Re: [Goanet] Tyranny of Mega Housing Projects effecting Goans
491 should read 451 years of the Portuguese presence. The error on my part is regretted. John Menezes Date: Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:34:00 -0500 From: "john menezes" To: "Goanet" Tyranny of Mega-Housing Projects Today, November 25, is the 499th. anniversary of the liberation of Goa by Afonso de Albuquerque. 491 years of the Portuguese presence have given Goa a distinctive ambience and elegance which the non-Goans both in India and abroad have recently discovered through the new communication links
[Goanet] Tyranny of Mega Housing Projects effecting Goans (appeared in Herald)
Tyranny of Mega-Housing Projects Gated communities are foreign to our culture. They are creating a new class system, says PETER FERNANDES The elected representatives are making a mockery of our civilisation. These leaders are nurturing a culture that dehumanises our citizenry, making them nonentities and dashing helpless people against brick walls of stupidity. This is clear, as the amendment to the Panchayati Raj Act 1994 is approved. What an irony! ‘Mega-Housing Projects’ are determined to rule our villages and towns. This monster is very powerful, as money is flowing from every quarter to silence the voice and slaughter the will of the people. Still worse is the demise of our beautiful and sublime environment. Nature at the moment is silently absorbing the wrath of greed and muscle power. However, the natural world ultimately will have the last laugh; only it will be too late for the majority of people to laugh with nature. At the very outset, we must grasp the nature of gated communities. They are foreign to our culture, and appendices to our civilisation. They create a sense of elitism, and those within keep apart from the rest of the society. They are creating a new class system. Let history be our teacher at this crucial juncture, to reinforce a valuable lesson. Never forget the great generations who lived before us, who fought and gave their lives to emancipate the oppressed and to abolish segregation, in order to establish an egalitarian society. Why are we reversing the vision of our forefathers? Perhaps they were ‘fools’ to envision such a concept, of building a just and happy society for all to live in as neighbours. Gated communities dismiss whatever happens outside their walls. For them, it is of no consequence. More often than not, they turn away from participating in social activities, especially to help the less fortunate. The evil of gated communities is that they suck in all the valuable resources of a place and, without a twinge of guilt, they unleash their filth and waste outside their walls, keeping their lives insulated and isolated, as they live a fantasy life in a paradise usurped from the locals. ‘Mega-Housing Projects’ are a source of gleeful satisfaction for our politicians. Come what may, they are not concerned about the repercussions from such evil schemes, as long as their pockets are filled with unaccounted money received from the builders. To protect builders and their interests, our leaders are breeding gangs. The growing number of gangs in Goa is a very frightening scenario. On top of that, our police forces conduct their duties at the behest of the politicians. This is a double-edged sword hanging over the ordinary citizens, who feel the pressure, then yield rather than fight what seems to them to be a losing battle. Consequently, this ill-gotten gain, from the builders to our politicians, comes to the surface as elections near. Votes are bought for five hundred to a thousand rupees each. Without realising that this booty came from evil devices, naive citizens also partake in the merriment of our politicians. In the not-too-distant past, the price of land in Goa was within reach of the common man. Today, to purchase a parcel of land is a distant dream for the citizens. Those Goans who remained in Goa and never left to find work are denied the dream of owning a home in their own birthplace. Nonetheless, many of our youngest have left Goa, and they toil in distant lands to fulfil their dreams. Sadly, when they try to reach out and touch their dream, it is pushed farther and farther away from them by our greedy politicians, who work hand-in-glove with these builders. The thought of not being able to fulfill their dream has brought despair and disappointment to the lives of so many young Goans working overseas. This faulty vision of our corrupt politicians has put a heavy weight on the people, and they see themselves almost crushed, yet no politician will lift a finger to lighten their burden. Goa’s infrastructure has been languishing for attention and upgradation for decades now, yet the cry is not heard by those in positions of power. Every year, it seems to have become a proud moment when we publicise that we have again broken the record of people dying on our roads. Mother Goa cries bitterly: “How long will you keep killing my children on the streets? My children have shed enough blood; will someone take notice? Even weddings in Goa turn tragic.” The cry of Mother Goa continues: “Why do you want to keep my children thirsty when I have enough water to provide for them? Perhaps you have invited more than I can sustain. And, if that is not enough, you are stripping me of my beauty, and throwing your waste all over me. I smell the stench and it upsets me terribly. Besides, the electricity continues to play hide and seek; yet the Mega-Housing Projects mushroom everywhere with each passing day. How
[Goanet] Tyranny of Mega Housing Projects effecting Goans (appeared in Herald)
*Tyranny of Mega Housing Projects effecting Goans (appeared in Herald)* *Tue Nov 24 21:18:50 PST 2009* Tyranny of Mega-Housing ProjectsGated communities are foreign to our culture. They are creating a new class system, says PETER FERNANDES Joao observes: Good article. I hope to see a few more like this one. The message is clear: we want your land, preferably facing the sea on the hillsides. We want Gated communities: we don't want to see Goans, let alone rub shoulders with them. All communicated without using any offensive language - Goanese or any other! Actually, the biggest insults are always unsaid. They can, of course, always rely on us Goans to continually fight one another - that's what we do best! Not completely pessimistic, yours Joao The elected representatives are making a mockery of our civilisation. These leaders are nurturing a culture that dehumanises our citizenry, making them nonentities and dashing helpless people against brick walls of stupidity. This is clear, as the amendment to the Panchayati Raj Act 1994 is approved. What an irony! ‘Mega-Housing Projects’ are determined to rule our villages and towns. This monster is very powerful, as money is flowing from every quarter to silence the voice and slaughter the will of the people. Still worse is the demise of our beautiful and sublime environment. Nature at the moment is silently absorbing the wrath of greed and muscle power. However, the natural world ultimately will have the last laugh; only it will be too late for the majority of people to laugh with nature. At the very outset, we must grasp the nature of gated communities. They are foreign to our culture, and appendices to our civilisation. They create a sense of elitism, and those within keep apart from the rest of the society. They are creating a new class system. Let history be our teacher at this crucial juncture, to reinforce a valuable lesson. Never forget the great generations who lived before us, who fought and gave their lives to emancipate the oppressed and to abolish segregation, in order to establish an egalitarian society. Why are we reversing the vision of our forefathers? Perhaps they were ‘fools’ to envision such a concept, of building a just and happy society for all to live in as neighbours. Gated communities dismiss whatever happens outside their walls. For them, it is of no consequence. More often than not, they turn away from participating in social activities, especially to help the less fortunate. The evil of gated communities is that they suck in all the valuable resources of a place and, without a twinge of guilt, they unleash their filth and waste outside their walls, keeping their lives insulated and isolated, as they live a fantasy life in a paradise usurped from the locals. ‘Mega-Housing Projects’ are a source of gleeful satisfaction for our politicians. Come what may, they are not concerned about the repercussions from such evil schemes, as long as their pockets are filled with unaccounted money received from the builders. To protect builders and their interests, our leaders are breeding gangs. The growing number of gangs in Goa is a very frightening scenario. On top of that, our police forces conduct their duties at the behest of the politicians. This is a double-edged sword hanging over the ordinary citizens, who feel the pressure, then yield rather than fight what seems to them to be a losing battle. Consequently, this ill-gotten gain, from the builders to our politicians, comes to the surface as elections near. Votes are bought for five hundred to a thousand rupees each. Without realising that this booty came from evil devices, naive citizens also partake in the merriment of our politicians. In the not-too-distant past, the price of land in Goa was within reach of the common man. Today, to purchase a parcel of land is a distant dream for the citizens. Those Goans who remained in Goa and never left to find work are denied the dream of owning a home in their own birthplace. Nonetheless, many of our youngest have left Goa, and they toil in distant lands to fulfil their dreams. Sadly, when they try to reach out and touch their dream, it is pushed farther and farther away from them by our greedy politicians, who work hand-in-glove with these builders. The thought of not being able to fulfill their dream has brought despair and disappointment to the lives of so many young Goans working overseas. This faulty vision of our corrupt politicians has put a heavy weight on the people, and they see themselves almost crushed, yet no politician will lift a finger to lighten their burden. Goa’s infrastructure has been languishing for attention and upgradation for decades now, yet the cry is not heard by those in positions of power. Every year, it seems to have become a proud moment when we publicise that we have again broken the record of people dying on our roads. Mother Goa cries bitterly: “How long will you keep killing my children on the streets? My childr
Re: [Goanet] Tyranny of Mega Housing Projects effecting Goans (appeared in
Tyranny of Mega-Housing Projects Today, November 25, is the 499th. anniversary of the liberation of Goa by Afonso de Albuquerque. 491 years of the Portuguese presence have given Goa a distinctive ambience and elegance which the non-Goans both in India and abroad have recently discovered through the new communication links, the Konkan Railway with nodal points in various parts of India, and through the charter flights from Europe including Russia, and predators are at work to grab whatever land is available through their political proxies in Goa. In disgust - with no means to remedy the situation - Goans are emigrating in large numbers. A BBC TV presentation on the British town of Swindon some 10 days ago showed the large population of immigrants there, mainly from Poland and from Goa with the help of Portuguese passports. Several interviewed Goans stated that they may visit Goa but they will never return to Goa for good. On the other hand many Poles have returned to their country in the wake of the economic recession in the West. Portuguese developmental projects worked around the socio-economic and eco systems without hampering or destroying them. Indian developmental projects eat into these systems and desecrate and destroy them, e.g., a creek which provided navigation upto the Mapuça Church but which, some two decades ago, has been blocked at Moira with a landfill to support the Mapuça bypass road. When the Mapuça-Moira road was constructed in the Portuguese period years ago a high-enough sturdy steel girder bridge was built over the same creek to allow for navigation when the road traffic between Mapuça and Moira was just a small fraction of that over the bypass landfill today. Instead of this ghastly landfill with concrete pipes why could a bridge not have been built to respect the creek traffic which served Mapuça and its environs? And who knows how many such projects there are which contribute to the demise of our beautiful environment in Goa? John Menezes, Mumbai, India.
