The cyclone Okhi has revealed to us how fragile is our Goan coast and also how fickle is our tourism industry. The tourism season this year was ushered in by the Goa Tourism Department, with the Goa government officials welcoming a Charter flight from Moscow with 330 tourists, in October, 2017. Goa also welcomed hundreds of tourists from different countries on board a grant cruise liner of international standards off the MPT harbour at Mormugao.
Interestingly, over the decades, the administration in Goa seems to be totally confused over what really is the backbone of Goan economy. Prior to Goa liberation, agriculture was considered as the main stay and the backbone of the Goan economy. Soon in the mid seventies the focus was shifted from agriculture to declare mining as the backbone of the Goan economy and within the next 20 years thereafter the focus shifted from ore extraction to beach tourism, promoting Goa as a destination for sea and sun bathing; thus promoting gambling, drinking with a touch of drugs and prostitution to top it up, as the heart of Goan economy.
Basic science and sound economics tell us, Goa, being a tropical coastal state, agriculture, fisheries and horticulture, should have been promoted intensively by the local government, to use to maximum capacity; the bounties of solar energy. After exploiting the primary sector of our economy to its fullest potential; the Goa government should have ventured into agro-based industrial growth to fillip up the secondary sector of our economy. Thus food processing, canning of fish, vegetables and cereal products could have generated employment in the industrial sector or what is best described; as the secondary sector of our economy.
Needless to mention, with our strength exhibited in agricultural & industrial productivity, we could have rocketed the tertiary sector in tourism, export promotion, information technology, thus diversifying Goan economy to promote medical tourism, adventure and leisure tourism, and made Goa an educational as well as religious hub by investing money generated by agro based industrial growth to fuel up and build institutions of higher learning, hospitals and world class hotels, pharmaceuticals, and other clean industries.
Look at Goa of today, haphazard growth in tourism has resulted in polluted rivers, lakes and our fields and crops soaked with sewage from overflowing soak pits of mushrooming residential and commercial complexes. Our Chief Minister is on record wanting Goa to attract 12 million tourists, while unable to meet the basic needs of 1 million Goans, who are crying for water which is a basic need.
Look at River Mandovi, which was known to have over 60 species of marine and estuarine species, is today slowly losing its bio diversity and is today an aquatic habitat for low value trash fish, which is not edible and contaminated with enteric bacteria from sewage releases.
The promotion of policies in Goa is against local interests, due to rising prices beyond the reach of the poor as life in Goa is becoming expensive. The entire Panjim city has buildings coming up, but instead of ensuring facilities for car parking included in the plans, the corrupt engineers and city fathers have allow shops and commercial units to take the place of parking lots. Thus, there is traffic chaos as cars are parked anywhere and everywhere, resulting in accidents, traffic jams and inordinate delays. The gardens in the city, instead of being the lungs of the community are used for carnivals & festivities and are used as garbage dumps.
Our entire planning and implementation of policies are at cross purposes and against the tenets of sustainable development. To give the readers a concrete example, the Captain of Ports has allowed into Mandovi six casinos, 20 Cruise boats, over 80 fishing boats, and there are barges, yachts, and other ferries without studying the carrying capacity of River Mandovi.
What is the added nail to the coffin of woes of Panjimites is the fact that there is only one D B Marg and there is utter chaos due to movement of commuters, tourists, touts, drug peddlers, casino goers, prostitutes, etc. C.O.P (Captain of Port) openly proclaims that he only gives the licence to boats in the river, the chaos on roads leading to the casinos is not his business. When one approaches the police, the problem remains unaddressed. I am a resident and a victim of noise, garbage, traffic, etc. in central Panjim and the police assert and tell me, that the traffic chaos on roads and crime is due to cars, buses, tempos, which bring casino goers to the heart of the city beyond his control as COP has not planned well. The cars/buses which carry visitors to cruise boats, casinos, trawlers, are parked 24×7. Thus open urination, defecations, dumping of food wastes on open roads, pedestrian walk ways is a common sight. Passing the buck is the name of the game, where Panjimites suffer, as they do not violently protest. Police pass the chaos on roads due to COP’s poor planning & vice versa.
We must understand that while welcoming visitors from the MPT harbour on board international cruise liners, we must oppose tooth and nail the use of the MPT berths, to allow the handling of coal, wood chips, garbage and chemicals including gypsum or cement coming from Australia, Indonesia and other countries. This would severely jeopardise tourists coming on board cruise liners.
We cannot afford to kill Goans nor our tourism industry by allowing those in power of Goa governance to induce pollution by heavy metals, carbon, sulphur as a result of coal handling fuelling respiratory problems for all residing in and visiting Goa thus disenabling tourism and thereby “killing the goose which lays the golden egg” for Goa.
(Joe D’Souza is a former professor of Goa University)
