It was the summer of ‘84 when Goa’s iconic musician Remo Fernandes released his maiden album Goan Crazy. Among such hits as “Graham Bell” and the eyebrow-raising “Hello Rajiv Gandhi”, the album had another pulsating number titled “Rock n Road”. It was Remo’s lament on the pathetic condition of Goa’s roads then. But the musician had veiled his disgust in high sarcasm. “Thank Goodness! We get to rock and roll in Goa! Thank goodness! We get to rock and roll in Goa! How lucky! We get to rock and roll in Goa,” he crooned.
We are in 2018 now and Goa is a mismash of progress and neglect. High speed broadband Internet connectivity up to the village Panchayat level but power outages are frequent; over half dozen water treatment facilities but water shortages plenty; the launch of online services but public transportation is dismal. And Goan roads are probably best characterised by the annual ritual of aggrieved citizens planting saplings in road-potholes every monsoon. They did it in Calangute this year.
It is a matter of record that in June 2015, the Goa government had pledged to “attempt” to reduce road accidents in Goa from the then-figure of 4229 per year to about 2098 by the year 2020. The pledge for over 50% reduction in road accidents within five years was stated in the “State road safety policy and action plan for Goa” notified then.
We don’t seem to have made much progress. In October 2017, Goa achieved the dubious distinction of topping the nation in road accidents with 217.7 accidents per lakh population in last year’s road accident road chart released by the Transport Research Wing of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
The 2015 state road safety policy and action plan had evolved an 11-point “key action areas” to achieve its goals. These included the Goa state road safety council, data collection and management system, road safety publicity campaign and awareness, road safety education, blah, blah, blah. But a key area was safer road infrastructure
The policy proposed to adopt a manual for the state on “Safety-conscious highway design standards”. Road safety auditing of existing roads and new roads would be carried out in a phased manner and accident-prone locations would be identified and improved in phased manner for all important roads in Goa. No one knows what happened to that policy but the accident figures are a clear indication.
It is nobody’s case that only bad roads cause accidents. In fact, Goan traffic officials blame human error for most road accidents. That is probably right given our total disregard for road safety rules, thanks to low fines. But to have such pathetic roads 57 years after liberation is not justifiable.
Goa PWD affirms that there is clause in the agreement that the contractor will repair the road at his own expense if the road goes bad within a certain period. PWD also affirms that when roads go bad within that period, they get the errant contractors to repair the roads.
They say roads are spoilt because of the laying down of utilities. This refers to the digging of roads by BSNL, Electricity Department and Water Supply Department. Is there no coordination? PWD affirms there is. That hardly allays our fears that the roads that were built were not built to correct specifications in the first place.
The moral responsibility for poor quality infrastructure naturally lies with the government. When the BJP made its triumphant comeback to power in Goa in March 2012, the swearing-in ceremony of the chief minister and his five ministers was held at a massive pandal at Campal, Panjim. All heard the lofty proclamation of “zero tolerance to corruption”. Much water has flowed under the Mandovi since then and probably now, the mediocrity and inefficiency – like formalin in our fish — are within “permissible limits”.
Sudin Dhavalikar has held the reins of Goa PWD for long years and has been much admired for his amazing ability to hold on to his chair regardless of who is in power — the Congress or the BJP. To his eternal credit, it was during his watch that Goa got the prestigious Rs 1031-crore JICA project including the augmentation of the Salaulim water treatment facility and sewerage systems in parts of Goa.
But the pathetic condition of Goa’s roads reflects poorly on the minister who has been in governance for almost two decades and also boasts of great bonhomie with Union Minister for Roads and Highways, Nitin Gadkari.
Sometimes, unnecessary distractions mar our focus. Sudin created a flutter nationally when on July 1, 2014, he called for a ban on bikinis on Goan beaches in order to safeguard Bharatiya Sanskruti. It is another matter that his ministerial colleague and then-deputy chief minister Francis D’Souza rebuked Sudin with “You can’t go into the water in a saree. You will most probably drown.”
Ban the bikini babes and ban the desi babas in their VIP underwear ogling the bikini babes. But also ban errant road contractors who build poor quality roads. Is it not the sacred duty of elected representatives to strive for the welfare of citizens in terms of high quality services and infrastructure, good roads included?
Goa PWD insists that the government is planning concrete roads in Goa; roads that will remain free of potholes for long years. But we have just read about government policies and plans. Till the time such plans fructify, Goans and tourists will have to bear the torture of driving on battered roads, risking limbs and lives.
But in a flippant mood, one could turn a curse into a blessing; we all get to rock and roll in Goa. All of 34 years after Remo sang his plaintive roady track – and as he put it – “We have rocks in the roads and roads in the rocks in Goa.”
(The author is a former journalist)
