I just saw a couple of amazing videos on social media recently, lamenting the state of Panjim city. One is by a young filmmaker and content creator Darshan Naik with the instagram handle @being_rastaad and the other by a young boy Vihaan Tendulkar (with lyrics by Darshan Naik again). These were circulated in many groups and many of us had tears welling up remembering the many struggles, accidents, loss of life too during the duration of the smart-city-digging-up fiasco!
Another news video by a local channel gives you first hand insight of the state of the art facilities installed in a new bus stop in the city like a ticketing screen, dust bin, CCTV camera and all these missing after a few months! No accountability, no action, citizens continue to face the brunt of bad governance, while contractors and vendors have made their money and possibly an equal amount has trickled up to administrators and our elected representatives.
We know how many new buildings constructed or older ones repaired in the city are in shambles after having spent crores of rupees, tax-payers’ hard earned money! The recently renovated Kala Academy has had issues post repairs. Consultants and those handling execution of Government projects in Goa admit that these smart city and other new projects built, come at a high cost and are poorly maintained thereafter. And this is not the case only in Goa where public money is being wasted in the guise of grey development. An official from Karwar, Karnataka admits that most Government projects are very badly maintained post occupancy and amounts to huge liability as many new materials used are difficult to replace or repair.
A month ago, I was at a site in North Goa and was surprised by the panchayat members barging into the plot for a ‘site inspection’. All permissions were in place but despite an oral demand of lakhs of rupees in lieu of granting permissions, the owners had refused to succumb to any pressure from the Panchayat. They had bided their time and waited for months, complying to fulfil all necessary documents and requisites to have finally received the NOC’s without paying any bribe. But subtle harassment continued with the Panchayat claiming that the neighbours had complained that the drainage along the road was blocked and therefore the Panchayat members had come for an inspection. But since the complaint was about the road outside, what was the need to trespass and inspect inside the plot? Was it another attempt to extort money? I witnessed the arrogance of the Panchayat members, mostly women with an older male member who was leading them, speaking abusively and humiliating the workers on site, calling them names like ‘lungi’ wearers, outsiders, etc. I was shocked to see this display of faked intolerance and undisguised greed for money. How low have our representatives stooped to, that without money they cannot function, and being disgraceful and disrespectful has become the norm, backed with bundles of money stuffed into their pockets by both insiders and outsiders!
And then the recent two incidents were from another Panchayat area in Tiswadi. I was following up on the Health application for a new construction licence and the officer in charge came to the site for a ‘fake’ site inspection. He did nothing but stared at the mud outhouse and then holding the measuring tape scanned the hillside hurriedly asking to drop him back to the office. No attempt to check where the nearby septic tanks are located, or fresh water wells. But he remembered to pointedly say on the drive back to his office, ‘You see madam, I’m ok with this site, but you will have to ‘help’ the officer higher up in the department.’ I plainly asked him what kind of help? Do you need an awareness for staff on water conservation? On pollution and ways to adopt systems like biogas, etc? He just smiled and repeated, ‘You will have to help him. I hope you understand Madam.’ I asserted I did not and I will not facilitate or support any ‘payment’ to him or his boss.
And finally just a few days ago, another local panchayat member from Tiswadi began expressing her helplessness saying that the construction licence will be granted if either a payment or cleaning of the storm water drain is done in the respective ward. Apparently the local people are not happy with constructions coming up and this is a way to get their support by funding or facilitating civil or public works in the wards! I wondered if locals were not doing any constructions and if they were, how were they ‘managing’ getting permissions from the local body? Apparently at the Gram Sabha when local people object to new projects, the panchayat members announce that for new applications, ‘funds’ will come in to be utilised for public works like cleaning of drains, etc. Isn’t this justification unacceptable? Now while this is absolutely unjustified and a form of extortion, what was not acknowledged was the fact that the proposed construction to be done was a mud house with no RCC component, included a biogas system and rain water harvesting that would benefit not only the residents but also the village at large. She was insistent that she needed ‘help’ so it would be best to take up the cleaning of the entire nallah of one kilometre, cut the weeds growing in the deep drain and remove any obstructions within the long and wide drain. She laid emphasis on ‘the entire stretch of the nallah’. It was like an oft repeated line trying to smother any attempt to dig deeper for the bare truth and expose the ugly rot in our local bodies. The rot of greed and money. For personal use. The justification that these are for the welfare of the village or city is just a facade.
(Tallulah D’Silva is an Architect and silver awardee of the Golden Door Award 2020 for truth and integrity.)
