Ivor Pereira
Does the slogan “for the Goans, to the Goans and by the Goans” make any sense? First it was the mining issue where the Goan villagers suffered so much due to pollution in their villages and many people dying due the reckless driving on their narrow roads .This happened due to the greedy mine-owners trying to make as much money as they could without seeing the suffering of our own poor Goans who were helpless to fight the Government.
Charity should actually start at home. Secondly, rather than divert our waters to other states even for drinking purposes, does this Government introspect? The fact is that this government does not even have insight as to what we will suffer in the long run if we divert the same on humane grounds. We at the moment are not getting water for even an hour in our villages. We have been promised 24 hrs waters everywhere in our villages which is all lies as this has been promised to us with every government coming to power. But go around the state and you will find that inspections on ground are zero.
Thirdly the Government has turned a blind eye towards coal pollution in the port town. But it also affects the full state as coal is either transported by rail, rivers and also by road. These means of transportation of Coal, coke and other polluting materials don’t only affect Vasco but also other villages and towns through which they pass.
Fourthly the Government has now come with a new innovation to provide camping sites for poor tourists to facilitate their stay in our state. What will the tourism stakeholders profit from this when we as stakeholders are paying all our taxes be it house taxes, trade licences, tourism licences, electricity bills, etc. All stakeholders will lose if the Government brings a new policy for poor tourists.
What will be the benefits for shack owners, bar and restaurants, small and medium hotels, and guesthouses? Who will profit by this policy? How can these people transport gas cylinders from one state to the other which is illegal with the Government turning a blind eye to the same. If there is a way there should be a will to control the same as no other state or for that matter any country in the world would allow such things to happen in their territories. This only happens in Goa.
