GOA SWAYS … UNDER SAVIOURS!
By Valmiki Faleiro.
Every Goan politico swears by ‘saving’ Goa. Let’s visit an instance of how that’s done.What I write may sound like fiction, but believe me, it is not. This is common knowledge in the circles of a particular Goa government department, its officers and contractors. Among whom I count many acquaintances. I will name neither the department nor the politician.
Bolting horses do not leave their hides behind. In the dicey domain of defamation law, I’ll tread on the side of caution. This particular politician swore to save Goa. To do that, soon after being elected, he did a rapid-fire flip and a flop. For Rs.30 crores, in hard cash. Twenty crores for withdrawing support to the government and, in about a month, ten crores for not just re-supporting the same government but bedding a milking cash cow, as minister. This particular department annually spends hundreds of crores for the greater glory of Goa.
Of every rupee spent, between 10-15 percent goes directly into the minister’s kitty. Take a Rs.10 crore project. The system, on paper, works on sealed tender basis. Any number of eligible contractors vie to bag the contract. In practice, the serious one musttrudge Margao’s hillock, Monte. Here is the government Rest House and some official bungalows – all now figuratively private property of the minister’s daughter and her escort. The contractor must meet her,but only after surrendering all bugging devices, including mobile camera-phones. If the contractor is the only bidder for the work, a deal is cracked at 10% (in our instance,One Crore Rupees) to be paid to the minister. In case of more than one bidding aspirant,as often is the case, the ministerial daughter turns auctioneer of her father’s 'share'(which could rise to 15-20% of the work value.) Cash is not passed at Monte, once a lovers’ rendezvous, and eons before, the route of demons that tormented Margao. The concerned Executive Engineer must collect the ministerial loot.
And we complain of bureaucratic corruption! Mercifully, I have encountered upright officials in several government departments. Exceptions, to be sure. But in this minister’s department, every official must cough up one percent of project money they handle, esp. around festivals, from Diwali to Carnival. For saving Goa. That’s not all. Highly inflated tenders are now the norm. Crores are accounted as spent on projects difficult to verify, when the actual cost doesn’t cross a few lakh rupees. Venial, though. Crores are siphoned out of the public treasury on projects executed and paid for ages ago. Internal audit is dead, because ‘Goa’ must survive! We’ve created another political monster. Like Taleigao in Tiswadi, this one is set to sway future electoral fortunes in the historically key taluka of Goa: Salcete. With his few hundred crores...
With a series like ‘Goa sways,’ you’d imagine I could go on almost forever, on Goa’smyriad ills, from killer mosquitoes to mines. But let’s move on, from what Goa is to where she is headed, after coming Sunday. As customary, I will share with you an old butinspirational internet story for Easter.
P.S.: Writes an engineer friend about last week’s column … “If water contamination wasas bad, half of Margao would be outside Hospicio’s overcrowded morgue. Of concern is:the Selaulim reservoir, in a mining area, gets manganese in its water. Too much of it canlead to kidney failure. Opt for your well water either boiled or through a reverse osmosisfilter, so you continue writing in Herald dated 1st April 2056.”
P.P.S.: A final farewell to friend, guide and motivator, my former college lecturer DiogoManuel Silveira. Hailing from Goltim-Divar, DMS was brilliant at academics and was laterEditor at Mumbai’s ‘Free Press Journal’ group. Fit and sprightly, given not to mundanevices like booze and smoke, DMS, who would turn 60 this month, suffered a heart attack– his first and, alas, last – around 6am, March 31, in Mumbai. He had launched me into writing, with a co-signed piece, published in ‘The Navhind Times’ in 1975.Eternal peace! (ENDS.)
The Valmiki Faleiro.
