There are two clear examples of audacious thinking and action on the Goan scene. Significantlly both are alien to Goa. The first is the Navy at Dabolim which has hung on tenaciously since 1962 after being handed Dabolim on a platter after Liberation and deciding to become a power in naval aviation. Its flight training fig leaf has only resulted in the loss of half its fleet of Sea Harriers over two decades till now. But nothing can make it budge for the sake of civilian traffic. Whatever strategy it has is enough to keep it a step or two ahead of the bumbling state government.
The other may be a contemporary and a neighbour: Zuari Agro Industries. A massive fertiliser factory cheek by jowl with an airport. Here is Goa which has hardly any agriculture worth the name and yet this factory (which can potentially produce explosive material) landed there decades ago possibly causing the first big case of water pollution in India. Then there was CHOGM which led to a burst of infrastructure activity -- roads, jetties, helipads even. It provided the model for IFFI two decades later which has in 2007 barely escaped from being labeled a flop show when it returned to its core focus, films, after floundering about in the first three episodes. The areas which are crying out for audacious thinking and action today include electricity supply, water supply, garbage collection and disposal, sewerage systems, road network repair and extension, affordable housing, environmental and heritage conservation etc -- state wide and not in oases here and there. Can Goa rise to the challenge with grace and elan? Let's hope so.
