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THE WEEK THAT WAS…
By Valmiki Faleiro
Goa was a mixed bag last week. Let’s sample some news from the good,
the bad, the ugly. In that order. The Madgavkar brothers, Anil and Anand,
like many in the younger generation, have shattered the myth that Goans
lack enterprise. Madgavkar Salvage, Goa’s homegrown maritime salvage
company started by their father, today competes with the best in the world,
worldwide. Their latest: neatly and quickly, they removed a fully laden barge
that had run aground in a squall off Miramar.
First, the cargo was emptied and transshipped. The vessel was then repaired,
made watertight and dried out. Finally, it was re-floated and towed away.
Within two weeks! Years ago, under global competition, the Madgavkars had
sensationally retrieved a huge monolithic statue of Lord Buddha weighing
several hundred tonnes that had sunk to the depths of the Hyderabad/
Secundrabad lake. So, when we have a world player in maritime salvage
in our own backyard, why, one would ask, should the River Princess languish
six years off Candolim? ‘Coz homegrown stuff ain’t meat to our politicians.
If the Madgavkars were given the River Princess job, it should have been
a neat Anil versus Anil classic. Salgaokar v/s Madgavkar.
ENLIGHTENING: Margao, again, showed the way: light a candle, forge oneness.
A citizens’ initiative saw people light candles to mark the festivities of
Diwali and
Id-ul-Fitr last week. Jose Maria Miranda and Gurunath Kelekar merit applause.
In a similar display of inter-religious solidarity, predominantly Catholic
Borda lit up
on the twin occasions, on a call by the Borda Citizens Welfare Committee,
an active civic forum at the forefront of many a battle for justice. Let’s not
forget
that when an old cross was vandalized in the largely Hindu ward of Comba, it was
locals like Rajendra Talak and Datta Naik who kept opportunist politicos at bay
and had the cross rebuilt and reinstated within the insides of a single day.
Different paths, one light. Well done, Madgavkars!
SECULAR GOVERNANCE: Goa Government unveiled plans to organize and
sponsor a ‘Christmas Crib Competition’ through its department of Art & Culture.
Pinch yourself. Yes, this is a Congress led government that calls itself
secular.
Pictures of gods hanging in public offices, ladainhas and pujas in government
premises were bad enough. What next? As someone said, sponsor regular
Sunday masses and Temple poojas? Time secular-minded Goans told these
jokers the meaning of true secularism.
QUADRI MESS: The IFFI multiplex was mired in mess from Day One.
>From the tearing down of huge RCC buildings that once housed the departments
and student hostels of the old Goa Medical College, to the idea of a state
government building a cinema complex, to its eventual operation. Oddly, many
things about the controversial multiplex revolve around the number four, which,
any numerologist will attest, spins around money – pots of it.
Four screens, that’s what the multiplex is made of. Built at four times the
cost,
if allegations are to be believed (how could something that took under
Rs.7.00 crores to build elsewhere in India take almost four-fold, or Rs.24.00
crore
in Goa, people asked.) And now the latest: INOX, the blue-eyed guest of the
State of Goa, has upped its initial bid by an incredible four times, to retain
its hold on the multiplex.
INOX, which owns 11 multiplexes in India, was in 2004 given the task of
building (and then running) the Goa multiplex at public expense. Forget the
construction cost, what INOX paid the state to commercially exploit the
multiplex in the last two years is a joke. The OGL would have continued
but for J.P. Singh, the Chief Secretary, who called for tenders. INOX offered
Rs.7.30 lakh per month, in contrast to Rs.31.50 lakh bid by M2K of New Delhi.
Under a brilliantly drafted MoU, INOX enjoyed an unheard of option
(pioneer privilege?) to equal the best bid and retain the multiplex for a
further five years. Which it promptly did. If the multiplex earned such huge
profits,
where did all the crores of the last two years go?
THE BELLS TOLLl: About two dozen lives – women and kids included – were lost
on Goa’s roads this past fortnight. The toll mounts, as our government works
in high gear chopping trees, extending jetties and cooking glitz for IFFI-06.
STAGGERING SHAME: Angela Gomes represented Goa seven times in
National women’s football. The Sports Authority of Goa appointed her as Coach.
For 10 years, she was made to work like an unskilled labourer – on daily wages,
without a regular appointment, without service benefits. An otherwise vivacious
Angela took the extreme step: suicide. Hang in shame, Sports Minister! (ENDS)
The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330
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The above article appeared in the October 29, 2006 edition of the HERALD, Goa
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