The blessings of divine forces have generally been kind to Goa. Nature’s fury has escaped us, natural and ecological disasters have not touched us and when through the month of April and early May, Goa inched towards a zero case situation, attention turned to same divine forces which have blessed Goa - the forever presence of our divine Saint Francis Xavier and that of Lord Parshuram, who is believed to have created Goa by shooting an arrow from the Sahyadri mountains.
With the Sahyadri (meaning benevolent mountain) range serving as a fortress, Goa stood protected against any disaster by man, nature or virus
When Goa turned green with no cases of Coronavirus, its government probably felt that the benevolence of the forces which protect Goa had worked again and would continue to do so, The Coronavirus had other ideas. From a green zone to containment areas in Mangor Hill and now Ghodemal with Karaswada and Deulwada as buffer zones, and with slum areas like Chimbel, threatening to become another hot spot, Goa now has 214 cases per 10 lakhs of population. And that by the way is the highest in India.
How did we come down this road? With no difficulty at all with adhocism and confusion right at the top, decision making at various stages has been confusing at its best and abysmal at its worst. One has kept repeating this time and again and one is sure that the government is far too embarrassed to consider replying to this. How did a man travel from Rajasthan to Goa, escape the police at the check post and go to Vasco before heading to his society at Ribandar, get a Goa travel pass to travel from Rajasthan to Goa after he had already entered Goa? An inquiry was promised then. A complaint was also lodged. Nothing further has happened.
And now a COVID positive tavern owner is on the run, now missing is Goa, but already was “missing” in the records of the Delhi Police, and all that the Goa police has is a false address. And Herald rightly asked in its editorial today, if the missing man with a vague address had downloaded the Arogya Sethu app. If the Arogya Sethu app is the ninth or tenth wonder of the world which covers all those who move, why isn’t the mandatory downloading of the app be imposed on all travellers?
But these are just minor warts in the mismanaged landscape. How can a government managing a pandemic in Goa not think of focusing on health infrastructure in its slums and prepare for COVID to erupt there. It’s a recipe for disaster and the disaster dish has now been cooked.
Of course the now regular story of ever-changing SOPs or statements of purposes for people coming into Goa is a given. But look at how it has impacted Goa and Goans. By not making tests mandatory for all, there were many who carried COVID and entered the state because they passed the temperature test. There are clear instances when people entering have demanded being fully tested but were actually shooed away and threatened.
The government then fell to the pressures of the tourism lobby and did not take a firm stand on the 14-day quarantine, giving escape routes like getting COVID negative certificates from the place where they travelled. What if the virus is picked up during travel and shows up when the traveller has potentially infected those she has travelled with or met after arrival?
It then perhaps fell to the pressures of the coal and transport lobby by not locking down Vasco when Mangor Hill became the nerve center of COVID in Goa. The Opposition has rightly asked why has Vasco not been put under a complete lockdown? The administration has not even followed central guidelines of demarcating proper buffer zones in Vasco.
The Sawant government has to step back to decide if it wants to protect the health of its people and control COVID cases or open up. To the Goa government, ‘opening up’ seems to mean allowing people from red hot COVID zones like Delhi and Mumbai, with the funds to pay for everything, (yes and that really includes every luxury of any nature they could afford in normal times) to travel and enjoy themselves in their second homes and private villas.
Opening up has no linkage with getting its seafarers back, because our sons and daughters of the soil who have come back have gone through the full protocol of pre-tests and institutional quarantine, even after reaching their home soil, with their families and homes close by.
Hence this begs the question, aren’t we putting Goans who live here at grave risk by shoddy, constantly changing protocols which simply makes it easier for the entire country to get in, when our own returning brethren, stranded for days, are following stricter protocols. And if there is an argument around this, anyone defending the government’s handling should be asked if 300 plus cases from zero cases in this short span of time is worth anything.
The political leadership, headed by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has to be accountable. While the government will never admit it, it is clear that Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has asked for stricter protocols and guidelines, including a cap on the number of people arriving in Goa. His other senior Cabinet minister from Mormugao taluka Mauvin Godinho, has had to “appeal” to the Chief Minister that a lockdown of the Vasco area is needed. Nothing can be more unfortunate for a State and its people that a cabinet minister has to plead with the Chief Minister to see the sense of locking down a place where COVID is spreading, thereby increasing the risk of spread over a larger area. The shame is too obvious.
At this point of time, having failed to keep the COVID spread in check, its cluelessness about missing COVID patients, with no plan of fortifying the slums from becoming virtual COVID bombs (when the bombs were ticking the government didn’t hear the ticking sadly), the Goa government now faces the challenge of guaranteeing sustainable livelihoods. We are looking at the flower sellers outside temples, the candlemakers outside churches, the people who sell small produce grow locally, basically the most vulnerable in the employment and earning scales to be economically supported.
There is no policy clarity because of which the institutions that need to deliver governance are not executing clear policies. A small example of this is how “letters” or “NOC's issued by ministers, MLAs or even PIs of police stations are accepted as “government permissions” to allow movement, travel, and yes, at times, even to bypass protocol. At times, even a simple phone does it all. Let us ask how the mother-in-law of a panch in Calangute managed to come to Goa from Mumbai, skipped the mandatory COVID test and was later detected COVID positive.
Again we hear from the CM that an “inquiry” has been ordered. Who is the inquiry officer? Has he recorded a single piece of evidence? When will the inquiry be complete and what are the terms of reference?
We will be surprised to get answers to these. When the government literally throws in the dustbin, a Lokayukta’s scathing and deeply powerful report recommending action against those who allowed mining leases to be renewed illegally, will you expect any response to these questions from the common man?
Is it a surprise then that Goa government has done the exact opposite of flattening the curve? It has however effectively managed to flatten people’s confidence in its ability to safeguard the health and safety of its people.