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Panaji: Popular
rebellions in the Arab world have found an echo in Goa, where a
citizens' collective is trying to cobble up support for 'honest'
candidates in the state's only municipal corporation, the
Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP).
"The revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and other countries there
should be a lesson to all of us. To overthrow such a corrupt
municipal regime, these populist movements should be models for
us," Oscar Rebello, convenor of the Panajiites Initiative for
Change (PINC), said Tuesday.
The poll is to be held March 13.
Rebello, a medical practitioner and a leading civil society
campaigner here, said they are endorsing a list of 29 'credible
and honest' candidates for the CCP, which has 30 constituencies.
Lawyers, working professionals and a journalist are some of the
candidates backed by the PINC.
PINC has said it will lobby for cancelling of trade licences to
off shore casino vessels, which are parked in the Mandovi river,
which flows alongside the capital.
PINC has also opposed the construction of skyscrapers in Panaji,
which has several heritage buildings.
"We are tired of corruption. Virtually every couple of months a
new scam in the corporation has emerged, with no action being
taken against the accused," said retired Indian Administrative
Service (IAS) officer Arvind Bhatikar, also a member of the PINC.
The ruling corporator panel in the CCP, which is backed by
Education Minister Atanasio Monserrate, has been ridden by
scandals, some of the most infamous ones being the pay-parking
scam, the ghost worker salary scam, the shop allotment scam in
which several corporators were allegedly involved.
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