Dear Saligaokars, Saligao lovers and well wishers,
Garbage has been killing Saligao, Goa from 1987.
For 27 years, coastal and hotel garbage
has been dumped in a huge, 60 ft. deep, quarry on our hill. Our Salmona spring and wells and those in Calangute and Candolim are polluted.
A combination of this complaint - signed by 240 residents of Donvaddo and Sonarbhatt - and the Video Volunteers film
on the problem, led to a 3-way joint site inspection by the Health
Officer, Primary Health Centre, Candolim; the Dept. of Animal Husbandry
and the Sarpanch, VP Saligao. Copies of the film were given to the
Health Officer, Sarpanch, VP Saligao and local MLA.
Remember Sulochana Pednekar the grassroots Community Correspondent from Video
Volunteers who came in and did a short video documentary on the illegal
piggery and slaughter house in Donvaddo, Saligao?
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| Her video is now up here... |
Dear Manoharbhav, Dilip and Eknath,
As a team who are
all in the same party and on the same page, we in Saligao expect much
from the 3 of you for Earth Hour 2013 and towards establishing Renewable
Energy solutions to our problematic power supply.
For a start you can switch off all non-essential lights, from
8:30-9:30 pm in the state...beginning with Saligao's church and temple exterior illumination. Surely, a combination of the 3 of you can ensure this tiny measure.
Second...slowly phase out Saligao's connection to the grid. Make this a FIRST in Goa!
Starting with the Panchayat building, all street lighting and finally public illumination switch Saligao totally to Renewable Energy
using a combination of solar, biomass and wind energy:
- Do away with the garbage
dump on our hill that is destroying our village and use all our hills
for wind turbines (windmills).
- Use all our biodegradable waste in a
biomass plant to create additional power.
- Use Saligao's solar energy to complete our electricity needs.
A combination of these 3 Renewable Energy measures will first supply
all our public and later private energy needs.
Unless
we make efforts to transform our energy production systems to 100% renewable, we
may do irreversible damage to our planet.
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| Mae de Deus Church, Saligao. |
Dear Earth Lovers, Carers, Savers!
Earth Hour 2013, 8:30 PM Saturday 23 March.
Earth Hour has grown from a
one-city initiative in 2007 to the world's largest campaign for the
planet, uniting hundreds of millions of people across 7001 cities and
towns in 152 countries and territories.
Saligao, Goa, India is one of them.
For
the last 3 years, people from other villages have joined local
Saligaokars to celebrate Earth Hour at the Lourdes Convent Open Air
Courts.
The official 2013 video
features the track "Without You" by David Guetta and Usher, providing an
upbeat soundtrack to match the celebration of this year's event across
the world.
Mahalaxmi Bhobe, the social worker from the government run Institute Of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour (IPHB) in Bambolim has asked us to enlist the help of netters from Goa to try and locate the sister of a patient in the institute.
The patient's name is Lucy Fernandes and is around 60 years old.
Her parents were Caitan & Marie Therese Fernandes.
Her present caretaker, Francis Fernandes lives in Reis Magos.
**Lucy's sister Juliet and her husband Bernard D'Souza now live in Canada.**
They used to live in Saligao's, market area (Tinto/Khotla).
Bernard's father was a professional cook.
***Urgently needed: Lucy and Bernard's contact details in Canada.***
Kindly leave any relevant information in the comment link below.
Thanks in advance for your concern.
I have been a freelancer cartoonist for the Times of India (Goaplus) and Herald, but I have been on the back burner of late due to my hectic work...I need to devote more time to my hobby again and would cherish the opportunity of contributing to your website on a freelancing basis if permitted..
Would also like to appreciate and thank you for the great work done by you and all Saligaonetters by keeping Saligao alive through the web.
in Tabravaddo, while in neighbouring Donvaddo, residents claimed they were laid squarely on top of a network of 4 water pipes under a narrow road. No one has a clue where the cables are being laid in the rest of the village, least of all the local Public Works Department-Water (PWD) that maintains the water pipes in Saligao.
There is no one from GED on site to ensure safe procedures. When we talked to one engineer from GED, he was shocked to hear of the safety measures employed and asked us to write a complaint to the engineer looking after the 11 KVA lines in this area.
"If by mistake my worker's pick axe digs into the power cable, in a trench filled with water, can you imagine what will happen? Not only will my worker be electrocuted instantly, but every pipeline and tap in the village will immediately be charged with 11,000 volts of electricity!" (see pics showing leak caused by cable digging and emptying of trench after valves were shut)
This however does not seem to be happening at all places, as the digging contractors are refusing to dig deeper or broader to maintain the 300 mm safe distance when they come across a water pipeline. It was only when we insisted that they reluctantly installed the cables under the pipelines outside our house.
Opposite our house we had decided to jump into the trench and physically stop the work if better sense did not prevail on L&T and its local digging contractors. Some safety measures were employed like laying the cables under the pipe instead of over, as had been planned. But the safety measures are far from adequate as can be seen from the accompanying pics. We actually have a potential 'gramicide' (extermination of a whole village, where 'gram' means village!).
We spent 4 entire days to ensure that at least some semblance of safety was maintained on the cables being laid from St. Anne's Chapel to the transformer by the side of our house. Time and time again we have had to liaise between and call for common meetings between local PWD staff, digging contractors, panchayat member and L&T. And then to the extent humanly possible, we actually supervised that the maximum safe distance is maintained between the power and water lines.
