The catholic crosses in Bombay especially the crosses on the large salsette island (present day bombay suburbs) were built in an era when neither the Bombay Muncipal Corporation existed, neither any black tar or concrete public roads existed, neither the congress – ncp – Shivesena - BJP existed, neither any country by the name India existed, neither bombay was a part of Maharashtra, neither Konkan was a part of Maharashtra…….but the BMC is fooling everyone into believing that the crosses have encroached public roads……the BMC first wiped out the British History of Bombay by changing the names of all roads & streets and now the BMC wants to wipe out the Portuguese catholic history of bombay by demolishing all the crosses…….also note the Maharashtra govt. has purposely omitted the Portuguese history of bombay & konkan from history text books……….May God Bless all those catholic activists in bombay who are sacrificing their blood, sweat, time in preventing the Bombay Muncipal Corp. from demolishing the centuries old crosses.
The BMC is the worlds no.1 corrupt municipal organization……from top to bottom almost everyone in BMC is on the payroll of Builders & Slumlords this explains why the people in BMC allowed slums & illegal constructions to proliferate in Bombay…..each and every employee of the BMC has a native place in other parts of Maharashtra…..the bribe money the BMC people accumulate from builders, slumlords, hawkers is utilized in purchasing property or renovating houses in their native places in Maharashtra.
The Congress/NCP Politicians are ignoring the disaster that happened in Bombay on 26/7 cloudburst. They are not only giving their builder friends Unlimited Floor Space Index for constructing larger, bigger & higher buildings but they are also trying various tricks to pass on the last few bits of openspaces, mangroves, salt-pan lands in the control of their builder friends……Ofcourse the ShivSena-BJP are also part of the game they make sure that all Building Proposals are cleared by the BMC…...Another cloudburst and half of Bombay’s population will vanish into the Arabian Sea……..Many parts of Bombay especially the Western Suburbs have been facing water shortage for the last Five Years and with more and more buildings being constructed in the coming years there will be serious water crisis which will result in a war like situation already the BMC ward offices have increased security to prevent angry citizens from bashing up BMC employees.
Approval letters for all aspects of projects - layouts, buildings, water supply, drainage, firefighting, tree plantation, etc are known to be prepared in the builders office and sent to the approving officers for their signatures, the price having been already paid.
The 500 Billion Dollars which some unscrupulous Indians have deposited in the swiss banks through under-invoicing over-invoicing hawala route will never be recovered because those who have deposited the money are smart enough to transfer the money to other safe locations…..if at all the UPA/Indian govt. succeeds in getting back the money it will not be utilized for the poor people that money will vanish into the pockets of certain unscrupulous politicians, bureaucrats, corporates, industrialists, film financers, wild life operators, importers, exporters and that money again through under-invoicing over-invoicing hawala route will get deposited back into swiss banks.
Christians in Bombay prefer to take up jobs rather than venture into business. They must learn that businessmen generate jobs and the businesses can be passed on to the succeeding generations while jobs are only for those individuals holding them. It is not about no opportunities. It is about the lack of willingness to take a risk. Every business has an element of risk but a good businessman overcomes those risks. There is no shortage of finance if the business proposal is sound. Banks are always ready to finance a good proposal. Nobody requires help from anybody if he or she approaches a bank with a sound business proposal. At the end of the day, it is a persons initiative and willingness to work hard that will lead him up the ladder of success so lets not look for excuses.
He who deliberates fully before taking a step will spend his entire life on one leg. This is what has happened to the majority of Christians. Consider this, most of the richest and successful men in the world didn´t grow up with a golden spoon, didn´t have society or the government on their side. It was a DREAM and the determination to pursue that dream and change their way of thinking that set them apart. Sad to say our community is not a community of dreamers, but a community who have been told to be content with the mediocre. You will become on the outside what you believe on the inside. To conclude, there are two kinds of people in this world: those who want to get things done and those who don´t want to make mistakes. The Christians have been programmed to fall into the second category.
In the seminaries the catholic clergy were not trained to live a frugal life…..they were not trained to cook their own food….. they were not trained to prevent woman who wear short and vulgar clothes from entering church premises……they were not trained to travel by foot so they make extensive use of mechanized transport the most shameful thing is when during a funeral procession they sit in the undertakers car and the poor old widow has to walk….. ……most of the catholic clergy in India are from wealthy catholic families and to maintain their standard of living they have resorted to corrupt activities…….also note the catholic clergy are more secular in their thoughts, mind, dress, speech than the catholic laity.
Gabriel Dsouza
Bombay.
March 11, 2011
March 10, 2011
ALL THAT GLITTERS ....
All that glitters….
Ervell Menezes has indeed depicted Goa, the sleaze and destruction encumbered Goa, along with the apathy of Goans for quality governance, in a nut shell in the Opinion column of Herald dated 10th March 2011. A lot of people will say we have heard it all before and seen it all too but can we change it ? Or Who will change it ?
Yes indeed, the commercialization of our Carnival has lost it freshness as well as it audaciousness with which it was celebrated in all the villages of rural Goa. It is a proven record that all the local customs or traditions which our inapt government tries to exploit have either disintegrated or headed for disasters.
The Carnival, Holi and Sigmo were all community based celebrations, ethically celebrated by individual communities, it is the secular fabric more prevalent in Goa than any other state of India that had made all the festivities universal in Goa, earlier our pathetic government had no involvement in theses celebrations and hence, all Goans joined in these celebrations, reverberating the secular essence that Goa and Goans espoused.
As always the government was needed to adulterate and contaminate the pure and chaste with malicious and malafide intent that only politicians are known to do. Commercializing our local festivities has brought in ill gotten money from commercial giants and politicians alike with only one purpose in mind, popularity and votes. Today with the gullibility of Goans exposed, each politician is trying to out gun and out run the other, may be of another party or even from the same party, as long as each one can score a valuable brownie point. Even then it is heartening to see a gentleman from Quepem trying to revive the old essence of Carnival in his village, we do need more people like him if we are to have a semblance of a chance to bring back the charm and the authenticity to our local customs and traditions which have been waylaid by our corrupt politicians to propagate their own selfish agendas.
Ervell’s reference to the success of the Cavrem Adivasi Bachao Samiti, the tribals as we call them, have shown us in no uncertain terms, what 150 dedicated people who are fighting for their very existence can do if push comes to shove, it is the will of the people, numbers do not mean a thing, like the villagers of Nuem at Khola where also about 150 people withstood the might of goons, an armed battalion of police and a herd of heavy earth moving machinery, armed with only the statue of their patron Our Lady of Piety and the will to fight, if only a few Goans can do it by themselves, I am sure Goans in unity could achieve anything if we want to. Unity will be the key to success in our fight to protect our land and our Identity. Cavrem people have fought and won but has any action been taken against the offender for illegal mining, this is a serious matter, the proof is there so why no action has been taken ?
Yes indeed, it is true, the aam aadmi has not just been left out in the cold but damp and wet as well in this socio-political rhetoric’s of Goa, aren’t we ? The aam aadmi has been left out in the cold for ages by our very own elected elite, who neither have the will nor the inclination to be of service to the common man. Aam aadmi has been pounded and battered with projectiles of promises after promises but action has eluded and found wanting. Corruption and idiocies thrive both at the center as well as the state level. Qualitative governance has become extinct and it’s revival is the need of the hour.
The over all scenario in Goa is appalling on every front like Ervell has expressed, crime, drugs, corruption and illegal mining have left Goa in tatters, decay seemed imminent but fortunately there is still some hope with like minded people coming together to fight for a common goal, a better Goa, a corruption free Goa, a greener Goa. Support GRA on 15th March for a change in Goa. Yes they could be the ones to bring about the change, let’s give them a chance. Goa Jai Ho.
Freddy Fernandes.
Ervell Menezes has indeed depicted Goa, the sleaze and destruction encumbered Goa, along with the apathy of Goans for quality governance, in a nut shell in the Opinion column of Herald dated 10th March 2011. A lot of people will say we have heard it all before and seen it all too but can we change it ? Or Who will change it ?
Yes indeed, the commercialization of our Carnival has lost it freshness as well as it audaciousness with which it was celebrated in all the villages of rural Goa. It is a proven record that all the local customs or traditions which our inapt government tries to exploit have either disintegrated or headed for disasters.
The Carnival, Holi and Sigmo were all community based celebrations, ethically celebrated by individual communities, it is the secular fabric more prevalent in Goa than any other state of India that had made all the festivities universal in Goa, earlier our pathetic government had no involvement in theses celebrations and hence, all Goans joined in these celebrations, reverberating the secular essence that Goa and Goans espoused.
As always the government was needed to adulterate and contaminate the pure and chaste with malicious and malafide intent that only politicians are known to do. Commercializing our local festivities has brought in ill gotten money from commercial giants and politicians alike with only one purpose in mind, popularity and votes. Today with the gullibility of Goans exposed, each politician is trying to out gun and out run the other, may be of another party or even from the same party, as long as each one can score a valuable brownie point. Even then it is heartening to see a gentleman from Quepem trying to revive the old essence of Carnival in his village, we do need more people like him if we are to have a semblance of a chance to bring back the charm and the authenticity to our local customs and traditions which have been waylaid by our corrupt politicians to propagate their own selfish agendas.
Ervell’s reference to the success of the Cavrem Adivasi Bachao Samiti, the tribals as we call them, have shown us in no uncertain terms, what 150 dedicated people who are fighting for their very existence can do if push comes to shove, it is the will of the people, numbers do not mean a thing, like the villagers of Nuem at Khola where also about 150 people withstood the might of goons, an armed battalion of police and a herd of heavy earth moving machinery, armed with only the statue of their patron Our Lady of Piety and the will to fight, if only a few Goans can do it by themselves, I am sure Goans in unity could achieve anything if we want to. Unity will be the key to success in our fight to protect our land and our Identity. Cavrem people have fought and won but has any action been taken against the offender for illegal mining, this is a serious matter, the proof is there so why no action has been taken ?
Yes indeed, it is true, the aam aadmi has not just been left out in the cold but damp and wet as well in this socio-political rhetoric’s of Goa, aren’t we ? The aam aadmi has been left out in the cold for ages by our very own elected elite, who neither have the will nor the inclination to be of service to the common man. Aam aadmi has been pounded and battered with projectiles of promises after promises but action has eluded and found wanting. Corruption and idiocies thrive both at the center as well as the state level. Qualitative governance has become extinct and it’s revival is the need of the hour.
The over all scenario in Goa is appalling on every front like Ervell has expressed, crime, drugs, corruption and illegal mining have left Goa in tatters, decay seemed imminent but fortunately there is still some hope with like minded people coming together to fight for a common goal, a better Goa, a corruption free Goa, a greener Goa. Support GRA on 15th March for a change in Goa. Yes they could be the ones to bring about the change, let’s give them a chance. Goa Jai Ho.
Freddy Fernandes.
FRIED RICE, CHICKEN BIRYANI & JAIL BREAKS.
Nisser Dias
Last week we read about a stream of news items of under-trials either escaping from under the noses of the policemen on escorting duty or minors housed at Apna Ghar for being in conflict the law and even policeman accompanying high profile murder accused to enjoy ice cream at night. This is not something new and it has been happening all the time and authorities are least bothered about getting their act straight and stop these jail breaks. These are not isolated cases as official records indicate two or three jailbreaks every year and juveniles escaping from Apna Ghar are even more frequent.
In recent times the jailors or the escort teams seems to be overtly friendly with the jailbirds or undertrials thereby assisting them to not only escape but also help them to meet witnesses to persuade them to depose falsely either under threat or for monetary gains resulting in their acquittals and sometime even plan more crimes. This mostly happens enroute from jail to court or hospital and vice versa.
When the palms of the jail authorities and escorting policemen are well greased they simply close their eyes to the activities carried out by the prisoners. A classic case in point is the murder Mohammad Pandiyal in 2002 which was planned enroute to court and jail.
Victim Pandiyal was the prime witness in the Guru Pujari murder case. Poojary was gunned down due to matka business rivalry. Initially the main accused in the case who were in custody sent emissaries to Pandiyal to depose falsely during his testimony, when he refused, the accused while in custody resolved to knock him off. The entire planning was done at various hotels in south Goa while on the way to the jail after court hearings. One of the main accused also test fired a gun at his house with the escort cops sitting in a private car outside his house. The modus operandi was to coax the escort team to take them to a restaurant where the police were allowed to feast on fried rice or chicken biryani on a table away from the prisoners. Some of the accused even met their girlfriends in hotels. The statements of the escort policemen on duty in this case and that of the accused are on record and archived in the library of south Goa police. That is not the end of the story, subsequently one of the main accused Zacarias Rodrigues also escaped from Aguada jail and Goa police are yet to trace him. It is however rumoured that he was found dead in some other state.
This is not a stray incident. There are many others and to recall and give an example of preferential treatment to some accused. Another murder co-accused from Betul who had hired contract killers to kill an elderly person used to travel in the police jeep from jail to court. But at the court he used meet his girlfriend a foreign national. After the hearing both used to take off in a private vehicle to some destination with an escort in tow. But before the log at the jail was closed for the day they would make their presence felt. There are end numbers of examples of such indiscipline by the escort police teams but all of them get away scot free. The only punishment they receive is suspension of a few days. For example 14 constables were suspended after the murder of Pandiyal, six month later after departmental enquiry they are back in the police force and by now some must even be promoted.
Some two and half years back five jailbirds had escaped from Margao judicial custody. They took advantage of the fact that the door was wide open with no sentry around. That this was a set-up to facilitate their escape was very obvious.
Last February convict Hitler Fernandes and two undertrails escaped by digging a hole in the toilet of their cell. This is a clear indication of laxity on the part of jail guards who has stated that he had inspected minutes before the escape. Is it not surprising that a manhole carved out in the cell cannot be noticed by a jail guard.
Similar is the case of the Michael Fernandes who escaped on 22nd February. This accused is allegedly involved in 22 theft, robberies and dacoities cases in Goa and Maharastra and the escorting police allow him to take a window seat in a vehicle that has no grills. Further the police do not even notice a motorcycle following them. Either the members of the escorting team were dumb and not fit to be on the police force or they allowed Michael to escape.
Then there is the case of undertrial Balesh Dessai allegedly involved in murder. As the accused is the cousin of former BJP minister he was given preferential treatment. He was caught on camera enjoying ice cream in the company of constable Suraj Gaonkar.
When former tourism minister and Benaulim legislator Mickky Pacheco commented in the Assembly that under-trials and convicts indulge in all sorts of things and everything was available in jails from mobiles to laptops, cigarettes to drugs, from jail food to restaurant food and even porn material he was not wrong. But his exposing the happenings in the jail has remained recorded only in the assembly proceedings as jail authorities does not seemed to have moved a finger to bring about discipline in functioning of escort teams as well as jail guards and even jailors.
Though all the procedures about the functioning of jail guards and escort teams are detailed in the jail manual it has remained only on paper. So also as the punishment for those officials facilitating escapes and allowing preferential treatment to some of the prisoners is not punitive enough, these officials do not mind to accept money and enjoy fried rice, chicken biryani for allowing the jailbirds to escape.
Send your comments/reactions to nisserdias@gmail.com Or SMS 9422437029)
(Nisser Dias writes a regular column in GT on Thursday. This article was published in GT today)
Last week we read about a stream of news items of under-trials either escaping from under the noses of the policemen on escorting duty or minors housed at Apna Ghar for being in conflict the law and even policeman accompanying high profile murder accused to enjoy ice cream at night. This is not something new and it has been happening all the time and authorities are least bothered about getting their act straight and stop these jail breaks. These are not isolated cases as official records indicate two or three jailbreaks every year and juveniles escaping from Apna Ghar are even more frequent.
In recent times the jailors or the escort teams seems to be overtly friendly with the jailbirds or undertrials thereby assisting them to not only escape but also help them to meet witnesses to persuade them to depose falsely either under threat or for monetary gains resulting in their acquittals and sometime even plan more crimes. This mostly happens enroute from jail to court or hospital and vice versa.
When the palms of the jail authorities and escorting policemen are well greased they simply close their eyes to the activities carried out by the prisoners. A classic case in point is the murder Mohammad Pandiyal in 2002 which was planned enroute to court and jail.
Victim Pandiyal was the prime witness in the Guru Pujari murder case. Poojary was gunned down due to matka business rivalry. Initially the main accused in the case who were in custody sent emissaries to Pandiyal to depose falsely during his testimony, when he refused, the accused while in custody resolved to knock him off. The entire planning was done at various hotels in south Goa while on the way to the jail after court hearings. One of the main accused also test fired a gun at his house with the escort cops sitting in a private car outside his house. The modus operandi was to coax the escort team to take them to a restaurant where the police were allowed to feast on fried rice or chicken biryani on a table away from the prisoners. Some of the accused even met their girlfriends in hotels. The statements of the escort policemen on duty in this case and that of the accused are on record and archived in the library of south Goa police. That is not the end of the story, subsequently one of the main accused Zacarias Rodrigues also escaped from Aguada jail and Goa police are yet to trace him. It is however rumoured that he was found dead in some other state.
This is not a stray incident. There are many others and to recall and give an example of preferential treatment to some accused. Another murder co-accused from Betul who had hired contract killers to kill an elderly person used to travel in the police jeep from jail to court. But at the court he used meet his girlfriend a foreign national. After the hearing both used to take off in a private vehicle to some destination with an escort in tow. But before the log at the jail was closed for the day they would make their presence felt. There are end numbers of examples of such indiscipline by the escort police teams but all of them get away scot free. The only punishment they receive is suspension of a few days. For example 14 constables were suspended after the murder of Pandiyal, six month later after departmental enquiry they are back in the police force and by now some must even be promoted.
Some two and half years back five jailbirds had escaped from Margao judicial custody. They took advantage of the fact that the door was wide open with no sentry around. That this was a set-up to facilitate their escape was very obvious.
Last February convict Hitler Fernandes and two undertrails escaped by digging a hole in the toilet of their cell. This is a clear indication of laxity on the part of jail guards who has stated that he had inspected minutes before the escape. Is it not surprising that a manhole carved out in the cell cannot be noticed by a jail guard.
Similar is the case of the Michael Fernandes who escaped on 22nd February. This accused is allegedly involved in 22 theft, robberies and dacoities cases in Goa and Maharastra and the escorting police allow him to take a window seat in a vehicle that has no grills. Further the police do not even notice a motorcycle following them. Either the members of the escorting team were dumb and not fit to be on the police force or they allowed Michael to escape.
Then there is the case of undertrial Balesh Dessai allegedly involved in murder. As the accused is the cousin of former BJP minister he was given preferential treatment. He was caught on camera enjoying ice cream in the company of constable Suraj Gaonkar.
When former tourism minister and Benaulim legislator Mickky Pacheco commented in the Assembly that under-trials and convicts indulge in all sorts of things and everything was available in jails from mobiles to laptops, cigarettes to drugs, from jail food to restaurant food and even porn material he was not wrong. But his exposing the happenings in the jail has remained recorded only in the assembly proceedings as jail authorities does not seemed to have moved a finger to bring about discipline in functioning of escort teams as well as jail guards and even jailors.
Though all the procedures about the functioning of jail guards and escort teams are detailed in the jail manual it has remained only on paper. So also as the punishment for those officials facilitating escapes and allowing preferential treatment to some of the prisoners is not punitive enough, these officials do not mind to accept money and enjoy fried rice, chicken biryani for allowing the jailbirds to escape.
Send your comments/reactions to nisserdias@gmail.com Or SMS 9422437029)
(Nisser Dias writes a regular column in GT on Thursday. This article was published in GT today)
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