* Goan towns across the State have become symbols of decay
* Municipalities have become dens of politicking and corruption
* Same issues of garbage, roads, parking etc unsolved for decades and yet funds earmarked for cities return unutilised
Out city fathers are not guardians of our city, but politicians with vested interests
Our towns are where many Goan families live for generations. They are not tourist places. And yet issues concerning our main towns, Panjim, Margao, Vasco and Mapusa among others are totally ignored. The problem lies here. Our so-called city fathers have less to do with the interests of the city and everything to do with building their political bases, to become MLAs in the future. There is nothing wrong with political ambition but this has become a self-interest which has resulted in an inefficient system of city governance
In any properly run system, do you talk of garbage, parking, heritage neglect and bad roads for 20 years?
In every major town of Goa, the garbage issue is not solved, roads are crumbling, the list of dangerous buildings is increasing, taxes have not been collected and there is parking chaos. In addition, there are illegal constructions all over the towns. What does this tell us? Corruption, inefficiency and lack of concern in every city administration.
The Municipal Councils have become money and manipulation councils
Elections to municipalities are no longer about giving the best governance for the city. It is about the MLA or minister controlling the council with his people, who do not work for the city but to strengthen their politician’s hands. And every MLA believes that each councillor’s job is only to control his ward and give him enough votes in the Assembly elections.
All of Goa’s towns have had senior MLAs and ministers. But what is the state of their towns?
From the turn of the century Panjim has had the Late Manohar Parrikar or his chosen person as the MLA and then his handpicked person former OSD Sidharth Kunkoliencar.
Mapusa has had the Late Francis D Souza and then his son Joshua. Margao has had Digambar Kamat for two decades either as senior Minister, Chief Minister or Leader of opposition. Ponda has been literally ruled by Ravi Naik, and Milind Naik the current Urban Development Minister is from Mormugao, the town which gives the Municipality in Vasco its name.
Can the cities under their charge be called people friendly developed cities and the best places to live in?
Panjim – What is ‘smart’ about it, after a Rs 2000 cr Smart City project?
The Smart City project ticket size is Rs 2000 cr. Rs 72 crore for 24×7 water supply, Rs 20 crore for St Inez creek, Rs 20 crore for e-governance, Rs 100 crore for the Bainguinim Treatment Plant has been allocated.
Where do you see that money? Certainly not in any efficient systems or services. Most of the money has been spent in decorating offices, paying massive salaries, on fees of consultants.
We still have roads dug over and over again, each agency doing the digging, and giving a separate contract with one contractor getting all the tendering work and one main agency GSIDC executing it, instead of digging the road once to put ducts for services. Road digging has totally destroyed the city and made contractors and GSIDC rich. This is really smart indeed, but does it help the common man who pays taxes?
– Does Panjim have an efficient public transportation system?
– Does it have any activity around our water bodies for cafes, music and entertainment?
– Why is St Inez creek still decaying and its silt is raising water levels, waterlogging and floods?
One of the main reasons is that politicians are running towns and environmentalists, architects and professional town planners are left behind.
Margao: Rs 8 cr had to be returned, might be Rs 30 cr next year
We have reported that the Municipal Council failed to fully utilise the grant provided for the development works from 2001 to 2016. Now the cash-starved council which is struggling to pay salaries has to return grants of nearly Rs 8 crore back to the government-sanctioned under the 11th, 12th and 13th Finance Commission since 2001 to 2016, because they were not utilised. It will lose another Rs 30 crore if
current funds are not utilised within the next year
Sonsoddo is Goa’s biggest civic embarrassment but why can’t the town have door to door segregated collection: In September 2013, door-to-door waste collection programme was also implemented. All households were provided two bins and council workers were to collect them. Each ward was allocated 30 workers for maintenance purposes. And yet this exercise was linked to the final collection and disposal which led to mixed and medical waste going to the dump making the whole exercise futile.
Basic infrastructure for the safety of citizens is neglected. 21 CCTV cameras were installed at 11 locations but only three are functional. Rest are left unused. The Traffic Cell, Margao has made several requests but MMC has not taken up maintenance works of the said CCTV cameras.
In Vasco; Fish market project gets tendered but not implemented
The fish market project has been thrice tendered from 2013 to 2018. The first tender had no response to the tender. The project cost was around Rs 8 crore. It was tendered for the second third time. With GST and changes in the government scheduled rates, the cost escalated to Rs 9.5 crore.
The repair and the renovation of the Portuguese-era Mormugao Municipality building structure has been pending for long.
The powerhouse project is estimated at Rs 15 crore. Consisting of shops, stalls restaurants etc. This has been delayed for years.
What happens to the money?
Almost all major projects given to Goan towns have left people to wonder where is the money.
Rs 200 crore which was similarly handed over by the Centre, ten years ago for the celebration of 50 years of liberation. Ten years later Rs 300 crore have been sanctioned for celebrating 60 years of liberation. This is Rs 500 crore. But where has this money been spent? If it for infrastructure, it means construction and that means one tender one party and total loot
When city fathers don’t deliver, can you blame them. Blame their political masters instead
Politicians and parties that have ruined pour towns and cities have to be made accountable. It is high time voters in the city decide if their urban lives have been bettered by these politicians or worsened. It is not difficult to tell.
