Strike call over HSRPs. Govt moots ESMA

The government of Goa is seriously considering invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) in the backdrop of the threat by the Goa public transport federation of a strike in the state of Goa on August 31. The all Goa public transport federation, is an umbrella organisation of 23 public transport organisations.The transport operators under the umbrella include bus owners, taxi operators, rickshaws and two wheeler pilots.

The transporters are demanding that the government stop the implementation of the High Security Number Plates (HSNP) and also to reduce the rates of the pollution certificate. 

Interestingly the strike has also been supported by the youth congress which is the main partner in the ruling coalition government in the state of Goa. The transporters have also indicated their plans of an indefinite strike if the government fails to pay heed to their demands.

Goa Public Transport Fed ups ante.Announces strike on HSRPs

In the building resentment against the enforcement of the high security registration plates for all vehicles in Goa, the All Goa public transport federation became the latest body to announce its agitational stance against the implementation of the High security registration plates in Goa and threatened to go on a one day token strike if the government of Goa fails to stop the process of its implementation.

The federation constitutes al transport operators in Goa including bus owners, taxi operators, rickshaw and two wheelers and pilots who are all set to observe the strike on Monday Aug 31 2009.

Interestingly, the strike call given by the transporters body has the backing of the state unit of the youth congress which had earlier protested the state governments move at Margao when they almost laid siege to the RTOs office last week.

It may be recalled that Goa had advocated the use of high security registration plates making the same mandatory to all vehicles as per the directives of the supreme court under the central motor vehicles act and a Mumbai base company  Shimnit Utsch had bagged the contract amidst opposition by the BJP.

The state of Goa has over 6.5 lakh vehicles registered with the road transport organisation (RTO). The representatives of the various transport organisations lamented that their memorandum made to the chief Minister Mr Digambar Kamat on August 10 with a deadline of seven days had no response and with the deadline expiry on August 18, they had no choice but to  hold the strike which was held in abeyance due to the ganesh chaturthi celebrations in Goa.

The organisation alleged that the representatives in the assembly have not dwelled well enough on the scheme of HSRP and pointed out that the number plates are of no use in Goa as the state has no infrastructure to ensure that the features in the number plate are complimented by proper implementation like tracking of vehicles and other security related aspects as also the absence of a data bank in Goa.

The leader of the opposition Mr Manohar Parrikar had also alleged that there appeared to be a scam in the implementation of the HSRP scheme while saying that Goans were unnecessarily paying double the price compared top the west Bengal government where the number plates were charged at Rs 282 and 441 while people in Goa have to spe4nd Rs 550 and Rs 1250 for such plates.

Goa Sarpanchas wake up to Panchayati Raj nightmare

The Goan dissent to the panchayati raj amendment bill is continuously rising with new vigilant groups emerging from the Goan fraternity and the most affected of these are obviously the sarpanchas who have realised albeit a bit late that their authority is bound to be completely undermined if the proposed bill is enacted into a law. The South Goa Sarpanchas Forum (SGSF) was thus another new body formed to oppose the bill tooth and nail.

At a well attended meeting held at Margao, the SGSF called upon panchayats from all villages in south Goa to call for the gram sabhas to deliberate on the recently passed Goa panchayat amendment bill 2009 and subsequently resolved to submit a memorandum to the governor Mr Shivinder Singh Sidhu urging him to deny his assent to the draconian bill.

The meeting which as attended to by over 70 elected representatives resolved to oppose the "usurpal of powers" of the peoples elected representatives of the Goan village panchayats which they strongly condemned and termed it as contrary to letter and spirit of the "73rd amendment of the constitution"

Last week, the Goa assembly amidst a walkout staged by the opposition, had passed the above bill which would confer executive powers on the panchayat secretaries . The sarpanchas deputy sarpanchas and the panchas have termed this action unwarranted and anti-people. The meeting also condemned the Panchayat minister Mr Manohar Azgaonkar as well as other MLAs supporting the bill

Goa High court extends stay on school fee hikes

The aggrieved parents who have approached the high court to intervene in their grievances relating to arbitrary school fee hikes by private unaided schools under the banner of All Goa Unaided schools Parents Association,(AGUSPA) were relieved when the high court of Bombay at Goa extended the interim stay on approval of fee hikes by government recognised private unaided schools in Goa till August 4.

The matter came up following a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by AGUSPA. The advocate general Mr Subodh kantak informed the bench that the government had already constituted a committee to look into the accounts of government recognised unaided private schools in the state of Goa.

AGUSPA maintained that the fee hikes were completely arbitrary and that all their efforts to elicit cooperation from the government and the directorate of education to curb the "commercialisation of education" had failed and therefore the only option available to them was to move the high court.

While AGUSPA was against any fee hikes, the association was of the view that a committee of experts should be formed to work on the financial matters pertaining to the unaided schools and prepare a report on whether salaries as per the Sixth pay commission recommendations could be paid to teachers within the current existing fee structure.

AGUSPA held the Directorate of education responsible for the arbitrary fee hikes and maintained that the failure of DoE to meticulously enforce the Goa School education Act 1984 through section 19, sub section (3) and (4) which deals with the fees and other charges to be collected by schools , has led to the present situation where education in Goa has become commercialised.

Seeking to correct the system through the PIL, AGUSPA stated that the ongoing battle is aimed at streamlining erring managements and trustees of unaided schools and the DoE which has denied justice for long to parents who have been unduly exploited due to inaction.

AGUSPA has also sought that the DoE should constitute an authority to inspect and audit the account statements of recognised private unaided schools in Goa which they pointed out is mandatory under Section 10, sub-section 7 and under the rules framed in the Goa education Act 1984.

Farmers in Rawanfond Goa, to fight for their land

Farmers  in Rawanfond in south Goa are in an agitation mode and are in no  mood to listen to the government who has acquired their land to rehabilitate displaced traders by displacing the farmers from their traditional paddy fields which many of them claim, are their sole means of earning their daily bread. In a meeting held  in the fields opp. KRC station, Margao to protest the illegal acquisition of fields and creation of a new slum area by the Govt. of Goa the farmers under the banner of "Navelchea Xetkariancho Ekvott" supported by Navelim Civic & Consumer Forum (NCCF) vowed to get their land back from the government and threatened to come to the streets to achieve the objective

The farmers along with the residents of Aquem-Baixo, Nalanda Apartments, Ravanfond & Davorlim assembled in large numbers to protest the forcible and illegal acquisition of lush green paddy fields and putting up slums in the area. People gathered and shouted slogans such as "Amchim Xettam amka zai" "Zopodpottio amkam naka", etc.( meaning " we want our farmland" " "we do not want slums")

President of N X E Mr. Dyneshwar Pednekar who is also a farmer and a professor of Law, described the fraud played by the Government to rob their fields. He requested the Government not to foist another "Nandigram" in Goa, as the farmers are determined, come what may to defend their rights of the fields.

Another farmer Natali Dias complained of Police harassment while cultivating the fields calling them encroachers in their own land. How can Govt. claim to have acquired the land when we have not received any compensation nor any notices? she asked. However the district collector  maintained that the award of compensation was completed way back, around eight years ago.

Cladais Dias another farmer told that they will continue their agitation and asserted that if the Govt. ignores their voice from here, then they would be forced to march to the Chief Ministers' residence, PWD Minister's residence, to the Collector's Office, and even to the Secretariat in Porvorim. Even a hunger strike is being contemplated to revert the acquisition.

Joseph Vaz of the Navelim civic and consumer Forum (NCCF) lamented that while all the fields belong to the Goan farmers, it being their main source of income, he questioned the need to acquire these fields for the sake of non-Goan shop owners/hutments to be rehabilitated in an area which would deprive Goan farmers of their sole means of earning.

Joseph Vaz secretary of NCCF, told the people that this Land Acquisition act of 1890 was used by the British to harass the Indian people then, but now this Government is using it to harass the aam aadmi. Where is our democracy? he lamented.

The NCCF also feared that the whole area would turn into another slum with hutments all over the area thus resembling another shambolic picture of the Moti Dongor slum and also felt the alarm of the present Moti Dongor residents being re-located in this area, thus making the village of Navelim into another slum infested area.

CCP to plead with Church, Chief Minister, to use Bainguinim

Political heavyweights,  clergymen, a childrens school, a temple committee and other strong vociferous voices opposing the waste management plant slated to come up at Bainguinim has propelled the Corporation of the city of Panaji (CCP) to approach the Archbishop Phillip Neri Ferrao, and the Chief Minister besides approaching MLAs and others to intervene in the matter to find a solution to the vexed problem facing the corporation.

The CCP held a special meeting on Monday where it was resolved to request the Archbishop and the Chief Minister to solve the dispute with the Panchayat, residents of Old Goa and the parish Church.

In the meantime, in order to get rid of the garbage  right now, the CCP had decided to acquire land near the KTC bus stand on lease for segregating the city garbage before sending it to the treatment plant. the CCP also plans to build composting pits at the site and has assured that no garbage will be dumped there.

Goa's beer stocks drying up before dry days

Goa's stocks of beer all over the state is expected to dry up by around Friday, 18th April 2009, a good 5 days before the Lok Sabha election date in Goa which is on 23rd April. The shortfall is expected as a result of the strict enforcement of regulations by the election authorities on the sale of liquor leading to a protest which culminated into a shut-down by wholesale distributors and dealers of liquor all over the state of Goa.

Limited stocks of Beer is all that is left over in all the pubs and bars in Goa which would suffice another 4-5 days and with the season of Lent coming to an end last Sunday, the demand is expected to go up with no stocks left to serve the customers.

However the stocks of hard liquor is expected to withstand the onslaught of the shutdown and it is only Beer which is predicted to be suddenly turning into a rare commodity in Goa. Tourism is likely to be affected the worst with this shutdown as tourists normally love beer in this sun drenched beach destination of Goa.

The Beach shacks have also been caught unawares on the shutdown and although the foreign tourist is on the decline in April, the stocks left in the shacks will be run out soon.

Wine stores in the cities of Goa have been completely shut down leading to disappointment among Indian tourists who flock in buses and vehicles to buy stocks but had to face the brunt of the shutdown in Goa.

Revenue losses to the government of Goa is expected to be a big pinch due to the shutdown and already the government is believed to have lost around 7-8 lakhs in revenues alone till date, due to the shutdown.

Meanwhile the association members maintained that it is difficult to maintain daily sales registers of stocks and therefore they had no other option but to shutdown their wholesale shops to avoid the ire of the excise authorities and the election commission. The wholesalers were not willing to take the risk of cancelling of their permits and licences due to the contraventions which may be pointed out by excise authorities during inspections.