Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:58:17 +0530 (IST) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > What we need is a Mahatma Gandhi or Jayaprakash Narayan to lead us out of this mess. But it is doubtful whether we goans with our crab mentality will facilitate such a person. > Mario asks: > Marshall, > Have you now taken the crab mentality to a higher level - by demeaning ALL your fellow-Goans in one fell swoop?:-)) > Besides, doesn't Goa already have what Mahatma Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan fought for, which is freedom and self rule? You have acknowledged this when you said, "At present goans do have a voice in their future. Only they have placed it in the wrong hands." > Depends on whose ox is being gored, doesn't it? Do the powerful developers think Goa is in the wrong hands? Do the non-Goans still flocking to Goa and paying Rs. 1 crore and up for an apartment and Rs. 3 and 4 crores for a bungalow think so, compared to the rest of India? > However, you are absolutely correct, a) No one in power is going to turn back the clock and allow Goa to revert to a UT, and b) This would hardly solve the problem. > By the way, the western developed countries also have individuals who look out for their own personal interests. The difference is that they are organized around local, state and federal laws that must be followed under pain of prosecution. They have managed to control economic development for the most part and made building and development compatible with the surroundings in which the development is situated. > Why can't Goans take a look at how development is controlled in the west and see how this is done? > Where corruption is rife, however, the result is what we are seeing in Goa, a sort of anarchy of the powerful and the corrupt. > Can individuals or organized groups like GBA sue a developer and the approving authority in Goa and bring a development that violates local building codes and zoning laws to its knees? I don't know, but that is what would happen in the west. > In the longer term, in my opinion, the Panchayats and Gram Sabhas should be held responsible and accountable by the local villagers for what goes on in the village. Why? a) It is they who have to live with the problem. b) The local officials are far more accessible to the villagers than state lawmakers or bureaucrats. c) No one else really cares about their village. > Do those who oppose such a bottom-up approval process to maintain local standards, used extensively in developed countries, really believe that Digambar Kamath or one of his bureaucrats gives a #$%^ about an ugly building project in a village in Goa? > It is small comfort to note that the entire country is plagued with the same corruption and even more ugly developments. Just travel across India and see for yourselves. It's not pretty, believe me. >
