11 Oct 2020  |   05:18am IST

Putting voters first before self

Putting voters first before self

Agnelo Pires

Disney land without a Mickey Mouse and Minnie is nothing but just darkness at noon, a distant unforeseen formidable fantasy to all the children visiting the famed Disney Park. In the heart of heart of a “Niz Goenkar” (original Goan) the progress and development of Goa will be meaningless if it not meant for every Goan and  if it is  not within the reach of a common man. The exercise of progress and development as highlighted by the government on print, visual and social media will be in vein,  if its fruits, if any, cannot be enjoyed by the common man and by the citizens of the state to its full measure.

The monsoons in Goa have reached its fag-end and there have been many  instances when it rained cats and dogs though  the Meteorological department had predicted otherwise (may be due to faulty internet connectivity), government cannot now complain that Goa received insufficient  rain. The dams, rivers, lakes and the wells have already got overfed. 

But the irony of it all is that come December or May, the taps in the majority of the Goan households will go dry as usual. The government’s promise of giving water to every Goan 24x7 by 2015 (that too way back in 2012) remains an illusion. People seems to be disillusioned so as not see the bigger picture of dry summer season with all the promises of our ministers every now and then. Content as we are now as the taps are still wet, it would be too late to digest that we are holding the wrong end of the stick at some point of time. We as Goans are still suffocating in the gas-chamber of the water problem since times immemorial so to say. A new government is elected hoping that the scenario will change for good. A new government always goes hunting for excuses and blaming the previous government thereby taking everyone for a jolly ride until the next elections. 

With hundreds and thousands of buildings mushrooming in Goa of late, scarcity of water is felt every now and then. People residing at some of the remote places are yet to see how a government water pipe line looks like as the water they get is only from the tankers, which is never safe and pure, being their only solace.

And there are frequent instances when a pipeline bursts and which takes a dogs age to be put back on the tracks leaving everyone effected high and dry. 

Goa is a tiny state where even Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge will not hesitate to break another record from Pernem to Canacona. On the graph of development and progress Goa is seen or rather shown with the arrow always reaching the sky faster than a kite during the kite flying season in Rajasthan. Goa is assumed to be or projected to be on the rise by our ministers. Whether the rise actually is in crimes or corruption or unemployment or underdevelopment or mud-slinging is anyone’s guess. For most of the tourists, Goa remains an Aladdin’s cave of fun and frolic but when the crimes rise, Goa is projected a safe tourist destination, when corruption rise, more and more billboards and posters against corruption are to be seen by the road sides and in government offices.  The Dario Luigi Angelo Fo’s don’t even have to look for plots too far for their next masterpiece if they make a short stay in Goa. 

Goa is considered to be an advanced state in India. No doubt the cost of living surpasses the standard of living. In the advanced and literate state of Goa, there are no CCTV cameras in the cities especially in the capital city. Goa is projected to be self-sufficient in power and water resources. And yet many village roads are still in darkness and many people still live with parched throats. People still have to walk over 50 km to fetch potable water. Hair-raising unemployment issue is driving the educated youth to commit crimes and indulge in criminal, drug and illicit gambling activities. On the chessboard of inflation, not a single pawn of satisfaction makes another move assuring everyone that taxes and prices never comes down. 

The government solution to a problem should not be as bad as the problem itself. Euripides has aptly put it saying, “When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.”Goa is marred by many problems and now pandemic has only compounded the situation. The Sawant government will certainly do well if it takes a leaf out of Thomas Jefferson’s book, “Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors”.  It is high time that our one-track minded politician who only try to settle score with each other realise and admit that we as an independent state still cannot paddle our own canoe. Progress and development comes full circle only and only when the elected put the voters first before self.

IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar