After landing from USA in Goa, my first point to look for is how cleaner it has become from my last visit. The very first thing that caught my attention in Panaji was the sidewalk across the street. It was littered with garbage items that people conveniently discarded on the street instead of properly disposing in the garbage bin.
I had seen this scene 15 years ago, but gone it was when Manohar Parrikar became the Chief Minister for the first time. He then took a challenge to clean up Panaji and during my subsequent visit I found that Panaji was clean. When asked what changed I was told Parrikar had cleaned up Panaji. Now in his second administration, it may seem that his clean Panaji zeal had lost its priority perhaps to other issues. I think not. In my opinion, it is the irresponsible citizens who have no regard for clean surroundings are to blame. A leader needs full support of his citizens to carry out clean Goa charter.
It was a disheartening sight which repeated many places as I walked through Panaji during the next few days. Taking a walk along Dayanand Bandodkar Road from St. Inez to Miramar is something I have always done during all my visits. As I continued my walk I saw a well dressed middle aged couple seated on the bench enjoying corn on the cob. I went past them until the end of the path and returned in a few minutes. Now the man had finished his corn and he simply tossed the cob across the path near low grown shrubs.
We know tossing unwanted things on the street is not an unusual sight. But to me it was appalling to see a citizen seemingly sophisticated to do this. Now Goa government is becoming a little more intolerant of litterers on the beach. With posters not to litter, garbage cans located all over does help, but not enough if people do not perceive that littering is a problem and it is not on their priority.
The most unhappy example of cleanliness I observed when I visited our Kuladaivat Laxmi Narcinva temple in Veling. I go there on my every visit. As always the temple was clean and peaceful and after the usual darshan of deity, I stepped out to see how the big water pond outside, called Tali, which has a small running spring and the water accumulates in a large pond with steps to get into it from all four sides. You have to enter through the gate to get there. When I entered the gate, the sight I saw was appalling. There are weeds galore on the left side, not attended for months may be. On the right side where there is spring, the steps are full of algae and most likely slippery, the water in the pond is polluted due to people cleaning clothes in the pond. This was not what I saw before. With well endowed temple funds, it is not money that is an issue. You can find reasonable labor and create an employment to keep the place spotlessly clean. It is the mindset and recognizing that it is a priority is a problem, not the resources to do it.
Clean Goa is a topic that can be discussed in many ways and endlessly. My impressions during two week’s visit leads me to come to some conclusions. The Government can do a lot and Modi is leading the way on the National level. And the Goa government has to make a Clean Goa a priority at a state level. But the most important responsibility falls on individuals and all the public and private institutions are equally responsible. If they recognize unclean Goa is a problem, then only solution to the problem is found and then only the Clean Goa dream can be a reality.
