Kudos to our Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar for his recent initiatives to decongest Margao. However one has noticed that after a few days, the handcarts which were taken away by the Margao Municipal Corporation have re-appeared in their various locations. One such handcart is a kiosk selling ‘bhelpuri’, located after Holy Spirit Church, just before the Borda main road. The handcart is in a prime location and its presence causes major traffic jams at the Borda-Holy Spirit junction. The hawker is visited mainly by the huge migrant population who park their vehicles haphazardly around the area. Besides, the entire area is messed up with used paper plates and plastic spoons strewn all around. Stray dogs have a field day in such a situation. Besides, the said hawker illegally taps electricity and makes his ware in the most unhygienic conditions. Encouraged by this another vendor selling chicken shawarma has come up on the opposite side of the road.
One hopes that the MMC takes note of this and evicts the said hawker as a measure for de-congesting the city.
Anthony Dias, Margao
Family Raj
For the last Assembly elections the fight was against ‘Family Raj. People voted for the right candidate and rejected the family Raj in Goa. We hope that the people from Cansaulim –Arossim – Cuelim vote in the same way, for a deserving candidate and not for family raj for the forthcoming Panchayat elections. The last Sarpanch ruled for 15 years as sarpanch – and for five years as a panch. The team have chosen their family members to contest for the forth coming elections in Cansaulim. I appeal to the people of Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim not to sell their vote to ‘family raj’. Let’s follow the same steps as we did for the last assembly elections and totally reject family raj in Cansaulim- Arossim- Cuelim, and instead vote for the right candidate.
Simon D’Souza, Arossim
Potential PM!
The elevation of Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee as a prospective president is fraught with certain inherent disadvantages - both to Indian National Congress and to the Nation as a whole. Pranab Mukherjee is an efficient administrator with a proven record. He has handled several important portfolios very successfully. He is still considered an active and non corrupt politician who is not very old to switch over. His ability to control coalition politics is an important fact which cannot be over looked. Pranab Mukherjee as President of India would also open the gate of prime minister’s office to less eligible or unacceptable leaders. Therefore this prospect has to be viewed with scepticism. In the present scenario, it will be wiser of the Congress to keep Mukherjee as a reserve and sure candidate for the prime minister’s post. The post of president could be filled by an apolitical person or by a leader who has exhausted his abilities as a politician.
Major (Retd) Mathew Oommen, Pune
Traffic chaos
Traffic congestion is one of the main problem faced by the people of Margao .In the past few days many police personnel were seen posted along the road to minimize traffic congestion. But they don’t seem to be well trained for this situation. Some of them are ignored when they ask someone to move his/her vehicle - these police having no choice but move from there; they should be given challan books so the person not willing to move his car can be fined. There are many places where traffic congestion is a common site - especially in front of the South Goa Collectorate where a huge space is occupied by the footpath of the MMC garden on which almost nobody walks Secondly, all government cars which are hardly used, are parked along the road thus helping to create chaos. Hope the problems are taken into account and a solution emerges soon.
Nihal Gomes, Margao
Lady riders
This refers to the letter ‘Security threat’ ( May 5, 2012). It gave me the impression that Goa is filled with beauty queens. So lucky are my Goan brothers! It makes me wonder, why none of these beauty queens ever qualify for the Miss India contest, where as girls from Delhi, Bangalore have already bagged the coveted title despite living in an atmosphere with conditions worse than that of Goa. I personally know some contestants of Miss Goa who ride without scarves and proudly display their God-given beauty. Aren’t they living in the same environment as mentioned by Ms. Isha?
Don’t they get affected by the so called harsh weather conditions? Also I’m reminded about the girls five years back, who never wore scarves. Wasn’t the sun affecting them or has it come only to haunt the present day girls? If they’re so beauty conscious, they should lock themselves in their showcases at home!
I second Mr. Samson Fernandes’(Herald, April 30, 2012) statement and request an immediate ban on rider’s wearing scarves. Considering the present terror situation, it’ll be impossible to differentiate between terrorist and these beauty conscious girls.
