To Goanet - During 2006-2008, I began documenting and posting the unprecedented and widespread destruction of Goa by the real estate mafia aided and abetted by the state's politicians. Soon Admin Frederick Noronha and his cohort stirred from their perch at Cafe Prakash and began to cast aspersions on my motives. He claimed that my "telephoto lens" had distorted reality, or that I was a secret BJP operative with an agenda to bring the party back to power.
But then something funny happened. People began to notice the very things I had been fretting about, and so they checked with their eye doctor. The doctor assured them that there was nothing the matter with their optical biology. The end result: Admin Noronha's credibility (the meagre amount he had to begin with) was flushed down the toilet. Today Devika Sequeira reports that Monserrate made 26.5 crores on illegal land conversions. That figure is surely an underestimate. In any case, I'd urge Ms Sequeira to present herself at Cafe Prakash so that Admin Noronha can smell the BJP rat she is sheltering. Nothing's going to come of this latest revelation. What happened the last time Monserrate was apprehended at the Mumbai airport trying to squirrel away crores of rupees out of the country? Nothing. Who knows, maybe he offered the Italian madam in Delhi a sweet 50-50 deal. In early 2008 I approached every major Goan newspaper (except the rag run by the Bihari) with a proposal to run a photograph every other day or once a week, showing an illegal construction or a depleted hill or field. Everyone made approving noises. Yet after doing the rounds, I realized that nobody really wanted to publish anything. The fix was already in. Patracars, builders and politicos - they feed in the same swamp. I see that Sujay Gupta has now stepped into Rajan Narayan's shoes as the custodian of Goan Catholic interests. This is a guy who was not long ago a hired PR gun for a miner, now pretending to be all wet about Goa's impending ruin. How is it that these bottom-feeding outsiders get all the plum positions in Goa? Rhetorical question, of course. r --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protect Goa's natural beauty Support Goa's first Tiger Reserve Sign the petition at: http://www.goanet.org/petition/petition.php ---------------------------------------------------------------------------