Sight set on Gujarat
assembly polls
While the dates for the assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh were announced, why were the dates for the polls in Gujarat not also declared at the same time?
It may not be wrong to allege that the dates were deferred to allow senior leaders of a certain political party to announce sops for the voters.
Through several subtle moves, the government has already started to provide relief to residents of Gujarat from rise in prices of milk and LPG cylinders.Notably, for the ruling BJP, losing Gujarat after over two decades in power would come as a rude shock. It’ll be interesting to see what other direct benefits are announced for the public before the model code of conduct kicks in.
S Kamat, Alto Santa Cruz
Financial distress of
municipalities
It is reported that the Ponda Municipal Council has a revenue deficit of Rs 3 crore for the current financial year because the income is Rs 7 crore while the expenditure is Rs 10 crore. To offset this, the taxes on existing and new houses and commercial establishment and also the occupancy fees would be raised.
The City Corporation of Panaji (CCP) is yet to recover pending house and business taxes from 50% of the owners. The CCP plans to soon recover the tax which will be about Rs 2 crore per month but the number of months and defaulters are not mentioned. The above are just two examples and we are unaware of the financial distress in other municipalities and panchayats.
In the past too there were news about the need to collect pending dues but nothing seems to have worked.
The authorities could recruit contract workers who will be accompanied by a permanent staff from the municipalities and go to every house and commercial places and check for the latest tax receipt.
Sridhar D’Iyer, Caranzalem
Finish the drug rackets in Goa
In the recent days we have seen the Goa Police bust many drug rackets through out the state, catching many perpetrators in the drug trade red handed. Such active crackdown on drug peddlers will help the police win the trust of the people. Notably, several peddlers based in other states are known to supply the drug dealers in Goa, often concluding deals worth lakhs.
Before the drug mafias finish the lives of innocent local youth, the government and the police must finish the drug rackets in the state. Such illegal activities have led to the state’s name being spoiled across the world. Besides, there has been a human cost to the illegality, with many having lost their lives due to drug overdose.
Ronnie Dsouza, Chandor
Truss’s resignation as UK
PM comes as a surprise
The recent resignation of Liz Truss as the British PM has come as a surprise. Admittedly, her policies of tax cuts for the rich were skewed. However, no Indian counterpart would have resigned for that. All this required was a policy change. She was better off as trade minister. It is unfortunate that most politicians tend to pander to the upper classes. This leads to a pandemic in the economy.
As per a news article, having Indian NRI’s in politics abroad serves no use to our own country. This is because their thinking has been conditioned with a western mindset that includes a ‘Holier than thou’ attitude.
The UK government is, however, probably more democratic in some ways than our own democracy. This would account for the rise of several Indian NRI’s to top positions in the UK government.
Vinay Rodrigues, Margao
Punjab, Orissa leading way
in regularising staff
The States of Punjab and Orissa each made significant choices at the state level on employment over the course of several weeks, newspaper headlines containing startling information on regularisation. Whereas Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann has regularised 8,736 contractual workers and is in the process of doing the same for another 28,000 contractual workers.
While in Orissa CM Navin Patnaik has eliminated contract hiring and regularised 57,000 contract workers. Both the CMs should be commended for their actions, and CM Pramod Sawant must follow their lead and implement similar regularisation initiatives here in Goa which is much smaller in terms of numbers compared to Punjab and Orissa.
Venan Bonaventure Dias, St Estevam
