By Rajan Narayan

AND A FEW more stray thoughts and a few more observations for yet another Sunday. For a Sunday following the week when one of Babush Monserrate’s alleged victims committed suicide. For a Sunday following the week when Micky Pacheco was summarily dumped from the cabinet. For a Sunday following the week when the health ministry was all set to suspend or sack two GMC doctors on the charge of engaging in private practice. For a Sunday following the week when the moral brigade led by Manohar Parrikar which is gloating over the extinction of Baina continued to be indulgent towards the organized prostitution and call girl rackets run by politically connected individuals close to the ruling establishment. For a Sunday following the week when B Rajaram, the Managing Director of the Konkan Railway stood totally exposed. For a Sunday following the week when high flying lawyers from Mumbai and their local accomplices almost sabotaged the Nitin Joll Trust petition against the IFFI.

And a few stray thoughts on the suicide of Stalin D’ Souza of Primos Builders. It will be recalled that the proprietor of Primos Builders committed suicide last week. Stalin is allegedly one of Babush Monserrate’s many victims. Stalin was in the process of putting up a building at Miramar. He had apparently approached Babush who had suspended the conversion of the property from S2 to S1 which would have enabled him to put up an additional floor. Apparently Babush Monserrate demanded two flats in the building in return and was stepping up the pressure on Stalin. Unable to deal with the threats and bullying tactics used by Babush Monserrate, Stalin reportedly took the extreme step of ending his life, leaving a wife and two children behind. But Stalin is not the only victim of the Viper from Taleigao. A lot of builders have borrowed money at exhorbitant rates of interest from Babush Monserrate. And Babush has always been ruthless in collecting his dues. In the past, Babush used to have all the luxury limousines of those who owed him money seized. Which explains how there are a huge fleet of almost 40 cars in Babush’s underground garage in Taleigao. During the last year or so, particularly since he became the Town and Country Planning Minister, Babush Monserrate has been demanding not just flats but whole floors in lieu of the money owed to him. Babush has allegedly been imposing himself as a partner in several building firms including Landscape as payment for favours rendered.

Totally Ruthless
ALL TOWN and Country Planning ministers have of course sought to extort money from builders. But apparently none of them have been quite as systematic and ruthless as Babush Monserrate. In the Town and Country Planning Board or the PPDA, which he controls, the relevant officials approached by builders are very willing to oblige. Indeed builders are told that anything is possible. Settlements can be converted into commercial zones. You can jump straight from S3 to C2 or C1 if you want as it happened in the case of the Vaiguinnim Valley Resort being put up by Britto of Chances Casino in Machado Cove, Dona Paula. Never mind that the Casino run by Britto itself is illegal and he is reportedly operating the casino on a license given to a starred hotel in the South. Unlike his predecessors however, Babush Monserrate calculates the potential profits that the promoter of a project is likely to make. And demands a percentage which can go up to 50% as a pre condition to approving the project. It is of course of no concern to him that the builder may run into trouble because of time and cost overruns and may not be able to make the projected profits. But the loot and plunder does not stop here.

A leading though controversial builder who is already in deep trouble had secured permission for developing and selling some plots in Caranzalem. All the clearances had been obtained and the desperate builder had hoped to repay some of his debts from the proceeds of the same. The necessary permissions were all ready to be collected. But the moment Babush took over the PPDA, he is alleged to have taken possession of all the files, including those that had already been cleared. And of course refused to hand over the papers till he got his due share. The story goes that Babush has set a target for himself of collecting a cool Rs. 100 crores. After which he will relinquish his Town and Country Planning portfolio and demand the Urban Development and Panchayat portfolio. Babush has reportedly purchased a lot of land and is planning to turn builder himself. Watch out for more suicides by builders.

Micky Dumped
AND FEW STRAY observations on the unceremonious dumping of Micky Pacheco who is really in the dumps. Micky has not only been dumped from the Cabinet by his one time buddy Manohar Parrikar, but has also been disowned by the Presidium of the United Goons Undemocratic party. Radharao and Anicleto have disowned him. Not only because he is of no use to them any longer, but also because he has been openly conspiring with the Congress party to bring down the Parrikar government. Apparently the gang of five led by Dr. Wilfred D’Souza and their collaborator Luizinho Faleiro had offered Micky Pacheco the Deputy Chief Minister post. Announcing that he had dropped Pacheco from the cabinet, Manohar Parrikar claimed that Micky had been dropped because all the members of the ruling group, all 22 of them apparently disapproved of his style of functioning. Which is absurd to say the least because Micky’s style of functioning has not changed since he became a minister. And all this while, neither Manohar Parrikar nor any of his cabinet colleagues, at least in public, expressed any reservations about Micky’s style of functioning. In fact, if you think of it, there is not much difference between Micky’s style of functioning and the style of functioning of Manohar Parrikar. Both of them believe that they are the font of all wisdom and that they should have their way. The only difference is that Micky has been flamboyantly abrasive while Parrikar has been less ostentatiously abrasive. But Micky was not dropped because Manohar Parrikar disapproved of his style of functioning. He was dropped because one of the many patron saints of the Sangh Parivar and the BJP in the state did not approve of his style of functioning. Particularly Micky’s new found enthusiasm for removing the River Princess. At a cabinet meeting held last week, there was a major confrontation between Micky and Manohar Parrikar on the River Princess issue. Micky had accused Manohar Parrikar of shielding the River Princess. As we reported earlier, Micky had stormed out of the meeting. I understand that Anil Salgaocar forced Manohar Parrikar to drop Micky Pacheco from the cabinet and bring to an end any attempts by the government to have the River Princess removed from its position just of the Candolim beach.

Truant Doctors
AND A FEW stray thoughts on the attempts of the health ministry to crack down on the widespread private practice indulged in by doctors in the GMC. Several times in the past, the Health Minister has huffed and puffed and threatened to bring the roof down on the moonlighters. But of course nothing happened because no one knew where to make a beginning as almost very doctor in the GMC including heads of departments engaged in private practice. Not just after office hours but even during office hours. The worst of the culprits of course have been doctors attached to the orthopedics and the radiology departments. In the Orthopedic department, it is the Head of the Department who has the largest and the most lucrative private practice. The Head of the Radiology Department has a notorious reputation for diverting patients to his private clinic in Porvorim. It is hardly surprising that most of the radiological equipment in the GMC is malfunctioning most of the time as this suits the head of the radiology Department. The health minister has been under sustained pressure from the private practitioner’s lobby to crack down on private practice.

The private practitioners in the GMC got a reprieve because when the number of seats at GMC were increased from 70 to 100, a ratio was fixed between the number of doctors and students. If the GMC had cracked down on those doing private practice, the permission for increasing the seats would have been jeopardized. But apparently, the GMC has decided to make an example of two senior doctors, the Head of the Department of Radiology, Mahesh Sardessai and one of the lecturers in the Orthopedic Department, Zelio. The curious part of course is that several others who are equally culpable have been spared because of their close ties with senior members of the cabinet. The irony of the situation is that even Head of Department who are conscientious and ethical are unable to rein in their juniors. In the case of one department where the Head of the Department does not engage in private practice, one of his junior-most colleagues makes as much as Rs one lakh or more every month moonlighting. GMC doctors, on their part, insist that it is impossible to live on the salaries that the government pays. Though the GMC is an institution approved by the UGC, the professors and other academic staff are paid State Government scales which are far lower than the salaries prescribed by the UGC.

Double Standards
AND A FEW stray observations on the Chief Minister’s newfound passion to crackdown on sex workers. Though of course everyone knows that the real motive is a land grab rather than the removal of sex workers from Baina. Absurdly enough, I understand that the BJP is planning a massive function to felicitate Manohar Parrikar on his great fete of exterminating not just the sex workers but even ordinary families and owners of small business establishments in Baina. No doubt one of these days soon the entire property will be handed over to some seven-storey deluxe luxury hotel. But all that apart, while Manohar Parrikar and the government was so obsessed with removing the sex workers from Baina, they have been extremely indulgent towards organized prostitution and call girl rackets in the rest of the state. There were reports of a whore house in Umta waddo in Calangute. There was of course no information on what happened subsequently. There have also been persistent reports that the Russian mafia has set up models in the northern coastal belt. Apparently, call girl rackets run by the high and the mighty and those who are politically connected can continue to flourish. Remember all the rhetoric about the Miramar sex scandal indulged in by Manohar Parrikar. The investigation was not pursued because too many people in high places were involved and not because nobody was willing to lodge a complaint as claimed by the Chief Minister.

In the Mumbai papers, particularly in the Asian Age, ads offering adult companionship are quiet common. What is disturbing is the advertisements that have been appearing regularly every weekend in the Navhind Times offering relief for the lonely and presumably the sex starved. The advertisements which appear in the personal classified section ask those seeking ‘friends’ to contact Goa Links at a specified email address. A journalist who contacted the email address was given a telephone number and when he telephoned he was apparently told that the organizers of the racket could provide him a fun companion – college girls for between Rs. 2000 and Rs. 5000 a night. The racket which masquerades as a professional dating service is obviously run by someone who is very familiar with Goa and is very well connected. When I emailed him pretending to be a dummy customer, I promptly got a message. Which said ‘yours is a household name in Goa, but nevertheless if you require our services, please call the Reliance mobile number attached. I had passed on the details to a senior police official more than ten days ago. But I am confident that nothing will be done. The very fact that the organizer of the racket who calls himself S. Victor had the gumption to respond to my email in spite of apparently having discovered my identity dramatizes how confident he is that no one can touch him.

Safest Railway
AND A FEW stray thoughts on the latest disaster on the Konkan Railway involving the Matsyaganda Express. The engine and the first two bogies of the train are reported to have derailed when they were hit by a boulder. The accident comes almost exactly a year after a similar accident involving a holiday special. Just last month the glib, high profile MD of the Konkan Railway had boasted KRC was the safest railway in the country if not the world. Rajaram insisted that the Konkan Railway had made the operation monsoon proof by investing Rs. 60 crores in safety measures. Rajaram had waxed eloquent about his latest gadget, the inclinometer which was supposed to automatically alert the driver if there was any danger of a boulder coming down. This was in addition to the famous Rakshadhara, the glorified name for the string stretched alongside the tracks. Rajaram has always had the talent of giving fancy names of rudimentary and primitive safety devices. In the event neither the inclinometer nor the Rakshadara worked. And the Matsyaganda plunged into the river jumping the bridge near Ambolim. And mind you, Rajaram had succeeded in selling his patented anti collision device which had apparently been modified to prevent collision with boulders to the entire railway network in the country.

One shudders to think what will happen if the entire railway network in the county is compelled to rely on Rajaram’s much hyped anti collision device. And this is the same man that the Goa government gifted tax payers’ money to build a prototype of the sky bus. It will be recalled that three years ago when Atal Behari Vajpayee came holidaying in Goa, he had promised Goa a sky bus. The sky bus of course is yet to see the light of day and in any case, the Goa government seems to have changed its mind about having a sky bus in the State. When asked about what happened to all the money that the Goa government put into the prototype, Parrikar claimed that the state would get a share of the royalties. After the latest accident, no one including the Maharashtra governor Mohammed Fazal who has been very keen on taking the sky bus to Mumbai, will be interested. If Rajaram cannot ensure safe travel on terra firma, one shudders to think what will happen if the sky bus becomes operational. Apparently Rajaram had been warned by geologists that the Konkan region was very ecologically fragile and that a detailed geological analysis should have been taken before the construction of the line. Rajaram and his predecessor Shridaran ignored their advice and the commuters are paying for their folly.

And a last stray thought for yet another Sunday. Lawyers obviously can’t be trusted. The Nitoll Jinn Trust had filed a public interest litigation against the IFFI. The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court had directed the Trust to deposit Rs. 40, 000 as costs. The Trust had employed a high profile Mumbai based lawyer. In the absence of the Chairman of the Trust, the high flying lawyer from Mumbai had apparently attempted to withdraw the petition. On the claim that all the prayers in the petition had already been granted. The lawyer and his junior in Goa had apparently not even bothered to file an application seeking more time to deposit the Rs. 40, 000 imposed as costs which are payable in advance in the case of PILs. A disgusted trustee of the Nitoll Jinn Trust sacked the Mumbai based lawyer and his local accomplices and managed to secure more time for the hearing of the case. At the hearing, the Advocate General A N Nadkarni is reported to have stated that the government had not in fact conceded any of the prayers that had been made by the trust confirming that the Mumbai lawyer had been taking the trust for a ride. What is even more disturbing is that a leading local environmentalist is reported to have misled the Nitoll Jinn Trust and insisted that they should withdraw the petition as the government had conceded all the prayers.

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