To Goanet - A couple of related items in today's papers merit attention and are reproduced below.
The first one in TOI deals with the CCP's sudden revival of interest in the maintenance of Panjim (Hint: there's a contempt petition looming. I shall say no more for now). The second one in Herald is an expression of the rising levels of frustration and anger felt by Goans about the spread of slums and the alarming increase in the number of ghatis. Given the dramatic increase in migrant loiterers in Panjim and elsewhere, cosmetic efforts by the CCP are guaranteed to fail. This has to be addressed at the highest levels of government, through policy decisions and a firm resolve to enforce the law. Take a look at Miramar beach these days, rife with migrant loiterers at all times of the day. Same story on the promenade and in our city gardens. Our footpaths are being turned into ghati art galleries with splotches of paan spit all over them. Who are these people and why are they here? We have to act right now and send them back to where they came from. One way to do it is to make life uncomfortable for them to linger on and loiter, simply by enforcing existing laws. Another avenue is to open an investigation into the voter fraud perpetrated by the MLA from Taleigao. He has become a magnet for fresh migrant arrivals. But none of this will happen until the citizens of Panjim stand up and get serious about reclaiming our great city. There are far too many empty talkers and far too few doers in this town. Warm regards, r ***** Now, Panaji city to get thirty mobile toilets TIMES NEWS NETWORK Panaji: Acting on directives issued by the high court of Bombay at Goa, the corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) will provide thirty mobile toilets for the capital city, with the first two having arrived recently. This development comes after a citizen Rajan Parrikar filed a public interest litigation on the degradation of the city. He stated that Panaji’s civic sense had reached its nadir. Parrikar had also submitted to the court photographs of people urinating around the city. “We will sign a MoU with Pune-based Shramik Sanitation to provide us thirty mobile toilets on lease. These toilets will be kept around the city and will hopefully deter people from urinating in public,’’ commissioner Melwyn Vaz told TOI. The CCP will pay Shramik Rs 2,000 per month for each mobile toilet. “The maintenance and cleanliness of the toilet will be taken care of by the company,” he added. Vaz further informed that the CCP will reactivate its squad which will move around Panaji ensuring that the public keep the city clean. “They will patrol between 6 am and 10 am and from 6 pm to 10 pm daily,” the commissioner said. A screen grab of the Times of India news item - http://www.parrikar.org/images/samples/toi-july07.jpg ***** http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=6579&cid=13 Goa has turned into a State of Slum Zino Carvalho, Navelim As one comes out from Dabolim Airport and Margao Railway Station, one faces ugly site of large slum areas. These shanties portray a very bad impression on Goa. They are an eyesore to the visitors. At the time of liberation the population of Goa was hardly six lakhs, at present Goa is facing a population explosion. The State’s present population is fourteen lakhs and it will increase to sixteen lakhs by the year 2012. The huge influx of migrants has mainly arisen due to the round the year mindless construction activity of housing projects. These crude dwellings have seriously threatened the life and environment of our beautiful land. Today one can see slums all around Goa. Since, the state is small in size it cannot be a permanent home for these migrants. For the Government authorities, these shanty towns are becoming very difficult to manage and regulate. In particular authorities are not able to easily enter and take action against anti-social elements thriving in these slums. In places such as Chimbel, Mangor, Sancoale, Dicarpale etc., large slum areas have come up. How many Goans have reported the antecedents of their tenants to the police? How do the authorities keep a track on migrants, when they come and go as they wish? Often these migrants indulge in theft, burglary, rape and even murder. Slum areas have come up on our Communidade land. Political Parties use these migrants staying in slums as vote banks at the time of election. These illegal slum colonies are like a time bomb which will explode one day with disastrous consequences to the people of Goa. Police, Municipalities and Panchayats should take responsibilities in tracking the antecedents of migrants. The authorities should not wait even for a moment to deport migrants with dubious integrity. Similarly, no migrant without assured employment should be allowed to continue his/her stay in Goa. Goans need to act fast to do away with these slums which have infested everywhere in the State. *****