Is the notification imposing Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) imposed in North Goa from February 11 to April 10 a cruel joke that the government is playing in a peaceful State of Goa or is it just a comedy of errors? The government claim of intelligence inputs of possible terror threats along the Western Coast of India and retraction only goes to show the hollowness and insensitiveness in handling crucial issues in peaceful Goa.
The notification is believed to facilitate the tenant verification process but has ended up giving Goa the scare during peak tourism season. It has sent hoteliers and travel agents in a tizzy with guests seeking cancellation of holidays ahead of the Carnival and Shigmo festivities. The government cannot afford to be so careless at this juncture, knowing well that Goa could benefit over several other states in tourism because of the turmoil and protests over CAA.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant appeals for calm, and the district magistrate says that the order was issued as a precautionary measure to step up tenant verification on residences and flats which are rented or leased out. If the intent was towards tenant verification, why play such mischief on the State? The frivolity and ignorance of the top bureaucracy and the government is baffling. Are we to believe that the notification is a copy-paste job since both the CM and the issuing authority say these notifications are issued regularly? The Government cannot try to wriggle out by blaming it on the media when it’s all in black and white.
In a ripple effect, South Goa District Collector, Ajit Roy, has withdrawn his notification of December 24 imposing section 144 making it mandatory for landlords and hotel owners to provide particulars of the persons to the police stations. That again reflects panic from the government.
Why can’t the government for once be serious about tenant verification and get cracking without using such fabricated threats of terror? Migrants form a sizeable chunk of our industrial workforce. The chief minister has gone on record on the floor of the House in the recently concluded Assembly session that migrants commit around 85 per cent of the rapes and murders in the State. But nobody is answering why there is a failure in documenting migrants. The blame game on the landlord continues to play on.
Such ‘dummy’ notifications cannot be treated so casually because it involves the people of the State. The IAS culture may have impressed the powers of the day, but the circulars and notifications that are issued from time to time show a massive disconnect with the ground situations and the people of Goa. And this is when a notification is issued of a terror threat when all the government wants to do is tenant verification. We only hope there was no backdoor ploy to silence the growing voices of dissent on the raging CAA issue in Goa too.
