Freddy you are right, these Congressmen would not understand clearly the real difference between illegalities and irregularities because generally they are termed as nuts. Perhaps Shiroddkar is trying to fool us Goans as usually they do it.
My main attention focused on one quotation in one of your para. "God or Nature, as one believes, was generous enough to Goans to fill it's underbelly with rich ore, for the sustenance of it's inhabitants" Very much true. Just like Gulf is blessed by God with Oil in abundance in the underground, where the only work is required to extract it and not to produce as many other items required to produce, for which reason the Gulf and its people are become very rich. The extraction of Oil is controlled by their Governments and wealth is shared among the national to some extent in many ways, perhaps not adequately too much though, still the people of Gulf feel proud they are richer than other people of the world. Similarly, Goa too is blessed by God with the rich iron ore beneath the Goan ground, however not controlled well by our Government but others indirectly and this lead to robbery and loot by the few rich business houses and others with the influence of those in authority of ruling the State. This wealth belongs to us all Goans as blessed and gifted by God to us Goans. We all have the right over it. But our Government and those in Authority have closed their eyes and boxed the application of law in order to facilitate the loot in favour of their favorite looters of course for a price. This denial of Goan wealth to its citizens has deprived us Goans to share in with God-given-wealth. A time may come soon to do a revolution in order to stop extraction of the God given wealth of ore if it is not benefiting the natives of Goa. Further you have called the attention of authorities saying "Studies have shown that if atrocities against our environment and ecology are not stopped and remedial steps not taken now, we are bound to pay a very heavy price, in the very near future". We are already suffering and paying heavy price for the sins committed by these mine owners, robbers and looters. You have brought to the attention of every one in many of your articles the disaster that is caused due to residue that flooded the rivers, buried the fields and ultimately brought floods in Canacona in the previous monsoons. Besides this there is sickness mostly in Canacona and that is failure of kidneys of many of residents of Canacona than of any other natives of Goa. Today Canacona is full of renal cases and Government cannot handle it. There will be lot more for us to face due to the negligence of the Government in all sides. The sighting of leopards in the residential areas is another example, they lost their natural forest habitat due incursion of these mine diggers deep in the forests. Monkeys, wild elephants and other wild animals too have ran away into human habitat looking for food and disturbed and even attacked the humans. This is all available to read in the Goan media daily . What else we are waiting to learn from the failure of our Government to check in the abuse of the mine operators? What else will make Subash believe that there are illegalities in mining in Goa and in that not only Government is deeply involved but also all the Congressmen and Ministers, besides the Business houses and others? I hope he does not act mad like the Home Minister, Ravi Naik who said "there are no drugs in Goa" while Goa is full of drugs everywhere. Elvino. ............Original message: 5------------ Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 05:49:01 +0000 From: Freddy Fernandes <ffernandes....@emaar.ae> To: "goanet@lists.goanet.org" <goanet@lists.goanet.org> Subject: [Goanet] Illegalities And Not Irregularities Mr. Shirodkar Message-ID: <860bfc1c4d3cc84a9edcf4e7db4bae989...@emrhoexmbn1.emaar.ae> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Illegalities And Not Irregularities Mr. Shirodkar We had heard that there were no drugs, no corruption and no illegal mining in Goa, for all that matters it's been proved that there are drugs in Goa, along with corruption and illegal mining, now out comes Mr. Subhsah Shirodkar and goes a little further, categorically stating that none of the Congress members, nor the Government of Goa is involved in illegal mining but how is it that illegal mining still flourishes in Goa, Mr Shirodkar ? Is it not the Congress that is the government in Goa or are we in Karnataka ? If Mr. Subhash Shirodkar is right, which is highly unlikely, but even then, is it not the duty of the ruling government to stop illegal mining and illegal sale of ore and take action against those involved in it ? So why has the Congress failed to do what they should have been doing in the first place ? Mr. Shirodkar should certainly put money where his mouth is ! It is proved beyond doubt that there is large scale illegal mining in Goa and a huge amount of unaccounted ore has been exported, costing the Goan treasury thousands of crores, as has been identified and acknowledged by Justice Shah, so, is it not the responsibility of the Government, to see that the exchequer is not robbed of it's valuable resources ? If Congress, the ruling dispensation in Goa is not able to safe guard our valuable resources, what right does it have to stay in power ? If the ruling Government cannot protect and safeguard what belongs to all Goans they should resign, because we Goans have been deprived of the benefits that we were due for, only because of the Congress inefficiency and greed. Chief Minister Digambar Kamat has been the minister for mines for around a decade, should he not be held responsible for the loot of our precious resources ? There is absolutely no doubt that all most all Congress as well as the other MLA's are involved in illegal mining one way or the other but have covered their tracks well but truth cannot be kept hidden forever. One has already seen the back of the cage because of illegal mining and the rest will sooner or later be in a similar position. If not for personally being involved, which is highly unlikely, they should be locked in the cage for negligence that has cost the exchequer huge sums of money. Mining in Goa is a multimillion dollars industry, a legacy of the Portuguese. God or Nature, as one believes, was generous enough to Goans to fill it's underbelly with rich ore, for the sustenance of it's inhabitants. Unfortunately a few elite have hijacked this multimillion dollar industry and gone on rampage for their own personal financial enhancement, leaving the inhabitants in a limbo and in dire state, as our environment and our ecology is devastated by large scale and illegal mining. Agriculture as well as both human and animal live has been affected by the receding water tables and high levels of pollutions causing severe health problems, which has now led to dissent and opposition everywhere in Goa. Studies have shown that if atrocities against our environment and ecology are not stopped and remedial steps not taken now, we are bound to pay a very heavy price, in the very near future. It is indeed difficult to understand the apathy of our government towards our environment and our ecology and the failure to comprehend the dangers inherent in excessive mining, as we have already experienced, though mild, the wroth of nature on more than one occasion. We should not be playing with nature, a slight imbalance could cause havoc with life and property, nature, should not be taken for granted just because we are yet to see the full force of the fury of nature, it is certainly better to be safe than sorry and this fear certainly not fictional. Mr. Shriodkar tries to highlight the differences between illegalities and irregularities which is indeed amusing, should irregularities be condoned or forgiven ? Mr. Shirodkar's argument clearly exposes his malafide intent, to twist facts and words to benefit himself and his fellow party men. Mining without a NOC from the environmental agency or any other required bodies is an irregularity or an illegality ? There are documents that are a prerequisite before starting a mine and lack of any of these documents make the mine illegal and for the kind information of Mr. Shirodkar there is certainly a very vast difference between irregularities and illegalities and mining without any of these prerequisite documents is an illegality and not an irregularity. I am sure most of Mr. Shidorkar's political colleagues will be confused with the difference between irregularities and illegalities but certainly not us. Can Mr. Subhash Shirodkar justify more than 400 mines in a small state like Goa ? No doubt mining contributes a major chunk to the Goan coffers but there in no doubt that what actually comes to the State's coffers in just peanuts compared to what goes in to the pockets of those involved in mining ? So why should a few benefit while the people at large and the land suffers ? It is also true that no amount of money can justify nor compensate the destruction of our environment and our ecology because our very own survival depends or rather the survival of humanity depends very much on the survival of our environment and our ecology. The question now is, does Mr. Subhash Shirodkar know this fact and wise enough to accept it ? Only time will tell ! Freddy Agnelo Fernandes