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Sorrowing lies my land
A cry of anguish from Goan miles away from his land
By Armstrong Augusto Vaz
Doha Sept 20, 2007: Why are we being repeatedly forced to come to the
streets with our problems, does a Government function in the state, were
some of the rhetoric the speakers spearheading the Save River Sal Front
posed to the people attending a massive rally. A movement which is trying to
stop the proposed move of dredging the River Sal and stop the Casino boat
from operating from the River Sal.
Yes indeed, questions have been raised over the sincerity and integrity of
the power-hungry politicians of Goa.
"Sorrowing lies my land" a title by Goa's liberation movement leader and
former journalist Lambert Mascarenhas felt the pulse of the changing times
in Goa some forty years down the line.
On 19th December, Goa celebrates its liberation day. On this day in 1961,
the small state on western coast of India was liberated from the Portuguese
colonial rule.
A colonial rule, which extended for nearly 450 years. A rule, which left a
lasting legacy on the various facades of Goan life. The influences, which
extend from the magnificent churches, the way of dressing and a host of
other things.
But the present generations of youngsters have no inkling of the hardships
and the toil their forefathers went through to fight for the much sought of
freedom from the colonial rule.
But then Lambert's Goa liberation colleagues are dis-heartened at the
events which are unfolding in one of the beautiful state of Goa, a major
tourist hub from October to March every year.
Goa's first and foremost best advertisers through out the world were the
Hippies or the flower power generation children. The Goan beaches of north
Goa, specifically Anjuna, Vagator were the hotpots for the flower generation
chillium smoking games.
The hippies of the 60's and 70's who came here when they were in the early
20's still visit the place to revive nostalgic memories of the place. But
then they too are saddened by the pace of development. A rapid concrete
monster boom is threatening to change the face of the beach front of Goa and
render its aesthetic beauty to a naught.
In current times, another set of foreign tourists have set to made Goa there
holiday destination have been saddened by the turnoff events in May last
year.
A cold winter breeze blowing across the beach front in Goa is nothing
compared to the harsh winter the foreign tourists face in their home
countries. So Goa, is an escape route for the many foreign tourists and also
a destination to tan their bodies in the sun, sipping beer, wine or any
other alcoholic drinks, along with the choicest of Goan sea food.
The new residents of Goa were on tender hooks, a gleam prospect is haunting
them. They are part of some of the 5000 foreign residents who have purchased
either an apartment, and ancestral Portuguese architect style house or land.
The land deals which are not in conformity with the law pertaining to
foreigners buying property in India - FEMA regulations.
There is truce on the foreigners property front, a government which does not
want to ruffle the builders lobby and also the foreigners. And the probe
into violations continue and the follow up action is awaited in typical
slow moving Indian style on the deals which did not confirm to the
regulations.
The state government also does not want to send wrong signals to the foreign
tourists that they are not wanted in the state and confiscation of
foreigners property which is an option for the government bought by foreign
nationals would not be evoked.
So the foreign tourists can sigh a temporary relief on that front.
The issue of foreigners and large people from outside the state buying
property has ruffled not only the politicians but also the man on the
streets.
Indian states like Kashmir, Sikkim and a few others have legislations where
in Indians are not allowed to buy land leave aside foreigners. So if Goan
liberation freedom fighters and the breed of honest leaders who took over
after Goa's annexation to the Indian union have not envisaged in the Indian
constitution a rule banning sale of land to non-goans, a new generation is
demanding that the wrong done many years back be rectified.
A generation, which were born just before liberation or who where in their
teens are unhappy with the state legislators, the forty legislators whom
they are calling by all names and on of them is Ali Baba and the forty
thieves.
Call them by any name, the local population is blaming them for the all the
ills that Goa have got embroiled in the last four and half decades of their
rule.
The last controversial move of the government - an outline development plan
of Goa where hectares and hectares of green orchards and paddy fields were
sought to be converted to builds concrete monsters which got heads turning
through out Goa.
The rich and the effluent are increasing looking to Goa as a holiday
destination and buying properties in Goa which has fuelled the need for more
and more houses, putting pressure on land and fueling real estate pries to a
new height.
Goa is increasingly a party destination for many and industrialist and
member of parliament and King isher company boss Vijay Mallaya has his
holiday home in Candolim in North Goa, like him many smalltime industrialist
and film actors have Goan holiday homes.
The hustle and bustle of tourism has brought its own sets of ills which has
affected a small section of Goan society. Youths from the coastal villages
have fallen in for a lavish and flashy life style. A life style fueled by
the easy money from the tourism trade, a trade which extends from the legal
business of hiring scooter boats, boat trips, two wheeler motor cycle hire
while others are into the drug business.
Some invariantly end from being pushers of the trade to smoking or
injecting one dose or two many - in the process. The tourism trade has seen
many a naïve Goan youth fall prey to the flesh and end in misery of
suffering from AIDS.
Tourism which has brought in lot of child sex offenders to Goa while Goa's
most notorious child porn convicted offender Freedy Peats died two years
back, there are many who have escaped, thanks to the loopholes which Goan
police provided for the offenders to escapes from the clutches of
justice. The Goa police, presenting a weak case before the judiciary.
Kashmir as a tourist destination is under threat with the continued
militancy in the state and a large umber of residents have shifted base here
to do business and the local population have blamed them for being one of
the many agents involved in fuelling the drug trade.
Goans have been migratory birds and have made careers in different
countries, The recent craze is to have a Portuguese passport which makes one
an European citizen, thousands and thousands have migrated to Europe via
this route. And many more are waiting for their applications to be processed
by the Portuguese consulate in Goa.
The migration has left a vacuum in the local tourism industry which has been
filled in by the cooks and waiters from Nepal.
The temporary beach shacks have also found a foreign influence with Goans
willing to sublet the shack for a yearly contract to a foreign tourist or
for an Indian entrepreneur.
The conduct of business by foreign tourist on holiday visa have ruffled a
few Goan business community but that has been a small murmur and not build
up into a big roar loud enough to be heard over the ferocious waves lashing
the shore.
Industrialization also had its effect and the worst sufferers in recent
times have been Cuncolim village wherein Aresin components have been found
to have percolated into the water layers of the village.
And as Nandkumar Kamat writes Arsenic in groundwater ..
"Arsenic pollution of groundwater is dangerous and irreversible. Millions of
people in many parts of the world are exposed to arsenic in drinking water,
often naturally occurring in ground water, exceeding the guideline of 10ug
As dm-3 recommended by the World Health Organisation... So the arsenic
leachate plume may by now have spread over the entire acquifer of Cuncolim
town and surrounding areas. Therefore, the detection of allegedly
anthropogenic Arsenic in the groundwater of Cuncolim industrial estate is
the most disturbing news from the angle of public health and ecotoxicology
in the industrial and environmental history of Goa... Arsenic has been
linked to caner of the bladder, lungs, skin, kidney, nasal passages, liver
and prostrate. These problems obviously do not occur immediately but over a
period of time. These would be seen among those who use the arsenic
contaminated groundwater or consume fruits or vegetables irrigated with such
water ... "
The positives of liberation has been the improved road system, electricity,
water supply and communications.
But then old timers gloat eloquently of the gone by Portuguese days while
bemoaning the fact that the beauracy and the government that they have is
not the thing they had envisaged when they fought for freedom from the
Portuguese.
Certainly Goa are reaping what they have sowed. Repeated elections have
given them a chance to throw the corrupt and useless politicians and bring
in new faces and with it ring in new changes. But that has not happened
with old faces ruling the state some for thirty to forty years and getting
elected in their respective constituencies.
They had a chance to throw the corrupt and useless out and bring about a
change. Will Goans rise and glean in the changes that have been looking to
make Goa an ideal Indian state. They hold the key. Will they open the key
and with it open a new door to a new Goa, is a questions best answers by the
Goans themselves.
Till then Sridhar Kamat of Goa bachoao Abihyan ( Save Goa movement) and
like minded citizens are planning another revolution of sorts. Backed by
personalities from different fields which include pop sensation Remo
Fernandes, the group are bracing themselves for another movement to bring an
awareness to the ills affecting Goan society and the threats that it holds
for them in the coming days and years.
Till then an uneasy claim prevails over the Arabian sea as the Tourism
department get to the perennial knotty issue of allotment of beach shacks
for the season. (ENDS)
The Armstrong Augusto Vaz column can be found at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=919
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