Open letter to Sonia Gandhi and Margaret Alva
Tony Alvares, Aldona.

WE GOANS have always cherished the rule of the Congress Party for its secular outlook and impartial help to all deserving cases. This was aptly demonstrated by the electorate of Goa continuously for 15 years.

Unfortunately, Dr. Willy, as avaricious as he is, betrayed the trust and hopes of the Goan people. Since then the betrayed Goan electorate has lost the trust they reposed in the Congress Party which was at one time the bedrock of Goan polity. To add fuel to the fire, Congress legislators kept moving from one party to another only to feather their own nests.

Basically, most Goan Congress legislators are not Congressmen. This is evident from the fact that they lack the spirit of Gandhiji, Maulana Azad and other Congress veterans who fought for the freedom of India. They joined the Congress Party only to amass wealth by conning the electorate.

The purpose of my writing this letter is to request you to ensure that not a single existing legislator is given a ticket in the forthcoming Assembly elections, because the Congress Party has become a cess pool and the public must see this cess pool. I suggest that Madam Magaret Alva visit each and every constituency individually and after contacting local Congress supporters select the most sincere and hard working person for a ticket to that constituency.

The selected candidate should be asked to deposit a minimum sum of Rs.Two lakhs and this would be forfeited by the Congress Party and distributed amongst the poor electorate if the elected candidate fails to keep his promises. This will end corruption and will build confidence in the electorate.

Goa Heading For Disaster
Joseph Furtado, Sangolda.

This is regarding Goan Observer's story “Countdown to Disaster” concerning the naphtha pipeline from Mormugao to the factory of ZACL in Zuari Nagar bobbing up at Baina beach. It is a very serious matter.

It was in early 1970’s that Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd. (ZACL) had taken the Goan people for granted. Incompetently installed equipment resulted in untreated ammonia seeping into the wells of the surrounding villages of ZACL after being piped into the leaking reservoir. Secondly, the untreated arsenic effluents leaking through broken pipeline 300 meters from the shore resulted in fish dying along the shores. At that time I was very involved with the Anti-pollution Citizens Committee headed by the present Tourism Minister Mathany Saldanha. Technically supported by the late engineer, Urban Lobo, and other well known activists, along with the people of the neighbouring areas of ZACL, we fought the pollution wholeheartedly. When nothing worked the people of the surrounding areas of ZACL marched to the gate of ZACL with simultaneous protest and hunger strikes outside the Collectorate and District Magistrate of North Goa. The District Magistrate of North Goa asked ZACL to stop production until all necessary machinery was installed.

Similarly, the present situation in Goa concerning IFFI-related projects speaks volumes. The one who was at the forefront of environmental issues of ZACL, Nylon 66, Meta Strips and many others, is now silently supporting the government’s mal-practices. The Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) is a front for corruption. It has given jobs to disrepued contractors and without any transparency on the lines of political connections. Who will benefit from IFFI? The rich and black money-spinning film industry!

The Mandovi riverfront has been abused in the name of IFFI and the people of Goa have to suffer from hardships on the roads around Panjim.

Brains Behind Brains
Tony Pacco, Mapusa.

CAME AUG. 15 and our heads were burdened with "hell-mates"! Thank you for the Independence Day gift, thank-you for being the people’s representatives. Thank you for your keen interest in shielding our brains with helmets. How caring, how loving, how concerned and how faithful our represenaives are when it comes to protecting Goan brains. When rotten roads crush and mangle other parts of the body preserve our precious Goan brains in a museum as memoriy of how life used to be and continues to be...

Orlim Roads Need Repairs
Ramakant V. Naik and Armando Dais, Orlim.

IT HAS BEEN reported in local newspapers that Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar advised Navelim MLA Luizinho Faleiro to put in writing the names of roads that are in need of repairs in Navelim and he promptly assured funds to the tune of Rs.One crore for repairs of the same.

We believe that Mr. Faleiro submitted the names of roads that required widening and repairing such as Cavelossim Ferry Boat Road (for hot mixing), widening of Telaulim Panchayat Tolle Bund Road and repairs of Davorlim Road...all in his village of Navelim! He conveniently forgot roads in Navelim constituency which are on the other side of the unbridged River Sal. He has reasons to do so because with the delimitation of Assembly Constituencies, Varca, Orlim, Carmona and Cavelossim villages, will cease to be in the Navelim constituency.

He ought to have been aware that the road to Orlim River Sal Bridge, starting from four junction road, near Impalla Distillery upto the River Sal Bridge, is in bad shape. The heavy traffic from Karwar to coastal villages and towns in South Goa is routed over the River Sal bridge from the economical point of view. Hence its repairs are of paramount importance.

Luizinho should bear in mind that the villages of Varca, Orlim and Carmona, have contributed their share towards his Assembly Election continuously for several years. He is morally obliged to nurse coastal villages with devotion and dedication till he opts for a new constituency.

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