PANAJI: Aldona Congress MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira on Tuesday hit out at the government for collapse of law and order in the state, which is said was a direct consequence of a politicised police force which is more concerned with tracking the opposition and cracking down on dissent than in solving actual crimes.
Addressing the media after visiting the family of Dr Ghanekar at Mapusa, who were the victims of a robbery in which the dacoits tied up the family and made off with valuables worth Rs 50-lakh, Adv Ferreira said that such incidents repeating themselves only exposed how hollow the Chief Minister sounds when he says that Goa is a model state.
“Today Goans are not safe — if you go to a restaurant you are attacked, if you go walking on the road a gang attacks you and now Goans are not even safe in their homes. What do we have to say to such a government? What have we to say of the police?” Adv Carlos questioned.
“In April this year Dempo’s house in Dona Paula was robbed. It was done in the same way. They tied them up and robbed the house. The police have not learnt any lessons. The Home Minister is the Chief Minister. Just because you visit the house of the victims, doesn’t solve the problem,”
“You have to give confidence with your actions and not just say: ‘We will not allow gundagiri, we will not allow this to happen and we will not allow that to happen. But it is happening and it is becoming routine,” Adv Adv Carlos said.
He blamed the politicization of the police force for the policing failure.
“The good cops have been sidelined. There are some constables in this police station, they have political backing. They don’t want to do work. They want to get a salary. Maybe they do other types of work which we cannot spell out. Policing is becoming worse day by day and law and order is collapsing. They are clueless,” Adv Carlos said.
“Connection, lethargy, inaction of law enforcement agencies. This gives all these criminals a boost. That is how they are sure they can manage, they can set it, or they will have the confidence that everything can be done when all the elements are put in place so that police go to that side and they come to this side,” he added.
“They give promises. But nothing changes on the ground. I’ve said this before that the Crime Branch is only bothered about tracking the opposition; they have no other work. They are idle. During the reign of the Congress everyone was safe on the roads, in their homes, everything was good and well. Today these criminals are not afraid. And then they say we have a model state, etc. What is the ground reality?” he added.
“If we don’t have a politicised police machinery I think we will have a very good system for our state,” he also said.