To Goanet - The sacred cows of GBA do not like any kind of criticism. There is no mechanism, internal or external, within GBA for robust feedback that could lead to error detection and subsequent correction. Those in the clique framing the agenda and calling the shots fancy themselves as legends, outside the ambit of any criticism, certainly not accountable to anyone. In the same breath, they claim to be representing the people.
The Goa Bachao Abhiyan has been a COLOSSAL FAILURE. And a tragic one at that, for the future of Goa has been bartered away by this gaggle of phonies. You don't have to take my word for it. Ask yourself the following question: >From the time GBA fired its first salvo in December 2006, has the situation in Goa as regards construction, land sharks, land conversion, building violations, destruction of forests, fields & hills - (a) Gotten better. (b) Remained the same. (c) Gotten worse. (d) Gotten much, much, much worse. By every imaginable yardstick, the answer is (d). Ask the villagers of Carmona, Colva, Benaulim, Varca, Velsao, Siridona, Curca, Batim, Goa Velha, Aldona, Ponda, Usgao, Agonda, Khola, Nerul, Betim, etc etc etc etc etc. You can see a capsule summary of what has been done to Goa since that time at http://www.parrikar.org (the first link points to The Rape of Goa), and you can search the archives of Goanet for RTI documents I have posted. During the last 20 months that Goa was being shredded and gutted by the builder-miner-politician combine, the GBA has been an impotent spectator. Coming out of Dec 2006, it had the unstinting support of the Goan people and a tremendous burst of momentum. All of that was frittered away. The GBA did not even speak the basic truth and tell Goans the extent of the damage done to Goa. For such an admission would have dealt a fatal blow to their own faux image as impregnable warriors. But there is a more sinister side to this. We now know that key members of GBA were colluding with builders, thwarting proposals by the few honest souls in the Core Group that could have lead to tough postures against both the builders and the govt. We now know that key members of GBA were playing footsie with the ruling politicians. Even if you are too shocked to accept these painful truths, you ought to show these scum the door on grounds of criminal incompetence. GBA was supposed to stand sentinel against abuse of Goa's land and environmental resources. Instead the builders and their political enablers simply breezed through. Let me finally dispose of that tired old chestnut, often circulated by the GBA punditocracy to save its own skin. The fiction goes like this: if we dismantle GBA, there will be no opposition left. Ha ha ha. What opposition are the nincompoops talking about? The "valiant" Digu and his builder chums must be laughing their ass off (over a pre-dinner drink with a couple of their GBA moles). Time is running out for Goa. Warm regards, r
