From April
onwards, there have been several power failures in the state; they are not over
yet. At the beginning of June, it became crystal clear that the cause of the
power failures was not just faulty and aging equipment, but also gross
mismanagement by the electricity department. Goans even learnt that to keep a
particular big time corporate builder happy, the department had decided that an
entire taluka could suffer a day-and-a-half without power.
One can think
of the frequent power failures as a metaphor for the sorry state of affairs in
Goa. Every year one witnesses a spectacular display of inefficiency in the
management of public infrastructure by the administration. At other times, the
administration deliberately denies the public services and utilities as it
happened when two of the Panjim-Betim ferries were used for the benefit of
casinos. There is no accountability and no one has been able to hold the
administration accountable for simple and basic services. The result is quite
plainly visible – flooded streets, overflowing sewage, leaking roofs of public
schools, snapped electric cables, damaged footpaths, and general chaos all
around.
One needs to
ask why does such chaos, emerging from mismanagement and an unaccountable
administration, recur every year? The reason is that the elected
representatives – across party and ideological lines – have failed to provide
the leadership that the positions they occupy demand. I am not making an
argument that perfunctorily blames politicians – or corruption – in general.
But what I am suggesting is that there is a particular systemic problem within
the administrative system with the elected representatives having abandoned
completely the idea of public good. If we would turn the formulation on its
head, corruption results because elected representatives have abdicated
responsibility, trust, and accountability – or public interest so vital for the
system. One could think of elected representatives in the past as crafting the
Constitution, or formulating land reform laws in Goa as promoting ideas of
public good.
Abandoning
ideas of public
good has consequences for the administrative machinery. One has to
understand that the administration can be divided into two broad sections: the
executive, which is occupied by the elected representatives and the cabinet
ministers; and the bureaucrats or the government servants, who are employed to
run the administrative machinery, which includes the implementation of the
policies and laws that the executive formulates.
If we
consider the incident wherein the whole of the Tiswadi taluka was left without
power, it appears that certain decisions were made by the Power Minister (the
executive) without taking the concerned bureaucracy into confidence (or without
informing them properly). Alternately, one can suggest that the bureaucracy did
not properly respond to the decisions of the executive. Sample this: when news
of the builder being unfairly favored emerged, the Chief Engineer of the
Electricity Department admitted that he had no knowledge of the work
being carried out. Given the fact that there is a stop work order from 2017,
the bureaucracy should not have allowed the workers to go ahead with the work
since due process was not followed. In any case, the Department was not
prepared to undertake the work of such proportions, and one doesn’t know who
exactly gave the orders to commence the work.
Goa may have
many leaders with thousands of supporters, and who shower them with countless favors,
but the fact is that once in power – in ministries, or in legislature/parliament,
where it matters the most – they are rarely able to run the affairs of the
state efficiently. Contrast this with the spectacular display of promises and
popular support during the campaigning for elections. Also, consider the
situation immediately after the results are declared, when cutthroat power
negotiations take place. All these theatrics give the impression that the
political class wields immense power to change the world for the better, but
that isn’t necessarily the case. Indeed, they do wield very real and tangible
power but that is often used (or misused) for private gain and to further the
interests of big businesses.
Perhaps, the
rot goes deeper considering the fact that the elected representatives are
rarely seen conducting the business of the state inside the
parliament/legislature, or through the administrative system. It is becoming
increasingly clear that more and more politicians spend their time in election
rallies than anywhere else. For one reason or the other (legitimately or not)
sessions of Parliament or the Legislative Assembly have been wiped out. In Goa,
for instance, there wasn’t a single cabinet meeting held for the last three
months. The important budget session was conducted in an unprecedented rush because
the Chief Minister was ill. If any laws have been passed in the last 4 or 5
years, they are done so without any public discussion. Many of these laws
are detrimental for the people and the environment.
It is
important that citizens extract accountability from the administration;
emphasize that the affairs of the state be conducted through proper channels
like the legislature and local governing bodies. One can suggest that if the
system is collapsing – or not functioning properly – it is largely because the
persons in the administration have not ensured that it runs smoothly. The
elected representatives, and to a lesser extent government servants, do not
seem interested in upholding public interest. Selling off public resources –
and therefore public interest – to the highest bidder today is the norm. The
manner in which power is expressed in our society needs to change, one that
privileges public interest and not private gain.
(First published in O Heraldo, dt: 20 June, 2018)
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