We Goans and particularly our politicians are guilty of paying lip service to our illustrious sons. We eulogize them after they are dead, but hardly honor them when they are alive.
One of Goa ‘s most illustrious sons, Charles Correa architect of world renown and probably India’s greatest architect died last month. Most of the political leaders including the present CM, L. Parsekar paid glowing tributes. PM Narendra Modi in his condolence tweet described him as ‘India’s greatest modern architect and urban planner’.
But sadly all these eulogies sound like empty words, because the great architect’s recommendations have been repeatedly ignored in his own state to the detriment of Goans. More than forty years ago, Correa had warned about the consequences of tourism and unbridled real estate development being unleashed upon his beloved Goa, without proper planning and adequate safeguards and above all lacking a vision for the future of our pristine state.
He had the foresight to see the long term consequences of unbridled urbanisation turning small towns into concrete jungles and the rapacious attack of our virgin beaches by greedy real estate and hotel lobbies. He took head on these issues in his keynote address to the Indian Institute of Planners at Gulmarg in 1972. He warned that many hotels coming up on Goa’s beaches, would not only ‘spell the beginning of tourism in Goa but the end (of it) as well’.
In hindsight, wasn’t he prophetic? Today forty plus years later, we can see Goa’s beachfront blanketed with concrete monstrosities, ugly sights for tourists looking for a natural habitat to relax and have a quiet holiday, away from the hustle and bustle of city life.
Authorities have blindly allowed some of the worst models to be replicated with casinos, bars and nightclubs open till early morning, turning a Nelson’s eye to illicit drug trade and the ever burgeoning illicit sex trade. Due to lax rules, many of the local youth are being corrupted at a tender age, with long term adverse consequences for themselves, families and society. But who really cares?
Instead of heeding the warnings and preserving ‘ the decentralised and multi- nodal pattern of Goa’, the authorities have permitted ‘hideous’ development that Correa had forewarned against. Goa today is not only fast losing its pristine beauty, but the mushrooming of concrete jungles in once beautiful Dona Paula and slum like structures in that once dream locale of Baga etc are fast turning Goa into a sight for sore eyes. Foreign tourists are now slowly turning away from Goa as their favorite destination.
The state government while paying lip service to this great son of Goa has consistently ignored his recommendations for a better and transformative Goa. The results are there for all to see.
It is hypocritical of the political class paying tributes without listening to Correa’s sage advice. Smacks of shedding crocodile tears. Ultimately, it’s the future generations who will pay heavily for the callousness of the present generation and particularly, it’s shortsighted political class.
