NESHWIN ALMEIDA
neshwin@herald-goa.com
BETUL: It’s the first Monday after Holi and the Gaonkars of the villages of Assolna, Cuncolim, Banda, Veroda, Sanvorcotto, Balli, Fatorpa, Baida, Comba, Addibandh and neighbouring hamlet leave behind their work, profession, fields, cattle and dance to the ghumot as they apply colour to each other and sing and celebrate Shigmo.
“I was all excited to go for the Shigmo celebration we have every year at the little shrine we haveat Murida and suddenly, there are cops there, telling us not to crowd around, to go further down, not to park our vehicles, not to play the drums and make noise and all this is really absurd for our traditions which are over 300 years old. The traffic itself was another hurdle, with pilot vehicles, army vehicles with snipper guns, we were kept of the road, not allowed to take our dhol-kashe and music to the streets,” explains Vijay Dessai, an angry youth who feels, Parrikar could have easily checked the dates and decided DefExpo or at least the local BJP MLA Rajan Naik should have been sensitive to locals celebrating Shigmo especially in the nearby villages since the Kunkolkarin and Fatorpa deity is so close to the hearts of the locals residents.
Similarly, a group of fuming locals was haggling with the cops outside the DefExpo site on Day one in the scorching heat of March 28, 2016. Their grouse was that the Idea tower signal was jammed by Defense Ministry personnel because of the DefExpo.
“We called Idea and they clearly say that signal is jammed and they can’t do anything. In Balli, the government hospital is terrible with no doctor and no proper supply of medicines, our BSNL lines are always down, if a senior citizen needs assistance, the mobile phones are blocked, even the 108 service at Cuncolim, Balli was diverted to the DefExpo, is it right to treat us like this in our homes?” questioned Artakar Velip, who’s upset that the networks are jammed and the whole village Is paralyzed.
But even worse is the fact that electricians, plumbers and loaders are brought in gangs in trucks from Bijapur and parts of Maharashtra. “They said we’ll get jobs at the DefExpo, they don’t even let us near the gates. Outside teams of laborers are waiting to be called inside on duty. People from Cuncolim to Canacona travel across Goa for menial labor on daily wages. We actually didn’t take up work of cleaning properties and maintaining coconut cultivation till March 31 because, that’s what Parsekar promised us, jobs at DefExpo and now nothing,” screams an angry Raosh Velip, who beats the heat and still awaits a job at the DefExpo for a good daily wage salary.
But accept for a few tea stalls and lunch spaces and some hotels from Cavelossim to Utorda, that service guests, vendors, workers, taxi drivers because of the DefExpo, but the rest feel that Goa gained nothing from DefExpo accept for a new bridge a few kms from the Balli junction.
“No food stalls, no proper network, only taxi stands belonging to hotels have got business. The rest of us are summoned and told to park along the road but no business. Exhibitors and their expat delegates have all traveled with their private vehicles or cabs rented in Maharashtra, the DefExpo definitel means nothing to us,” stated Jhonny D’Silva as he waits along the road that a delegate will hail a cab.
Forget the business for us. Right now the bars of Cuncolim are only servicing Bihari labourers, the spillovers of this DefExpo. But what happened to the passes and entry tickets promised for us and our families in lieu of stealing our lands and giving it to the Central government? Question Ajay D’Souza, a cuncolim resident.Ajay is upset that the locals have got nothing in return of their land being usurped.
Ajay explains to us how the Defexpo is issuing tickets at an expensive Price of Rest 2300 and above. The ticket says valid for all four days. But the shocker is when the registration desk tells you that the pass is valid for only one day despite the pass clearly stating valid from March 28 to March 31, 2016 from 9am to 5pm. If you start arguing, army men with AK-47 and snipers come to escort you out. This is so unfair,” explains Rhys Daniels, an employee with a strategic firm and who has roots in Goa told us at the registration counter as he hoped to catch the sorties and airshows and also a bit of his homeland Goa in the next four days.
The biggest scam is how the Goa government and Manohar Parrikar’s defence ministry roped in some 30 odd labourers and tapped a drinking water pipeline into the DefExpo and thereby dropping the pressure of water to a trickle. People in Naqueri, have been struggling with low water pressure but the PWD is least bothered despite it being students ‘board examination time across the state but the Defexpo organisers are least bothered. They hope that Parrikar’s ministry is not insensitive but he has already proved them wrong.
Also the internal villages suffered due to the Defense Expo. On the first day, there was a mega Block at Cuncolim between 8.30am to 10.30pm and for almost one hour traffic on NH 17 was at standstill. All delegates of Defence expo and other commuters got blocked at Cuncolim. There were huge queues of Vehicles from both sides. Some Vehicles who knew there is alternative road from Assolna Betul side tried to follow that road but police did not allowed them to go Velim side because of security reasons. However, the situation did not improve on the second day as well as there was yet another major traffic block on NH17. . Looking this problem administration opened the newly constructed Balli Bridge for traffic. While some of the vehicles were sent by Velim, there was no let down of the heavy traffic which caused a traffic jam at Cuncolim.
