ToIGoa, Vijay Times... and the rumour mill
Rumours are rife among the media circuit that the Times of India is planning to come out with a Goa edition, printed out of Pilerne, at their plot given to them in the early 'nineties when Suresh Parulekar was minister. If that happens, how will it impact Goa's far-from-inspiring journalism?
Meanwhile, this blog entry is confirming that the Vijay Times has been taken over by the Times of India. Likewise, another blog entry with more details is called "A small Tribune story helped TOI pick up VK, VT".
posted by fredericknoronha @ 7/05/2006 04:33:00 am
3 Comments:
At 3/16/2008 01:41:00 pm,
Unknown said…
IS THE GOVT. OF GOA NOT ACCOUNTABLE TO ANY ONE ?
Sir
It is highly disturbing to note that the policy makers of Goa are squandering public money without being accountable to the nation. They are so indecisive that they take one policy decision today after lot of deliberations spending crores of rupees in payments to consultants, concerned officials’ time & money and a few months later, they are on the other side opposing the same policy. The author has analyzed a number of such decisions/ non decisions still begging a firm mind.
The criticism has become so personalized that every politician seems to think what he is thinking is right & what the other person has done is patently wrong. He convinces a few gullible illiterate or semi literate persons to support him vociferously in his so thought out justified stand. And through that bunch of selfish short sighted unconcerned buffoons, he succeeds in criticizing a well meant policy and throws out that brilliant idea. Still worse, the same politician is seen, after another few months, modifying the first idea to bring back the same old policy in so called new version after spending another bunch of crores of rupees in renaming the same old wine in a new bottle. But the timing, the opportunity is lost and the people of Goa get a discomforting tag of “Being laid back, lazy & slow”
Take the latest example of decision on installing Speed Governors. The Govt. is firmly of the opinion that installation of speed governors is in the interest of public safety and road users should be free from the speed menace. But in spite of invoking ESMA, the govt. dithered in just less than 48 hours and announced keeping the order in abeyance. What does it mean? Has the public safety taken a wing and flown over? OR, it was a ploy to garner money from the transporters, people wonder. The idea smacks of high corruption in high places and the policy stands changed. Let the public go to dogs. However, the sword will continue to haunt the commercial vehicle owners as the policy is only kept in abeyance and not scrapped. It appears, it will be revived again at an opportune moment.
Take the example of scrapping RP 2011, Mopa Airport, Garbage site, and recent catastrophic fate of SEZs. The people of the state are perhaps advised by some learned people not to accept the view of the Govt. They criticize it tooth & nail by all means until that idea is thrown out and people’ rights become known to the Govt. Have people of a particular area / gram sabha / panchayat / locality / constituency become so selfish or so regional in their approach that they will not look to the national interest / state interest as paramount?
Yes, the Goans have been tutored / encouraged to behave like that neighbor who does not allow you to park your vehicle in front of his gate/ even in front of the walls outside his house in spite of scarce parking space in the cities of Panjim, Ponda and Margao. In no part of the country any one has the authority to block roads in front of gates / walls except for public purpose. It is transparent to every individual that garbage should be cleared every day but where it is dumped is not his concern. They think, it is the responsibility of the Govt. to dump it. Well, the Govt. is alive to its responsibility and chooses a particular site but the people of that area have the audacity to oppose it because the filth of other areas cannot be dumped in my area / location. Let the Govt. find another site. The govt. then goes for another spree of site hunting wasting millions in the process. The peoples’ power is supreme but what about the collective power of the people as Govt.
MOPA International Airport was approved by the Central Govt. after a lot of study of topography, site selection, feasibility reports and finally the financial approvals. The state was required to implement by acquiring lands for the public purpose but some people with vested interests opposed it and succeeded in jeopardizing the entire project. The people of South Goa opposed it on the ground that its location in North Goa will hinder the growth of tourism in the state as it will be far away from the existing airport and would inconvenience the people living in South Goa. Another study was conducted and it has again come to pass that Mopa Airport should be built as per earlier plans. The govt. of the state is not firm enough to put its foot down and go ahead with the project even at the risk of displeasure of some people.
Same is true of RP 2011. The Govt. had notified it but some people believed that in framing RP 2011, it has favored some people. Even if it is believed to be true, the entire exercise of preparing RP 2011 has become a drain on the national exchequer. Simply putting it in cloaked words that the Plan is not in the interests of the people is succumbing to pressures due to wishful & whimsical sentiments of some self seeking politicians. Now again the Govt. has to prepare the RP 2011/ 2021 and spend crores of rupees in wasteful expenditure. A special task force has been created but it is not for free. It costs the Govt. a lot of time, money and delays in bringing a fair and just development to the people. Should no body look into this bungling of politicians playing with money of the people in framing policies, dismantling the plans instead of implementing & remaking the policies wasting huge man hours.
The media too has played a partisan role in supporting none too zealous people in letting the Govt. scrap SEZs in the name of people of Goa. Merely making a statement that SEZs “are not in the interest of the people of Goa” does not justify the stand taken by the government. The SEZ Policy was made in 2003 and was notified in 2006. Some business people sensed an opportunity & invested huge money in preparing plans as per State & Central Govt. Rules & Regulations.
The central Govt. too appreciated that Goa is a small state and land is scarce in Goa. This is why it allowed smaller SEZs to be developed. Normal SEZs require an area of at least 500 HA but in Goa, 50 HA size was allowed. This is why the number of smaller sized SEZs seemed to be too many. But in fact, 15 SEZs in Goa were not equal to a normal sized One SEZ. Lot of investment has gone into planning already both of the Govt. and of the private sector. Therefore, this does not leave any scope with the State to go back to the drawing board stage and scrap the SEZs which had been approved by it in 2006 -07. However, the SEZs have now been scrapped and the people of Goa will realize soon what they have lost.
What is in the interests of the people of Goa is debatable because SEZs were planned with national interest of the economy in mind. Is it the effect of the same regional bias / the selfish interest of the people of Goa that they could consider it more pronounced over riding the national interest. Any way, the State has lost an opportunity and SEZs stand scrapped leaving people to think what next.
This idea of what next is to look for what next to oppose. No question of development in the State of Goa. Every thing is in limbo. People’s money has been squandered away from the personal coffers of the business people, from the coffers of the Govt. and who has gained in the process – ego of some politicians, the people or the Govt. None in particular but the State is losing its reputation, its name as number one state in many fields, might soon lose its status as a Safe Tourist Destination. The murder case of a British national Scarlett Keeling has exposed even police nexus with the drug barons. It is beyond doubt that drugs were and are available in Goa and police was in the know of things, otherwise there was no point of a cover up. In short, Goa is becoming unsafe with the presence of terrorists on the borders/ jungles of Goa, as per reports of intelligence agencies. I am not a prophet of doom but I wish the people to rise above parochial considerations, selfishness and greed.
This leads us to believe the internationally known fact about Goans that they are laid back, lazy and wake up to decide when the whole world has enjoyed the fruits of that brilliant policy. Still, they will have no regret because they have nothing to lose as there is no personal stake and all was at the expense of public money, which invisibly is also their own. It might take years to realize this. The govt. lacks spine to implement what it decides. Then why and what for and for whom the policies ?
JMC Jaggi,
Miramar, Panjim, Goa
At 8/21/2008 09:07:00 pm,
Unknown said…
This leads us to believe the internationally known fact about Goans that they are laid back, lazy and wake up to decide
by
regards
Villu stills,songs
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