https://shuttermatter.wordpress.com/2015/06/27/the-circular-diwide/
[image: Saligao Circle] June 27, 2015 The Circular Di’wide… Though #Saligao has Mollembhatt, Sonarbhatt, Cotulla and Bairo Alto as the entry points to the village, the junction at the CHOGM road mostly is referred to as the starting point when passing out directions to first-time visitors and alike. Recently amidst much fanfare, the much hyped and debated ‘fountain of life’ finally sprung up right in the centre of the CHOGM road in Saligao in an effort by the Goa Tourism department to boost the aesthetics of the village or at least its winding roads. Did the address just get better or did we fail to address? With opinions ranging from feeling proud to anger against excessive expenditure and safety concerns, the circle of divide just goes rounder in motion but not necessarily the shape (which is good as it once again shows that the village is a great model to others when it comes to social and civic responsibility and related active participation from all quarters). I have spent my entire childhood in Goa and now for the past 12 years have been reduced to being only a visitor to my village in Saligao. Currently living in the UAE where the map changes on a daily basis due to the rapid development, I felt that I could share my own review of our Saligao development having humbly seen of both worlds or more. *Whats HOT?* The address now has a name… From the earlier Char roste, Aula lagim ,Cotulla junction, etc and other impromptu references, one can now easily circle a place on virtual map when guiding someone by referring to the ‘Saligao Circle’. Secondly I have earlier seen many accidents at the junction which were caused due to impatient drivers playing a game of ‘X and Zeroes’ turning the junction into a web of chaos. The round-about now eliminates or reduces the unsafe practices of lane jumping, out of turn crossing, jumping the virtual signal, etc. We all know it is a village but besides fibre-optic cabling, etc we opted for ‘tarred roads’ long ago as a drive towards development. Now its just a bonus if the roads are hot mixed, widened, demarcated with fibreglass painted directions, fancy street lights and a round-about which is streamlines the traffic movement on the junction. The aesthetics of the village in my opinion have positively changed highlighting the co-existence of traditional village settings (fields, churches, etc) along with modernisation of basic facilities as listed above. The jogging track comes with a few balcao type cubicles where one can sit and relax after a sweat. I feel that despite the flaws mentioned in this article below, the modern day street ‘sopo’ is a great idea and adds a bit of ‘conversation’ to a story told. *Whats NOT?* What is the fountain doing there? Does it have any significance to our village and its legacy? NO. Saligao has always drawn inspiration from its lineage that has foxes, sugarcane plantations, farmers, sports-persons and other famous sons & daughters of the soil which easily could have been translated into an artistic yet meaningful installation at the circle. The fountain has become a hot-spot for selfie aficionados who abruptly park their cars and bikes on the middle of the road and get into narcissist modes. It is noticed that there is no mechanism in place to fine and thwart these unruly elements. Furthermore on the same topic of water bodies, its just an irony that the natural Salmona fountain is in a state of neglect and decay while we illuminate a concrete monolith. Moving on, I remember my good old neighbours from Sonarbhatt from my earlier days who used to walk all the way to the Tinto for their groceries and back. We still have a few of these people who shun away the luxuries of motor and indulge in a healthy walk down to the Tinto place. If not mistaken, there are no Zebra crossings for pedestrians to cross from one side to another. How does one expect an old lady to cross the road on foot and visit the post office at Aula? I am talking about simple pedestrian crossing and not even dipped pavements for wheel-chair access. Currently it is like building a house with windows but no doors. Though the roads are widened to allow seamless traffic for a few metres at least, the widened area of the roads are currently used by joggers and tourists to park vehicles which defeats the purpose of the entire project. There are makeshift signboards kept which indicate no parking and tow-away warning signs but those warnings hardly matter when its all bark and no bite. Have a look at the photo where the policeman himself on duty is dangerously sitting aka Audrey Hepburn pose on his bike on a blind turn. Enforce stringent policing in these matters and heavily fine offenders for misconduct if there is any intention to make this project bear fruit. One suggestion is that the steel railing (currently at the four corners of the junction) should be extended to the entire jogging track. This will mean that one cannot just park and sit as they do now. There are no provisions for waste management on the entire stretch. In todays world where FMCG products are tagged to our lives back and forth, there have to be facilities to dispose off those chewing gums, water bottles, cigarette buds, etc. If not provided, the animal in us will always throw those bottles in the fields and pavement as I do not see anyone taking a bag full of rubbish back to their homes for disposal. Place dustbins with sand filled ash trays which can be cleared every morning by the VP-sponsored garbage collector pedalling a cycle truck. I have heard of issues regarding flooding of fields but since I am not an expert on this topic I am a little confused as to how having a concrete wall around the fields will flood the area as anyways the road buildup did exist before and now its just polished/cemented on the sides. Maybe they are talking of under-road pipes that would ensure flow of water from left field to the one on the right. If those outlets did exist and now stand blocked then its a wrong thing. The corner near Aula was a makeshift bus top where the bus to Panjim used to stop. Has this been replaced and moved to a safer place or does the bus just pit-stop on the middle of the road and a dangerous curve? *Whats GREY?* This is where I would like to make my unbiased points, analysing as I stand in between the love of my village and its development. I expect a fair bit of bashing here but then we need to draw a line between being responsible and hypocritical. Cutting of trees was the main talking point of all debates so lets begin our discussion with the same. The corner at the junction (from Cotulla to Muddavaddo direction) was earlier a makeshift bus stop. A huge rain tree at that corner provided shade and respite to generations. Now the corner is cordoned off with the railing to prevent jay-walkers and hence is no longer a bus stop. The cutting of the tree was deemed fit by those concerned as they could not widen the corner without doing so. In my opinion this is collateral damage and hence a painful acceptance of the same. Now addressing the hypocritical, here are a few points that I would like to debate on… When we build our own new house, first thing we do is get a clearance from the Forest department to cut obstructing trees (in most cases people just save on the procedure and cut the trees on a Sunday when Govt offices are closed). I have not seen a rain tree ever grow in the middle of any one’s house. How come all houses in Goa have no trees in the middle of a living room but just on the sides? Get my point? On the same note of trees, we have so many open fields around. Why no one plants a sapling in these fields? If we had done this over the years we would have had a forest by now. Trees are important but not necessarily they are to be solely grown along side the road. The benches fixed at random places on the jogging track already have their nuts, bolts, planks and vital organs missing. The installation is barely a month old but already has its skeletons in ruins. Yes, the wooden planks on the benches are not meant to be lasting/ durable and a full metal body instead would have borne the weight and bruises of a wear and tear. But then, you see the intentions were right but people are wrong. It has taken a human being to mischievously unscrew the planks and break the solder. It is high time we understand that this is not Congress or BJP property but our own village asset. Would we break or disfigure our own house because we hated the occupants? It will take every vigilant Saligaokar to monitor the safety of our assets and stop unruly tourists from damaging around. While quality of infrastructure is one thing, quality of mindset and civic responsibility is another. With a recent accident near Florentine’s bar, the issue of speeding vehicles has heated up further. Lets not conjoin road widening and speeding as these are two different gravies and hence should not be directly mixed. Gone are those days where people used to travel by bus (remember ‘Bhorboro’ bus?) to Mapusa, etc. Now every house has minimum one car for their convenience and more. Now multiply the same with the house holds we have and surely you will agree that the Goan roads remained the same in breadth but the count of vehicles swelled. A widened road meant somewhat free movement of vehicles without the side bruises on your car’s metallic coat and a reduction in irrational honking. I come from a place where Lamborginis and Ferraris roam the streets like nobodies business however they all follow the prevailing traffic rules and will snail past if the speed limit requires you to slow down to 60kmph. We too have rules but we don’t have a) followers b) enforcers. What we have is a failed system hence lets not pass the blame it on a wide-road. Where are the signs indicating speed limits, warnings, etc? Instead we have towering sign posts reading ‘Goa Tourism’ which is the departments own version of a selfie amidst an unfinished job. Excessive and unwarranted expenditure is also a topic that has been debated. For me, its a yes and a no. Widening of roads, the seating area along side the jogging track, the jogging track, etc are good investments. The fountain, power-consuming lights around item, etc is a waste. Energy saving LED lamps or a single hight mast could have been used thereby saving a few bucks and also promoting green sustainability for which the village has always stood for. I understand we cannot compare ourselves to Dubai and its oil money and hence should invest and spend wisely, but we have to understand at times ‘change’ is a need. The nullahs, sankovs (built up area around the water canals), churches and temples were once a similar move to beautify and organise the place and now its no different. Just time and projects have changed (yes, today there are more chances of disproportionate use of funds maybe but corruption is a different topic altogether). If we can move from thatched roofs and evolve to 2-3 floor houses, we can also be open to a change around us albeit with a dollop of collateral damage. This article is the writers own observation without any bias towards towards party, person or organisation. End of the day, we first need a system in place and then comes infrastructure. I feel that currently we have prioritised the other way around and hence at times the negativity that crops up. If you see a problem, you live with problems. If you see a possibility, you will live with opportunities. https://shuttermatter.wordpress.com/ -- -- Saligao-Net is at http://groups.google.com/group/saligao-net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe email [email protected] --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Saligao-Net" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
