The GSIDC, led by the blue-eyed boy of the government, Sanjit Rodrigues, has dug the blocked stretch for close to two years, to concretise the road, on which fresh cracks have formed.
The astonished Chief Minister, who was made to figuratively wear a cloth around his eyes, on the progress of the road, saw for himself the disaster that this road has become for the people of Panjim and Goa.
He saw cracks in the concrete and couldn’t contain himself. “At one point of time, this could be expected from the PWD, but not with GSIDC. Who remains next?”, he asked aloud with the MD of GSIDC Sanjit Rodrigues next to him. Clearly telling Rodrigues that he is not satisfied with his explanations, the Chief Minister said, “I am now worried about the life of the road which was decided for 40–50 years.”
While the CM should be commended for reacting to consistent reports in the Herald, about the road and the consistency with which social activists like Aires Rodrigues have pursued this case, the question that should still be asked is why did the government continue to have confidence in the GSIDC which has failed in meeting deadlines and closed down such a main arterial stretch of the town for close to two years. This is not just a failure. This is a criminal failure.
The Government of Goa owes an explanation to the people not just of Panjim but of Goa for the Rs 85 crore waste of public funds. Aires Rodrigues, wrote for Herald as a Citizen’s Journalist on Friday “The Miramar-Dona Paula road which was hot mixed in January 2014 at a cost of Rs 1.63 crore was in less than a month soon dug up by GSIDC to concretize the road at a cost of Rs 84.63 crore. The work was hurriedly tendered by then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar just before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections”.
The Chief Minister must realise that the manner in which the Miramar-Dona Paula road project has been mishandled has led to a massive trust deficit in the government. It’s a slap on the face of the government’s efforts to project its governance as people friendly, transparent and progressive. When the GSIDC, Goa’s supposed answer to inefficiency, corruption and efficiency, has failed in all of these, why will the people of the state as well as investors believe that the government is capable of making Panjim a “smart” city. A smart city is not about cleaning and sprucing up Panjim. It’s about smart processes and time bound delivery of services. The Miramar-Dona Paula road project is an anti-thesis of efficiency.
The CM has asked for a report in 15 days, on how the cracks can be repaired and the project completed, by deploying outside experts. The GSIDC Managing Director should also resign or be asked to step down since the GSIDC is supposed to be a professional organisation which is efficiency driven. Or at least that is what the expectation is. When the Chief Minister has publicly expressed his no confidence in the GSIDC, on the roads of Panjim, and in public, anyone with a little bit of self pride should just go to save further embarrassment to the government.
Let this also be a lesson to the government that a vigilant citizens movement and a people’s paper will ensure that any gap between dialogue and delivery by the government will be exposed.
