Don’t get your cables in a bunch
An internet shutdown, a Delhi-style murder in Mandrem and educational mayhem. All this and more in this week's edition.
Hi folks,
We meet again this time after a fortnight. Having not sent in a newsletter last week, it appears that the issues have only piled up. Nonetheless, I’ll try and cover as much as possible while at the same time not boring you guys to death -- as for the rest, hopefully I can talk about it next week.
Much has happened -- from a murder in Mandrem and its fallout, to the parents of school going children finally coming together to raise their voice against classes in April and Michael Lobo fighting for a place in the spotlight with a rant against idli sambhar, Goa has not been short of action.
But undoubtedly the man-of-the-week award has to go to Kashinath Shetye.
Don’t get your cables in a bunch
For those unaware, Shetye is an executive engineer with the Electricity Department. But perhaps if you’ve heard of him prior to this, it’s probably not because of his job as an electrical engineer, but rather because of the various causes he has espoused especially with regards to the implementation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) -- making sure that Goa’s beach shacks -- both private and tourism auctioned -- are approved by the GCZMA if they are to be allowed to operate as well as made sure the casinos operating the in the state have CRZ approval as well.
What’s really new this time round is that it is perhaps the first time that he’s making news on account of his actual job. And don’t get me wrong: this isn’t a takedown. All the hats that he wears suit him quite perfectly.
Earlier this year, in his role as an executive engineer, he decided to take his job seriously, follow the letter of the law and hold Goa’s private Internet service providers to account for having ‘illegally’ strung their fibre-optic cables delivering high speed internet to homes via electric poles.
Notices were issued, warnings were sent. Operators were asked to apply for permissions and (some did and were rejected), pay their dues -- running in a few crores in some cases -- which they didn’t and ultimately, in a bid to hold off action, the ISPs (which, it turns out, had an association) approached the High Court at Goa for relief.
None was granted at least until Tuesday February 25, thus leaving the haphazardly strung cables at the mercy of the electricity department. And so began the slashing.
Cue. Mayhem.
Internet users -- especially those relying on private ISPs (which is most people) -- were left staring at their blinking modems, wondering what hit them. Those who reached out to their ISPs were told to “take the time to call or message your local MLA & complain about this needless & unnecessary urgency to cut the cables, which disrupts & cripples such an essential service.”
The state police headquarters, the state transport department, health facilities, private businesses, institutions, all were affected -- some at their wits end, others complaining on social media and still others threatening the said executive engineer with that terrible thing called a transfer.
While the cable cutting began in Panjim, Internet services across the state were disrupted. Complaints started coming in from as far as Siolim in the north and Margao in the south. Don’t know if it went beyond that as well.
This was a drive being undertaken across the state beginning from Panjim, which would then, step by step be taken across the state, so claimed Shetye that morning.
As the day progressed, however, and outrage spread, Shetye clarified that only those cables strung upon 43, weak and damaged poles in the capital city were snapped off, while care was taken to ensure that cables to important establishments like the Goa Medical College, etc. were not touched.
It seemed that Shetye himself was taken aback by the extent of disruption it seemed to have caused.
What really happened then?
According to Mervyn Britto, the president of the All Goa Internet Service Providers Association, the main link from the telcos to the ISPs was down while UTL, which runs the government sanctioned Goa Broadband Network (GBBN) and provides internet to several government establishments, and offices claimed that its “backbone was severed.”
All in all, it appears that all customers of certain providers like the GBBN/Gwave, and those ISPs who rely on it like Ethernet Xpress, Merv Enterprises, DNA Broadband, etc were affected. Those relying on BSNL Fibre (outside of Panjim) appear to have been spared.
Being in Goa and having a job that requires reliable access to the Internet, means you need to have a backup or a plan B as some like to call it. And if you live in a location where mobile signal is weak, that cannot be your plan B. And that’s how I have come to have two separate fibre connections back home -- one from BSNL -- which is what saved the day.
For the rest, social media was the go-to sounding board. Goa Technology Association Chief Manguirish Salelkar, who is affiliated with the BJP, called for the situation to be addressed swiftly. Complaints also poured in from the IT Professionals and IT/ITeS Association and others over the kind of message being sent by a state that hoped to position itself as a IT and start up hub.
By evening, however, no sooner the matter was ‘resolved’ and the Goa government issued an order appointing two superintending engineers -- one each for north and south Goa -- to function as nodal officers "as a point of contact for all stakeholders related to utilization of the Electricity Department infrastructure for laying optical fibre cables, etc and related activities,” thus relieving Shetye of the charge, Internet services were restored (in many, but not all parts) almost within minutes of the order becoming public.
Which begs the question…
Did the ISPs deliberately shut off Internet across the state as a kind of impromptu, undeclared “strike” against the Electricity Department’s actions? The speed of the restoration certainly seemed to suggest that was the case -- A deliberate shutdown to make the disruption seem bigger than it would have been -- large enough to cause sufficient outrage to ensure that the government thinks twice about proceeding with its clean up drive -- in its present form.
Shetye is not wrong in demanding that ISPs follow safety norms, pay up their dues and take responsibility for their actions. He’s also not wrong when he says that the ISPs have been given adequate notice that action would be initiated against haphazardly strung cables, unpaid dues and the absence of permission from the ‘competent’ authority.
But most importantly, the ISPs have completely ignored requests to use the underground ducts built along Panjim’s ‘smart’ roads (at least along stretches that have been completed) to run their cables. Some even claimed they had no idea that these ducts existed -- absolutely incredible that those in the business of stringing cables are not up to date about developments concerning stringing cables.
That said, Internet connectivity is today an absolute necessity -- nay a fundamental right, according to the Supreme Court. The Electricity Department in taking it away was doing something akin to denying fundamental rights -- like right to life, liberty, equality, etc. But then again, we are so used to -- and tolerate -- the government denying us our fundamental rights like -- clean air, water, freedom of expression, etc. that one would think this would have been tolerated as well.
The way forward
Things have stabilised for now. What Shetye did, served as a much needed wake up call. But it somewhat feels like a wasted opportunity. The snapped cables have since been restored to the same locations that they were snapped from when ideally, it was a golden opportunity to shift them to the underground ducts (where available).
The rest is before the High Court, where the ISPs have been asked to deposit 20% of the money towards pole rental upfront and the matter will go forward from there. Until then, enjoy the show.
An educational mess
Keen followers of this newsletter will know that I’ve written about the mess that the school education system currently is in. But starting this week it has begun to play out in the lives of students.
So here’s what happened. Schools in the state that are centres for the SSC examinations (including the one my daughter goes to) have sent out an unhandy and difficult-to-keep track of time table to the students of some (maybe all) classes. It goes like this. On the 4th, 6th, 12th, 13th, 19th and 20th days of the month, they will have regular full day school (up to 1:30pm). On the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th and 11th they will have classes up to 10am. The rest of the days are holidays, I suppose.
Why, you might ask. The answer is because this year, the Goa Board SSC exams are being held in the month of March -- from March 1st to 21st -- even before the other classes can complete their year. Right up to last year (and even when we were in school) SSC Board exams used to be held in the month of April. Last year they were held from April 1 to 24. SSC students were given the month of March off to study and would answer papers in April after the other classes had finished their exams.
But this year, with the State government deciding to force through a decision to commence the academic year in April the SSC exams will have to finish before that -- even before the other classes have finished theirs. And so we have it. The same school premises has to accommodate both SSC students answering exams and attempting to complete the year for the rest of the classes. How serious the students will take the final months of the year is anybody’s guess.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Had the government consulted with parents, teachers and schools before leaping into the unknown with it’s pea-brained decision to commence the academic year in April -- a decision that is still being contested, and whose rationale has never truly been explained in a way that makes sense -- a solution that suits students, parents and the mandates of the NEP could have been found.
Instead we are being forced to live in a system where if Delhi farts, Goa will call it a breath of fresh air ignoring the evidence of its own nose (and eyes and ears). If the entire country does not have a one weather calendar, why should it have a single education calendar? And with urban heat islands now a phenomenon that has come to Goa, God bless the little ones.
Mandrem has had enough
On the night of February 21 around 10pm Deepan Batra, a 23-year-old tourist from Delhi, who has been living in Goa for a few months now, mowed down 65-year-old Maria Fernandes, a coconut seller while she was by the roadside setting up her stall.
This he did after the two families -- the Fernandes family including her son, Joseph and the Batra family -- had an argument over walking the latter walking their dogs close to her house which used to upset her own dogs leading to fights between the dogs and cacophony in the neighbourhood.
On that fateful evening Batra did the same thing -- he walked his dogs close to their house leading to yet another altercation, after which he got into his car and ran the old lady over killing her -- Delhi style (or is it Haryana or Lucknow? I wouldn’t know).
For a while it seemed -- and it was reported -- as an accident, a case of rash driving. It was only after villagers gathered at the police station to demand for ‘justice’ for the murdered villager that the police registered a case of murder the following day.
But the story doesn’t end there. Within hours of his arrest, allegedly on instructions from his superiors, the Goa Police didn’t seek police custody of the murder accused and instead allowed him to be sent to judicial custody. Not just that, locals who saw Batra being taken from the police station in an AC car with tinted windows were outraged and gathered at the police station. Fingers of suspicion (and accusation) quickly pointed to the higher ups in the police department, who, it was said, were shielding the accused, him being a Delhiite and all.
The Superintendent of Police Akshat Kaushal attempted to clarify that the new Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (Indian Penal Code), 2023 allows the police to seek police custody on multiple occasions while he is in judicial custody and as such there was no lapse. However, none could explain the AC car treatment to the VIP accused. An inquiry conducted by the SDPO found that there indeed were lapses.
All in all the incident -- coupled with other similar incidents -- a speeding Mercedes mowed down a music teacher Judith Fernandes in Siolim and more recently a speeding (illegally) rented car crashed into several vehicles inducing life-altering injuries on the victims -- has left us with the feeling that Goa is under siege. A crackdown on illegal rent-a-cabs and capping their numbers is a start, but the problems are much larger than that. Taking idli sambhar off the menu won’t make the problems go away.
Fool me once, fool me twice…
When, in January, the Goa government announced it was holding an ultra-short two-day session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, it understandably was derided as being a mockery of democracy and an escapist move to avoid answering questions and accountability for its sins of commission and omission.
In a bid to defend the move, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said at the time that the winter session would be short, but that to compensate, the budget session would be longer.
But lo and behold, we now have a three-day budget session -- perhaps a first for our already beleaguered democracy. Our elected representatives have one job -- the one we actually elect them to do -- legislate. It’s supposed to be their main purpose, but one which they are least interested in carrying out.
As the saying goes: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!”
That’s all I have for you this week. Make sure you comment or write in, should you have something, anything to say.
I would also invite you to contribute via sending in your views, especially on a subject you know something about, and I will be happy to include it as part of the newsletter.
You are also welcome to write in with leads and tip-offs or anything that you think might be interesting enough to include here.
As always, please share and help spread the word.
Until next week, then. Tchau!
I totally agree with your views. In Goa it has become a trial n error method. They r not thinking about the kids n d impact it will have on them.
Executive Engineer Kashinath Shetye, went on "Cutting Cables" like; "Whose cable, what goes".
Despite having an inside view of the situation, and being in Government for decades, he could not even fathom, what would happen, if the ISPs switch of their "Switches" together, even far away from Panjim. And the phenomenon snowballs, across the state.
It's about time, someone checks his Engineering Degree.