I write this as a proud, but saddened, daughter of Goa.
My family and I had been so looking forward to returning to Goa; place of my birth and my youth, and my true home, after more than 2 years, overly delayed due to the pandemic, to see my mum and my siblings.
The pilot announced the plane’s descent and our hearts leapt. We craned our heads to get a much-awaited familiar glimpse of Goa from the air and we were shocked to see the huge ugly bridge tower pillars jutting out of the Zuari River. Our hearts sank. They stood out like a sore thumb amongst the beautiful landscape. But it was to get worse.
We stepped out of the airport to the usual din of beeping and honking cars and felt happy to be back. This feeling however did not last long as we travelled along the flyover to be connecting the 8-lane Zuari bridge project on our journey home towards Panjim. The bridge is apparently rivaling the Eiffel Tower in Paris. What idiocy- how can you compare projects for a small state in India to a metropolitan city like Paris?
It’s an unsympathetic concrete monstrosity. It seems obvious that the structure is a shoddily constructed contrivance corruptly conceived for the underhand purpose of funneling public money by the venal politicians into the hands of their industrial cronies. It is distressingly familiar to the proposed power grid at Mollem for the transportation of coal, that too in the shadows of COP26, unbelievable!
This is our money, money that could be used to better the public health, existing roads, sewerage, maintain existing power lines and avoid power cuts that have always plagued Goa. The people of Goa most need improvement of basic amenities. This is the sentiment of my mum and all the people residing in Goa that I have spoken too. Their frustrations are obvious and their needs are simple and basic.
Isn’t it criminal that the politicians, supposedly sons of Goa, will do anything to stay in power, even if it means raping and pillaging our mother Goa? These disgusting pirates will change parties after the elections just to remain in power to further their greed. This is appalling, and shows they have absolutely no respect or sense of duty towards the electorate. The tone of my write-up is simply reflecting this lack of respect back onto them.
Goa is blessed with a beautiful natural coastline and diverse flora and fauna, and has always been esteemed as one of the paradises of our world, but we must be in no doubt that it is small and fragile, and being destroyed right now. Irreparably, I fear.
We must fight to preserve and conserve rather than support depraved greedy politicians who licence huge development projects. If this carries on any longer there won’t be any natural beauty, only a concreted wasteland!
