Spare a thought for the state
North Goa Member of Parliament Shripad Naik needs a reality check. Addressing the rally opposing the proposed alignment of the national highways in Goa on Tuesday, he made the astonishing statement that Goa doesn’t need a highway corridor, as a six-lane highway has already been constructed between Kolhapur and Mangalore. Wake up, Mr MP. Your charge that the present leaders of the Congress-NCP-MGP coalition government are keen on pushing these highway-widening projects in Goa owing to the handsome kickbacks possible in a project that is likely to cost several thousand crore rupees, is in all probability one hundred per cent correct. But that does not by any stretch of imagination mean that Goa has no need for wide, modern highways.
His line was echoed by Shiroda BJP MLA Mahadev Naik, who asked the people to continue their agitation against the “anti-people polices of the Congress”. If this is the blinkered outlook of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for Goa’s future – that the state does not need world class infrastructure because our neighbouring states already have it – there’s little wonder that the party is getting a beating at the hustings, as it did in the recent municipal polls and the Valpoi assembly by-election. The party’s leaders need to formulate a vision for Goa, rather than opposing everything merely because they are the ‘opposition’ party.
Thankfully, the other speakers at the rally were far more articulate and realistic in the positions they took. Fr Felix Lobo of the Usgao parish urged the government to understand the sentiments of the people and not build highways by destroying the houses and the people. He said: “We require highways, but they should be built with the goodwill of the people. For that, an alternate route should be considered.” Former tourism minister Matanhy Saldanha said that highways should be built away from villages and towns, as is done in other parts of the country. Dr Oscar Rebello raised a very relevant point about the scuttling of the Regional Plan 2021, which he said, the government had put in cold storage.
In fact, the very name – National Highway Diversion Action Committee – says it all. By openly defying the unlawful imposition of Section 144 on the entire area under the Panjim Police Station, it made a very important statement; authoritarian measures cannot quell protest. Convenor of the Committee Sunil Dessai, pointed out that narrowing of highways from 60 metres to 30 metres is no solution; they must be diverted through non-populated areas. Goa needs to have the very best infrastructure possible, and it is for the state government to look to the people’s real needs by standing up to central ministers instead of kowtowing to them.
Not just highways, Goa must try to get the most appropriate and very best in all infrastructure, whether it is sewage systems in tourist areas, underground electricity cabling, ducting of utilities, a gas-based power generating station, restoration of traditional water harvesting systems, scientific garbage segregation, composting and disposal. Otherwise, the state’s future will begin to look bleaker with every passing year.
IT’s a steal!
The Rajiv Gandhi IT Habitat at Dona Paula became notorious when it was discovered that hardly any IT firms had been allotted plots, and that most of the allottees were real estate companies, a number of which were allegedly associated with relatives of the then Minister for IT Dayanand Narvekar, who was the main man behind the project. So is it at all a matter of surprise that Mr Narvekar now wants the project to be scrapped as soon as possible, so that all the allottees can get their money back?
4 Nov,2010
