To Goanet - I share Soter's cynicism about GRA. Given the past record he is justified in feeling the way he does. Where I differ from him is, I still wish GRA all the best, with the following for context.
In my view, Goa now stands very close to the point of no return. Our towns and villages have been defiled with concrete, garbage is strewn all over, our hills are fast filling up with concrete, our coastal areas look sad - the ugliness of India has finally come to Goa and how. Everywhere you look around you see ghatis wandering and loitering, you have all kinds of outsiders wanting to own a piece of Goa and turn it into the toilet they left behind. Goa has become a lawless, free-for-all swamp. In other words, the Goa I grew up in no longer exists. With every passing day it becomes more and more like any other urban Indian sh*thole. Note to those who give us the cant that "Goa must change with the times." Goa has not changed. It has decayed, and it is stinking. Do you understand the distinction? Given all this, I see GRA as the final gasp. The worst is already here, and it stares us in the face. The Goa we never imagined in our lifetime is in the here and now. Whom are we 'saving' Goa for - for the ghatis? For Bansal, Ahuja, & Mukherjee? And what does 'saving Goa' mean any more? Are any of the thousand illegal buildings going to be taken down? Are the 100s of illegal mines going to be shut down? Is the migrant voter fraud going to be reversed? Are the slums of Chimbel, Betim, Moti Dongor going to be cleared? I don't think so. So GRA - all the best. r
