No festivals, please
The in principle approval given by the Corporation of the City of Panjim to the Green Elephant festival proposal of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Goa chapter, will create public anxiety and would not be in the public interest.
It is understandable that the industry should promote its own interests and get people to shop, but the truth is that it will create a nightmare for office goers, Panjimites and others who come to the city. No traffic management genius can draw a magic simulating plan that will eliminate traffic congestion in the city which is already reeling under the lack of space for parking and expansion of narrow roads.
The CCP’s decision is in complete opposition to its own decision to ban fairs in the city. Even small shopping exhibitions in the city or at Kala Academy cause tremendous hardships to vehicle users and flammable tempers which even erupt into fights among motorists.
The proposed location of the ‘Green Elephant’ festival Municipal Garden-Cafe Bhosle Circle-Massano de Amorim and CCP area is the most congested in the city and will create elephantine problems, as it were. The provisions fair and even the Panjim church fair have been moved out of this area due to the excruciating traffic jams that result from traffic diversions.
Instead of congesting the city the CII local chapter would do well to locate alternative venues on the outskirts of the city to organize such shopping festivals. In fact the Government of Goa or the CCP with the help of the CII should develop a special exhibition/festival venue on the lines of Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, either at Porvorim, Bambolim, Taleigao plateau or elsewhere with ample parking space.
Government after government and various CCP ruling panels have lacked foresight to develop such exhibition centres where business can flourish at its own pace and people can shop leisurely without the need to needlessly block, divert and disrupt normal daily traffic.
Much as many would love to have festivals, culture and entertainment, the proposed location lacks foresight. Ad-hocism is a chronic problem both with the business community and government in Goa. The corporate sector unfortunately preys on the infrastructure created for other purposes without taking the initiative to create long-term structures to hold such festivals or for that matter to host other good initiatives.
The present infrastructure of Panjim was created for leisure, public utilities and commerce way back in 1843 or little thereafter by the Portuguese and has served the denizens for nearly well over 170 years.
It has been already over 50 years since Goa was integrated into the Indian Union, but we are still scrounging for infrastructure and preying on over 100 year utilities. Even IFFI which is over 10 years in Goa has just hibernated making some cosmetic progress in terms of infrastructure development without making it a world class festival with its own grandeur and prestige.
Unlike a small scale ‘elephant’ festival which is being attempted to be squeezed within the manic preoccupations of Panjim’s daily life, the CII and other businessmen should look towards organizing a mega festival, on the outskirts of Panjim akin to any mega shopping festival where people would flock to and which would be eagerly anticipated each year, without throwing a spanner in the common man’s daily life.
In the past some such festivals have been organized along 18th June Road, but which have hardly drawn any response. Merely putting a few banners or playing street corner music creates the illusion of a festival without really generating huge turnover. In fact, keeping the tourism potential of Goa in mind the business community should drive special bargains with their suppliers to get good discounts to pass them on to shoppers, offer a wide choice of products, which are sadly lacking in almost every category from branded clothing, to shoes, to fashion accessories, as compared to the metros. Such well organized festivals will actually draw crowds rather then repel them because of the mess they create.
