We need accountability, collective responsibility TNN, Jun 26, 2010, 04.30am IST
Goans can’t continue to run scared of uncertainty. When trust is in place and all Goans are responsible for the collective development of the state, it will lead to progress, says Wendell Rodricks.
Those who say that development is bad for Goa actually mean to say that the change in Goa is at too rapid a pace. It is foolish not to want progressive development.
Who does not want a clinic and a doctor in each village? A playground? A job opportunity? We all do. Goans must comprehend that even progressive development comes at a price. Trees will be cut. Land will be levelled.We must accept that! What people cannot accept are doubts about the intent of the administrators of power, real estate developers, mega project developers and entrepreneurs solely with private gain on their minds.
Goans are educated enough to know about ill intent. They can figure out a kickback commission on a bird-brained project like a sea link. Or an airbus. Or another airport. In a state as small as Goa, there is a genuine concern that in 20 years, the state will be a concrete skeleton. There are far too many homes and spaces left unused or under litigation. At some point we Goans need to decide how much is enough. Since it is almost every Indian’s wish to have a home in Goa, are we going to accommodate one billion people’s dreams? The vast housing projects, on paper and in reality, enjoy one week occupancy of the actual owner per year.Will Goa become a concrete jungle of unused homes?
It will; going by what we see in Calangute, Baga and all over Goa. Empty buildings with three or four families in permanent residence. Certainly, no one has given a thought for basic amenities like water and power for this influx of catastrophic proportions.
Questions are raised accompanied with valid doubts.Who are we building for? Is this building spree not an exploitation of real estate? Where will Goa get the natural and manmade resources to support the population growth? When will this migration end? Should we not control it to a point?
What are also questionable are the comparisons with the rest of India. What works in Gujarat will not work here.And vice versa.Why do we have IT plans when there is no infrastructure and no Goans to man these grand plans? The environment is a big concern. Not just for us humans. What about the silent creatures of the earth? Level a hill for an airport with no concern for the butterflies, the birds, and the wildlife. Are we fair to rob cows of their grazing grounds? Do we dream that our pollution will give us fish in our rivers in ten years? Can we not see that we have placed factories on grazing land and now sacred cows forage in garbage piles? Disgraceful. Disrespect for religious animals as well. Disrespect for our children as they will never see the Goa we enjoyed.
Another consideration is how long Goa will stay flavour of the country and of the world at large. Tourists flocked to the south of France, then Ibiza, later the Algarve, now South America. Goa is the latest trend. But for how long? We should recall that the boom in tourism for Goa began with the LTTE problem in Sri Lanka. It is then that charters shifted to the safer holiday destination Goa so easily became. We must accept that we will be surpassed by Assam or Meghalaya, and other nearby countries on the globe. In a few years it will not be so chic to own a home or apartment in Goa. Fashionable dictates will drive people elsewhere.
What happens then? More concrete skeletons and a cheaper tourist? My greatest fear is that if there is no plan in place,Goa may lose out on its biggest earner—tourism. Goa enjoys a reputation (sullied too often in the recent past) for being a tourist destination. With the excessive development rate, tourism will suffer.
The only solution is to plan for Goa. Install a core group of people who can plan for the state with no personal gain for themselves. We need development in terms of infrastructure, jobs and social welfare. The future of Goa’s financial situation should be long term. Not a shortterm scheme which cannot sustain itself after a mere five years.
One of the lasting impressions of living in the Western world is how politicians and world leaders leave behind a cultural, architectural or social legacy. Mitterrand left behind a great library and a modern Arche de la Defense. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy left an airport in her husband’s name. Closer home we associate Pratapsingh Rane with the Kala Academy and Manohar Parrikar for starting IFFI.
The chief minister and his MLAs should discuss a 20-year-plan of future direction and in what condition Goa should be in the next century. One of the problems most Indian states face is the lack of a concrete plan for the future. The planning commission apparently does no planning.
It is simply a body that accepts budget requests from various ministries and passes them onto the Centre (with no input whatsoever). Our needs will change each month. But if things are planned well, it will be an administrative coup. To foolishly imagine that a two-lane highway must become four lanes and then eight lanes and then ten lanes... Is it not wiser to keep the two lanes in place and figure out ways and means to control traffic?
The “shifting of the goal posts” must stop.We need to decide what is the maximum population we can sustain, how much of Goa will be green, the social, cultural and economic future of villages and cities.When one does a study of areas that need planning, one realizes, ironically, that there is a ministry for each concern. Power, health, PWD, environment, culture, education, tourism, home and agriculture.What would be ideal is if each minister is allotted a budget to spend but is held accountable, like in a business enterprise.At the moment, it is all about spending a budget or requesting a budget. How about if the budget is sanctioned and a return with interest stipulated in a set time frame? It is only then that there will be total accountability and not a waste of public money.
In areas where the government has handed out contracts to private sectors, they have enjoyed success for both parties. If the ministries of municipal administration, panchayats, PWD, environment, tourism and the chief minister (who are all affected by the garbage management issue) solicit and grant to a private contractor with a track record for success the task of waste collection, the garbage problem will vanish. There is a lot to be done. And developed. When trust is in place and all Goans are responsible for the collective development of Goa, it will lead to progress.
Who says Goa does not need development? It is the need of the hour! http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/We-need-accountability-collective-responsibility/articleshow/6093062.cms
