Strays and civic bodies
While the modified Supreme Court order has been welcomed with jubilation by the Animal Welfare Board and NGOs, it still does not paint a rosy picture of the things to come due to the lurking dangers of future attacks by released sterilised stray dogs from shelter homes. Unless these released strays are properly fed at the designated feeding points, there is every possibility of the strays turning aggressive and attacking people. This, in turn, may prompt dog lovers to feed them on the roadsides out of compassion even though such feeding in public is prohibited and is a punishable offence. Civic authorities, therefore, have a responsible role to play to keep the released dogs well fed so that we do not have a repeat of the past happenings.
A F Nazareth, Alto Porvorim
Municipal properties
It has been reported that the Department of Urban Development has issued a notification on August 21 that expired leases of municipal property will be treated as terminated if not renewed within the stipulated period. The fact is that all over Goa, innumerable municipal properties are allegedly in unauthorised occupation of tenants whose lease agreements have expired, in some cases as early as 20 years ago. These tenants, however, continue occupying and using the premises, making profit from the premises, without paying the dues and taxes. A glaring example is possibly the municipal market of CCP in Panaji where the occupants, numbering more than 1,000, are allegedly in illegal possession of their shops, merrily conducting business and raking in profits, without allegedly paying the rental, repairs and maintenance fees, electricity and water charges for more than 20 years. The accumulated dues are allegedly running into more than Rs 20 crore, all this despite a court order directing the CCP to finalise the lease agreements and recover the dues.
Rosario Menezes, Vasco
Unnatural deaths
Over the past several weeks, Goa witnessed a number of fatal road accidents. Many young lives have been snuffed out. In the past, Goa has also seen several deaths due to drowning in sea, rivers and at waterfalls. There have also been incidents wherein people from other states have committed suicides in Goa. There have been incidents of murder reported in the state, many involving migrant labourers. It is learnt that five bodies were reportedly discovered by police on one single day on Sunday. These deaths have been attributed to various reasons right from death due to severe illness to drunkenness and probably even an overdose of drugs. All these unnatural deaths are keeping the police personnel on their toes. They have to retrieve the bodies probably with the services of fire-fighting personnel. The bodies must be identified and then sent for an autopsy. After obtaining the autopsy report, the cause of death has to be recorded. If there is no claim from family members over the body, it has to be disposed. If there is any suspicion of murder or suicide, the work of police gets even more complicated, as investigation has to be carried out. All this work can keep the police force busy and engaged, leaving them with little time to maintain law and order, especially during festive seasons like Ganesh Chaturthi.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Be wary of China
We are now seeing how the US uses its ‘friends’. It is said that it is better not to be a ‘friend’ with the US because then it will bring you big trouble. We are seeing that unfold now as you can construe from President Donald Trump’s statements and our External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s disclosures related to the buying of Russian oil by India. Trump has been accusing us of buying Russian oil and thereby indirectly funding their war effort against Ukraine. This is irrefutable logic, but then we need to source our oil needs, a critical resource, from wherever we want depending on the economics and our long term strategy. We need not listen to the US for doing that. In fact, as Jaishankar has said, it was the US that asked us to buy Russian oil in the early days to balance international prices. And today it is the US that is accusing us of firstly, profiteering and secondly, indirectly assisting the Russian war effort in Ukraine. The US has gone further and slapped a penalty of additional 25% tariff on us for this reason, when the US itself is still buying rare earth metals, speciality chemicals and fertilisers from Russia. Does this not support the Russian war effort in Ukraine? Clearly, these are double standards. With problems in our US relationship, we seem to be moving closer to China and talking about a thaw in our relationship with the country, the principle being that a common enemy seems to make us friends. This is not necessarily true and we need to be wary of China. The best policy is to keep China at an arm’s length.
S Kamat, Mysuru
