To Goanet - We have the real estate scams, the indiscriminate construction, the cutting of hillsides, and the destruction of Goa's physical assets isotropically.
We have untrammeled growth in mining thanks to Digu, the patron saint of the mining lobby. It is sucking the life out of Goa right now. We have the unchecked influx of outsiders - at the 'higher' end the Sabharwals and Ahujas and Robinsons snapping up villas and apartments, at the low end ghatis from all over India squatting and defecating on any open patch of land they can find (and the Lalu Express from Patna to Goa hasn't even started yet). In other words, we Goans have hit upon the perfect trifecta to screw ourselves dead. I took a drive yesterday from Mapusa to Calangute, then through Parra, Arpora and Anjuna. The encroachments in virtually every field, the proliferation of illegal hawkers along the roadside, the inchoate shanties - the day is not far when we will have mini-Bihars and mini-UPs in Goa. The wretched and the wretchedness of India have taken root in Goa, aided and abetted by the vermin among us Goans. There is no monitoring, no oversight, no administration worth the name. All it takes for the ghati to be in business is a small hafta pressed into the hands of the local panch or sarpanch. Once the ghatis acquire critical mass there will be no rolling back. Remember, every ghati you see in these pictures is a voter fraudulently signed up by your politicians. You will become irrelevant one of these days. So, what will it take for Goans to rise and arrest the decay? Does the ghati have to come defecate on your doorstep? Oh, I see, you'll hire another ghati to clean it up. Then how about in your mouth? Would that agitate you? Take a look at this gallery stitched from material taken during a 20 minutes drive. This is only a sampling of the sights on offer, that too in a small corner of Bardez. This is happening in every taluka and town today. http://www.parrikar.org/images/Ghatis-swamp-Goa/index.html Warm regards, r
