A question of livelihoods
Shiva Kholkar has been washing cars and motorcycles at Panjim’s Municipal Garden since 1975. The Ros-Omlette ‘gaddos’ at Margao’s Old Bus Stand were before all except the oldest among us remember. The stalls outside Panjim’s Cine Nacional – gone now – were the only places where citizens could get food or buy essentials late in the night.
All these small businesses not only provide much-required services to Goa’s citizenry, they also provide a decent livelihood for the ‘aam admi’. Yet, the government and municipalities seem intent on getting rid of them. How does this help Goans?
On Thursday evening, prominent citizens washed a car near the Panjim Municipal Garden in protest against the Corporation of the City of Panjim’s (CCP’s) quixotic decision to put an end to car and two-wheeler washing services that the public has availed for over 35 years now. For Shiva Kholkar and other car washers of Panjim, whose families depend on their earnings from this business, the question is: “What will we do to earn our living now?” Does the CCP have an answer?
It is inhuman to take away ordinary people’s livelihoods. If the CCP’s objection is that they were using municipal water free of charge (actually, they drew water by hand from a well in the garden), it could charge them a fee. If it is that their washing ruins the road, it is easily rectified by concreting that portion of the road and providing suitable drainage. But they should not be deprived of their daily bread.
Some of the speakers at the protest said that the washers could be ‘rehabilitated’. Now that is a loaded word. In fact, the ‘gaddekars’ (kiosk operators) of Panjim have been ‘rehabilitated’, theoretically. Their kiosks, located on pavements near Cine Nacional and the garden near the Government Printing Press, have been removed. They have now been given stalls on the upper floors of the Panjim Market. Even if they set up their businesses there, their clientele is gone forever. How do they, then, make a living? If Margao’s Ros-Omlette ‘gaddos’ are ‘rehabilitated’ in some godforsaken corner of the city, who is going to buy their fare?
In a state where unemployment is so high and the people are not suited for manual labour, occupations that they can successfully do must be safeguarded, not got rid of. Especially not for the so-called reason trotted out by CCP officials, that car washing would ‘mar’ the beauty of the Municipal Garden. The CCP officials say that next they will crack down on mechanics using footpaths for their business.
May God save Panjim from these unfeeling bureaucrats. We have a barely-functioning Municipality that is full of scams. And the people who claim to be running it; who are unable to even do their own jobs properly, want to stop others from doing theirs…?
Scuttling the Shuttle
What’s the point of banning Kadamba Transport Corporation (KTC) buses from entering Panjim and Margao? The Collectors, who have issued the orders, say that it is to ease the traffic congestion during the mornings.
The point of starting the non-stop inter-city shuttle services was to help commuters get to work faster if they were willing to pay a little more, to shore up the finances of the loss-making KTC. If, after paying the extra, commuters still have to take a city bus to get to work, losing time as well as money, it will convert a win-win solution into a lose-lose fiasco.
The problem may be that the KTC has started using large buses for its shuttle services, instead of mini-buses as originally intended. Putting time limits on the entry of large buses into the cities may bring about a compromise that helps everyone.
