In the twilight zone
The spillover of the rumblings in the shady subterranean of Goa’s tourist coast has put the spotlight on the overstaying Nigerians and their very apparent connection to the drug trade in the State. The Nigerian issue though, is just a small part of the larger state of lawlessness that has overtaken Goa, whether in the iron ore mining industry, the tourism sector and the real estate and construction business. Six years ago public indignation over the large-scale fixing of the Regional Plan 2011 spilled out into the streets and forced Babush Monserrate, the controversial town and country planning minister at the time, to resign.
It emerged from an internal investigation by the Income Tax Department subsequently that Rs 26 crore had been routed in payoffs by interested parties for conversions of huge tracts of land. The report also detailed the modus operandi of the payoffs and even tracked the trail of money to a new hotel built in Miramar. But so many years later no action has emerged from these startling disclosures. The Regional Plan too which was withdrawn, redrawn and debated threadbare is still in limbo.
The argument here is to just illustrate the fact of how a system that is continually compromised ceases to function in the end. Just as in the mining industry where illegalities abounded when trade was at a pinnacle in the boom years, the uncontrolled expansion of tourism has given free rein to a shadowy underside that runs like a parallel world on the tourist coast.
The public had a glimpse of that twilight world after a video clip uploaded online brought to light police complicity in the drug trade and led to the arrest of the Israeli drug dealer Yaniv Benaim aka Atala in 2010. But not long after that story emerged, another Israeli drug handler had to be let off when an ANC (anti-narcotics cell) “crackdown” backfired with a counter “sting” by the Israeli dealer’s girlfriend exposing the narcotics cops asking for payoffs.
Given the complex web of the subterranean drug world and the many threads that link it to a network of players from police officials to politicians, we may never get to see the clear light on this case.
None of that of course absolves the government and its myriad agencies from the responsibility of its duties, the primary one being to crack down on crime, whatever its nature and whoever the player.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has argued that deporting Nigerians who are here without legal documents could turn out to be a complex and long-drawn affair. It isn’t clear if the chief minister’s observation is based on the past experience of the State government and if the fault, as this newspaper has learnt, lies to a large extent with the Nigerian authorities’ failure to provide authentic duplicate travel documents to its nationals facing deportation for violating Indian laws.
Whatever the case, allowing foreigners without legal documents to roam around freely and even do business, is not just asking for trouble, but being highly irresponsible. It’s unlikely that Indians in a similar situation would be treated so sympathetically either in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world.
The flare-up in Porvorim last week has also raised concerns over the racial profiling of African nationals. Calangute MLA Michael Lobo and his wife Delilah Lobo who is sarpanch of Parra have strategically placed the issue of the Nigerians living in the Arpora belt up for debate on the gram sabha table. One expects the discussion at this grassroots level will generate a great deal of heat. But one cannot escape the glaring fact that in trying to make a fast buck from tourists and other long-staying foreigners, a large number of Goans have deliberately chosen to ignore and violate the laws.
The tourism trade has spawned thousands of guest houses, home-stays and quick rent apartments that are unregistered and fail to comply with the government norms for foreign “guests”. In Goa of the 21st Century it is not race, but the colour of one’s money that talks loudest.
