The Regional Plan issue is heating up, and is even hotter than the hot weather in March. Can we Goan survive the vagaries of nature and the folly and greed of our politicians?
Now is fingerprinting week when every politician has more than ten fingers. Accusations and counter-accusations are flying hither and thither and bring tidings darker than the crows which fly in my backyard. Goa, where are you going? It is time to drop personal attacks. Politicians claim panchas and sarpanchas are not exactly saints. No one thinks they are, and least, the panchas themselves. No Goan needs to be convinced. And, then, there is the war among the politicians themselves, pointing ten and more fingers at each other. All this leaves us with a sense of deja vu. Haven't we seen and heard all this before? Tell us something new! Not a word about the 73rd and 74th amendments which Goans want desperately because with it all the hype of peoples' participation is nothing less or more than smoke and mirrors. Politicians say, people of Goa, tell us your dreams and suggestions, we will listen carefully, and fear not, you will have a participatory role in the shaping of the Regional Plan. Of course, this is all fiction as the people will tell them what they think which will enter though the right ear and immediately out the left! The politicians will overrule what the people want and there is nothing the people can do about it. Now, this is a perfect example of adding insult to injury! The only way out of this kali yuga is to arm the people with powers which they can use to defend themselves against the politicians, and this can only be the 73rd and 74 amendments to the constitution which clearly empowers the people. All else is no more than fairy stories, and the people of Goa have grown up and no longer believe in Santa Claus. Are we building apartments for the whole world to settle in Goa? Maybe, even for aliens? There are lakhs of apartments which are empty! The scenario is ridiculous, and the lies of the politicians are of an embarrassingly low quality and most unlikely to fool even a ten year old child. A sad commentary on the level of intelligence and education of our representatives.
