Anyone who is interested in writing a capsule history of the 5-star hotel industry along the beaches in Goa is going to get a bad headache.
In the previous few decades the corporate czars who own these hotels have made it clear to the public how they do not care as much as one rupee for the environment. All they see is the bottom line, ways to make a bigger profit margin, and no further.
How many 5-star hotels have a proper sewerage system? How much of their raw sewage is released into the sea and rivers? Are there proper 10-metre roads to the beach as is the requirement or do the 10-metre roads exist only on paper? Have they been keeping the rules and regulations of CRZ? Or is the game plan always to allow them to break the rules over the years, and then change the rules? Is this development?
The raw sewage is released into seas and rivers. Our caring government warns the public not to enter the waters of the Mandovi River and Sal River – our top river stars – as you can get very ill due to the level of pollution. It is, a sewer, in short.
The proposal to allow construction from 50 metres of the HTL is more than a horror movie; it is a full-fledged attack on the environment, our mother, nature. The hotels prior to Goggle maps changed the large sandy areas into lawns within their compounds, and built high walls which do not allow the winds to flow freely.
History is now divided because of Google maps, into BG and AG. But, will the hotels care to take note when they are friends of the gods? We cannot survive unless our beaches are healthy where winds are allowed to flow freely and the water in our rivers is clean. Do 5-star hotels contribute to keeping our water clean or the contrary? Is it then a good idea to allow hotels to build within 50 metres of the high tide line?
What is the solution? It is easy if there is cooperation of the people, says the government. Dredge the rivers and voila: the sewage is no more! Never mind where the sewage has gone, it is no longer in the rivers, right? Every 10 years clear the hotels’ sewage by dredging the rivers.
How many Goans do the 5-star hotels employ? What kind of jobs do Goans have, lower end or higher end? Do the hotels have the courage to provide these vital statistics to the public? Goans are not against 5-star hotels; they should not destroy the environment and should provide jobs to the locals. But do they? What support do the 5-star hotels provide to the infrastructure of the village? I mean for the people, not panchas.
There is much to gain in winning the hearts and minds of the villagers who live along the coastal areas in Goa.
