In the last few days the government has gone to town , tom-tomming about the drive to promote medical tourism and increase general tourism to 1.2 cr footfalls per year. Towards this end, government says that it intends to promoting public hygiene and cleanliness. Nothing could be closer to the truth. For close to 3 years government has been taking about swacch Bharat /Swacch Goa and aiming for Open Defecation Free (ODF) cities. There is a basic contradiction between policy and practice. In contrast, side by side with these grandiose declarations, a daily basis , are the press reports, backed by photographic evidence, of thousands of stray animals permitted to run amock all over Goa including the capital city, Porvorim, Goa medical college campus, Bambolim junctgion, Margão, various beaches, all over Goa. Everyday, each stray animal is depositing between 3-5 kg of solid and liquid excreta on the foot path, pavements, roads, marketplaces, beaches, and so on. This adds up to tons and tons of animal excreta on the streets and pavements, and public spaces How can there be claims of cleanliness and hygiene in the face of this rotten policy. Animals squatting in the middle of the road are also a threat both to tourists and to citizens, and many lives have been lost because of failure of government and civic authorities to implement its own laws, rules and responsibilities to free public spaces of the ownerless stray animals, and shift them into animal shelters. Therefore, if the government is sincere about improving the hygiene and cleanliness of public places then government must seriously think of implementing its own laws, rules and regulations which mandate that all stray animals be moved from public areas into animal shelters. Failure to enforce it's own laws makes a mockery of governance and public statements of hygiene and cleanliness.
Rosario Menezes via email
Rosario Menezes via email
