Forgotten Promises
THE stretch of road passing through St Bridget’s Institute at Santerxette, Aldona is in very dilapidated condition.

The local MLA, Mr Dayanand Narvekar promises to repair the road each time he comes round begging for votes only to forget the promises made once he has been reinstated in the seat of power.  
NEWTON MENDONCA, Aldona

Drug Menace in Goa

EVERYBODY in Goa knows that the drug trafficking has gone from bad to worse, thanks to the involvement of the Goa police in the Anti-Narcotics Cell. Revelations have revealed involvement of police and a politicians’ son. While some police personnel have already been jailed, one constable is playing truant. In any case, the law is bound to take its own course and the culprits will be severely punished for not only destroying the lives of thousands of people but also for ruining entire families. Now, seized drugs are stolen from police custody and passed on to the drug mafia for resale in the market, and the seized drugs have been replaced with urea, sugar and wheat flour. Of course all this has happened allegedly with the blessings of the police in the higher echelons as well as the politicians. The claims of the government that there is no drug trafficking is falsified by the huge seizure of drugs in the recent months. Whenever any drugs are seized, the police must get the same examined by authorised laboratories, in order to find the nature of the seized substance before any case is filed against the drug peddler. But this is not done. The government must now immediately appoint a committee headed by an army officer and with the respective Collectors, Inspector General of Police and the respective Mamlatdars as members in order to supervise the destruction of seized confirmed drugs after obtaining the orders of the Court where the cases are filed and the record of the proceedings should be forwarded to the Chief Secretary for perusal of the government.
J M DE ALMEIDA, Alto Porvorim

Revamping of Patto Plaza
THE ongoing work of revamping the Patto Plaza area which was earlier tendered to M/s Kanaka Infratech Ltd, and was directed to start the work by October 1, 2009 at the cost of Rs 9.20 crore to be completed by May 2010 before the onset of monsoon, has failed to complete and as such the work of re-tendering process by the Economic Development Corporation has begun. It is interesting to note that the EDC has only realised now after the period of 6 months that their work was proceeding at a very slow rate. Now, the new tender will be floated soon and the work will be awarded to two companies instead of one, and the completion date will be by May 2011. It appears that the EDC did not take the interest to monitor the assigned tender work given to M/s Kanaka Infratech Co and now, what is the guarantee the same situation will not arise again. The irresponsibility on the part of EDC shows that they are taking Goans for granted for this kind of behaviour. It would be wise that this kind of high cost tender should be well-debated by renowned architects of Goa, before the re-tendering process begins. Also, as per Central Government rules, the ‘rationalised purchase procedure’ must be followed when the cost of tender goes beyond 25 lakhs. Also, it is mandatory under these rules that these jobs must be advertised on the Goa Government website and also in a minimum of 3 reputed newspapers in the country for global tenders.
STEPHEN DIAS, Dona Paula

The Importance of Sex Education 
In what must be considered a landmark judgement the Supreme Court quashed 22 criminal cases filed against South Indian actress Khushboo for her remarks in various magazines allegedly endorsing pre-marital sex. In her interviews the actress had reportedly said that it was fine for girls to indulge pre-marital sex after taking precautions to keep unwanted pregnancy and sexually-transmitted diseases at bay. She also justified her statement by saying that no educated man could expect his partner to be a virgin.  Even though this may seem morally wrong, with a society that has been aping the West, pre-marital sex appears to be an accepted norm among the young. We have to move with the times and times are changing. This may sound awkward in a conservative society, but is a reality of the day. Even discussing sex may have been forbidden in our society in the past. But with the television, internet and cellphones at their disposal, leading a moral life and keeping away from all things related to sex could well be a thing of the past. With today’s disco culture and the fact that teenagers frequent bars and night-joints, all the socialising could well lead to intimacy. Today’s youth are more forward and out-going and many take individual decisions on how to live their lives. The conservative society appears to have very little influence on them. All this may not be in tune with the religious teachings, but we have to face the facts. And the fact is that pre-marital sex is a reality in our society. So instead of running away from the truth it would be better if we face it. The best way to deal with this would be to educate the youth on the ill-effects of pre-marital sex like unwanted pregnancy, STDs and AIDS. This is where sex-education plays an important role.
ADELMO FERNANDES, Vasco