The decision of the Bombay High Court directing the government to notify in three months the core areas of the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary as a tiger reserve has left the Pramod Sawant government red-faced and dumbstruck.
It couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time for the current dispensation, just two days after Sawant and his number two and Forest Minister Vishwajit Rane, presided over the State Wild Life Board rejected the long pending proposal for the tiger reserve, ostensibly because it was 'unviable'.
Goa's greens however are rejoicing and have unleashed a scathing attack on Rane, who has announced that the government will approach the Supreme Court to reverse the High Court's decision, at whatever cost it takes.
Himself a 'tiger' in Sattari's political territory known to make easy prey of any challenger who dares to encroach, Rane seems to have found a match in the striped wonder of the wild in his own backyard.
Wounded as he is by the High Court decision, Rane by all accounts has a daunting task to get it reversed and his 'tigers are tourists in Goa' argument has slim, if any, chances to cut ice in the country's highest court.
Matka 'king' should bet
on drug-laced cakes
Calangute MLA Michael Lobo has once again appealed to the House to consider legalising 'matka' claiming that it would improve Goa's GST collection whilst also benefiting those involved in the illegal activity by providing them legit employment.
If popularity, employment and revenue for the State is the criterion, shouldn't the MLA also bat for drug-laced cakes? After all these 'nasha' inducing pastries are also popular among drug users and sellers which seemingly Goa is not in any short supply.
The potential to enrich the State's coffers will also increase tenfold. Further, it will also help alleviate the unemployment issue. Lobo's Calangute and the adjoining constituencies will benefit immensely from this as it is evidently the region where most of the narco-trade and consumption occurs along the coastline.
Lobo's move to legalise matka, in a way, goes against the logic of the State government's justification to not allow Gonas entry into casinos in their own State.
An idle mind, they say, is a devil's workshop and it would do Chief Minister Sawant a world of good to entrust Lobo, at the earliest, with a share of his government's business lest he come up with yet another 'legalise matka' kind of an outlandish proposal in his idle time on the treasury bench.
Michael-Vijai banter amuses
Veterans in their third term, Goa Forward Party (GFP) supremo Vijai Sardesai and his friend on the other side of the aisle, Michael Lobo, indulged in some amusing banter in the House taunting each other over the political fate they currently find themselves in -- outside the power-play ring.
Latching on to a double entendre in Sardesai's speech in the House the other day, Lobo went on to interpret it as praise for Narendra Modi and taunted the Fatorda MLA to follow instincts and cross over.
"Your heart is made up. Only your mind is still not there. It will happen and then you will be seated on the front row on this side," Lobo kept taunting Sardesai, who strangely bit his lip, adhering to the 'discretion is the better part of valour' maxim.
Two days later, however, Sardesai got an opportunity and he seized it, to get even with Lobo who once too often in the current session has displayed traits of an Opposition legislator. So when Lobo batted for Dabolim airport more eloquently than any of the seven occupying the Opposition benches, Vijai sprung to his feet to point out that he (Lobo) has lost his way: "He was meant to be on this (Opposition) side but somehow lost his way and landed that (ruling) side."
When it's about Michael and Vijai, there's no predicting what their next move could be. Only time will tell.
