WHAT THE STARS FORETELL FOR PANAJI BY Stephen Dias Social Activist Dona Paula 9422443110 13 th December 2021
The election to Goa Assembly will be done by February 2022. There are various aspirants for the post of Panjim MLA in the various political parties of Goa. Panjim being the capital city is important to all the political parties. Winning Panjim is a matter of prestige in Goa and any party which wins Goa would aim and expect to go to win the parliamentary elections of 2024. Issues before Panjim are many; 1. We don't have a proper garbage management plant in place. 2. The sewage released from Casinos is dumped in the Sewage Treatment plant (STP) at Tonca despite exceeding its capacity resulting in pollution of the St. Inez Creek and the river Mandovi. 3. The garbage of Panjim is not scientifically treated and the garbage plant planned at Bainguinim is so far a non-starter. Now, we have a long time patron in charge of Panjim vying for the Panjim seat on a BJP ticket but the court case of the stoning of the Panjim Police station is like a sword over his head. The hard-core BJP party workers want Utpal Parrikar to be the Panjim candidate. Time only will tell what will happen. Interestingly the Congress is fighting hard to win Panjim which they lost when Babush won on the Congress ticket and defected to BJP. At the moment Congress have many aspirants for Panjim -- Some of which I can count are Babush Monserrate, Utpall Parrikar, Uday Madkaikar, Surendra Furtado, Menino de Cruz among others. Among the other parties the Aam Aadmi Party has got the very well educated and clean politician Valmiki Naik. It is not known yet if the TMC and MGP union which is just formed is going to fill a common candidate for Panjim. What is very important for the residents of Panjim to consider is who among these candidates will be best suited to meet the most critical challenges: 1. Will the Casinos from River Mandovi be removed. 2. Will the candidate be able to give a Garbage Treatment plant for Panjim. 3. Whether the St Inez creek and Mandovi will be desilted and sewage pollution in the river would be stopped. 4. Whether the construction of the monstrous and environmentally dangerous terminal building on the jetty near the existing Captain of Ports will be stopped. 5. Will he or she address the parking woes of the city as Casino vehicles, scooters, tourists, tempos, tankers, tour buses are choking all the arteries of Panjim streets and making loud noises not allowing the nearby residents to sleep and to move due to traffic congestion on pavements and roads. There is heavy dust pollution and buses moving without Pollution certificates thus they too emitting black smoke throughout their journey with impunity in front of traffic policemen who fail to issue Challans. All the above are causing respiratory ailments which can have far reaching consequences, specially with Covid infections starting to spike again, and must not be neglected by those seeking votes from Panjimites. 5. MIRAMAR beach has turned into an eye sore where you can see number of illegal construction including a huge Samadi construction is in progress. To shut People's mouth a recreation facility and garden has been made. Those who frequent from Miramar to Dona Paula know the whole stretch of road is smelling of sewage and bad smell at certain pockets specially near the new Vivanta hotel and also near the Goa Science Centre area. We have already seen the BJP has no interest in removing the Casinos. In fact since they have been in power for more than 10 years we have to acknowledge they are incapable of doing any of the things on this list. All they can do is promise a Smart City. Notice I said 'promise'. That's all our Goan politicians can typically do. Make promises they can't deliver. Only our government could have the nerve to talk about Panjim as a Smart City while you have multiple illegalities going on and even basics like the number of huge trees fallen down are unattended. Our roads are in a dilapidated condition with a number of pot holes all over Panjim. Even their pride and joy - the Atal Sethu - can't be used half the time. I think the best symbol of the plight we are in is one of the streetlights put up with great fanfare costing lakhs each, which stands broken and destroyed for some years now... Abandoned to be consumed by the elements. Not even worthy of being removed apparently. The government only knows how to spend our money on the facade. The house may be falling down but they will pay a huge amount to cover it in poor quality paint and pretend all is well. Let's wait and watch if any candidate will care enough to solve the structural issues that face Panjim instead of only putting on a show before the elections. Stephen Dias