IN DEPTH
COLLECTIVE IRRESPONSIBILITY
By Agnelo Rodrigues

GCZMA VIOLATES CODE
By Jonquil Sudhir

MODERN SCIENCE OR BAINA SCIENCE?
By Claude Alvares
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TONGUE-IN-CHEEK
PARRITLER’S TRAVELS
By Aravind Bhatikar
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HEALTH
SUPER SPECIALISATION MORE A DRAWBACK
By Dr. V. N. Jindal
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EATING IS FUN
A variety food column
By Tara Narayan
IT’S BHAJIYA FEST V/S THAI DUMPLING
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SHORT STORY
CROSSROADS - III
Continuing Keki N. Daruwalla's story from his book "The Minister for Permanent Unrest and Other Stories"
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ON STAGE-OFF STAGE
TWO KONKANI GEMS RELEASED
By Daneil F De Souza
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GOENKARANCHO AVAZ
Readers write...
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Indecent exposure

BAINA, THE tamdimati of Goa (red light district), was extinguished by the Manohar Parrikar government on the premise that it spoiled its reputation. That it is a case of indecent exposure. The sex workers have disappeared from Baina. But Baina has gained sudden notoriety for a new type of indecent exposure. Exposure not just to AIDS or sexually transmitted diseases. But exposure which can suddenly and without any notice extinguish life. Or cost third degree burns and leave the residents of the Ambednagar slums and possibly even all residents of the port town Vasco scared for life.

The latest dangerously indecent exposure is the new hi-tech 20-inch multi-product petroleum pipeline which was commissioned just a few months ago with great fanfare by Zuari Indian Oiltanking Limited (ZIOL). A pipeline which was to replace the 30-year-old pipeline put up by Zuari for transporting naphtha to its plant in Zuarinagar. The new pipeline unlike its previous avataar was considered to be ultra safe. It was not even meant to be seen as ZIOL had given a very solemn undertaking that under no circumstances would it permit the pipeline to be exposed. The grim ground reality is that the pipeline which was meant to lie buried 2.5 m under the now sanitised Baina beach has now bobbed up to the surface and is posing a major threat to the lives and limbs of the neighbouring slums and the port town of Vasco. Even the wearing coat has disappeared increasing the risk of leakage or even of the pipe going bust.

Who is responsible. Not I, says E. P. Esteves , the cocky, arrogant, egoistical Managing Director of ZIOL. And as humans always do, E. P. Esteves has chosen to blame mother nature. Not I, says DR. N. S. Varde, member secretary of the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) who was instrumental in granting clearances for the pipeline over the objections of Dr. Claude Alvares. Not I, says the director of the NIO, who insisted that since the seasonal erosion at Baina was only .5 metres there is no way the pipeline could have bobbed up to the surface if it was actually buried 2.5m under the surface. Not I, says Tata AIG which was supposed to have conducted the environmental assessment and the risk analysis report. We told them to grout and they did not.

Presumably the exposure of the pipe is an immaculate conception. Or may be there are ghosts lingering on Baina beach who pushed up the pipe to the surface. The fact remains that the pipe remains exposed and the exposed pipe, whatever all the conspirators and collaborators may say, poses a grave threat to Baina and the port town Vasco. We only hope and pray that the GCZMA and the government will not succumb to pressure and will stand by the decision not to allow resumption of pumping deadly chemicals and inflammable petroleum products till all necessary safeguards are put in place and the pipe is reburied and firmly anchored so that it will not keep popping up like a jack-in-the-box.