There wasn’t a single constable nor a fire tender or ambulance on standby. The roads leading to the St. Joseph Vaz Shrine at Sancoale are narrow and congested with traffic and pedestrians during the novenas. In case of any fire it normally takes the Fire Services 15 – 30 minutes to reach the spot. With the narrow and congested roads leading to the shrine and no mobile network how much time will it take security forces and fire services to reach the shrine if there is a terror attack or fire during the novenas? So many people come on pilgrimage and walk to the Shrine from various places. What medical facilities are there if a person faints or gets a heart attack? What a tragedy it is going to be and how many lives will be lost if there is any eventuality? The same was the situation when I attended the novenas of Ven. Agnelo at Pilar in November last year. Can the authorities not keep even 10 constables, a fire tender and ambulance on standby in places where there are large crowds?
I have also noticed that security agencies at private establishments do not check persons with disability when they enter the premises. Being a person with disability myself this is my personal experience for quite some time. I have always entered the Secretariat block without a visitors slip and nobody has bothered to stop me because I am a person with disability. Being a concerned citizen and head of an NGO for persons with disability I called SP (Crime) three months back about the same but there has been no improvement in the matter nor has SP(Crime) requested us for persons with disability as volunteers for their Sagar Kavach exercise to plug the loop holes.
I know people in Goa look up people with disability with sympathy and underestimate their ability but what can stop a person with disability from carrying a gun or a bomb. There have been cases when mentally challenged children have been used as human bombs by terrorists.
Two years back I also wrote to the Chief Secretary and both the district collectors to train the agencies involved in the disaster management teams like the police and fire services to handle people with disability like the hearing impaired, mentally challenged and autistic children. It is not easy to communicate with any of the above categories of persons with disability especially in cases of high voltage situations and the disaster management agencies need to be trained. But till date I am not aware of any training being given to any of them. Goa has 25 special schools catering to persons with disability only. Can we imagine what a tragedy it will be if there is a fire or terror attack in any of the special schools or where persons with disability are involved?
Prevention is better than cure. I hope the concerned authorities wake up and take action on the above before any tragedy happens and innocent lives are lost.
