Misbehaviour in Buses

TRAVELLING by public busses has become a tempestuous affair. People not only step on your feet, but also rub you the wrong way, both literally and figuratively. The female passengers in the bus suffer heavily due to the absolute disregard for any sense of personal space. The bus conductors are worse than the passengers themselves. Not only do they ignore complaints about indecent behaviour, they even ask female passengers to dismount for causing a nuisance. The seat reserved for ladies is another mockery of sorts, with nobody paying heed to requests to vacate the seats even for mothers with infants. Needless to say, even the conductor tells you to adjust and not make a fuss. Many women have stopped taking buses, and for those who cannot afford it, they take buses at unearthly hours to avoid ill-treatment which is still meted out to them in other ways.

AMEENA BUKHARI, Altinho

Injustice to Teachers

AT the close of the year 2001, the BJP government in Goa scaled down the retirement age of teachers from the traditional 60 years to 58 years. Shortly thereafter, after the fall of the BJP government, the new government led by the Congress reverted the retirement age of teachers back to 60 years. Thus, many government teachers lost two years of valued services and post-retirement benefits as compared to those who retired subsequently after the re-introduction of 60 years. In addition, the basic pensionery emoluments for government primary teachers is very low. We request the government to kindly review our cases on a humanitarian basis and enhance our pensionery benefits suitably considering the huge enhancements everyone including the legislators receive. Will the present government kindly rectify the injustice done to us by the previous government?

LATIKA NAIK, Ponda

Brand Ambassador for Goa

GOA happens to be on the world tourist map and is a favoured destination for both local and foreign tourists alike. Successive state governments have tried their level best to project Goa as a safe tourist destination. Despite the recent attack on Russian tourists, Goa still attracts foreign tourists by the hordes. Surprisingly, the state does not have brand ambassador of its own. It is a known fact that Amitabh Bachchan happens to be the brand ambassador for the state of Gujarat. The Goa government, too, should appoint a brand ambassador for the state of Goa, someone who represents peace, communal harmony, brotherhood, and clean fun for which the state is well-known the world over.

ADELMO FERNANDES, Vasco

Sorry State of Affairs

IT is high time the authorities put a check on the working of the Mapusa Municipality. The nexus between the Mapusa municipal councillors and the real estate builders is eating the fabric of the structure of Mapusa because of which the whole of Bardez is affected. Congestion on roads, water and electricity problems are on the rise. Will someone investigate how many shops, flats have gone to the councillors and MLAs? Illegal garages, godowns, shops are built on space meant for parking of vehicles. Commercial establishment and offices are opened in residential areas. But nobody is doing anything at all. Will the authorities please help us?

SANDHYA BHAVE, Assonora