The Oxford dictionary defines liberation as “the action of setting someone free from imprisonment, slavery, or oppression”. Today, 57 years after its liberation from colonial rule on December 19, 1961, as Goa swiftly slides into a swamp of mismanagement leading to veritable anarchy, it appears that the time for a second and true liberation of Goa has arrived – this time, by Goans themselves.
Today Goans are struggling to stay afloat in an increasingly hostile environment that caters to everybody, except the sons and daughters of the soil. A drifting, rudderless government, that came into being by snatching power against the mandate of the people, is now presided over by a seriously ailing and invisible Chief Minister, generating a serious crisis of governance. This has left the luckless community of Goans defenceless and at the mercy of every opportunistic fortune hunter who finds in Goa a conducive atmosphere to implement their dreams and schemes – ranging from calling the shots in the state’s wholesale fish market even as the public is fed a diet of formalin laced fish, to reshaping the Tourism Master Plan and Regional Plan to suit the vested interests of casino operators and land sharks.
For the people of Goa, there is no escaping the fact that our tiny state’s only relevance is to serve as a convenient thoroughfare for the transportation of polluting coal, or for the setting up of a decadent “sin city”, where sleaze in the shape of gambling, casinos and all that go along with it, form the fulcrum of a once flourishing tourism industry that centred around Goa’s natural beauty and the warmth and charm of its hospitable people.
The signs and smell of decadence and failure are all around us. Piles of filthy garbage disfigure the environment. The government’s inability to provide adequate water and power is the source of acute distress to Goans in all corners of the State. That however, does not seem to deter the powers that be from ushering in massive mega projects that will only compound the prevailing misery and confusion.
In a democracy, an elected Government’s primary responsibility is to look after the interests of its people. Today however, innumerable Goans are losing their way of life and livelihood as they face an uncertain future with the demolition of homes and other structures and filling of fields that are required to construct the six lane highway and other infrastructure needed to provide connectivity to the proposed Mopa Airport due to its extreme location. A mind boggling 50,000 trees have been cut and Goan families displaced for a second airport that Goa’s air traffic cannot sustain according to the aviation expert reports.
The woes of the State seem to have no end as local Goan fishermen get set to lose their livelihoods with the state government’s sell out of Goa’s rivers and coastline to the Centre’s Sagarmala project.
Even as subsidised land is handed over to large corporates in the guise of creating employment opportunities, the 12,000 odd young Goans who join the work force each year, still struggle to find jobs, as industries that are enjoying the facilities of Goa, hold job fairs outside the State with impunity.
In Vasco the interests of Adani and Jindal take priority over the health and wellbeing of the people as the city and Goa itself is being turned into a coal hub, despite public protests and an unprecedented public hearing that left the Port authorities and State administrative officials red faced with no answers.
While taxes and rates of power and other utilities are hiked for the common people, the government has no compunction in taking massive loans to build five star infrastructure for the well heeled and elite. And now, without batting an eyelid, the government has expressed its readiness to add 22 kms to an already harrowing journey, fuelled by exorbitantly high petrol prices for the common Goan, just to give the Zuari bridge contractor an easy ride.
In fact, it is evident that the anti Goan attitude of the Government has percolated to the lowest echelons of even the police force. Ordinary Goans are assaulted mercilessly for minor infractions, while the alleged serial Betalbatim rapist easily escapes from police custody. And if our police force is as effective as it claims, then why is Goa being marked for its rampant drug culture in the tourism industry, particularly in the coastal belt? And why are our children gaining such easy access to these psychotropic substances that suck them into a mire of misery?
All these questions have been put to the government and its administration time and again. The answers as we have seen, are not forthcoming. Or perhaps they have no answers. Slowly but surely, the Goan community is being pushed into a dark corner. The time has come for Goans to reclaim the true essence of Goem, Goenkar and Goenkarponn. It’s time for a second liberation if we are to escape the dark and bleak future that awaits our children and our future generations thanks to the sell out of our land, our heritage and our identity that is being encouraged and propagated.
Goencho Avaaz has invited Goans to be part of the second liberation that is set to take place on December 19, 2018, at 3.30 pm at Mapusa’s Taxi Stand. It’s better to be there to stand up and be counted.
