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Planning to get married in Goa? www.weddingsetcgoa.com Making your 'dream wedding' possible ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Political patronage for industrial pollution in Goa Migration is always a difficult task for the first generation migrants, says my Belgium-based Goa born friend Francis Jawahar Borges. He is one of the many Goans who have migrated to different parts of the world in search of greener pastures. The question that immediately springs up is why successive governments in Goa have not been able to keep the large number of young migrating population tied to the land. Goa’s strength lies in its human resources, but successive government have failed to come up with a plan to tap the talent. Instead, the Goan politicians have brought in polluting and energy sucking industries like the Iron ingots melting companies which dot several industrial estates in Goa including my own village Cuncolim. No guess on who pocketed the money bags from the industry owners. The Industry ministry, the chief minister and power minister all were happy when they got money laden suitcases in the early 90’s. But now if you visit Cuncolim industrial estate and its surrounding areas the destruction is clear, you do not need microscope to see it, it is vivid to the naked eye. The ministers I hear (reliable source who is related to the former chief minister), have stacked up some of the money in Swiss bank but Cuncolkars continue to suffer. Two years back I read that the High Court of Mumbai Goa bench had directed the Goa Pollution board to conduct a survey and find out the extend of pollution in Cuncolim. What is the fate of the inquiry and what is the current state of the water pollution levels in and around the industrial estate, no one knows. The activists in Cuncolim which includes United Goans Democratic party leader Jerson Fernandes, has suddenly blown hot and cold over the pollution issue. He raised the bogey of pollution on the eve of the assembly election but having lost in the race to get to the hot seat of the Goa assembly, he has not followed with the pollution case. This is one of the fallacies of the Goan politics, take up issues on the eve of elections and when people do not support you, leave the agitating masses without a leader. Jerson has been in the forefront now in opposing the football academy in Cuncolim, but as a true and disciplined social worker the urgent need of the hour is to go in to issues beyond the surface and find out what ails the polluting industries in Cuncolim. It is common knowledge that recently the Member of the Legislative Assembly from Cuncolim demanded one crore from a polluting industry which was shut after the death of three persons. The ground situation in Cuncolim is that many residents of the village staying in a radius of five kilometers have closed the well. But it is not only the drinking water which is affected by the pollutants sipping into the ground water level but the pollutants finding its way into irrigation cnal which has raised concerns. It is time that activists from Goa and Cuncolim in particular get their act together and push the pollution board against the wall, but for that they need to do their homework. Lest the pitfall of the case falling fall in the highest court – the Supreme Court – does not befall again.
