<the Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's suggestion that a SEZ (special economic zone), an idea which has been in the air for many years now, needs to be implemented right away.>[Goanet Reader June 9]
<Goa is ideal for having a special economic zone>[HERALD, June 3] Does Goa have a tendency to clutch at straws? Why do central ministers seem to get fancy ideas for Goa to implement? In 2003 it was IFFI 2004, on May 27 it was double decker jumbos at Mopa (by 2014) and this month it is SEZ in Goa in 6 months. The reaction to the IFFI idea was virulent in Goa. Still it was forced down the throats of Panjimites in 5 months flat. Now we are bracing for water-logging on the arterial road due to monumental bungling last year for "IFFI in a jiffy". Regarding "A380s at Mopa", there has been nary a word so far one way or another. The very plan smacks of an extended exercise in mega corruption leading otherwise to nowhere. As for SEZ, listen to what the President of GCCI said in Goa Plus (TOI supplement) of June 3: < "Our port is in bad shape, container facilities are not developed, Konkan Railway is not able to take containers and connect to JNPT [Mumbai?], airport has no adequate cargo facility", he goes on to list the inadequacies in the industrial infrastrcuture and blames it on a lack of "Mission industrial development" among our politicians who he describes as round the clock busy and happy to indulge in petty political games and who are more happy in wasting time in toppling games.> SEZ in Goa to "solve the employment-cum-governance problem" in 1 or 2 years? Ha! We may as well believe in miracles.
