishy

Politicians on permanent chat mode I can understand. In the land of subsidies, freebies and of plentiful opportunities for bhailos, I can understand when your tax money is prodigiously gifted to the wrong people. But in these days when it’s cheaper to get tanked on booze than to fill your hungry belly, what I can’t understand is the high subsidy paid to trawler owners. There’s this scheme called the ‘Goa Value Added Tax based subsidy on HSD oil consumed by fishing vessels scheme 2006’- an amount equivalent to Rs 6 per litre or the actual VAT paid whichever is less; is paid to the owner of a fishing vessel eligible under this scheme as subsidy, limited to a quota of 16,000 KL/year for the whole fishing industry. Also, under the 100 per cent centrally sponsored scheme called ‘The Fishermen Development Rebate’ a rebate of Rs 1.50 lts of HSD oil is paid. Now why did they not think of that for say, if you wanted to get tanked drinking Urrack or ‘Jungle Juice’, coconut feni and caju feni. Because, from among the many other genuine reasons I can think of, it would help the dying breed of toddy tappers who risk life and limb clambering coconut trees. The really bad news is the subsidy runs into crores of rupees (the sordid details next week), but the sad news is you pay through your nose for fish, while the trawler owners laugh all the way to be bank.


Feedback 2280935, 9822152164 lionroars.goa@gmail.com)