R Fernandes
The Tourism businessmen and the TTAG have come out with reasons and solutions to lift the shaky business in Goa.
On 11/1/19 the TTAG blamed the Govt. for the mess and said ‘environment’ protection must be one of the ‘do’s’ of Tourism! On 16/1 a group of tourism businessmen have come together to ‘effectively’ take loving care of Goa and come out of the slump! Reminds me of politicians at the time of elections! What is it they want? New pastures?
In 2017 Goa catered to 75 lakh tourists who remained here for approximately 7 days. What is the amount of waste from them? And all the TTAG members happily discharged the same into the ground? Any wonder our wells are polluted with either e-coli or salt due to sinking of borewells in the coast? Both know they are responsible for the ‘pre-meditated’ destruction of the environment for their personal profits.
None admit the same nor speak of correcting the past: they only speak of ‘hence forth’! Again, I see like a politician like businessman! Have not all the above destroyed the environment by failing to set up sewage treatment plants for their units: hotels or eco units? Is this not criminal negligence? Would any of them have stayed in a place that had no toilets? Not only have the wells been contaminated but all our rivers too! Did eco units use waterless urinals? Set up SWTs that cost just Rs 10 lakh for 60 people?
Environment and sustainability are the key. Even the UNO has SDGs-sustainable development goals which none of the above mention. SDG no 8: buy from Green companies which are equal opportunity companies. This means companies must use local manpower. In the case of Goa: it is not to achieve the SDGs but rather how not to lose the already achieved SDGs!
What is sustainability? Some years back, I met a few students from the Goa Institute of Management when the same was at Ribandar. They used to lunch at a tea stall close by run by a Goan. They complained the fellow was not exploiting the business: that he could mint millions if he started a full-fledged fine dining restaurant. They were shell shocked he did not do so. Now, there was no place nearby for anyone else to set up shop. Or there was, but it needed to be illegal. With a little ‘push’ from the local MLA this could be done, and has been done especially in Calangute/Baga etc! This is a fact and reminded me of an anecdote.
A businessman approached a fisherman lazily sleeping in his boat. He asked him why he wasn’t out fishing? The latter replied he had caught the required amount of fish for the day. The former argued that if he caught more fish he could hire others to get even more fish. And then what, asked the fisherman. The man replied he could then get a bigger boat, hire more people and get even more fish. And then what, answered the fisherman. And then you could sit back and relax, the businessman replied, to which he got the answer, that that was exactly what he was doing now!
I like watching the U-17 interschool football matches: the speed, the control, the enthusiasm makes one wonder what happens to these players after SSC? Yes, they give up football and work on their studies attending tuitions etc, and have no time for football. This is their prerogative. They would have loved taking up football as a career if they could fall back on something else in case of injury.
Today, not all Goans need to hire out their homes or part thereof or sell off their property to supplement their income. They want to keep it for a rainy day: like if Modi comes back in 2019 then job drought will continue for another 5 years. They own the Golden Goose and they decide whether they want it to lay 1, 2 or 3 eggs a day. They are the stake holders, not the TTAG members, not the Govt, not the other businessmen. The TTAG and other ‘good guys’ are mum on this front. We note that the TTAG was mum on safety of tourists as one of the reasons for the slump. What about safety, rights, jobs, and other facilities Goans are forced to give up for the tourists? Goans today don’t visit the beaches which are ‘over run’ by migrants and tourists. At festivals like Carnaval, San Joao, New Year Eve and Christmas dances, etc, locals are shunted out by sheer volumes! It was for the first time this year, a flier was seen in the local paper advertising and ‘inviting’ locals for the New Year bash at a starred hotel in South Goa!
What about drugs sold near schools right in the soft underbelly of Goan villages? What impact can the prostitution and pseudo massage parlours have on young impressionable minds in the villages? What about the traffic jams where locals cannot reach their homes? Every October, even small tea joints raise their rates. Many Goans have to frequent such joints in Margao, Panjim or in other places for their lunch, etc. The TTAG ‘inserted’ the word environment: so why do they not shut down all units with no STP? All the above is necessary so that TTAG and the others do not lose their livelihood?
We have seen on National Channels thousands of students being helped by their friends/neighbours/parents to copy at the SSC exams. The buildings were literally crawling with outside people on the windows. These same people work at all the ‘business’ joints in Goa ‘because Goans don’t work? Really? Is it not the poor wages and horrible working conditions where these people are made to literally eat, work and sleep at these joints?
Neither the TTAG nor the ‘good guy’ Tourism businessmen said they need to ‘correct’ the wrong doings of the past, they only say they will look to the future ‘just give me the goose’: we won’t ask for double digit eggs per day just nine!.
Goa got 70 lakh tourists in 2017 with more than 15 lakh in December alone. How many tourists do they want: 70 lakh, 100 lakh, 200 lakh? How much do these people spend and in whose pockets, does it go? Do we know? Aren’t you’ll the greedy little beggars responsible for all this mess? What do Goans get, besides the politicians and a few local politician/builder sponsored thugs? What we need today is safety: for Goans, to sell, not to sell, lease or not to lease his land. To have his suggestions to any law like CRZ, Master Tourism, etc, coal transport, be viewed correctly and if rejected to provide reasons for the same.
All that is now taking place in Goa today are mechanisms and shenanigans on how to kidnap ‘once and for all’ the golden goose. All the ‘bad’ guys are displaying themselves as hurt good guys with an uncertain livelihood! Let us not forget: the TTAG are unorganised non-professionals accidental entrepreneurs and therefore do not have the capacity to decide.
