IT is not a new thing. The world over, the tensions are on the rise, chaos is the order of the day. Greed for money is the standard mode. News channels are full of death and killing of children and women and the youth and old alike. Governments are states across the world are busy increasing their command over the weak - for more power, more fuel, more resources and some just for the fun of killing. States too are promoting the same attitude, generating money by any mode they like, often ignoring the poor, the farmers, the women and the children.
I recently read an article about the state government opening a bar near a religious institution, that too very near to my work place, in Bahour, Puducherry. Bahour was once known to be the rice bowl of Pondicherry. Fertile agricultural lands, ample water resources, irrigation tanks and ponds, and above all, very hard working people - I mean, farmers. Now Bahour is becoming more of a real estate ground for the greedy, rich eagles to invest, to plunder the beautiful resources, to damage the historic tanks and temples, where polluting industries are given licences left and right like steel industries, chemical industries and what not? Aren't there any standards when licences are issued to bars/liquor shops that they should not be near educational institutions or religious institutions? Or is the motive of the government only to make money?? That too at what ever costs? This is even more ironical that the road where the bar has been opened does not even have a decent bus service. What are our real developmental agenda for a place like Bahour?? Is it only to convert our historical places into dumping yards or liquour shops or converting our historical irrigation tanks to house plots to satisfy the goons who help the political machinery to continue their jobs??
Interestingly, an officer of the department where such licences are given is known to be a famous environmentalist, winner of the national award for protecting the environment and is known to be an ambassador of peace, green and sustainable development. But even this officer is not able to do any thing, or rather one can not understand what the real motives of such persons is ?
Recently a farmer from the same Bahour region along with his father consumed poison in front of the Revenue officials when the revenue authorities came to evict their only piece of lands measuring less than half an acre. While the father survived, the son died. While government poromboke lands or temple lands are available in plenty, what was the need or urgency of the government to acquire the small piece of land of a marginal farmer making him a landless labour and distributing the land to political goons who already have three or four free house plots? One can not understand the mood of the government. We hope the government is sympathetic to the poor and the weaker sections and they would realize that a lot more needs to be done to the people rather than opening bars or giving free house pattas to their own followers. A lot more can be done in this small and beautiful Union Territory. Let us hope the government wake up. This government had done good things in the past, and can do it again.
I recently read an article about the state government opening a bar near a religious institution, that too very near to my work place, in Bahour, Puducherry. Bahour was once known to be the rice bowl of Pondicherry. Fertile agricultural lands, ample water resources, irrigation tanks and ponds, and above all, very hard working people - I mean, farmers. Now Bahour is becoming more of a real estate ground for the greedy, rich eagles to invest, to plunder the beautiful resources, to damage the historic tanks and temples, where polluting industries are given licences left and right like steel industries, chemical industries and what not? Aren't there any standards when licences are issued to bars/liquor shops that they should not be near educational institutions or religious institutions? Or is the motive of the government only to make money?? That too at what ever costs? This is even more ironical that the road where the bar has been opened does not even have a decent bus service. What are our real developmental agenda for a place like Bahour?? Is it only to convert our historical places into dumping yards or liquour shops or converting our historical irrigation tanks to house plots to satisfy the goons who help the political machinery to continue their jobs??
Interestingly, an officer of the department where such licences are given is known to be a famous environmentalist, winner of the national award for protecting the environment and is known to be an ambassador of peace, green and sustainable development. But even this officer is not able to do any thing, or rather one can not understand what the real motives of such persons is ?
Recently a farmer from the same Bahour region along with his father consumed poison in front of the Revenue officials when the revenue authorities came to evict their only piece of lands measuring less than half an acre. While the father survived, the son died. While government poromboke lands or temple lands are available in plenty, what was the need or urgency of the government to acquire the small piece of land of a marginal farmer making him a landless labour and distributing the land to political goons who already have three or four free house plots? One can not understand the mood of the government. We hope the government is sympathetic to the poor and the weaker sections and they would realize that a lot more needs to be done to the people rather than opening bars or giving free house pattas to their own followers. A lot more can be done in this small and beautiful Union Territory. Let us hope the government wake up. This government had done good things in the past, and can do it again.
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