The most elementary definition of the term “development” is: growth. That is what is implied when the Government announces “development” projects, such as the building of bridges, expansion or broadening of roads, the setting up of factories or industries in general, hotels, expanding railway tracks, the sea ports, etc.
The model adopted in Goa, right from inception, under Chief Minister Dayanand Bandodkar, had been premised on the postulate that industries would usher-in a renaissance of Goa and ( the unstated and overarching aim), that it would compare favourably when juxtaposed with the prevailing conditions left behind by the erstwhile regime, recently driven out of Goa (and Daman & Diu) on 19th December 1961…. would make for good propaganda internationally.
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The local population, which was not consulted, was led to believe that the employment to be generated, would provide much needed well-paying jobs to the local unemployed and hopefully, stop the emigration (protesting with their feet?) of local talent. The setting up of Colleges providing higher education, at least upto the level of a Bachelor’s degree, were encouraged and aligned with that policy. Industrialists such as Dempo and Chowgule and the Archdiocese of Goa soon got into the game and started producing graduates fit to be employed as clerks or as primary or secondary education teachers. Specialised technical education, except for the late entry of the government engineering college, was not available, a primary requirement for employment in the new industries and factories envisaged. Willy nilly the setting-up of any industry was encouraged, without verifying their suitability to the local conditions or to their negative features, such as polluting emissions. Hefty subsidies, ranging upto 15% of the investment which, the non-Goan investor collected ( after initially setting-up the industry), then after disposing-off the machinery …promptly disappeared! Leaving the banking sector holding the bag of bad debts, and the Industries Department with a red face and an empty pocket and the shell of a building.
This was the level of planning that Goa was subjected to, but the story does not end here…As a general practice, the mainly non-Goan industrialist imported workers, whether skilled or semi-skilled or unskilled, from his own state, with the Government of Goa remaining a mere mute spectator. This unforeseen and unplanned-for situation ( in hindsight one may ask how could it not have been unforeseen) had its cascading effect on every sphere of life; the need for increased accommodation for the new migrants, greater pressure on public transportation and on water and energy consumption. The need for increased accommodation prompted a frenzy of building activity beginning in the towns and cities, where old architecturally rich residential cum commercial houses, many partially or fully rented out to shopkeepers or restaurants, and having no possibility of an increase in the rent due to the retrograde Rent Control Act, began to be snapped up by builders in order to be demolished and substituted by graceless multi-storeyed monsters. With time, the old houses, with the exception of those located in a few conservation areas in Panjim and Margão, were all demolished. The builder next cast his eye on land around these towns, Especially in nearby villages, leading to the depletion of scarce land resources. New roads, as accesses to the new constructions and broadening of existing public roads became necessary. The manpower needed for this purpose was mainly imported by the non-Goan contractor who, being familiar with the process of greasing palms, was preferred by the PWD over their Goan counterparts who employed, initially, Kunbi labour from Salcete. This migrant labour class, which brought along its extended family including children, was not provided with any shelter by such contractors. Hence the open land, mainly belonging to the Comunidades of Goa, generally unfenced, became the target for encroachment. Shanties mushroomed on such lands almost overnight. The authorities tasked under the law to take action against encroachments turned a Nelson’s eye upon the situation. On the other hand the Industries Department, pretended that everything was normal and going to plan, and continued with its false line of propaganda that jobs created were benefitting Goans. Industrial Estates, and more than one in every Taluka, were built on land expropriated from the Comunidades. Despite many organisations involved with the unemployed (one of which was led at one time by this writer), challenging this false narrative of the administration, it continued to be spewed until late CM Mr. Manohar Parrikar, a few months before his demise, admitted in the Assembly, that the Government of Goa had no mechanism in place to verify the number of Goans employed in the industrial sector, and hence no figures were available!
Ironically, soon after it all began, the Development Commissioner was a Goan trained in Portugal, who candidly admitted that there were no trained Goans available to profit from the generation of jobs nor were there many coming forward to start businesses/industries. Instead of analyzing the situation as a failure of the planning process needing a drastic revision, he sought to blame Goans for not having the ability to start a business or the training to qualify for a job in such emerging industries. According to this view of the matter, the Government had no role to play to ensure that industries setting-up shop in Goa, would be allowed to do so only after ensuring that trained locals would be available for the jobs generated. Neither the Government assumed any responsibility in this matter nor was the entrepeneur tasked with the duty to train the personnel required to man the enterprise.
Needless to say, Goa became the mecca for hordes of migrants who successfully found employment and needed lodging.
In the decades that followed, prices of land soared and ultimately surpassed the purchasing power of the majority of Goans. Politicians, ever ready to profit from any situation, found in this scenario a gold mine to be exploited. The Town and Country Planning Department became a prized acquisition to be captured and the ODPs (Outline Development Plans) became the tool in the hands of such unscrupulous elements. Zones established in the Regional plans such as settlement, commercial, orchard and no-development, could now be changed for a price, with the active cooperation of the Minister and the Town Planners, the Member Secretaries and even the peons, as everyone started making a fast buck. New forms of generating money were invented and PDAs came into being, where other politicians (read the disgruntled lobby) could be accommodated. NOCs would henceforth be available only for a consideration, even in cases where the applicant had complied with the law! Such NOCs were necessary in order to obtain the ultimate license for construction.
Goa with its natural beauty, different culture and architecture and living style, soon became the cynosure of the eye of the Indian moneyed class. To own a property in Goa became a matter of status. Palatial houses belonging to emigrant Goans or to those who could not afford the high maintenance costs, were snapped-up, whilst others with relatively more modest means, looked for large apartments. The builder-sharks from Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra smelled big money and descended in droves making a bad situation worse. The so-called planners are too busy now manipulating the laws and the plans to enable multi-dwelling units to come-up in paddy fields, orchards and even in densely wooded areas. Glaring examples of such misuse of powers can be seen in constructions that have been authorized, amongst others, near the Reis Magos fort at Nerul in Bardez or in the UNESCO conservation area at Old Goa! Nothing is sacrosanct, whilst everything is up for grabs. No one cares for the carrying capacity of the land, to the availability (or short supply) of drinking water and electricity. Protests by the locals seem to be so much water off a duck’s back. Even the orders of the High Court of Bombay, at Goa are sought to be ignored, delayed, defeated and even defied.
The complexion of the villages in the so-called Old Conquests, is gradually changing. Huge buildings are permitted to come up without a thought to their effect on the surroundings, where Luso-Goan architecture still prevails but where old houses are allowed to be demolished, slowly losing, as has happened in Calangute, the original character and the essence that defines a Goan village. The magnitude of this loss cannot be estimated in terms of money. Even more criminal is the fact that, with the demolition of the old architecturally rich old houses, Goa is losing for ever the history which is written on each individual stone of these houses. Such loss is irretrievable and irremediable.
This destruction is what the politicians in power term, cynically, as “development” and question Goans, in a condemnatory manner, the reason why they oppose it!
