SUNDAY, MAY 05, 2024
“Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring.” This quote from the Irish author Bram Stoker is the current wishful thinking of every Goan, who is witnessing a complete overhaul of the infrastructure of the capital city of Panjim as well as all the designated routes of the international summit meetings that Goa would be hosting during the next four months.
Being one of the host cities for the G20 Summit, Goa has been preparing over the last couple of months for the big events in order to impress the visiting international diplomats and their accompanying delegates as a pitch for economic progress for the State, more so on the tourism economic front.
Eight meetings of the G20 Summit 2023 will be hosted by Goa between April and July this year. While the country and State focus has been directed towards the G20 Summit meetings, Goa will also be hosting the Foreign Ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries on May 4 and 5. The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, international security, and defence organization consisting of eight member countries, including Pakistan and China.
In the recently presented budget for the financial year 2023-24, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant informed the State that a total budget of Rs 300 crore has been earmarked across various departments for various infrastructure works and other activities for the smooth conduct of the G20 meetings. In addition, a provision of Rs 15 crore has been made to host other international summits including the SCO.
Thus, one is witnessing a complete package of infrastructure overhaul, from asphalting the roads to painting the road dividers and even laying new pavers at various locations. The electricity poles have also been replaced along with the street lights across the routes of the Summit delegate movement. The green pastures are a soothing sight and make one wish that the grass islands do not become grazing grounds for stray cattle.
While all is well as the government spends crores of rupees in the infrastructure development of the State ahead of the grand Summit, the question is what stops the government from maintaining the infrastructure once the Summits have concluded. One would recall that less than six months ago, ahead of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), a similar exercise of painting the road dividers and asphalting the roads was carried out. Very clearly, even a layperson can distinguish between the quality of work done then and the work being carried out now. The shoddy works make life miserable for the citizens within days of the event and the cycle gets repeated every year.
Will the government ensure that the Rs 300 crore that are being spent on the infrastructure do not go down the drain in the forthcoming monsoon? While the summer will let smooth organizing of the first couple of meetings of the G20 Summit and the SCO Foreign Ministers’ meeting in May, have the contractors carried out the works considering the monsoon and the disaster it could unfold on the citizens if the work is haphazardly done?
The long queues and long hours of traffic jams on all the roads approaching the capital city are evidence that the whole overhaul process had not been thought through to the last details before being outsourced to contractors. The purpose of constructing the Atal Setu was to decongest the traffic movement across the Mandovi River, however, the dream project of the former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar has been put on the back burner and the citizens cry for ease of travelling.
The overhauling of the infrastructure will not help until and unless the fundamental needs of the citizens are addressed.
