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Visit http://www.garcabranca.com for details/booking/confirmation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- June 1, 2006 The Editor, Herald, Panaji, Goa Sir, While Shantaram Naik has warned Goans not to tolerate "at any cost" those "opposing projects for getting pecuniary or political advantage", (Herald, May 31, 2006), he has alas, he has alas, not seen fit to enlighten the people of Goa as to how they are to judge if a person's opposition to developmental projects is based on pecuniary gain or political advantage. It is imperative that developmental projects need to be publicly debated and examined threadbare before being executed after much serious thought and consideration, taking differing viewpoints into account, since Goa is an extremely small state with limited land holdings and ill conceived development can have irrevocable and disastrous consequences for our little state. As part of the Congress Party, Shantaram Naik probably views the Congress Government's developmental works through rose tinted glasses. People of course, have a different perspective. Most of those who have been on the receiving end of the governments grandiose developmental works, allege that these projects are undertaken by the Government, precisely for either pecuniary gain or political mileage - the very same motives that Shantaram Naik attributes to the opponents of developmental works. And in the words of Shantaram Naik, should we dub the Government as an "enemy of the state" for the disaster their so called "developmental projects" have wreaked on the local populace? The twenty point programme initiated by the Congress Party is a prime example of developmental work coldbloodedly conceived for political mileage. If Shantaram Naik really seeks to undertand the consequences of his Party's developmental plans, then should visit the twenty point programme at Nagoa Salcete, to see for himself how land which was taken from Goans is now fully in the hands of rich and well to do migrants in total violation of conditions on which it was allocated in the first place, with no corrective action or accountability from the enforcing authorities over the years. Once upon a time, the residents of the villages surrounding the Verna Industrial Estate lived in a pristine environment, enjoying abundant water sourced from their perennial wells. Then came the development of the Verna Industrial Estate, also initiated by Shantaram Naik's esteemed Congress party, which we were told we should welcome, as it would provide employment to locals, just as Shantaram Naik today tells us we should welcome the development of the National Highway from Patradevi to Polem. The stark reality however, is that today, we still have no employment for locals, although the lands have been forcibly taken over from them. Instead, the villagers have to tolerate an unending influx of migrant labour irreversibly changing their demography and utilising the once unblemished environment as a public toilet. Since practically every industry has arbitarily sunk borewells in the absence of provision of adequate water supply as promised by the Government, villagers are now contending with dry wells, for the first time ever, not to mention polluted ground water. This developmental project was apparently conceptualised by Shantaram Naik's Congress Government without any thought as to where industrial waste would be dumped and whether the residents would appreciate the ugly urbanisation of their villages. That is why we are now seeing an increase in protests by cynical and distrustful Goans wherever the Government moots one of its so called developmental plans. Therefore, in the light of past experience, all of us, including Shantaram Naik, need to seriously ponder over the issue of who is the actual enemy of the state. Is it the Government who initiates and implements ill conceived development or the party/individual who sticks his neck out and risks going against the establishment to question and raise relevant objections, which I may point out, the Government has the choice to publicly refute if it has a valid response. But then, Shantaram Naik can hardly be expected to look upon "pecuniary gain" involved with development with an unbiased eye, since it is indisputably his Congress Party that boasts, tolerates and in fact nurtures the largest number of inexplicable "rags to riches" stories amongst its members. Diana Pinto _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list (Goanet@goanet.org)