http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php?part=news&Story_ID=04284
Navhind times - April 28, 2005
IF you remember the heavy metal music and noise over IFFI last year,
the upcoming 36th IFFI already looks like a damp squib. In all
likelihood, the venue will not be shifted, but it will not be the same
IFFI again. The information and broadcasting ministry has not yet gone
back on its minister, Mr Jaipal Reddy?s commitment made at the
conclusion of the 35th IFFI that the 36th would also be held in Goa. ?I
cannot promise to make Goa a permanent venue for IFFI, but I can
certainly say that we are going to come back next year,? Mr Reddy had
said, having had to pause for several seconds waiting for the jubilant
uproar at the Kala Academy auditorium to abate. The latest evidence of
the I & B ministry?s continuing interest is the letter to the
Government of Goa to organise a `Goa Evening? at the Cannes Film
Festival beginning May 14. The idea is to popularise Goa as the IFFI
venue in the international circuits.
But the Government of Goa does not seem to be making any effort to be
up and ready for the ?Goa Evening?. It is sad to see the Government of
Goa lapse into a bureaucratic stupor. Or is it a case of clever,
intelligent, feigned paralysis? Where are all those men and women in
the bureaucracy? the general administration, information department,
the PWD, the GSIDC, you name it?who had all been so mad and crazy about
completing everything on time and holding the IFFI ignoring all the
brickbats, scam arrows and catastrophic startell? Why, after all, only
one person has gone away, Mr Manohar Parrikar, but the government
stands where it was- where it was moving and running and jumping about
and roaming round the world? does it not? What happened to those
smarties and smartas? Stupor, you would say. But why? Aren?t we told
that governance is a continuous thing?
If there are scams in the IFFI constructions, let there be a full
inquiry. If contracts awarded were several times more than actually
required for the work, let an independent probe go into it. If some
people, including the officers of the departments or the GSIDC,
allegedly made money, let them be investigated and prosecuted and sent
to prison. Hang the contractors, hang these officers. And if you find
Mr Manohar Parrikar having been in any way party to it, let him be
investigated too. He has himself offered all his decisions regarding
IFFI for scrutiny. Do all this, but for god?s sake, do not go into
stupor. Do not pretend to have taken tranquilizers and gone to sleep,
as civil servants in the times of political bullfight do.
There was politics in 35th IFFI in the sense that Mr Manohar Parrikar
had made it into a showcase to prove to the entire globe that he was
the most dedicated and efficient of all chief ministers in India. The
Congressmen did not want him to run away with the credit, because if
that man became too big and heavy they would be crushed under his
weight. So they set up a media blitz against the thousand violations,
irregularities and dangers involved in the IFFI. Now, if you want to
know a part of the secret of the self-induced sleep of the civil
servants over IFFI, it is the fear of antagonising their new bosses who
are the Congressmen. The civil servants are great survivors; they have
guessed, like most of us, that the next few months are likely to see a
return of the Congress in the state. And so one false step, one
jubilant note on IFFI, and you are done for!
But what is our Governor doing? Why does not he take the whip, and
brandish it around at a conference of his top guys and girls! Mr
Parrikar managed to provide the infrastructure for IFFI and is gone.
But what have the Governor and civil servants done since then? Among
the objectives behind the promotion of Goa as IFFI venue was its
integration to the state?s tourism industry. What are the plans in
place for establishing the linkage and reaping the harvest? The first
year went into the organising of the basics?the auditoria, the roads,
the promenade; so the government could be forgiven the questions, like
how much more income the state got, how many more Goans got employment,
how many more Goan artists and artisans got additional income; but the
second year should have been different. Several months have passed
since the 35th IFFI was held. What strategies have the Governor and his
officers devised to generate income and employment out of 36th IFFI?
Among the objectives behind having the IFFI in Goa was also creation of
infrastructure for film-making and encouragement to regional cinema,
for what was the use of going international without having anything to
show of yourself? The Governor must take initiative toward fulfilment
of these objectives. He must pull and jog his intelligent men and women
in high chairs out of sleep
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Regards,
Carlos
