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Documented by Goa Desc Resource Centre (GDRC)
Email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Rape and Murder of Goa
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by Bevinda Colaco
Typically the common man or woman is not really bothered about the
Goa Regional Plan 2011. A school teacher said, "Eh, who knows about politics,
I don't follow it. They're all crooks." A film columnist of Goan
origin from Mumbai here
for the IFFI, said "If the Congress government is doing it, it cannot
be bad. The BJP
is bad." Locals I have met and spoken with about the Plan, make all
the right noises,
but you can see the bewilderment in their eyes. They don't understand
what the fuss
is all about. "That Monserrate no? He only's doing all this things."
The Save Goa forum was launched last week with a panel of passionate speakers,
but one among them had a very simple message. Take our current
problems he said,
waste disposal, sewerage, electricity, roads, traffic management,
vector borne diseases,
abysmal public transport and finally potable water. These are sectors
that seem to be
barely adequate for 13,00,000 people, but are currently falling apart
with the influx of
tourists and migrants which more than double the standing population
of Goa. That is
the pathetic condition today. Imagine the chaos tomorrow.
The projects that are being welcomed into Goa are non-polluting. They
are deluxe
starred hotels, luxury housing projects, non-polluting industrial
estates, golf courses etc.
There will be a continuous stream of people coming into Goa to stay,
migrants and
professionals. The housing colonies that are coming up will be
islands of luxury,
guzzling water, power increasing in number with no plans for garbage disposal.
The Regional Plan makes no provision for sewerage or waste disposal.
Huge areas
of green forest land will be bulldozed and turned into concrete. The
climate of this state
will change. The initial burst of construction activity gave Goa
varieties of malaria and
encephalitis. Now we have been introduced to chikungunya and dengue. What next?
The ancient rhythms of Goa which had disappeared in areas like
Calangute and Mapusa
will die out all together if Goa's hinterland turns into luxury
playgrounds for the rich and
infamous. Our living spaces will shrink; the famous gracious Goan
lifestyle will be relegated
to a few glossy coffee table books. Our children will curse us for
allowing this Regional Plan
of 2011 to see the light of day.
"The Plan is a deliberate, brutal and savage rape and murder on your
daughter." said an angry
Dr. Oscar Rebello. " We want three answers to three questions: For
whom is this development
taking place? If it is not for us, sorry gentlemen, we don't want it.
How fast is this development
taking place? There is a pace for everything in life. When you are
this fast you are wrong and
you are trying to hide something. But however fast you run, we will
catch you. What kind of
development do we want?
Once those projects are up there, once the land is devastated, once
the hills are cut, then it
will be too late for Goans to stand up and shout. This is a political
battle with the survival of
Goa at stake. We have to protest and protest loudly. Everyone is a
Goan, who have the good
of Goa at heart and out there is the anti-Goan who is also made up of
Goans born in this soil,
who are eager to sell out this land and destroy it.
The very secrecy in conjuring up a Plan for the destruction of Goa as
we know it should act
as a Red Alert for us as a people. The people of Goa have a right to
know and the people of
Goa have a right to say, "No".
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Herald 10/12/06 page 12
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SAVE GOA - Chalo Azad Maidan, Panjim on Monday 18th December - 3pm
Join the Rally and say NO to the Goa Regional Plan 2011
for more information visit www.savegoa.com
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GOA CIVIC AND CONSUMER ACTION NETWORK
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promoting civic and consumer rights in Goa
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GOACAN Post Box 187 Margao, Goa 403 601
GOACAN Post Box 78 Mapusa, Goa 403 507
mailto: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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