When she was in SSC, I have experienced Roshni Rego’s urge to achieve her ambition of becoming a doctor when she used to visit my niece to get her study difficulties solved. Everything is now shattered for her and her family. Roshni, a 12th std Damodar science student, died under train at Margao railway crossing barely 50 metre from her school. This happened because Digu and his team of 50000 strong government employees could not take corrective action to prevent flooding of road-under-bridge, which gets flooded every monsoon. When small infrastructure needs of thousands of students cannot be satisfied, what moral authority/right does Digu have to even talk of Sea-Links, 4-Lanes and 6-Lanes? Government in this year’s budget has provided Rs 1200 crore as salaries, pensions and perks to government servents. Considering that there are 2 lakh households in Goa, each family bears a cost of Rs 60,000/- a year for services government gives us. Do we get services from them commensurate with what we bear? Has not the time come for citizens to rise and dictate what Digu must do and what Digu must get done from ministers, bureaucrats and babus? Last time it was Goa Bachao Abhiyan that shook the foundations of the goons. But this time around it is going to be different. Too much Mining money is floating around. The windfall comes without commensurate pain or sweat and therefore flows liberally to buy politicians, media, editors, reporters, pseudo-activists/NGOs, lawyers etc. Incidentally, yesterday Sesa declared Rs 1300 crore net profits for April-June 2010 quarter. Since there is no export in June, it is effectively 2-month profit. Extrapolate and you will arrive at Rs 6000 crore as profits for full year on 9-month operation basis. Sesa is one-third of the legal Goan mining sector. This gives Rs 18,000 crore as profits of legal mining sector. Illegal mining could be Rs 2000 crore more. Compare this with Goa’s budgeted revenue is mere Rs 2700 crore. Rs 500 crore required for bypasses is mere 10 days profit. Why can’t Digu (mines minister for 11 years continuosly) force bypasses on miners? Mineral Foundation is hogging media space claiming CSR expenditure of Rs 20 crore - a profit they earn in mere SIX HOURS! Rajendra Kakodkar On Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:40:38 +0530 Goa Desc <goad...@gmail.com> wrote: Subject: [Goanet] Death of student Roshni Rego :Will some lessons be learnt ? ------------------------------------ Student run over by train at Comba ------------------------------------- In a tragic accident, a Std XII girl, student of Damodar Science Higher Secondary, Margao was run over by a speeding train at the Comba railway crossing on Tuesday morning.
The death of the young girl triggered outrage from the school management and local residents as it brought to fore the inadequate facilities at the Comba railway crossing for the 1500-student community to make it to the nearby educational institutions. The incident occurred early morning when deceased Roshni Rego along with four other students headed for school from their village Batti-Sanguem. When the vehicle carrying them approached the Comba subway to cross over to the school, the driver found the same inundated with rain water and decided to drop the students near the railway crossing. It is learnt that since the railway crossing was closed for vehicular traffic, these students decided to cross the tracks through a narrow opening, anxious to make it to the school on time. Roshni, who was the last amongst the students to cross the tracks, was hit by the speeding Vasco-Colem train. Within moments, the badly mutilated body of the deceased girl was found lying on the tracks, with her body severed into two parts. Chairman of the Damodar Higher Secondary School, Bhai Naik said the school had been demanding a footbridge for a long time for the students to cross the tracks, but in vain. He said the accident occurred because the subway was literally converted into a swimming pool by heavy overnight rains, adding that the incident could have been averted if the authorities had to build a footbridge at the level crossing ?Everyday, around 1000-1500 students cross the tracks to make it to the educational institutions. We have been demanding a footbridge, but the Government built a subway. We don?t know the benefit of the subway to the students?, he said, adding the deceased student was dragged by the speeding train after her school bag got entangled with the hook of the train. Higher Secondary School Principal Ballikar said it is a tragedy that the incident took away the life of a good and studious student. ?Roshni was a very good and well behaved student?, he added. Ballikar said authorities should immediately look into the needs of a footbridge, besides speed breakers in the interest of students safety. ?Roshni might have thought that she would clear the tracks before the train could cross the level crossing. She was dragged by the railway hook?, he said, adding ?one reason for the tragedy was the subway which was submerged under water, forcing the vehicle driver to drop the students near the level crossing?. A local resident Roque Rodrigues said the Government has built the subway without any proper study since the location is a low-lying area prone to flooding during monsoons. He said neither the Government nor the educational institutions are concerned about the safety of students studying in these schools and colleges. ?Even the level crossing is not barricaded by authorities, prompting students to cross the tracks even when it is closed for traffic?, he said. Incidentally, it was only after the tragic accident that the authorities moved in to erect barricades at the approach point on both sides of the subway. * * * The book people are already talking about: Goanetter Selma Carvalho's *Into the Diaspora Wilderness*. Launch on July 25, 2010 at the UK Goan Festival [http://goafest.itpsworld.net] Goa launch next month. See http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/ Buy at Broadway's, Panjim [Ph 9822488564] at Rs 295 in Goa. Overseas, postage extra. * * *
