The writer has taken the liberty to make the Governor as an example to drive home a point for two reasons. Firstly, the Governor seems to be a reasonable individual and will understand the point the writer is trying to make, the second reason is that the Governor gets to reside in one of the best real estate property during his tenure in Goa.
So far, the governor has been quite sensitive to the Goan culture and the people of Goa. So here is an imaginary scenario, imagine he one day decides that every Goan needs to visit and enjoy the scenic beauty of the Raj Bhavan and spend time as long as they want too. He makes an assumption that the visitors will stay a week maximum and leave. To make sure everyone gets a chance he designates one week to each village in alphabetical order, to be given a chance to stay at the place.
So far so good, but the problem arises when some of visitors that were supposed to leave decide they will stay for another week and already the new visitors from the next village have lined up at the door. As there is still some space to accommodate both the old and the new lot the governor decides not to make it mandatory for the old lot to leave. The same situation is played out every week and the backlog of old visitor’s overstaying becomes so large that there is no space for the governor to allow new visitors from the next village. Meantime, the governor realizes he cannot function properly as his work is getting seriously impacted.
Snap out of the imagination and come to reality. Is the above scenario being played in Goa albeit in a different form? Due to perpetual migration, Goa’s population density is quite healthy at the moment, even better then the beautiful God’s Own Country – Kerala, the Governor’s home state, and definitely miles and miles ahead then the over populated Mumbai. Shouldn’t the politician’s gathering in the assembly talk about how many people should Goa accommodate at any given time, given the limited amount of infrastructure and natural resources Goa possess?
India is one country, and all Indians are free to live in a place of their choosing, definitely. But imagine all Indians decide one day, it is time to relocate to Himachal given the scenic beauty and the beauty of the hills. If we allow people to relocate without taking into account the infrastructure development then there is bound to be chaos. Worse example is our neighbor Mumbai which unfortunately has a crumbling infrastructure but cleverly masked with slogans such as ‘Spirit of Mumbai’ or ‘Maximum city’ and what not, a cunning ploy used by the real estate and political lobby to keep the ordinary Mumbaikars in good humour. The fact of the matter is most Mumbaikars can never dream of uninterrupted 24 hour water, or a comfortable seat in the local railway compartment. While some facilities are world class in Mumbai and are showcased to the outside world, the majority of the population hardly gets a chance to use them.
Mumbai’s situation was not like this from the beginning, it had plenty of water to use, so much so that it seems they would wash the streets everyday with water, that was much before we were even born, but then it kept welcoming people day in and day out, and then they had no option but to ration water for maybe an hour. The situation got so dire this year that many so called fancy localities had to bring in water tankers and societies having to shell out a hefty bill of Rs 2 lakh and above per month. The nightmare does not end there, two months down the line and Mumbaikars are grappling with water, water everywhere in all the low lying areas. Less water to use in a place which has plenty of rainfall only goes to show that Mumbai has packed people much more than it can accommodate. Pity the people of Mumbai having to shell out artificial Singapore type real estate rates that has Nigerian infrastructure. So much is the inconvenience that it is called the city that never sleeps.
Goa could be going in the same direction, we already are getting used to seeing water tankers catering to starred hotels. So how did these hotels get permission to operate when it clearly does not have enough water to service its guests? It is a matter of time that water is going to get diverted from Goan homes to the hotels, if isn’t already happening. We need to start a debate ‘now’ as to how many people should Goa accommodate at any given time, locals and tourists alike. A debate on migration is much needed not only for Goa, but for the entire country. Solutions that might come out from these debates could be forming new places to inhabit and spread out the population as much as possible, instead of staying as herds and put undue pressure on older known towns.
Goans are naturally very hospitable, so imagine a scenario where some Goans are relaxing at a Tinto (junction) and there are no Google maps to navigate. One individual stops by asking for direction, all guys at the Tinto go out of the way to provide them. Then another one arrives asking for directions and then again and so on. The guys at the Tinto (junction) had planned to chill for an hour in peace; unfortunately most of them got occupied showing the way to passerby. What do you think they are going to do the next day, either they abandon the Tinto, go deeper in the hinterland or they are going to lose their patience at the direction seeking passerby. The point is there is a human limit to any type of hospitality, while the hotel industry has learnt to monetize, it has come at the cost of deterioration of standard of living of Goans residing here.
The Goa Governor might have the best real estate to live, but it is meant for a certain amount of people to inhabit, the place loses its essence once that number keeps increasing, the same is the case with tiny Goa.
(The author is a business consultant)
