One newspaper reported that the Minister of Town and Country Planning said that the domestic tourists are like scum of the earth. In another newspaper published locally, it was reported that our Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar was much concerned about girls drinking beer. In yet another report, our Tourism Minister is reported to have said that tourists creating nuisance would be dealt with strictly, whist our TCP Minister was seen asserting that Tourism Department was supposed to promote tourism and not undertake beach cleaning and solid waste collection schedules.
What was embarrassing for Goans by and large was that National Television channels went hammer and tongs at the statements made by our Ministers, terming them as misogynist and discriminatory to women and migrants visiting Goa as Tourists or otherwise respectively.
To take the happenings in Goa further on, it appearing shocking that one girl kept in a room for 25 years (reported in press) by the family members who were severely criticised by the family members, who were severely criticised by 97% of the twitter poll news daily respondents, without addressing the issue; by the readers personally monitoring the problem and gathering first hand information in this regards.
Let me address the above issues one by one objectively. It is the wearer, who knows well where the shoes pinches and it is always good to call a spade: a spade in a firm manner. It is always fair to understand, report read or comment with a sound data and objective reasoning. All tourists are not scum of the earth: Has our TCP Minister to qualify his statement in this regards? Why has his observations been treated as discriminatory and condemnable? Look at our capital city, it is stinking as local tourists as well as indigenous people are seen urinating on government building, especially after the noise generating boat cruises end up at the ‘Captain of Port’ jetty. These ‘tourists’ not only pollute River Mandovi, but create festering conditions for the locals, adversely affecting sanitation and health of the residents.
Surely, the Minister knows fully well that the CoP and the Solid Waste Management Corporation are not doing their job but rather are a Government ‘White Elephant’. It would have been prudent and gutsy if our TCP Minister went an extra mile, forcing his government to suspend the Officials of Captain of Ports, who issue cruise boat and casino licences without addressing the issue of traffic chaos, sanitation, noise pollution and social degeneration, including drugs supply and crime.
It was also said that our CM’s observations on his concern shown towards girls drinking beer was blown out of proportion by the national print media and the television channels operating from New Delhi and Mumbai. Do these channels know what really is happening in Goa? Personally, I have escorted girls drunk heavily and reached them home in helpless condition.
I am not making a moral statement, but telling the people of Goa that for every action, there has to be an equal and opposite reaction. Can you have apples on a potato plant? With the increase of gambling dens, beer and wine festivals and promoting unscientific tourism, we are bound to see drugged youth, pissed of Goan population, during and after cultural events and festivities including social and religious. Thus in Goa, the growth of health problems, mental instability, liver disorders, suicides and crime growth is imminent.
“What is sauce for the goose is the sauce for the gander too”. Can the government which fights for increasing liquor bar licences in the Supreme Court and is sympathetic to the casinos and wine festivities in Goa and promoting them in the garb of Tourism Development, expect a teetotaller Goan society? It is no rocket science to understand that the successive Goa governments in this beautiful state have failed to attract rich high end tourists.
So there is no way our Tourism Minister could stop nuisance making tourists although he has warned through his press briefings when his government itself is attracting cheap tourists who only specialise in drinking, drugging, cooking and defecating in gardens and open spaces thus harassing us and disturbing our otherwise peaceful life.
It is a reality that there are large sections of locals actually involved in heavy smoking, drinking hard stuff and finding themselves in challenging situations. It is very easy for the unbashed and rashed Goans to assert, why is the state or institutions – religious or social, prying into personal lives of individuals or involving themselves in moral policing.
It is here, I would like to touch upon the next topics about a family keeping a girl for 25 years in confinement in her room. What is amusing was that only 3% Goans on Twitter responded that the family did the right thing by keeping the girl under the girl under the security of her home.
My question to the readers who condemned the family is it easy to keep a healthy girl confined in a room for 25 years if she is able bodied, fit and fine? I personally had to look after two women whom I loved, due to their challenging sickness. Very often, it is the person who takes care of a patient who suffers much more than the patient. That the girl was able to survive for 25 long years, goes to the credit of the family members. Why should the family members be arrested or charged with negligence? Is it for keeping the unfortunate disabled girl alive for 25 years within the due care of the family? It is extremely difficult to tender and care a bed-ridden patient. Government should not add a wound to injury and harass the family of the unfortunate girl but help them instead of trying them for their services rendered.
