Injustice by Power Dept
It was shocking to read a news report appearing in O Heraldo edition dated July 19, 2024, about the three families residing in Caurem-Pirla, Quepem taluka, who were in darkness for 45 days due lack of electricity.
The news exposed the indifference by the Electricity Department (ED) even after one of the family members had officially paid Rs 30,000 in 2016 to get 15 electricity poles installed.
Later the department asked him to arrange a tractor to carry the poles to the site! Thanks to the ongoing Assembly session where there was a heated discussion on the topic, the problem was addressed and within four hours, power was restored to the families.
This raises a pertinent question. Should citizens pay for electricity poles, when it is the duty of the government to provide the same? If this is the case, then the Electricity Department would ask us to pay for transformers, cables, labourers, etc. The Goa government spends crores of rupees on the electricity department, but the latter has a few thousand rupees to install poles?
The budget for 2024-2025 is Rs 3,999 crore with which excellent work could be carried out. The department penalises honest bill payers while offering a one-time settlement scheme for defaulters. Is this justifiable? Crores of rupees are neither paid nor is there a will to recover the same from defaulters (residents, market vendors, hotels, industries, etc). Also not stern actions are taken by the department. If a regular bill paying customer misses a payment or two, then the department disconnects the power supply. The electricity department needs to get its act together and the government should crack the whip whenever lethargy sets in the department.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
Tarnishing an artefact is disgusting
This is in reference to the photo appearing in O Heraldo edition dated July 23, 2024, ‘Tarnished Artefact’. This was definitely a disgusting scene, an artefact being tarnished by miscreants dumping liquor bottles and other waste after their party, into it.
This metal installation of a ‘Cock in the Bag’ at a riverfront in Panjim, certainly looks beautiful. It also helps in the improving aesthetics of the area. All efforts to improve the quality of life come to nought on account of such acts. It’s very much like the scenario in Mumbai where pots holding plants are used as dustbins for disposing cigarette butts, small liquor pints, wafer/biscuit wrappers, small pieces of all sorts of trash.
And yes, pan spitting elements are ever ready to spoil the show. You’ll find pan stains all over the place, be it at street corners, or freshly painted walls, road dividers, office buildings, even local trains and plants are not spared, in short anywhere and everywhere.
Melville X D’Souza, Mumbai
Biden’s move to bow out could galvanise voters
It is not clear in which direction the Democrats will go now after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for the election.
Biden’s decision, which was on expected lines, could potentially galvanise the voters who may not have felt motivated by his candidacy.
His decision means that many swing States in which Biden trailed in recent polls, may now once again, be in play for Democrats.
Regardless of the outcome of the election results, this is certainly not the way Biden would have wished to end his decades-long political career.
No sitting president has dropped out of a race so late in the US election cycle.
But the stakes of this election are higher than ever, and America cannot afford to take any chances, particularly when it is clear that so many voters have lost faith in Biden.
Ranganathan Sivakumar, Chennai
Kamala’s candidature may not be a good thing
With Joe Biden withdrawing from the Presidential elections, he has nominated Kamala Harris as a possible candidate.
While Biden’s withdrawal is a good thing, Kamala Harris’ candidature may not be a good thing and it is not because she is a woman. But we need to have a regular contest with Donald Trump riding a wave of popularity after the failed assassination bid on him.
Therefore, a Democrat candidate with a better track record, capable of giving a real fight in the elections, needs to contest.
It may not be necessary to just satisfy the record books by having Kamala to contest because she is a woman, partly Black and of South Asian origin. That is the reason why maybe Obama and Pelosi have not fully endorsed Kamala’s candidature immediately. With her against Trump, it is going to be a shoo-in for him to the Presidency.
In any case Kamala’s candidature has to be confirmed at the upcoming Democratic convention in August where it will be decided whether she contests or another candidate is nominated.
The Democrats are thinking of having a Mini-Primary before the Convention to decide on the Democrat candidate. We will have to wait and see what happens.
Srinivas Kamat, Mysore
UPSC also under cloud
Even when the din over the Himalayan frauds committed in the NEET test organised and conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) has died down, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) which conducts the most important process of selecting officers to the administrative positions as IAS, IFS, IPS,IRS and other important services has also come under severe criticism. Questions are also being raised over the agency’s functioning .
Unfair practices undertaken by the UPSC have now come to the fore with the fraudulent admission of Puja Khedekar into the coveted IAS overlooking stringent measures said to be followed by the Agency in the selection of right candidates as Administrative Officers in the service of the nation.
Further, the sudden resignation of UPSC chairman Manoj Soni, barely a year into his six- year tenure, leaves many more questions about the functioning of the agency unanswered.
It is reported that Soni is a blue-eyed boy of PM Modi from his CM days in Gujarat and he was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda. He has confirmed that he was deeply involved in his religious practices having received ‘deeksha’ much earlier and intends to devote more time to ‘socio –religious’ activities as the reason for his resignation which sounds hollow.
Ever since the BJP came to power, it was alleged that people, who have been trained in RSS ideologies and in the training institutes run by the RSS, have been given preferential treatment in the selection and appointing them in important positions.
The UPSC has a moral responsibility to allay the rightful fears that have come in the minds of lakhs of aspiring youth who prepare with all sincerity for the examinations conducted by the Agency as to whether the process of the agency is real or only a farce.
Tharcius S Fernando, Chennai