Team Herald
PANJIM: As one readies to press the EVM button today, issues like better roads, infrastructure, improved higher education, proper water and power supply and more employment opportunities and several others will play in the minds of voters. Majority of the issues before the voters remain the same, year after year.
As in the case of three linear issues, whether poll aspirants or the sitting MLA, whenever they knock on the doors of their constituents, issues these candidates plan to take up if elected are discussed at these short encounters. In many such cases, voters have asked them not only about their opinion on the three linear projects but also what they have done personally when the people were protesting on the streets. The voters are going consider this while voting.
Water supply and conservation is another issue which the voters have flagged in the past. They said that as it is happening everywhere in Goa. The spurt in construction activity is now taking its toll. There is no information regarding how much water is available and the ever growing demand. The voters across the State also lamented that despite the State being blessed with heavy rains, there is no mechanism to harvest this rain water even as water crisis hits every summer.
Goa has mainly been an agrarian economy. Many of the agriculture land have been converted to commercial and several are lying fallow. The voters from across the State have stressed on the need for a comprehensive public policy for providing support to farmers. It is absolutely essential to revive agriculture in this part of the country, they added.
Erratic electricity supply and high tariff are also on the agenda of voters. They have also pointed out that in several parts of the State underground cabling have not been completed and overhead wires are dangerous for the safety of common citizens.
Also, corruption as always is an issue for the voters and this time too it is no less. With the Association of Democratic Rights (ADR) highlighting this issue, the voters are now more aware. Many of them said that corruption is part of the political process and the system needs to be cleaned. The voters also said that even though corruption is highlighted in every election, the result remains the same and hence they will as a voter will take stronger action this Assembly election.
With the closure of mining, many livelihoods have been lost. Voters across Goa mentioned that several people have lost their jobs and getting employment is also a big issue. Voters are now expecting that whichever government comes to power must take this issue seriously.
The tiatr fraternity, which is considered as one of the biggest entertainment industry of Goa and unique in nature compared to other dramatic art forms, will not forget the hardships they are facing due to the COVID pandemic at the time of exercising their votes today. Hundreds of tiatrists and their families have lost the livelihood in last two years and shockingly they have not received any support from the government till now. This has frustrated them. Consequently, this community is expected to play a role in deciding the future of candidates contesting in the upcoming Assembly elections.
A range of unresolved issues revolving around the tourist taxi operators could spell a doom for the BJP-led government, even as the unions ultimately want their demands to be met by any government in power. The mandatory fitment of digital taxi fare meters along with demands to scrap app-based GoaMiles, periodic protests against government policies and open tussle between the tourist taxi drivers and GoaMiles among other taxi-connected matters have become a major election agenda.
The taxi unions, by and large, are upset on the manner in which the BJP-government handled them over the years. They however want that any party that forms the government next month are committed to resolving their issues.