The alarm bells are sounding non stop but the crack response team is once again engrossed in schemes and plots. Like the Kenny Rogers song goes, “You picked a fine time to leave me, Lucille; four hungry children and a crop in the field”. The “Wrongress” traitors have shown their true colours, betraying the ignorant voters and this gentle land that nurtured them, for the umpteenth time.
The timing couldn’t have been worse, but that doesn’t factor into their warped calculations. The ruling faction and the pseudo opposition were trusted with the task of solving critical issues that have left Goa with her back against the ropes. The most urgent are the criminal mismanagement of landfills/waste treatment plants at Sonsoddo and Saligao, river pollution mitigation, coal dust menace, delivering the ODF plan on schedule and ridding the capital of floating casinos squatting on the Mandovi. With the country facing draught and water scarcity, we foolishly expected the government to expedite construction of bandharas as was announced a few days ago. Rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, potable water quality and purity of reservoirs are the needs of the hour. Law and order, jobs for the youth and protection of our ecology are close behind.
Before the tides of fortune turn as they so easily can with the ongoing climate change crisis, Goans would have loved to see prompt and transparent afforestation using the 260 crores of CAMPA funds from the centre, after involving scrupulous and renowned biodiversity experts.
In a land blessed with peace and energetic, talented youth, we sorely need upgrades to our dated education system and athletics programme; the funds are available, the teachers can be trained, it is merely a matter of making blue chip investments in social capital. Road infrastructure has to be improved. Terrible traffic management, bad roads and lawless drivers have been killing innocents every second day.
Responsible tourism has to go back to the drawing board; blue economy centred and the higher end of the market demographic has to be the focus; catering to litterbugs and fly-by-night rapists have to be edged out ASAP.
Both the above-mentioned lucrative ministries were run into the ground by the inept MGP; they are at each other’s throats at the moment, which was a golden opportunity for Goa to finally demand passable roads, vital infrastructure and maybe send corrupt ministers to Colvale jail.
But of course, the high jinks of the “Convict-gress” have overshadowed the need to punish the MGP for gross negligence and has probably put vital development works on the back burner.
The State Vigilance department has failed us repeatedly and the ensuing collective rot in high places has led to this moment.No enterprise can function when it is built on flimsy foundations and politicians are as flimsy as they come.
It’s time for daughters and sons of Goa to take care of mother Goa. Luckily we have a tonne of legal eagle vigilantes, activists, and ordinary people with unshakeable ethics in – house. They are cheerfully willing to do what politicians pretend to do after demanding a pound of Goa’s flesh as payment.
