GBA's Ultimatum To The Government
Venita Coelho in her article, 'Back to square one' on Herald dated 23rd Feb, has exposed the conniving, devious policies of the Kamat Government, the original RP 2012 was forced into the bin by the Goan people led by the GBA. It was the united front put forth by the GBA that forced the corrupt Kamat Government to back off and then it came up with RP2021, which infact was just a reincarnation of the RP2012 and more confusing.
The RP2021 was infact even more erroneous, where a lot of major structure and zones were conveniently missed out, misrepresented and misinterpreted and placed before the masses for public participation, deadlines were extended and people's proposals were submitted even after all the effort and time that the activists and the people put in to rectify the anomalies of the draft, nothing seems to have changed. It's been nearly a year now and the Kamat Government has failed to bring forth the final draft of RP 2021 for public scrutiny, to see if the people's proposals were enacted upon.
Meanwhile the Government making use of the loopholes in it's own laws, continues to support and abet projects that have been objected by the public, without divulging any information to the public on those projects, taking the Goan people for a jolly good ride. The corrupt Government of Mr. Kamat has not listened to the peaceful pleas of the people and the degradation of our environment and our ecology continues unabated while we have been seething in anonymous rage, watching and waiting for the finalisation of RP2021.
Enough is enough, this Kamat Government has been known for creating a surfeit of issues and then digressing from them, without actually trying to solve them in earnest, believing that given time, people tend to forget these issues. We do need to ramp up our compulsions manifold to ascertain our convictions of protecting Goa and Goans and not let our efforts be stymied at every turn and junction by the skewed perspectives of our corrupt politicians. It is high time we take a firm stand, to protect our interests, for a better future for ourselves and our children.
The GBA has rightly given the corrupt Kamat Government an ultimatum, as the people of Goa have been left with very little sartorial choices and the only option left, is to take to the streets and admonish the Kamat Government not to take the Goan people for granted. I sincerely hope and pray that the people of Goa will fully support the GBA with mass participation and force the corrupt Kamat government to pay heed to the demands of the people of Goa and abdicate it's seditious policies.
We have done it before and we can do it again. GBA Jai Ho !!
Freddy Agnelo Fernandes
Feb 23, 2010
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gulf-goans/message/28511
www.goa-world.com
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As published in Herald / 23 February 2010
Back to Square One
- By Venita Coelho
Well, here we are back to square one 'fighting one more time' to get a Regional Plan that we are happy with. What a long journey it has been all to end up in the same place all over again. Three years ago Goa spilled out onto the roads to protest a Regional Plan that was disastrous. So vociferous were the protests and so many were the protestors that the Government actually cancelled the RP2012 and promised that it would include the people's sentiments in the next plan. While the next plan ended up making no one entirely happy, there was a window for villages respond to the plans and to fill in a questionnaire asking for the development they wished for their own villages. It was months of hard work for both the GBA and various villages. I got laryngitis, twice, after explaining day after day just exactly how to tackle the RP2012. GBA members ended up exhausted and mentally drained. With no official training from the government, village regional committees and concerned citizens struggled with the task set them. Deadlines were extended time and again, but finally it was done. We heaved a sigh of relief too early, it now turns out.
All that hard work has gone into limbo along with the Regional Plan. There are no assurances as to when the Regional Plan will be finalised. Neither do we know what exactly is going to be finalised in it. Will the village plans made by the villagers hold importance or be swept aside by the government's plans? Will what we have asked for clearly as villages, be respected? What kind of development will finally be foisted on us? There are no answers and above all there is no Regional Plan. Like the Holy Grail, it remains lost in the mists of government procedures. And in the meantime, the doors have been flung open. While we wait eternally for the RP to be finalised, permissions are being handed out hand over fist. Amendment 16 an 16A is a nice little loop hole through which any project can be shoved once it is branded government project. When the Pilerne Action Committee asked for details of building NOC's handed out while we wait for the RP to finalised, the terrifying official reply was that they were numerous and details could not be given without diverting the staff from day to day work. You can imagine the volumes of NOC's that have been handed out! While we, good citizens, patiently wait for the Government to do the right thing, the government itself is busy subverting its own laws by using this window to pass neumerous projects which it refuses to inform us about.
We have been taken for a royal ride. Like children being diverted with a lollipop, we were handed the RP2021 with so called 'peoples participation'. That participation was never quantified, nor was it made clear whether it would be respected or included in the final plan. And, having taken the bait, while we waited around for the RP to be finalised, it was business as usual behind the scenes. There is no gentler way to put it we have been made absolute fools of. What are these neumerous projects? What rules do they follow? Do they respect the areas marked out in the RP2021? Under what guidelines are they being passed? The government can't inform us it would take diverting the staff from day to day work to give us these answers.
In this context it comes as a relief that the GBA has decided to hand out an ultimatum, saying it will take to the streets from 4 March if this passing of projects is not stopped, and a date is not set to finalise the RP. We have done our best to co-operate with the government like good law abiding citizens, working within the parameters the government gave us. But enough is enough. When the government breaks its own laws, creates convenient loop holes, and chooses to keep citizens in the dark about its activities then that government has lost its right to civil obedience. It's time to take to the streets again. That seems to be the only language this government understands. We have fought this fight before and we will do it again. Let the government beware! This time we are wiser. You can't fool all of the people all of the time Mr Kamat.
http://www.oheraldo.in/newscategory/Opinions/14
http://www.goablog.org/posts/goa-bachao-abhiyan-save-goa-campaign/
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