"Goa ka log ajeeb hai", said the then PM, Jawaharlal Nehru. Makes a lot of sense today, doesn't it? The Goan people participate in making a new RP 2021 without questioning the process even after being fore warned of the consequences. NGOs were teaching people village planning, a new found carrot to dangle by entrepreneur activists to win over the confidence of the ignorant masses and make inroads into the villages to confuse the people. What was even more intriguing was that some experts from the Task Force on RP, some of whom are non-goan settlers having interests in real estate, were engaged as resource persons to advise the Goan people on what is good for their village. Do Goans ever understand what is 'conflict of interest'? They fought for konkani as the official language only to be told later that 'konkani means konknni in the devanagiri script'. It was not to be konkani in the roman script which is widely used by christians who came out in huge numbers to support the konkani movement and was the chief script responsible for the survival of the konkani language in Goa. The Goans accepted the injustice by rationalising that it was a sacrifice of the christian people to preserve communal harmony. What has happened? Are those fanatic Hindus within the konkani circles any more grateful to the christians for this sacrifice?
The scrapped RP-2011 was a product of the Goa Town and Country Planning Act, 1975 which vested near to absolute powers in the Chief Town planner and the TCP Board without accountability. Everyone agrees that the TCP Act was an outdated law. But no sooner the preparation of a draft RP-2021 was set in motion under the very same out-dated TCP Act, every Goan was told not to oppose it (RP-2021) as the absence of an RP in place has benefited the real estate developers. The moment the draft RP-2021 was sent to the Village Panchayats for scrutiny, every Goan licked it as a symbol of participatory village planning. Noises against the deceptiveness of such a process were just ignored or the noise makers scorned at by the NGOs and their consultants perched in the government's RP committee loaded with exclusive real estate developers and architects besides government bureaucrats. There was jubilation over a victory of the people on what was actually a sell-out of the people by the forces who opposed the RP-2011. How could ordinary villagers have raised questions over the conflict of interest of elitist urban medical doctors, engineers and architects who floated around as authorities on the RP and champions of the Goan cause? It was blasphemous to raise questions then. Goans prefered to be lured by the sweet talk of 'Save Goa' from the mouths of settlers linked with real estate than to consider what rational Goans had to say.
The discontent of people now being stirred against RP-2021, is totally irrational. How can a crooked law on planning be expected to put in place a straight Regional Plan for Goa? What is even more suspicious now is the systematic distractions over the width of roads in the RP-2021 while other more serious issues are cleverly being buried under the carpet. But Goans are used to lending themselves as toilet paper for the vested interests.
So, one is led to wonder whether Goans actually know what they want. Or, are they reduced to carry bags of vested interests that have intruded into the NGO sector masquerading as saviours of the people? If Goans know what they want, then to what extent are they ready to sacrifice in order to achieve their desire? Or, here again will they expect some divine providence to befall Goa by filing a PIL in court? With laws that are hostile to the Goan people and central Government policies that sees Goa as the most sought after destination by Indians and a fast developing State infrastructurally, can such a feeble people's response of press conferences, gheraos and Gram sabha resolutions withstand the national forces at play? Without looking at the quantum leap in census towns in Goa, can one address the rape and loot of Goa? The Goa planning laws just do not recognise the Village Panchayats as entities in village planning. So what are Goans creeping about?
Protecting Goa would predominantly require a complete over haul of modern Goan life styles and thinking. The economy of Goa needs to be sacrificed to save the State from further degradation. Are Goans, like the people of Telangana and Manipur, ready for such a spiritual and long drawn sacrifice? Or, are they wanting the best of both the worlds, economic prosperity and a laid back green and fun-loving Goa? They have to choose either one for the present.
-Soter D'Souza
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