No. In fact, there isn’t any other answer
to the question in the title except an emphatic “No!”. And here’s why.
In Goa, ‘development’ does not mean an
improvement in the quality of life but rampant
destruction of natural resources, corruption in
various sectors of the administration, and disparities in wealth and
opportunities. Further, most of the infrastructure projects built in the name
of development rapidly deteriorate after a few years, either because of poor
construction quality or the failure to maintain this infrastructure regularly.
In promoting development, the Goan exchequer loses money in the short- and
long-term.
In the existing situation, Goans are
placed in a lose-lose situation. Such public infrastructure as roads (for
instance) is indeed needed but a 4- or a 6-lane highway does not need to be
built across the rural landscape, making Goa a transit point to facilitate the
movement of goods. Thus, the public demand for simple infrastructure, such as
2-lane roads, is, in the eyes of the government, an open invitation for
constructing ever larger highways.
Another reason Goa does not need ‘development’
is that the government is not investing in the maintenance of public
infrastructure. In fact, the government is not serious about maintaining or
fixing the existing infrastructure. The government bodies build public
infrastructure like roads, bridges, parks, and so on, but after a few years,
there is hardly any upkeep—leading to many projects turning into white
elephants. Thus, the way forward is not more development but the preservation
and maintenance of the existing natural and built landscape.
The heavy rains and the subsequent
flooding, after a frighteningly dry spell in June, indicates the value of
maintaining, in fact nurturing the existing public infrastructure rather than
building more roads, highways, and apartment complexes. Despite having
inherited a good network of drains, both natural and artificial, Goa’s roads
and streets get flooded, leading to substantial losses. Such flooding happens
not only because of rampant and haphazard construction but also due to the
failure of maintaining the existing drainage system.
The images of Panjim flooding “like
Bombay” underscores the failure and negligence of the municipality and the
concerned governmental authorities. Panjim is such a glaring example of the
government’s failure to maintain existing infrastructure as the city
already had a well-designed drainage system before it was torn to bits by
piece-meal real-estate development. Panjim’s fate is the result of years of
neglect together with the Goan authorities allowing the construction of new
buildings haphazardly in recent times.
The monsoon season also exposes the poor
quality of work of the many mega projects recently commissioned. A couple of
weeks ago, and the most recent example of the administration’s misguided
priorities, a retaining wall of a newly-constructed bridge in Mashem, Canacona
collapsed, luckily before it was commissioned. The project consists
of a 7.7 km four-lane highway, with three bridges in Galgibaga, Talpona, and
Mashem at a whopping cost of 190 crores. The collapse of the wall means not
only a wastage of a considerable sum of money and precious natural resources
for the construction but also highlights poor quality of work. Many
infrastructure projects, such as new highways are not necessarily what Goa
needs or something that the people of Goa have demanded.
In contrast to mega highways, and as
stated earlier, Goa does need its existing roads to be in proper condition,
that is, Goan roads should not end up being washed away after brief spells of
heavy rains. But what we observe is that most Goan roads get easily riddled
with potholes with the first drizzle of the season. Once the roads get damaged,
the authorities take forever to fix them. Even if they do, the job is so
shoddily done that the condition of the road does not improve, and the next
season washes away the previous year’s ‘repairs’.
The recent state-wide protest against the
proposed Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) is a step in the right direction.
The CZMP proposes, amongst other things, to reduce the Coastal Regulation Zone
(CRZ) limit from 500 meters to 50 meters—this means more construction activity
in eco-sensitive areas if the proposed changes go through. The logical
conclusion of such a plan would be more destruction across the coastal and
riverine areas, destruction of sand dunes and other mechanisms of nature which help
against flooding.
The residents of Goa’s coastal and
riverine areas have rightly rejected a model of development that is only
interested in taking over the coastal resources and making them available for
the exploitation by corporations. Instead of the government’s plan to intensify
construction activity, in other words, development, the people have rejected
the move as they do not want the destruction that development and construction
activity brings in its wake. With the rejection of the CZMP, as with other such
projects, the people have asserted that they want the preservation of the
existing natural and built environment and a better quality of life.
Therefore, Goans need to redefine the
significance of development radically. As it stands, the vision of both the
central and state governments and big businesses is driven by profit for few
and the destruction of the Goan landscape. The challenge, then as it is now, is
to create an environment-friendly model of public infrastructure beneficial to
the public at large.
(First published in O Heraldo, dt: 7 August, 2019)
