Eleven of Goa’s towns will vote for new municipal councils on coming Sunday. Campaigning has begun and going by the manner in which the candidates are out on the streets, it does appear that all have been taking the forthcoming polls very seriously. Even political parties and sitting MLAs are beginning to devote their time and energy to the campaign. Last week, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar drove to Vasco to inaugurate the campaign offices of candidates supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in that town. In Mapusa, Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza is supporting certain candidates and in Margao former chief minister Digambar Kamat has got into the thick of campaigning as he tries to regain control of the council, where he once played a major role.
There is much energy being expended and time being spent in the campaign for the civic polls. Candidates and their supporters have been strategizing, knocking on voters’ doors and addressing corner meetings in their attempt to get the most votes and win the election. They are making promises and assuring voters that their problems and issues will be sorted out post the election. All this is commendable, but if only the winning candidates, once they are in position of power, would devote as much time and focus as seriously on the issues facing the towns then the urban areas of Goa would be so much more pleasant to live in.
In the past there has been a major gap between the promises of improving the living conditions of the residents of the town once elected and actually delivering. Somehow, once elected few of the councillors find the time to devote to the pending issues of their wards and of the towns. The few councillors who do work in their wards and towns are those who aim to play a bigger role in the State’s political spectrum and attempt to use the opportunity to prove their abilities and create a voter base by working at this level.
What crops up as a hurdle in the development of the town, besides the will of the councillors to work, is that the councillors are themselves not aware of their duties and responsibilities. Deputy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza, who also holds the Urban Development portfolio admitted this to Herald and spoke on the need for the councillors to be guided and trained. That shouldn’t be a big task as there doesn’t seem to be much that the residents of urban Goa want or demand from their ward councillors.
In Herald’s continued focus on the civic polls and the concerns of the people, issues that come up in all towns and across all sections of voters is the condition of the town market and the state of garbage collection. These are two very basic civic issues that should be taken up by councils even without the people bringing it up. That civic bodies across the State are found wanting in this aspect reflects on their functioning and their effectiveness in providing the very basic services required by the town people.
In Goa, where the State takes charge of most services, the municipal bodies are left with very few duties and garbage collection and the market cleanliness are two of them. The civic bodies fail in both. Every market in every town is in a pathetic condition. Added to this is the mess on the streets with limited parking that leads to congested streets and traffic jams. The councillors will need to focus on the issues facing their wards and their towns. They have to be alive to the fact that it is not just their wards they have to keep clean, but plan and decide for the entire town. It is only when the councillors see the bigger picture that real development will take place in urban Goa.
