Mahanand's dad, mom ashamed he's their son

BY A GT CORRESPONDENT

bureaus@gomantaktimes.com

SHIRODA, MAY 6 2009: "We feel ashamed that we are his parents," said Ramnath Vithu Naik (84) and Indu (82), the parents of Ponda's serial killer, Mahanand Naik.

Ramnath and Indu said, Mahanand and his wife should be punished for his misdeeds. 

Mahanand's octogenarian parents spoke to GT when they had come to Tarvalem-Shiroda yesterday afternoon to see their house which was set ablaze recently by angry villagers. They were accompanied by three other sons Narayan, Dayanand, Krishna, daughters-in-law and grandchildren. 

Mahanand was arrested earlier last month by the Ponda police for allegedly raping his wife's friend, and during his interrogation in police custody revealed that he had murdered four women over the last decade-and-a-half.

"Whatever Mahanand has done is extremely bad. We are unable to face the villagers. We do not want such a criminal for a son," they said.

The aged Naiks used to live in the now gutted house, with three other sons of theirs -- Ramesh, Narayan and Krishna -- living in three other seperate rooms.

The oldest, Dayanand, lived in Ponda while Mahanand had built an independent house elsewhere in the vicinity.

"We would have no complaints if Mahanand's house was burnt. But since everything has been reduced to ashes from our house with neither roof nor walls existing, we are helpless as the monsoon is fast approaching," the aged couple said as, even as they broke down in the presence of their daughters-in-law, Nilima and Shevanti. 

They said they were unaware about Mahanand's activities, stressing that he lived in a separate house with his wife in the neighbourhood and hardly had any contact with them. 

They nevertheless vouched for his 'normal behaviour' when he lived with them before his marriage nearly 11 years ago.

The aged couple were also angry about the role of Mahanand's wife -- Pooja -- saying she should have brought him under control.

It is learnt that Mahanand's wife Pooja, who is working at Ela Farm, Old Goa took part in folkdances and even taught the art to other girls. She also owned three flats, it is learnt.

It has also come to light that Mahanand, who has studied up to std IX, robbed clothes from neighbours by fishing them out throw the windows with a stick.

Mahanad's aged parents Ramnath Vithu Naik and mother Indu along with one of their sons, daughters-in-law and grand children. GT 

5-member team saves Socorro plan

An architect and four engineers from Socorro embarked on the onerous task of correcting many errors in the village map provided by the RP 2021, and then to put on paper the many aspirations of co-villagers on what they want their village to look like in the future.

BY VIBHA VERMA

reporters@gomantaktimes.com

PANJIM: Socorro is a village where nullahs become roads. This was the case when the committee formed to work on the draft regional plan took a look at the village map provided by the Town and Country Planning Department. 

Talk to any of the committee members and they all point to serious errors in the map. This made their task all the more difficult.

Socorro has a population of about 18,000 villagers spread across 11 wards. About 30 percent of the land has been demarcated for settlement and the remaining is either fields, orchards or hills.

Soon after the draft of the Regional Plan 2021 was submitted to the Panchayat by the Town and Country Planning, a gram sabha meeting was called and six committees were formed. However, in reality the hard work was undertaken by a few.

Former panch and expert on Panchayati Raj Soter D'Sousa had this to say, "Initially many came forward to join the committees, but their enthusiasm evaporated and the burden had to be borne by a few."

The first task at hand was correcting errors in the draft. 

“Many aspects were not covered while others were wrongly demarcated," said architect Hyacinth Pinto, a former government officer. "It was a bigger mess than I expected.” 

Some of the roads were not shown in the plan. Crematoriums, water bodies, grounds, school buildings, village institutions, road junctions were not listed in the draft regional plan.

“We made at least five rounds of the village to correct the errors. The government has all this data but it was not provided to the people," she added. 

Since many of the committee members used to work during the day they would gather in the evening to debate issues concerning the village and wind-up by about 9 pm. “After the meeting, I would sit with the plan and other materials up to 1 am,” said Hyacinth. 

Haycinth was joined by four engineers who played a crucial role in giving shape to the plan in three months after adding microscopic details which were missing. 

Kishore Asnodkar, a civil engineer said the groundwork would not have been possible without the assistance and co-operation of other committee members. “We attended meetings everyday in the evening after office hours. We used Sundays to tour the village," he remarked. 

Taking villagers into confidence was not an easy task. At least four gram sabha meetings were called to note down points, suggestions and grievances. "It all worked well,” he stated. 

“I enjoyed every bit of the work as it was a unique opportunity to work for the development of the village,” Asnodkar said. This view was supported by Irrigation engineer R P Shetye, mechanical engineer Dinesh Bhobe, who incidentally headed all the six committees, and engineer Sham Kamat. 

“It was difficult in the beginning but we conquered it soon. For example some nullahs were shown as roads. Wells were not marked, forest areas were not shown, garbage points were not indicated...," Shetye explained. 

The key members organised corner meetings at different places, physically surveyed areas and analysed all the data before formulating the plan. Information provided by residents was also incorporated. “The extra inputs were also of great help to us,” said Bhobe.

The draft finalised by the committee was kept open in the panchayat for 20 days to enable villagers to file their objections. "No one came forward, except for a few selfish villagers who wanted to know the status of their land," said Soter.

Forest official plays down Bullfrog decline

BY ARTI DAS
PANJIM: Claims made by environmentalists that the number of bullfrogs in the wild is on the decline were bared when it was discovered that no survey was ever conducted in the state.
Put simply, there is no hard data to back the claim that the bullfrog is an endangered species, at least in Goa.
Debendra Dalai, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Wildlife and Eco-Tourism said the department does not conduct surveys.
“It is the job of the researchers. Thus, we don’t have any data now. Also, our job is of execution and that we are doing by giving 100 per cent protection to all the species in the protected areas,” he added.
He said, that if any researcher wants to conduct any survey then the department is ready to co-operate.
According to Dr Manoj Borkar, Associate Professor and Head of Department, Zoology, Carmel College, Nuvem there are only gross unscientific observations about frogs in Goa.
“We need to encourage young biologists to conduct such research and even rope in young students in this process,” opined Dr Borkar.
He also informed that a few years ago Gautam Salelkar in Bhagvan Mahavir Wild Life Sanctuary and Mollem National Park conducted a study and it revealed that Goa is home to around 25 species of amphibians.
Nirmal Kulkarni, wildlife ecologist believes the prominent reason for no data compilation is because frogs are a lesser known species.
“We don’t have Project Frog like Project Tiger because their importance is not felt yet. On the contrary, these amphibians are the biggest indicators of climate change and global warming and not many people, including some researchers, do not understand that,” added Kulkarni.
However, non-availability of data does not mean that these creatures are not under threat.
“Frogs are wild animals and that’s the reason they are listed in the Wildlife Protection Act. Some species like Bull frog of Rana family are protected as they play very important role in a food chain,” claimed Dalai.
He further confirmed that there are indicators that the numbers of bullfrogs are dwindling. “Increase in vector borne diseases, influx of snakes (who survive on frogs) in human habitats are signs of it.”
Dr Borkar claims that there’s lot of pressure building up by way of exploitation as hardly any habitat is left for them. Also their wetlands are taken away.
“Activities like over grazing, poaching also contribute to depletion of frogs,” concluded Nirmal.

What's on your mind?

EDITORIAL: Why good people never get elected?

This is a question that foxes us almost everyday. When we cannot find answers we blame the process, the political party, the candidate and sometimes the electorate. But time and again the people of India have given political pundits a brilliant display of their grasp of politics while casting their vote. Yet we ponder as to why good people never get elected. Part of the problem lies in the mistaken belief that well intentioned people make good leaders. Secondly, we make the erroneous assumption that politics is driven, or should be driven by ethics alone. Thirdly, everybody has a different definition of ‘good’. Fourthly, in this debate, the practical aspect of politics tends to be ignored and at times even questioned as undesirable.

In Goa, of the many candidates in the fray, are two dedicated and thoroughbred activists – Matanhy Saldanha and Christopher Fonseca. They bear the stamp of consistency. Christopher Fonseca has been a trade union leader all his life. His commitment to the issues and problems faced by labour is unquestionable. Similarly, Matanhy Saldanha has been an activist all his life. He fought for the ramponkars, against the Konkan Railway and Meta Strips and now, protection of houses of fishermen is his main plank. Like Fonseca, Saldanha has an unblemished record as an activist. The fact is, Fonseca never got elected and Saldahna made it to the Assembly only once, which seemed more like an aberration in his innings in public life.

On the other hand look at Churchill Alemao. He survived serious charges of smuggling and resurrected himself with the Konkan Railway agitation. He led the UGDP with three MLAs in the Assembly elections, defeated Eduardo Faleiro, returned to the Congress, resigned to form the Save Goa Front which he merged with the Congress to save the Digambar Kamat government and is now blowing hot and cold because his daughter did not get the Congress ticket for South Goa. His record on fighting issues is dismal and yet he is a force to reckon with in the political arena while Fonseca and Saldanha struggle to get past the post.

Politics is the art in doing what is possible, not what is correct. It is the art of gauging the interest of the people and then going with the flow even if it means compromising on one’s personal ethics. Voters are not fools. They understand the personal cost of being public life. Hence they do not expect their leaders to be paragons of virtue and grant them the liberty of making a quick buck on the side. What they want is that their voice be heard, not your own. If the voters are fickle, the politicians will follow suit. Only those with a thick skin or those who have buried their conscience deep enough can survive in this game. Take the classic example of the Cidade de Goa amendment. Activists and public-spirited people, whose numbers are not large enough to make a political difference, were vociferous in their protest against the amendment. In contrast, a large number of people living along the coast turned logic on its head by using the amendment to demand special concessions for houses build in violation of CRZ rules. Politicians went with the larger group. Saldanha did not go with the fishermen because they were the larger group, but because the activist in him refused to abandon them.

Why is it so difficult for well-intentioned men or women to convert good will into votes? In this respect it would be wise to examine the rise and fall of Goa Bachao Abhiyan. It started as a group of informed and committed people, with no political experience. The cause was well defined and the GBA mustered the support of the people. Two years later, the GBA is in tatters, a shadow of itself and a far cry from those heady days when its leaders could fill Azad Maidan or Lohia Chowk. Now contrast this with how Digambar Kamat pushed through a Regional Plan, scrapped SEZs, reshuffled his cabinet, took hold of the key finance portfolio, contained the Alemao threat (almost), took the tough decision to banish floating casinos from the Mandovi and yet retained his government for nearly two years. The lesson to be learnt is: to be a politician one must possess the art of managing interests, not ethics. Perhaps, this election will show us if Saldanha and Fonseca have made the jump from activist to politician.

The Alemaos are pardoned,Congress says it’s a family tiff

BY A GT REPORTER

PANJIM: Downplaying the internal wrangling, GPCC president Subhash Shirodkar yesterday ruled out any disciplinary action against PWD Minister Churchill Alemao and Urban Development Minister Joaquim for their outbursts against the government.
Shirodkar likened the war of words between the Alemao brothers and Tourism Minister Mickky Pacheco to that of a quarrel between two families. He said the tantrums thrown on the Congress would not have any repercussion on the voters.
Churchill and his brother Joaquim had threatened to quit the Congress if the party leadership failed to resolve the issue of disqualification petition filed against the former, even as the duo appealed for support to party candidate Francisco Sardinha.
Shirodkar said that the Alemao brothers were working for the victory of Sardinha.
Asked whether he would accept the resignations of Alemao brothers, Shirodkar said that he was yet to receive the letter.
The GPCC president said that the revamping of the Congress organisation in the last six months would yield results in the Lok Sabha elections.
However, Chief Minister Digambar Kamat who was also present said that his main aim was to win the elections. “We have gone in the battlefield with the sole intention of winning both the seats. Our aim is to see that we win both the seats with sizeable votes. My target is to win the seats,” Kamat said.
Recalling a scene from the epic Mahabharata, the Chief Minister said, “I am just aiming at the eye of the bird like what Arjun said in Mahabharata,” That is my target, he added.

Brief blow to mining, Shirgao zatra rich by Rs 3 lakh

BY A GT REPORTER

PANJIM: The Bombay High Court at Panjim yesterday directed a mining company from Shirgao to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to Shree Lairai temple committee, while granting permission for conducting of mining activities till April 25, in view of the famous Lairai zatra.
The Court observed that, last year the mining activities at Shirgao had been stopped three days before the commencement of the zatra festivities and this year the relaxation was being granted to them because of a plea made by one of the mining companies. The court said that from next year, the mining activities and plying of ore-laden trucks in the village would be stopped for 10 days during zatra and directed the mining companies to plan their mining operations accordingly.
The Court also asked the mining company to pay the compensation to the temple committee latest by April 30.
On April 17, the division bench comprising Justice PB Majmudar and Justice UD Salvi had directed three mining companies from Shirgao to stop movement of mining trucks in the village for 10 days from April 23 to May 3 due to the Lairai zatra festival.
The Court had also directed the state government to provide additional water supply to Shirgao village during the 10-day zatrotsav.
The villagers from Shirgao in a writ petition had urged the Court to stop the plying of mining trucks in the village for 10-day zatra festival as it was causing dust pollution as a large number of devotees throng the village during the festival.
During the hearing, the petitioner prayed for a compensation of Rs 5 lakh while the mining company agreed to pay Rs 1 lakh. However, the Court later fixed the amount at Rs 3 lakh and told the company to pay the amount if they wanted to ply mining trucks till April 25.