August 4 th was a party day for Goa's culture vultures and the new and highly professional breed of heritage entrepreneurs in Goa! Finally their systematic lobbying has handsomely paid off. The government moved and passed with voice vote a seemingly innocuous amendment to ancient monuments and archeological sites act, 1978, the ONLY SUCH AMENDMENT ANYWHERE IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY but it is actually aimed to stiffle popular protests and resistance against any government plan in connivance with private parties.... But the same government, despite full powers could not move an amendment intelligently in the same act to make mining or quarrying impossible near the notified monuments... if that were to be done 20 % problems in mining areas would have been over esp. in Tamdi surla, Vichundrem, Rivona, Kolamb areas... Read the fine print of the amendment.. it is one more victory in the march of disempowering the people!. There was remarkable unity among all political parties including BJP over this... if government officers remove centuries old dressed stones and clandestinely supply to decorate private residences and hotels... post amendment nobody would be able to interfere, challenge, question! Henceforth no questions would be possible if a fashion ramp is built on a fort rampart, a coffee house is put up, a liquor bar or a souvenir shop is set up and an acid party is held-all in the name of "adaptive reuse" a convenient term for generating 'revenue' for "maintenance' of the monuments...with zero local stakeholder participation! Same thing had happened in 1997 when amendment was moved to the Goa gambling act to permit "offshore' casinoes! I was present in the old assembly lobby and had persuaded the opposition MLAs to stage a walkout after protesting.... We have seen the 'results' today of that amendment....the riverine Casino culture And who benefits from such revolutionary amendments?. people and press in Goa takes ages to wake up!. The press suppresses news when it hurts advertisement interests. It has been revealed in the assembly that for every Rupee from public funds that is spent in the name of renovation of Goa's notified monuments, INTACH pockets a commission of 15 paise!. The MOU also reveals that INTACH would virtually run the show for 5 years....and 15 years for Reis magos fort!. That MOU should have guided the commissioner CCP who is a small fish in the Miramar overbridge business! There were no global tenders, no competitive bids, no codal formalities before INTACH was hastily roped in in an election year...everything happened under right pulls and pressures by networking with right politicians and civil servants! Obviously skeletons would tumble once CAG smells a rat! Culture vultures would never smell any conflict of interests when everyone is interested in getting something leased out... did anyone make noise over the land held by Taj hotels on Aguada plateau? or the land illegally reclaimed within CRZ at Fontainhas for a private car showroom which has blocked the drainage of the area? There are hundreds of monuments in larger states but the governments there had never thought about amending the act....I know why Goa government brought the amendment and that truth tells me that full scale auctioning of our land, our natural and cultural assets has now ACCELERATED! . it is big people, big money, big connections, excellent PR! I had warned individuals and NGOs that the government has found a way for backdoor privatisation under the name of "adaptive reuse" by amending the above act. Lady Helen Hamlyn would now have the last laugh....and all those patriots who went with a begging bowl to her when the government was sitting on a kitty of Rs. 21 crores!. The generous lady obliged and gave "Rs. 35 million gift to Goa"...but inexplicably ONLY for the strategically located Fort Reis Magos... The real fun would begin within two years, when the press and activists would suddenly wake up to taste the new "revenue model". Now the state army would be at the gate to stop those who differ, disagree, protest and question!. it would be quiet a show with culture vultures aligning with people in uniforms! Our 'renovated "secular historic monuments would be fortified gated communities!. A seven star hotel coming up (opening in December, may give run for money to Cidade de Goa and Mariott) at Bambolim as part of Aldeia project has now blocked our right to visit the pristine Bambolim beach...by 2012 entire coastline of Tiswadi from Cidade de Goa hotel to Dando, Agacaim would be fully privatised leaving out only tiny outcrops of rocks in intertidal areas....
I would resend this same email on goanet exactly after Two years!. -- Dr. Nandkumar Kamat, GOA * * * Was life in the *kudds* glamourised? Who said, "It appears that the Goanese (sic) are a roving people, prepared to go to any part of the world for well-paid employment"? How did Goans find their first toehold in the Gulf? Find your answers in Selma Carvalho's *Into the Goan Diaspora Wilderness*. Buy from Broadways Book Centre, Panjim [Ph +91-9822488564] Price (in Goa only) Rs 295. http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/ * * *