Tusk Force and White Elephants
Haemophilia, like HIV, is transmitted by healthy 'carrier' males
Miguel Braganza
The Regional Framework Plan for Goa 2021 is a wonderful publication. It is
classy to look at, well written, well edited, beautifully laid out and
printed in true colour on glossy paper. The RFPG 2021 is a sight for sore
eyes! The copy that I saw had one thing omission: the signature of the Chief
Minister of Goa and ex-officio Chairman of the Task Force on RPG 2021. He
also happens to be the Minister for Town & Country Planning and Mines. It
also had one illegal addition: the name of the award, Padma Vibhushan, as a
prefix to the name of an architect as if it was a degree he earned. It is
just as illicit and immoral as the "Prof." prefixed to the name of a
Devanagri Konkani activist who actually was a lecturer in Geology at a
college funded by a mining company.
The uninformed person will easily mistake the document of RFPG 2021 for a
promotional book for tourists on Goa's rich and varied heritage, natural
beauty, traditional occupations, lush rice fields alongside sustainable iron
ore mining, the quaint estuarine travel by the "Gasolin" or "Vapor" and road
travel by the "Camiao" combined with some modern day casinos and marinas
and, of course, the Mopa airport! It is a fairy tale publication that would
put Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" to shame. On page 5 it states quite glibly
that "The Ponte de Linhares connecting Panaji to Ribandar" will be preserved
for posterity. In actual fact, the "Ponte de Linhares" or "Patto Bridge"
connects two sides of Panaji over the Ourem creek, from the EDC Plaza near
Sesa Ghor and Directorate of Tourism to Rua de Ourem between the PWD Div.I
and Hotel Sona. So much for the scale of its accuracy.
The mining industry may cry hoarse about the RFPG 2021 or DRP sounding the
death knell for it in Goa, but you are unlikely to hear the other side of
the story unless Ramesh Gawas [please do not kill his credibility by
prefixing a "Prof." to his name: he is a village school teacher, who has won
the National Award this month for doing a wonderful job of teaching!] or
'naxalite' Sebastian Rodrigues tells you about it. A little of that has
already appeared in print[GT 25 Sept. 2008, pg 2]. Everyone and his uncle
knows there is a lot of money to be made from iron ore exports. Just how
much the mining industry contributes to the Goa state exchequer by way of
cess, levies and tax to be called the "backbone" of Goa's economy remains a
mystery. That the mining industry provides support to spineless politicians
from the bottom to the top does not make it Goa's backbone, or does it?
There is one piece of good news in the RFPG 2021 for the mining industry
that has gone unnoticed by the media so far: the Mission Bypass! Page 7 of
the RFPG 2021 shows a map of the NH-4A splitting at Dharbandora-Sanguem with
one arm going to Sanvordem and the other to Bicholim and Tivim. Read this
with page 14 about the "Growth hubs" and the picture will get clearer. To
this picture, add the information provided by the immediate past Editor of
GT and current Vice President-Communications of a Group of companies
involved in both the backbones of Goa's economy, mining and tourism. The
road from Sirsaim-Tivim to Bicholim and onwards to the jetties at Vagus and
Amona are used by trucks carrying iron ore from three mines at Advalpal and
Pirna, at least one of them operated by an elusive mining BPO name after the
Indian trinity, Trimurthi. More than rupees one crore has allegedly been
paid to the villagers to buy their silence. Yet, persons like Shyamsunder
Naik and others are shouting from the roff-tops. Only the blind and the deaf
need to be told about "Mission Bypass" for Sanvordem. What everyone thought
would be done under the March, 2008, amendments to Sections 16 and 16A of
the TCP Act, 1974, has actually been cleared by the Task Force itself!
Bravo.
When the people speak in one voice, the Governments tremble. A shot of the
Goan spirit later, the trembling stops. Down South, the issue is "Mega"
projects which were beautifully re-defined by our Aam Admi Sarkar in the Goa
Legislative Assembly last month as any project with an investment above
rupees one thousand crores is a mega project. So, even the Government
project like the Rs.500 crore Sports City in Goa Velha would be minor
project. So what are the pig-rearing, sausage-making villagers actually
doing in Dovonddem-Margao? Do they not know that Margao is a city? Can they
not sell to the Madganvkars the vegetables grown in the hinterland as
suggested by an architect who is a member of the Task Force on RPG 2021?
Have they seen the 141 pages report plus annexure of the Agricultural
Finance Corporation Ltd prepared for the Goa State Horticulture Corporation
in June, 1995? The people of Goa must participate in "development" or be
taken in custody as my friend's husband, Venancio, did some days ago in
Sanguem and has been now reportedly brought to Margao to do likewise. If
Damodar Bandodkar of Dovonddem was put under preventive arrest under Section
151 Cr. P. C., he would have not been assaulted by infidel Crasto's men or
whoever.
The books "Transactional Analysis" and "Games People Play" by psycho-analyst
Eric Berne should be made compulsory reading in Goa for all undergraduate
students, including those in "professional" courses that have nothing to do
with what is alleged to be the world's oldest profession. In order to
understand the games politicians play it is important to know a little bit
of logic, sociology, psychology, political science and economics. The first
thing that most politicians economise on is the truth. Economics that they
understand deals with the creation of wealth, mostly personal wealth. In an
era where politicians invest time, manpower and money in to winning
elections, it is only fair that they expect returns on investment on a
greater scale than if they had invested in land, housing, industry or in the
stock market. Hence, the similarity of the maps in the RFPG 2021 with those
of the RP-2011, though in more appealing colours and on glossy paper. Learn
to read the maps. Therein lies the future of the GenNext: haemophiliac
daughters or sons with full blown AIDS! (ENDS)
Miguel Braganza's column at:
http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=482
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The above article appeared in the September 26, 2008 edition of Gomantak
Times, Goa
*** This is Miguel Braganza's 150th Konkan Curry column in the Gomantak
Times ***
