Website Impact! 75-year-Old Victor Cutinha gets His RTC Documents with Help from Minister Kota

Website Impact! 75-year-Old Victor John Cutinha of Shivbagh, Mangaluru gets His RTC (Records of Rights, Tenancy & Crops) Documents with Help from District Minister In-Charge Kota Srinivas Poojary, after he had to run from pillar to post urging Tahsildar T G Guruprasad, who had treated him callously, in handing over the necessary documents. Kudos to this Senior Man, who proved that ‘Age Is Just a Number’ and he showed the corrupt officials that they can’t mess with Seniors, at least a few, who will fight until justice is served- and Victor John Cutinha is the Perfect Example to represent the Seniors, who are facing such harassment, Callousness etc at the hands of Ignorant, Greedy and Corrupt Government Servants?

” Finally after struggling and running from pillar to post, VICTORY for Victor Cutinha. RTCs rectified, printed and handed over in record time by our Mangalore Taluk office. We thank the District administration/District Minister In-Charge for talking to the Tashildar and urging to complete the paperwork, Mangalorean.com team for highlighting/publishing the issue and bringing it to the notice of the public and also the MCC civic group. We thank all family, friends and well wishers for calling and extending their full support. “Victory is always a possibility – but it happens only when you decide to make it your reality” said Steward Stafford”- Nirmala, daughter of Victor Cutinha

Mangaluru: Talk about the power of media, especially Electronic media where we highlight the civic issues and within a few hours or few days the concerned authorities who can’t bear the criticism about their negligence, quickly get into action and rectify the civic issues. In the past Mangalorean.com has highlighted various civic issues through our website, and there has been a tremendous effect with most of the problems being fixed in no time, from rectifying dilapidated roads, open drainage, non-friendly footpaths, dog menace etc etc. But this report which was highlighted was quite unique and different from the earlier issues that Team Mangalorean had highlighted, and we are happy to note it did serve the purpose, in getting justice to a senior, who had been callously treated by a government official.

Following the report published in Mangalorean.com (Ref: ‘My Dad is Treated Callously by Tahsildar regarding RTC Property Documents’- Nishel Cutinha  ) highlighting the harassment, callousness and hardship faced by 75-year-old Victor John Cutinha at the hands of Tahsildar T G Guruprasad, in order to receive the RTC (Records of Rights, Tenancy and Crops) of his ancestral property of 2 acre & 70 cents, inherited from his deceased mother, and it was surprising to note that within four hours of the report published, Team Mangalorean got information that Assistant Deputy Commissioner Mrs Roopa and district officials discussed the issue with district minister in-charge Kota Srinivas Poojary, MLA Vedavyas Kamath and other Netas, and contacted Victor Cutinha that the needful will be done, and there was no need for him to go on a solo protest at the Mini Vidhana Soudha, in his efforts to get justice. And as they say, “Better Late than Never”, justice was served to our elderly man Cutinha, where on 25 August he received all the RTC documents, without paying any bribe nor seeking influence, but all through his determination and fight, help from the minister and of course, from Team Mangalorean/Mangalorean.com.

After Team Mangalorean had received an email from Victor Cutinha’s daughter, Mrs Nishel Jeneview Cutinha D’souza, residing in Kuwait, where she had expressed her anger on how her father was being treated by the local Tahsildar office for the last two years, in order to get his RTC property documents, pertaining to his 2 acre 75 cents land, a ancestral property inherited from his mother. Nishel in her email stated, ” Absolute apathy of our entire public service system is evident if you have something important to accomplish at your local government office and they just let you run from pillar to post. My father, Victor John Cutinha, a retired police officer, served in the force for 38 years in Mangaluru City. He never backed away from calling a spade and never bowed down to political pressure. We were relieved that after retirement he would be stress free and spend the rest of his life peacefully tending to his ancestral property and plant a few saplings and contribute his share towards the environment” (More details in this link : :‘My Dad is Treated Callously by Tahsildar regarding RTC Property Documents’- Nishel Cutinha  )

Victor John Cutinha who was all set for his protest on 17 August, but withdrew after Minister/District Admin Officials promised to do the needful
.
Victor Cutinha in order to get justice was all set to sit outside the Taluk Office on 17th August 2020, to protest against this injustice done by a Tahsildar, wherein a senior citizen is made to run from pillar to post just to correct a few government documents. “I request you all to kindly tag any politicians, political parties who can help us reach the right platform. And remember, we are not against any political party, politician and have our utmost respect towards the Indian government” had said Mrs Nishel. Following up on the email from Nishel, Team Mangalorean met Victor John Cutinha, at his apartment in Shivbagh, Mangaluru, also joined by his wife, Mrs Jane Cutinha, aged 70, a home-maker, where Victor narrated all the troubles and hardships that he has been facing for couple of years in order to get the RTC property documents. ( More details in the above article link)

Victor John Cutinha (75) with his wife, Jane Cutinha (70)

Being in a police field for over three decades, Victor had been a tough man during his Police Sub Inspector post, and he intends to remain tough until justice is served. But, having fed up with all the callousness and hardship faced at the Tahsildar office, to get the necessary land documents, Victor had decided to stage a protest in front of their office on 17 August, so that justice could be served to him, and to many others, especially seniors, who are also facing such harassment at the hands of these govt officials. And this is how most of our Government offices function, in India. There are a lot of irregularities involved and files are just kept piling up. People are made to run from pillar to post for their files to move to the right hands.

Some of these bureaucrats have forgotten that they are getting their salary to serve the people but instead they work as if they are doing the public at large a favor. They spend most of the time in chai breaks and gossip. It is High time that our Government treats all the public sectors like a private entity by putting rules and KPI’s for all Government offices and promotion should be purely based on merit instead of reservations and nepotism. Strict action should be taken and that the elected representatives escalate this matter and prioritize it by taking immediate action against the officer/officers; which will discipline all other bureaucrats to handle the emotions of people in a fragile and humane manner.

Mission Accomplished & Justice Served! Victor John Cutinha Signing & receiving the RTC Documents at Tahsildar Office

Team Mangalorean is overwhelmed that we were able to highlight this long pending fight of a senior man in getting justice, and feel proud that Victor Cutinha did get justice, and he whole-heartedely expresses his gratitude to district minister in-charge Kota Srinivas Poojary; Personal Assistant of Minister who followed up on the case, when the minister had emergency meetings locally, Bengaluru and New Delhi; Assistant Deputy Commissioner Mrs Roopa; and other district admin officials who directly or indirectly were involved in getting justice to Cutinha. Cutinha is also indebted to Team Mangalorean for showing the world, as to how the Seniors are treated by government officials, to get their work done through bribery and corruption.

A Happy Cutinha Family! In photo seating L-R : Jane Cutinha and Victor Cutinha. Standing L-R: Victor’s Son Neethan married to Renuka (both in Kuwait); daughter Nishel married to Preetham D’souza (both in Kuwait); and elder daughter Nirmala (now lives in Mangaluru) married to Roshan D’silva, employed in Kuwait.

We are happy to note that the efforts of Team Mangalorean and Victor John Cutinha’s fight in getting justice through his solo fight, did bring a change among the bureaucrats and government officials, to treat the seniors with respect and help them with their problems at the earliest, rather than make them run behind the officials to get their work done. It’s a common courtesy to treat seniors with dignity and respect. Unfortunately, most of the time they aren’t getting the respect they deserve due to people being busy or just being simply dismissed. We forget the contributions they had to our community and family- and that’s exactly what we are seeing at the government office- and sadly, Victor also experienced the same.

A few citizens who supported Victor, after we had highlighted his ordeal in Mangalorean.com, here what they had to say-

“Sir, I hope we can come together in one WhatsApp group and work together and get more knowledge and help each other and support each other in our problems. I think we should join Cutinha and bring about some changes in the attitude of the Government SERVANTS. Otherwise, it is of no use. nothing has ever changed in this country when it comes to bribes.”- M C Pinto

” Mr Cutinha, you were always a very brave Police Person as I remember that You stood up to a Corrupt Politician and also a higher police authority in getting justice a few years ago. Now that you have stood up against a Corrupt Official (Tahsildar), and I will stand by You along with others. This Mini Vidhana Soudha is a palace of **********.”- Joe D’souza-Kadri

“The Revenue Department is a low standard office and the lowest Post of Officer is Tahsildar. This Office is Source of Income for its Employees. I too had a very bad experience of Tahsildar and his staff. As I have been serving as NCO of Indian Air Force and had applied for bags of cement during my service in 1980, I had approached the office of Tahsildar to get the permit for a minimum of 50-60 bags. He after knowing that I served in defence and I don’t have sufficient time to stay back, and run behind him, He straight away recommended Five Bags of Cement. I once again approached politely, but all efforts were in Vain. I got annoyed and forgot about the protocol of NCO. I started yelling at him and blamed him for such rough and tough behaviour, and threw away the application. I was totally humiliated by a govt servant” – Retd NCO in Indian Air Force

“Yes, name, and shame the govt official aka Tahsildar, then only he will have shame, and other servants will think twice before doing what they are doing. We need a single-window system for property matters.They are taking a lot of bribes from us gullible citizens”- C N D’Costa

“John Cutinha is lucky that the documents are still in his name. Otherwise, our real estate lobby would have smartly changed the details to their name and made him a pauper. I remember paying a huge amount for getting a building license permit as I didn’t have the time to wait at the office for approval. I took an agent and he did the job for a cost. Maybe John being in the police was not ready to grease the palms for 2 years to remove the name of his deceased mother. As I have seen it is an easier task to delete the name of a deceased person from property documents if the death certificate and proper declarations are available”- Francis Lobo.

In conclusion, Ageism is the inclination to think of older people as debilitated and unworthy of attention. It can make people uncomfortable to be confronted with the trials and tribulations of aging.This attitude towards seniors is growing, but we must remember that they have wisdom to contribute to society. They have gained knowledge through their life experiences and it’s about taking the time to listen to their stories. And here we had our Young 75-year-old senior citizen, Victor John Cutinha, as a perfect example, who fought and got justice. Victor Cutinha is surely a role model to everyone, especially the Seniors, that determination, hard work, perseverance and fight will gain success, no matter whether in your 30’s or 70’s or 80’s. Age is just a number- if you are strong, healthy and have a will, you can raise your voice and fight against corruption happening in all government offices, and you will win the case-just like Victor! Long Live the Senior Citizens!

ALSO READ RELATED ARTICLES: 

• Website Impact! Spiked Wire Guard Added to the Original Fencing at Netravati Bridge