Regulate bread making
It is some consolation, in these days of food adulteration and contamination that the samples of Goa bread tested by the Food and Drugs Administration were found to be free of the cancer causing chemical - potassium bromate. A few samples did find the presence of the chemical but in permissible limit. The results are not a guarantee that the different types of bread and bakery products sold in Goa will be absolutely safe at all times. Therefore, FDA should carry out such tests occasionally. It would be best if this chemical is banned.
However, all is not hunky-dory about bread-making in Goa. Quite many bakeries in the villages (not all though) don’t work in clean and hygienic conditions. The workers don’t wear caps to cover their hair, they knead flour with their feet, and they spread the dough balls on dirty mats and sacks which can be seen from the under-side of the pao. Further, the dough balls are not weighed which is why we see the popular pao and poi shrinking in size and weight. During the Portuguese regime, health and sanitary inspectors carried out surprise inspections of the bakeries. The government should direct its concerned department to carry out such inspections in the interest of the people.
Rodney De Souza, Assagao
Prevent and pre-empt
The government has been recently issuing press releases of emergency control room numbers across the State. It seems the government will only act when damage and deaths take place. Why does the government/executive not act to prevent calamities? No action is taken when complaints are made to collectors of dangerously tilting trees over high tension lines, highways and houses; trees with partly rotted base, etc. Will the government own up when a calamity occurs and when it had been forewarned and no action was taken?
Dr. Ferdinando dos Reis Falcão, Margao
Wastage of power
Although the available power supply needs to be utilised in the best possible manner, we still come across instances in Goa wherein the much precious energy gets wasted like anything. Scenes of streetlight fixtures functioning during broad daylight have been witnessed in some parts of major cities and towns besides the villages. In Ponda too we come across such instances. To cite a few, on Thursday, June 2, streetlights at Kapileshwari were found functioning at 7:30 am and the ones in the vicinity of Almeida High School were working at 7:50 am. Similarly, on Friday June 3, streetlights at Gholiwada-Talaulim were working at 7:30 am and those adjacent to Maruti temple at Varkhandem at 8:00 am. Such instances are also noticed along Dhawali bye-pass road on some occasions. One fails to understand as to why the concerned persons engaged in switching off the streetlights behave so negligently while discharging their duties.Ultimately, a sizeable amount of energy goes wasted in the process. If we utilise the available power supply judiciously, then our dependence on other states for acquiring power will indeed get reduced considerably. It is absolutely necessary that wastage of power is avoided on a permanent basis. Those found negligent in carrying out their task satisfactorily must be taken to task at once without any discrimination.
Pravin U Sardessai, Adpai
