Cart before horse
The government, with great fanfare, is going ahead with promoting Netravali as a tourist destination by having a two day festival, ads etc and so on to attract crowds. If one gets lured and plans to visit the festival and the area then they will be for a great shock. It appears the cart is being put before the horse. One of the (so-called) destination is Savari Waterfall, which lacks basic facilities such as a proper approach road, pathways, a shelter, toilet, drinking water etc. On top of it there is a Rs 30 charge per head just to enter the area, which is called a ‘wild life sanctuary’ sans any wild life. There are neither proper guidelines nor sign boards, and one is left in a hilly area at the mercy of bus and taxi operators, to search for the waterfall which too is unapproachable due to steep and slippery steps. The other spots eg bubble tank, historical caves, old sculptures etc are no better and it is really nightmare to search for them in the forest area. Will the authorities at least provide the required bare minimum infrastructure before going in for promotional ventures to avoid harassment and inconvenience?
B V S Priolkar, Margao
No civic sense
The distribution of free garbage bins (one black and one green) by some municipalities in Goa to every household in the wards is nothing but a vote-catching gimmick and a ploy to earn quick bucks. If people can afford to live in flats, then surely it is within their means to own two trifling bins. It is a pity that despite the tall talks by our elected councilors, some of our cities in Goa are listed among the dirtiest in the country. One has only to walk around the market places in Mapusa and Panaji to learn the truth. Public hygiene has been thrown to the winds, even as we find garbage strewn all over the place or dumped in the storm water drains. Secondly, in the absence of garbage bins in public places, can we blame our tourists who litter the place with bottles, cans and plastic bags? Little wonder then why someone remarked that “in Goa, even the Swachh Bharat scheme has been thrown into the bins.”
A F Nazareth, Porvorim
Change is coming
I do not understand why the Congress, BJP and other local parties in Goa are afraid of AAP's popularity in the State. We have seen the Congress party in Goa, how it fared and what it did to Goa in the past. AAP completely finished the Congress party in New Delhi, and therefore maybe Digvijay Singh is afraid that the same thing might happen in Goa in 2017. On the other side, the BJP too is afraid that AAP might wrest Goa away from their hands and so they issue unwarranted statements against AAP. We have seen and tasted all the political parties in Goa, what they did to Goa and Goans. Now the time has come to go for a change and see what a party like AAP will do for us in the near future.
Marcos Alemao, Varca
