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Sign the Petition requesting The Honble Minister of State for Environment
and Forests (I/C) to maintain the moratorium on issuing further
environmental clearances for mining activities in Goa
http://goanvoice.org.uk/miningpetition.php
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Infrastructure Development Is The Need Of The Hour
It is indeed good to know, that the Prime Minister and the Planning Commission
are showing, the desire to revamp the infrastructure in the country, as per the
R & T Minister Mr. Kamal Nath, starting 2012, it will be the decade of
infrastructure. No doubt late, but anytime, better than never, is what comes to
mind.
Under the 12th five year plan, the centre proposes, to double the infrastructure
spending, to one trillion dollars. It is a very beefy amount indeed, but deemed
fit to meet the needs of growing and glowing India. The authorities will have to
make sure, that utmost efforts are made to translate this beefy talk into
colossal action. Infrastructure development is the need of the hour. It is most
certainly a welcome action in the right direction.
The bug from Delhi must have flown to Goa, as few days ago, our very own CM
said, that greater stress would be given to infrastructure development in the
state. In case of Goa it is much easier said, than done. The track record of
Goa, as far as performance is concerned, is abysmal and the Planning
department's forays leave much to be desired, and should be rightly named as the
non planning department.
In Goa we are still surviving on more than two decades old infrastructure,
planning departments are suppose to plan for adequacies, a couple of decades
ahead, taking into consideration the fast growing needs, of the fast growing
people, but unfortunately in Goa our politicians and bureaucrats alike,
certainly lack the required foresight, as their sights are locked and hooked
only on accumulation of wealth and power for themselves. The cruel paradox is
that, insatiability and self indulgence, which many of us find repulsive, seem
to be, an inherently 'natural' phenomena in most of our politicians.
As a result of the prevailing high level of corruption and greed in Goan
politics, the developmental progress has taken a heavy beating and has suffered
sever setbacks, as the policies of our Government are neither seminal nor
enlightening, but seem to be scattershot combination of inept and derogatory
measures rather than cohesive, constructive and viable strategies for
development.
For infrastructural development, land is the most essential or pivotal
commodity, in Goa because of the destructive development and the fraudulent
large scale sale of communidade land and encroachment on the remaining, land has
become a very scarce commodity, and to add to the woes, Government has acquired
disproportionate amount of land in the name of SEZ, the coastal areas have been
taken up by the CRZ and the forest area and mountains have been hijacked by
miners and the common man is left with very little to squat on, this has set
extremely dangerous precedent, and if not tackled now could be disasterours for
the future.
Tolerance and forbearance of the Goan people, should not be mistaken for lack of
interest or timidity or even cowardice by our politicians, just thinking that we
are on the right track, will not help us because, even if we are on the right
track, if we don't move along with the flow, there is a distinct possibility
that we could get run over.
Goa badly needs to upgrade and out grow it's infrastructural inadequacies, so as
to help growth, because infrastructure development does help to fuel economic
growth in more ways than one. I sincerely hope that our politicians will work
for the growth and prosperity of Goa and Goans rather then their own.
Freddy Agnelo Fernandes
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