MINISTER DESIGNATE ALINA SALDANHA.

 By Aires Rodrigues


On 8th June she will be Minister Alina Saldanha. The long wait for the red beacon may have been a blessing in disguise enabling her to be groomed for the position. The Chief Minister has reportedly planned to give her some "lighter portfolios". One imagines there were only lucrative portfolios! If merit and experience was a criteria Avertano Furtado would have been the Sports Minister and Vishnu Wagh would have bagged the Art & Culture portfolio. Regardless of what portfolio Alina gets she will have to learn to stand on her own feet. Depending on family and friends to run and manage the show by proxy would be improper. Besides, she will also not be able to ride the Matanhy sympathy wave for too long.


For Alina though, being a novice in politics will not be strenuous as long as she keeps in tune with her Master’s voice. The current government being a one-man show by the CM Mr. Manohar Parrikar, most Ministers have been reduced to mere figure heads with no role or powers, merely enjoying the perks and privileges that come with cabinet status. Irrespective of the portfolio assigned to her, Alina could carry on with that garbage eradication drive she had commenced in her constituency. If she can ensure that Cortalim is the first constituency to be garbage free, she will have achieved a lot. As she had claimed she would be fulfilling Matanhy’s dream of seeing Cortalim without a shred of rubbish. Manohar Parrikar may even carve out a portfolio for garbage management.

MASSACRE IN SYRIA.

On the day of the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq on 2nd August 1990, BBC in its early morning news bulletin asked very loudly and of course sarcastically thus: “where is Arab League gone? Where is OIC gone? Where is GCC gone??” These organisations are formed to protect the member nations but when Saddam Hussein’s Iraq invaded Kuwait the strength of all these Arab and Islamic organisations came to Zero value, all these organisations turned out to be impotent to avoid and to stop the invasion of Kuwait which is the member like Iraq of Arab League and OIC. It gave an impression that Saddam Hussein said “go to hell with all these organisations, I will do what I want to do” and he did it by invading Kuwait against the principles of all these organisations.



In Arab and Islamic Syria what is happening now is really sickening. The official Syrian forces and Syrian militias owing allegiance to Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad with full liberty are killing innocent unarmed Syrians including children, aged and pregnants. Assad and his government are become immune to the saner voices coming from all around the globe including that of Kofi Anan who is so tirelessly trying to bring about peace there. Kofi Anan’s mission is backed by the UN and other Arabs but up to now no solution is visible. Assad is acting as hard as rock, he is hell bent to eradicate any opposition to his regime from his opponents.


In view of this brutality going on in Syria I feel like asking the way BBC asked earlier: “Where is Arab League gone? Where is OIC gone now? What these organisations are doing to avert and stop the massacre going on in Syria? These two organisations are formed to solve the problems in Arab countries and OIC members. It looks like the imperative need is come for the involvement of Western Christian powers to enter directly in Syria to stop Al-Assad from killing his own people.


There was a time when Arabs were mercilessly killed by the Jewish Israelites. Now in Syria you don’t need Jews to kill Arabs but Arabs themselves are killing their own Arab brothers and sisters. Assad must know that for everything has got a point of saturation and this point of saturation for Assad’s might will surely come either today or tomorrow. How long Assad will kill his own people and how many numbers? Will he survive to eradicate by liquidating the entire opposition from Syria? Assad will have to surrender to the mighty will of the mighty opposition of Syrians who are all out to dethrone him.


We saw recently how Husni Mubarak in Egypt surrendered and now sentenced by the official Egyptian judiciary for life. We saw how in Libya Ghaddafi’s end came so miserably. We saw how in Tunisia people’s power revolted against its own arrogant president. In Syria I am sure Assad will face the same fate as that of Ghaddafi and Mubarak. Or worst still he may face the fate of Marie Antoinette. It is only the question of time.


While the entire world in unison raised its voice against the barbarity of Assad’s regime against his own people, regretfully it is only the two powers Russia and China that are siding with brute Syrian regime under Assad. Russia and China are both communists countries that have no sympathy for the massacred Syrians because both these countries like Syria are also blood thirsty of their own citizens. Both these two atomic powers always side with the brute leaders.


Even during the time of invasion of Kuwait both Russia and China like deaf and blind abstained from voting in the UN in support of Kuwait’s liberation. No doubt they both refused to support invasion of Kuwait but they abstained from voting in the UN to punish Iraq. It is a pity that such powerful nations refrained from expressing their opinions openly against Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and condemning it.


By siding with Syria, both Russia and China are siding with the criminals of Assad regime. Russia in particular has got a very dirty habit of supporting the wrong doers. During the decisive motion in the UN at the time of Goa’s invasion by Bharat of Nehru, Russia sided with the invaders of Goa though Russia barked like dog saying they are supporting the liberation movement.


In Goa’s case Russia supported Bharat that unlawfully invaded Goa in the name of liberation. Goa in December 1961 was not liberated but recolonized by Bharat and turned it into a worst place for Goans to live a peaceful life. If Russia was the real supporter of the liberation movement then it would not support invasion of Goa by Bharat against the wishes of Goans. I can rightly say Russia like China is the promoter and supporter of arrogant regimes that suppress freedom of the people just as what Syria is doing under its president Bashar Al–Assad..


A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.

GOA GOVERNMENT SQUANDERS 25 LAKHS ON A BJP EXHIBITION AT MADURAI.

By Aires Rodrigues

Goa’s tax payers had to shell out Rs 25 lakhs for an exhibition organized by the Bharatiya Janata Party at Madurai in Tamil Nadu. This has been revealed in the information obtained from the Department of Information and Publicity under the Right to Information Act.

The documents obtained reveal that on 20th April at 6.15 pm a two paged note was faxed to the Director of Information from the office of the Principal Secretary Mr. B.Vijayan regarding the two day BJP exhibition “Kamal Sangamam” which was being held at Madurai on April 28th and 29th.

The note had a remark “Approved” signed by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar at the bottom of the first page. Interestingly it is not known from where that two paged note reached the Chief Minister. That note does not indicate the address of the sender and neither was the unsigned note addressed to anyone.

On receipt of the two paged note, the Director of Information and Publicity Mr. Menino Peres, the same evening moved a proposal suggesting that due to time constraints, a Public Relations agency may be engaged by the government for the job of participating at the BJP exhibition in Madurai.

Curiously, the Director of Information in his note, remained silent on the fact that it was a BJP organized exhibition and in his notings projects the event as a State level mega conference on good governance. Without giving any details, the note stated that Goa’s Director of Planning Mr. Anand Sherkhane had agreed to prepare the concept of the Goa stall for that BJP exhibition at Madurai. The proposal of the Director of Information though marked for the approval of Information Secretary and Chief Minister was never sent to them.

Meanwhile, three days later, the Director of Information by a letter dated April 23rd invited quotations that were to be submitted by April 25th by the four empanelled event management agencies on setting up a Goa stall at the BJP exhibition scheduled at Madurai on April 28th and April 29th. Interestingly amongst the four agencies invited to put up the Goa stall at the BJP exhibition was Goa Communication system owned by Congress leader Milan Burman.

The documents further reveal that out of the four only three agencies responded with Sean AdEvent quoting Rs 25 lakhs while Magnum Intergrafiks quoted Rs 28 lakhs and Milan Burman’s Goa Communication system quote was the highest at Rs. 28.5 lakhs. The documents reveal that on April 26th with just 48 hours to go for the BJP exhibition at Madurai, the Director of Information proposed in his note that as there was no time left, the bid by Sean AdEvent of Rs 25 lakhs be accepted. The note however did not explain how Sean AdEvent proposed to prepare the material for the Goa stall and transport it 1000 kms away to be set up at the BJP exhibition at Madurai, in less than 48 hours

On receipt of this note the Information Secretary Mr. T. Balakrishna in his noting expressed apprehension that proper tendering process should have been followed considering that the value of the quotation was Rs 25 lakhs. He however observed that in view of the urgency expressed by the Director of Information, the proposal be considered provided the finance department concurs. On 27th April, the eve of the Madurai exhibition, the file was sent to the Chief Minister for his approval which was seen by Mr. Manohar Parrikar only on 13th May after the 25 lakhs expenditure on the BJP exhibition was already incurred. The notings also reveal that the finance department moved a note on 21st May for ex post facto approval for those 25 lakhs spent, which was approved by the Chief Minister on 23rd May.

The Rs.25 lakhs spent by the Goa Government is a clear case of misappropriation of public funds at the behest of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.

On April 20th the Chief Minister could not have marked the proposal to participate in the BJP exhibition, as “Approved” without it being examined by the concerned department followed by administrative and financial approval which was required as per the General financial rules.

Government funds cannot be used to fund or participate in political party events. From a perusal of the records it is evident that it was a blatant misuse of tax payer’s money.
The expenditure of Rs 25 lakhs amounted to sheer wastage of public money and gross misuse of power. A case of an act of malafide maladministration would be filed against Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar before the Lokayukta as soon as it is set up.

KRANTI comments: Well done Adv. Aires Rodrigues by exposing the "chor" who are looting Goa. What earlier Congress was doing now BJP started doing. Trust anybody but not Parrikar who is perfect cunning.  We think it is time now for other known social activists also to come forward and expose the ill deeds of Parrikakr's government.