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This year the rain Gods seems
to have given us bountiful of rains till date, more than we had asked for
indeed, and we should be grateful to HIM. People will definitely heave a sigh
of relief so too the farmers and the Goa government. Looking at some of the
states of India which faced severe droughts, Goa by now should have been
exporting water to the needy. But alas! Most of our waters just run down the
drains and into the rivers instead of stocking it for our future needs. Most of
the farmers will definitely complain about their withering fields which are
inundated and chances of re-plantations are very slim. The few dams that we
have seem to be giving some hiccups at times of scarcity. And God knows what is
in store least we take care of what we have in access. All we do realize is
that once summer comes with a bang, everyone talks about saving of waters, but
in reality once it starts pouring in, we seems to forget altogether about the
water harvesting. People’s memory is short they say, and it’s rightly so of the
government as well.
But there are a few who
rejoice in having heavy rains in the state. These rains are blessings in
disguise to the damn road-contractors at large as they are the happiest lot who
will be soon counting their bank balances as almost all over Goa the roads are
in very bad shape. And once the rains are over, the PWD contractors and the
minister will be the only people who will have their pockets full of their
dreams but until then many limbs and lives may have been lost due to bad roads.
With the exception at the
construction sites of new bridges in the state, every single lane of the roads
has its own misery to tell. And most of the ministers will surely chant their
often repeated statements “Please don’t blame the government or the
contractors, blame it on the rains.” Va..va..va..by the way has Goa been
receiving these heavy rains just for the first time? No, a big no indeed! But
the PWD minister is hell bent to give us the lame excuses that may galore in
his mind.
By the way, we do protest
at each and almost everything that Government forces upon us and yet we keep
turning our blind eyes for these perennial pathetic roads as if nothing is
happening. Are we so blind to take us for granted? Why should the roads give
way at the drop of the first rains? Why doesn’t the government take the
contractors to task and demand a minimum of at least 5 years’ guarantee of the
works undertaken? Imagine the amount we spend on these sub-standard roads and
the contractors just go scot-free just because someone is getting his baksheesh.
It’s an open secret how much commission they get paid to the concerned
ministers, and hence the poor works carried on as there is not a single
supervisor to check on the quality of the works undertaken. I wish now the
young and energetic Chief Minister and the new PWD Minister brings in major
changes in tendering process and includes the minimum guarantee period clause
in the contracts. And thus show the difference of working ethics for good of
Goa and Goans.
And now that the new
traffic rules once implemented, all the more people will have to run
helter-skelter to find out the cause of the accident besides paying hefty
fines, many a times bad roads are the root cause of the accidents in our state.
Will someone please bell the cat against the pathetic roads of Goa?
