When we read the daily news – local or national – one discovers that we apparently seem to be inextricably ensnared in a precarious predicament. Should we permit development or protest against it? Admittedly, it is a dicey conundrum! Perhaps, the most plausible way out would be to traverse the Aristotelian and Buddhist “middle path” that would be “sustainable development” in this case.
I would like to pinpoint just one issue (from amongst many), to highlight the concerned question. Take the cases of the upcoming new bridge (that will bridge Bardez and Tiswadi talukas). There has been so much of foundationless (pun intended) hue and cry from a green-minded segment of society over a matter that frankly can quite easily be resolved with openness and sanity from both sides.
All right, first of all, do we need the third bridge? Well of course we do, and looking at the way we are progressing, a fourth one will be required after a decade or so. We all seem to play the role of a hypocrite very well, though unknowingly. On one hand, we curse the authorities when there are traffic jams and then we raise objections when a solution to the problem is sought.
All right, so two hundred and odd mangrove trees had to be felled to facilitate the new bridge construction. Instead of being so pessimistic, why not think optimistically and reforest the same number of saplings elsewhere? Are we going to immediately suffocate if a tiny portion of those affected mangrove forests are cleared for a more worthwhile reason and pressing demand? We would be shamed into silence if one knew the number of trees that have been lumbered for our sakes (housing, food, mineral resource purposes) ever since one’s birth.
On one hand we complain that there is an unwarranted waste of public money, and on the other, we participate in the drainage of government expenditure by erecting barriers and finding fault with developmental projects that will ultimately benefit the common person. Each day of construction activity is costing the government lakhs of rupees – by the way, that is our tax money. We urgently need to distinguish between fanatical eco-maniacs and short-sighted capitalists.
Perhaps, it’s high time we pause for a while to daringly ask ourselves if we appear to be crucifying every single developmental project that comes by for motives that stem from narrow-mindedness. Does the younger generation have any prospects comfortably settling right here on native soil or will they be forced to migrate to the West in search of greener pastures? Could they one fine day boldly stand up and rightly accuse us of being impediments to their dreams and hope for a better life right here in the land where they were born all because of their ancestors opposing every attempt made at growing on par with the developed world in the West? It would be wise to avoid any sort of extremism on either side.
