People have started treating COVID patients as in the olden times people used to treat people with leprosy. I would partly blame the government authorities to fueling it. Recent happenings like sending back the Vasco resident teachers from the Goa Board who had gone there for examination paper correction. Notices put up in some private and government institutions, offices restricting and instructing the employees residing in Vasco or Mangor Hill area to stay back home or not to attend offices etc. All this adds to the perception among the people that all residents of Vasco should be avoided which actually a human right violation of the Vasco residents.
If this social stigma remains, then the people will hesitate to come forward and get tested if they notice any health symptoms of COVID. Recently three COVID positive persons ran away after they learnt about their COVID test results, this happened mostly because of social stigma related to COVID-19. The government is trying to convey messages about COVID and even on the phone call, we get a message that says “Hame bimari se ladna hai, bimar se nahi”, but somewhere the message is not reaching out and percolating among people. Even after the containment zone is opened, these people should not be stigmatised. I have been asked by one courier service guys to collect my parcel from the Dabolim airport as they won’t be entering Vasco due to COVID cases. Such is the social stigma we are facing right now.
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—Savio Correia, Environmentalist and Advocate
The response from the government towards tackling the COVID-19 crisis from the very beginning has been one of fire fighting, a sort of being reactive rather than active. The hasty decisions till date were like the cricket terminology of ‘reverse swing’; whether it was rushing to declare Goa as green zone; imposing Sec 144; reversing it under pressure, announcing elections to Zilla Panchayats and immediately reversing it; declaring Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and reversing it; and many other such short-sighted decisions gave a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity to the people, probably of being led by a blindfolded government. The government instead should have formed a task force, first at the district level and subsequently at taluka level, involved experts in various fields, NGOs, citizen volunteers, etc and evolved a strategy and methodology to tackle the unavoidable crisis and brought the situation under control.
Even after almost three months of lockdown, a feeling of insecurity and helplessness is felt across sections of the society. The divergent views expressed by the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues raises doubts about the ability and stability of the government, which is more like a ship moored in troubled waters.
Moreover the massive environmental destruction and irregularities undertaken under the shadow of lockdown with perceived political patronage has not helped the people, “presently under siege”, from trusting the government.
Finally, leaving aside the wrong decisions till date and hopefully it could be a case of ‘better late than never’. The government should take a realistic review of the situation, from the administration to medical care, from agriculture to food items, from education, to business and other such sectors like transport etc whereby, they should try to restore normalcy in a systematic and phased manner, because we have to learn to live with the virus.
—Capt. Viriato Fernandes, Co-Convenor Goencho Awaaz
The lockdown had no effect on the area comprising the present containment zone. The social workers and political workers of that area could not impart any awareness to the residents. People wearing masks who went visiting that area looked like fools as most of residents didn’t wear masks and social distancing was a joke.
If the government had to make a major announcement, prior to the lockdown, most persons would have left for their villages. There was no spread of COVID at that time. Fewer people would have resulted in an easier containment.
Presently, there is a need to address the issue of essential supplies in the containment zone. People of the containment zone are using pathways to get into the Baina lake area and pick up their requirements.
Some persons are indulging in supply of liquor bottles to persons inside the zone. Bottles are hidden inside essential supplies too. Better coordination of supplies is needed and people in the zone should be made aware of their responsibilities towards society.
—Peter Andrade, Activist
At the time of cordoning of the area, the authorities should had been identified the number of houses, families and individuals residing in that area. Local municipal ward councillors and representatives should had been involved and the essential commodities such as grocery items, veggies, edible oil, dal, tomatoes, potatoes, spices etc should had been provided in packets to the people. This didn’t happen initially when it was needed the most. If these things would have been taken care of then the people would have not become unhappy with the administration. Just with dal and rice, food cant’ be cooked alone. However, throwing off the grocery items provided to them on the road deserves criticism. Leaving such food items to waste on the roads was not the right way to protest. Especially when there is food scarcity and this sets a bad example for protests.
Regarding the health facilities to the containment zone, the government turned a blind eye towards the vulnerable population of that area. There are many there who already had several health problems. There are also pregnant women there, elderly people with heart, kidney and diabetes related ailments. These people have faced a lot of hardship during these ten days due to the restrictions in their movement and the absence of ambulance, health staff etc for non-COVID related matters. There was a section of people from Mangor Hill who also wanted the containment zone removed from their part of the area as there were no positive cases there. They felt only the part of Mangor hill that had positive cases, should have been kept under the containment zone.
On a larger note, there was also the unfortunate issue of people from other parts of Goa discriminating against people from Vasco ever since the COVID cases started rising. First of all, it is not Vasco that has turned COVID-positive but a part of the Mangor Hill area, which has already been cordoned off. Our fight should be with the disease to eradicate it and not with the patient. It is okay to take precautions and keep social distancing but discriminating and being divisive in behavior with the people from some area is unjust. The government also needs to look into this matter.
—Vikram Sarmalkar,
social Activist
