On November 21, two big events got underway in Goa - the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) and the sacred Exposition of the relics of our beloved St Francis Xavier. Now the point here is, this is the time when all eyes are on Goa and we are expected to have a lot of visitors from various parts of the country and world as we really showcase all our glory and splendour to the world. But what is really happening is that when people are coming into Goa at this point of time, they are facing one of the worst ever traffic situation.
Locals in Goa, especially in Panjim, Porvorim, Old Goa, Ribander and surrounding areas are facing dangerous times with lives being lost due to roads dug up for various kinds of projects.
Panjim city and its surrounding areas are in a complete mess. The area between Porvorim and Panjim is an absolute nightmare because of the flyover which is under construction. The Old Goa heritage precinct faces a lot of challenges due to lack of planning, lack of a Master Plan for Old Goa amongst a host of other issues.
But what is most important here is do we really care? Are we sensitive enough? Do we consider events like the Exposition and IFFI just as important dates in a calendar, which need to be ticked off or do we look at a long-term situation where proper planning and organisation can mean a better life for ourselves and a better Goa for all of us?
One basic question is, if we look at the streets where sewage work was done, water is getting filled, roads dug up for laying power cables remain in the same condition. People are dying by falling into the ditches meant for sewage lines and water pipelines. These have become death traps.
Roads have developed potholes and this is a picture everywhere, whether it is Panjim or other places.
Reacting to these observations, Soter D’Souza, a senior columnist, said, “I think we have to look at this whole issue very minutely. We have one of the most corrupt governments in place and I think it’s a vicious circle. All the scams that are being unearthed, we will find that people are also involved in what you call greasing the wheels of this corruption. Finally, what you see is the outcome of things haphazardly done, poor quality work and yet people are not opening their eyes.”
Terming today’s politics as “abusive”, D’Souza said that “people have normalised” this abusive politics.
“If a government digs up the roads, people start using the footpath. One can see vehicles plying on the footpaths if the roads are dug up. So, people just take things for granted. They don’t value their own personal lives. Human dignity basically is not respected. So, I don’t care. As long as I can get my work done - whether I pay cash or whether I ride, drive over someone - as long as I’m getting my work done and my life is going on, I’m happy. I’m not bothered who is getting killed and this is a very vicious cycle. And this is getting more deadly. Innocent people are dying,” he said.
Putting the onus on the people themselves for this situation, the veteran columnist said that in a democracy, people are the ones who elect the government and till such corrupt candidates will get elected by the people, such problems will remain.
What is shocking is, in 2015 O Heraldo had done a story about the Dona Paula-Miramar Road, which was in a mess just before the IFFI. Now almost a decade later, if we are talking about the same story about other roads being in a mess during the IFFI, it means that either the governance has not moved or people have taken the shoddy work for granted, because you cannot be digging the same road repeatedly and saying we are making ducts for laying pipelines, we are doing sewage work. This cannot be an endless long playing record, which is jarring.
Responding to this, D’Souza said, “Earlier this week, a headline in the O Heraldo said ‘Is Goa is ready to welcome the world for the Exposition’ or something like that. I think the government is ever ready to welcome anyone at any time, as long as Goans are playing doormats for the tourists. We are doormats for the world. Nobody respects us here.”
He said that once the tourists set foot here, they decide the laws, they decide everything. The locals are just left gazing at these people.
The Exposition of course is a connoisseur of all eyes. Old Goa is a very solemn and beautiful location. People from all faiths have gathered to view the sacred relics of St Francis Xavier, which has been brought out. But the larger story that needs to be looked at here is, what is the future of the Old Goa’s heritage precinct?
It has become like a game for so-called planners, because what has happened is, right now there is no special Master Plan for Old Goa. If you look at all the cities, actually Heritage structures have a separate planning, where you cannot do any kind of haphazard development.
Also the other thing is, the local body there, whether it’s the panchayat or the local authorities, according to what we’ve heard, has literally no control over what is happening in Old Goa.
When the Regional Plan against which all citizens fought, the 2011 plan, that is the time when Edgar Ribeiro had written a letter to the then chief minister Manohar Parrikar, saying that before you do anything, please have a separate plan for Old Goa and protect it, because down the line if you don’t do this, you will lose the heritage structure forever. Of course, he did not receive any reply to that letter, he still waits for it. But the point here is that his words have come to be extremely true now after so many years and may God give him a long life and health, but he has to live to see this day very painfully. So, the point being is that Old Goa has gone completely out of hand.
Elaborating on this crucial issue, Glen Cabral, a resident of Old Goa, said, “Few years back, a bungalow had come up illegally, which was built in the protected area. We were shouting that this will set a precedent for other illegalities. Since last one year, we have been seeing a lot of zone change going on. Farmers are allowed in the protected area.”
“After a lot of protests, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at last managed to get up their buffer zones and their boundaries on the Regional Plan. It was not there earlier. Because of that loophole the builder was allowed to do construction activities in Old Goa,” Cabral said.
So now, after last year, they had in the gazette, they managed to get boundaries on the Regional Plan. So, at present, ASI boundaries are marked, but the State boundaries are still not marked. Now, whatever illegal structures are coming up, like farm houses, it’s coming around the State monument.
“So TCP is exactly making use of this loophole. The boundaries are not marked on the Regional Plan for State monument. Whatever zone changes are happening, it’s all within the 100 m of the State monument. I don’t think the government is very serious about the heritage. Already there is a signature campaign going on to save Old Goa’s heritage site. Already 40,000 people have signed on the petition, insisting upon a master plan that would be heritage-centric. That is the only way we can save whatever is left of Old Goa,” he said.
The usual sign boards like no pain no gain are put on the road whenever there is any big infrastructure project coming up. One can say that a flyover is needed for connectivity and so on and so forth. But the point is nobody knows for how many years this pain has to be endured by people in and around Porvorim and Socorro. In fact, the spill over effect has gone right up to Guirim and beyond.
So the point is that the travelling time between Mapusa and Panjim at times during peak hours goes up to 1 hour 45 minutes, if not more. Now how do you balance between the need of a facility like a flyover and not causing hardships to commuters?
Responding to the question, Wilbur Ticlo, a social activist, said, “On August 5, I wrote a letter to the Panchayat of Socorro, in which I penned down some points, because I could foresee road traffic congestion problems. I had said that there should be traffic police at all the junctions. The roads have to be patched up, there can’t be potholes as people lose control and fall and many accidents have taken place,” Ticlo said.
“Then I said there must be proper lighting on the internal roads, because the traffic is being diverted. No cattle should be on the roads and their movement should be controlled. The owner should be held responsible for any accident involving cattle. No carts and kiosks should be allowed at the junctions as it leads to traffic congestion. I had put down all these points and handed it to the panchayat and I had given copies to the MLAs,” he said.
“The other day I was in Socorro panchayat and asked the Secretary about what was he doing about my letter? He said the issue would be taken up with the traffic police. I said that it was high time to take action on my letter because there is total mess and the dust pollution that is being created, is really killing people,” he said.
When the new Zuari Bridge was being built, we understand that it also took a lot of time. But the point here is the areas that were impacted during the new Zuari Bridge construction were not in the middle of congested residential areas. The situation here is that you are basically cutting through deep residential areas, malls and other existing commercial structures, which is really impacting lives.
But the point here is that why cannot there be some kind of a mechanism to challenge this? There is a spirited advocate from Margo who has filed a petition on this but the point is what do we need? Instead of lamenting for so many years, what do we do here?
“I think now the citizens have to get ready to go to court. First give a warning to the authorities to implement all these things which are required to ensure safety of the residents, along with that of tourists who are coming in. There will be pilgrims walking long distances all the way from our borders into Panjim and Old Goa. The road conditions are bad. There’s muck all over. So it’s high time the government takes control and makes the contractor responsible,” Ticlo said.
“See, the contractor is earning big money. Where it is going and whose pockets are getting filled, needs to be looked into, because there is so much corruption, nobody cares and it’s affecting the residents. There’s a floating population in Porvorim. Traffic is moving all around Guirim. It’s become a mess. So we have to give a time frame to the authorities concerned - the PWD, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the local politicians, the MLA, the minister concerned – so that the situation could be improved. If nothing works, then we should move the court,” the activist said.
The basic problem seems to be whether you look at Porvorim or anywhere else, the voice of the people are on the roads, but the power of the people and the local bodies and local institutions has been completely taken over through a centralised approach, because of which our panchayats have no control over their own village and its planning.
D’Souza said, “I think we activists or NGOs have been responsible for local people giving up their responsibilities today. Many people call me and ask what am I doing, or anything is happening. I agree to help, but the people should get together first, because now many projects are coming up. We are having severe water and power problems in Porvorim. There are multi-storied projects coming up there.”
“People call me saying 1,000 flats are coming up, is anything being done on it? I say it’s affecting them. I will help, but I’m not going to put my name because then they say that only Sotor is doing it. That should not be the case, because then they back off,” D’Souza said.
The conclusion here is the government as well as the people have to act, because at the end of the day, unless the people act, the government will not do anything.
While two big events are happening in Goa, our governance has become so skewed and so different from what it was, that the common man on the streets, the local bodies and others no longer have the power and the strength to control the destiny of people in the manner they ultimately want.
This is the biggest takeaway because while you have the development going on in one side, we also need to ask this question as to whose development are we actually talking about.
This is very important and the point is ultimately taking people for granted is not a good thing in any civil society, because when you lose four innocent lives who fall into ditches and gutters and die because of these open gutters due to this so-called Smart City work, then there is something really rotten in the State that we are living in. These are the questions that need to be asked, because it is not smart when you have four people dying on the so-called Smart City or other roads.
It is not smart when people have to spend two hours to come from Mapusa to Panjim. It is not smart when Old Goa is in a state of losing its heritage tag. This is not smart and it is also not smart when people remain silent spectators and wait for only activists to go to the police. In all these aspects, we are not smart.