LOCAL GOAN SUFFERS DUE TO GOVT APATHY? by Praxy Fernandes

It is reliably learnt that passports issued some years back by the Goa Passport office are defective in a way the lamination covering the personal details on the first cover page comes off due to which the immigration officers are rightly objecting the travel of passport holders due to fear of manipulation. When I brought the defect to the notice of one official in the passport office I was told to apply for a ‘Replacement of Damaged Passport’ alongwith a fee of Rs 2500/- to which I tried to object as the defect in the passport has not been caused due to my fault, but in vain. For that matter the same defect has been reported by many passport holders. I am trying to ascertain whether others were also made to pay the amount. When so much public money is wasted by ministers and their babus in enjoying perks like air travel and hotel stay even when they go for their personal works, why is it that we common people are made to suffer by paying for no fault of ours? Can the passport authorities clarify?

Secondly I cannot understand when a proper election card with my photo on it was already issued to me in 2004 I have now been given one form at my residence with spelling mistakes in my name and with my surname jumbled up, with a request to submit 2 photographs and Form 8 for making the relevant corrections, so that a new card can be issued. What happens to the correctly issued existing card? How many times this exercise of issuing election cards is going to be conducted? Why and who manipulates the records, which have to be correctly maintained. Looks like such works are purposefully generated & tendered to contractors/suppliers so public money can be siphoned. And this is not an isolated case as can be seen from the mistakes on the forms given to others as well. Same mistakes are also made on ration cards or any documents/ certificates requested from government authorities. And when such mistakes/wrong details are brought to their notice, they force the public to produce affidavits to cover up for their inefficiencies. Innumerable training sessions conducted for these government employees are just a colossal waste of public funds.

Recently I came across a birth certificate issued by the Sankhali Municipality & found lots of errors. On enquiry it is revealed that the Birth & Death registers were damaged due to rains and flooding in the municipality office. Subsequently the registers have been re-recorded without the public being made aware of it and lot of mistakes have been committed in the names, place of birth, residential address columns while re-re cording. Now to get the same details corrected the applicant is made to bring an affidavit and other documents thereby making the public to incur un-necessary expenditure, which actually should be borne by the government or why are other government generated documents like PAN card, election card, BSNL bills or school certificates not taken as proofs to make the necessary corrections?

I say local Goans suffer because non-Goan ghantis pay huge sums of money and easily get their work done without having to wait even for a dya while our locals have to make innumerable trips to the offices to even correct mistakes on ration cards which these uneducated government employees and more so the Talathis commit.