[Goanet] There's more democracy in Goa???
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Theres-more/articleshow/7490486.cms Part of this news item does not make sense. Babush takes care of his voters by getting them out of trouble by paying money even if they have committed a crime. Is this democracy? I can understand the part which talks about Manohar Parrikar doing good work for Panjim and Digambar Kamat being available on phone. But this??? This is corruption and should be titled There's more corruption in Goa. -Melvyn Ferrao
Re: [Goanet] There's more democracy in Goa
Dear Mauricio, Your understanding of Curchorem agitation in itself is completely flawed and when the base is wrong what to say of the inferance? 1) You said: Ganv Rakhan Manch is demanding the scrapping of the proposal to expand the highway that connects the mining belt to Mormugao port to four-lane for transportation of iron ore. Ans: This is incorrect. There is no proposal at all to 4-lane highway that connects the mining belt to Mormugao port. GRJM is objecting 4-laning of road from Tilamol to Curchorem (connecting mines to Zuari)because it passes through thickly populated area where 3 people reside and 1 students commute twice a day. 2) 4-laning opposed by Curcorem municipality, Xeldem gramsabha during last two years. 540 people filed objections with Collector, CM six months back. Entire village committee opposed in Regional Plan meeting three years ago. Government/House committee opposed 12 years ago. High court passes strictures 10 years ago. Even then Government going ahead. WHAT DEMOCRACY? 3) If you see the road on Sundays, rainy season (no minig traffic) the road looks deserted. If mining traffic diverts, existing width sufficient for next 20 years. PWD says that widening is not their priority. They took up widening only because local MLA (a mining transport contractor) is forcing. An MLA has only legislative power. PWD is awarding him executive power. When asked, CM says he is in power do what you want. WHAT DEMOCRACY? 3) Curchorem connects Margao by two roads: State highway (SH-6) via Chandor and district road (MDR-40) via Tilamol. Giving priority to district road over State highway: is it not retograde policy? SH-6 is 7 km shorter than MDR-40. By widening MDR-40 and making people travel extra 7 km wastes fuel worth Rs 6 crore every year (and equivalent foreign exchange) and wear and tear of Rs 4 cr a year. VIVA DEMOCRACY? 4) CM yielded only to buy time. Agitators also made it clear that they will target his profits and his votes. He is foxy and knows if he doesn't bow now his transport may stop right now. See in June, when his mining traffic stops. He will dump assurances at Sonsodo. TRUE DEMON-CRACY: Of Digu, By Digu, For Digu + 40 chors + miners + builders. Rajendra PS; I am sending you separately complete dossier of the GRJM agitation. It pains that nij-Goekars can be so ignorant and mis-informed. I can take up visits for interested people a tour of mining belt on Satudays. Please contact by e-mail. On Mon, 14 Feb 2011 Mauricio Pereira wrote: People's power is true democracy. And the voter is king. For the couple of months that I have seen in Goa, and from interactions with activists and urban villagers, Goans stand apart. Their sentiments are very strong. They have a say in the way they are governed. And their political leaders bow to them. There have been many instances to support this argument. The latest is the protests of the Curchorem residents led by Ghanv Rakhon Jagrut Manch marching to chief minister Digambar Kamat's residence in Margao demanding the scrapping of the proposal to expand the highway that connects the mining belt to Mormugao port to four-lane for transportation of iron ore, mainly being exported to Japan and China. The state highway connects Sanvordem and Curchorem in the Quepem-Sanguem talukas in Goa. The locals instead want the government to expedite land acquisition proceedings for the proposed 19 km Uguem-Capxem mining bypass, which can connect to the Zuari river from where the iron ore could be transported by barges to Mormugao port.
Re: [Goanet] There's more democracy in Goa
Mr Pereira, More democracy in Goa?! No! theres is no democracy in Goa. Give me a break!!! Democracy is more than corrupt politicians sorting out traffic incidents of "their own voters" , with money "from their own pockets" that in any case have been filled with bribes from their own voters and other people's voters and much corruption and extortion - that is why these politicians in Goa are all so wealthy, and wealth that has certainly not come as result of hard honest work, nor from their salaries as MLA and Ministers of Goa government and this is common knowledge. A Minister is voted to look after the interests of all citizens and not just that of their own "voters" - that is democracy. Corruption seems to be in the DNA of Goa government and administration. Unfortunately corruption has been taken for granted, and I feel is now part of the local culture and it seems that more and more people can no longer distinguish between right and wrong, rule of law and democracy and total shambles . The CM , Churchill Alemao and Babush and all the rest of them will of course promise heaven and earth to protesters to shut them up, especially as elections approach. Promises are just promises. There is a big difference between sorting out the power supply one night in some corner of Goa, or sending a bus to collect stranded passengers - there is a difference between that and real governance like stopping all the illegal mining in Goa, or scrapping grandiose plans imposed by the mining lobby, or stopping the builders from ruining Goa, or cleaning up the increadible and growing garbage problem, shortage of water, destruction of agriculture and a long rosary of other important issues in Goa. No Mr Pereira, what you describe is not democracy, but just pure hipocrisy and distraction from real serious issues in Goa. Yes there is the beginning of civil unrest in Goa, and I hope soon will develop into popular action like in Tunisia and Egypt. Finally more and more people are beginning to wake up and are up in arms fighting for justice, fighting against illegal plans in their villages and towns, and trying to protect what is left of Goa from being sold out, destroyed and devastated by ill conceived projects. If they eventually begin to win their battles, and see some concrete measures and actions, then yes, there will be a beginning of democracy in Goa. Carmen Miranda Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 10:30:56 + From: Mauricio Pereira People's power is true democracy. And the voter is king. For the couple of months that I have seen in Goa, and from interactions with activists and urban villagers, Goans stand apart. Their sentiments are very strong. They have a say in the way they are governed. And their political leaders bow to them. There have been many instances to support this argument. The latest is the protests of the Curchorem residents led by Ghanv Rakhon Jagrut Manch marching to chief minister Digambar Kamat's residence in Margao demanding the scrapping of the proposal to expand the highway that connects the mining belt to Mormugao port to four-lane for transportation of iron ore, mainly being exported to Japan and China. The state highway connects Sanvordem and Curchorem in the Quepem-Sanguem talukas in Goa. The locals instead want the government to expedite land acquisition proceedings for the proposed 19 km Uguem-Capxem mining bypass, which can connect to the Zuari river from where the iron ore could be transported by barges to Mormugao port.
[Goanet] There's more democracy in Goa
People's power is true democracy. And the voter is king. For the couple of months that I have seen in Goa, and from interactions with activists and urban villagers, Goans stand apart. Their sentiments are very strong. They have a say in the way they are governed. And their political leaders bow to them. There have been many instances to support this argument. The latest is the protests of the Curchorem residents led by Ghanv Rakhon Jagrut Manch marching to chief minister Digambar Kamat's residence in Margao demanding the scrapping of the proposal to expand the highway that connects the mining belt to Mormugao port to four-lane for transportation of iron ore, mainly being exported to Japan and China. The state highway connects Sanvordem and Curchorem in the Quepem-Sanguem talukas in Goa. The locals instead want the government to expedite land acquisition proceedings for the proposed 19 km Uguem-Capxem mining bypass, which can connect to the Zuari river from where the iron ore could be transported by barges to Mormugao port. Their reasoning is that the highway is already highly polluted and many accidents take place on the road. They do not want mixing up of mining trucks on the road and more traffic. The CM immediately called a representative team of the protestors for dialogue to his official residence in Panaji and assured the residents that the government would pursue the bypass and keep the four-lane road expansion in abeyance. Such responsiveness to people's demands rarely happens in India, where chief ministers are not accessible to their people. And most assurances are made only to be broken much sooner than later. The Janata darshans in most state capitals are farcical exercises just to gain some publicity. Residents of various villages in Goa have been protesting and taking out morchas demanding various things on the same issue and the government gives all groups a patient hearing. These are not the only issues on which one is basing an argument about true democracy being practiced in Goa. There have been many occasions when people have directly called up the chief minister or ministers concerned to get their grievances addressed. On several occasions, the CM and the ministers have got calls on their mobile phones even at midnight telling them that their locality does not have power supply. The political rulers have acted on such complaints immediately and got power restored to the localities. During a chat, Digambar Kamat argued that there may be several problems of the people. Their children may be studying for an exam, or somebody in the house may be ill. "How do you expect the children to study for their exams if there are power cuts?" he said. Do other CM's of our great nation think like that? Can people even get through the offices of chief ministers of Maharashtra or Uttar Pradesh? Or can they access chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh or Karnataka? Goa may be a small state, but the fact that the CM is accessible to the people on a cellphone in the middle of the night augers well for the society. On one occasion, a state transport bus broke down past midnight between Belgaum (in Karnataka) and Margao (in Goa). The bus passengers tried contacting officials to get help from the middle of the dense ghat section. Luckily, one of them had the mobile number of the Goa CM and he decided to call him for help. The state government immediately swung into action making arrangements for an alternative bus from Belgaum to reach the spot and pick up the harassed passengers. Another minister, Atanasio 'Babush' Monserrate goes out of the way to protect his voters. There was one incidence that a driver of a cab agency told me. When he was driving on the highway, another vehicle, a two-wheeler, crashed into the travel agency car. There was a crowd immediately around and arguments were on. Babush, as he is popularly known in Goa, happened to witness the accident. The minister got off his car, went up to the cab driver and told him that the two-wheeler rider involved in the accident was his voter and hence he (the minister) would pay up whatever was the cost of damage to the travel agency vehicle. "Just leave him alone and don't trouble him. Bring me the bill and collect the money," Babush is said to have told the driver. The bill came to Rs 21,000. So the driver after getting the damage repaired went to Babush with the bill, and the minister without asking any questions gave the cash. And so does another minister Churchill Alemao, who goes to any extent in south Goa to protect his voters. People across communities give credit to the work done by opposition leader and former chief minister Manohar Parrikar of the BJP in Panaji constituency. "Parrikar does not spend money like some of the other ministers do from his pocket, but the work he has done shows in Panaji," say most Goans. Go Goa, people's power is supreme.
