Garbage is, without argument, the single most important issue that plagues Goa. And, believe it or not, practically all political parties, with the exception of the Congress, have paid little attention to this problem. All that most have promised in their manifestos is to make Goa garbage-free with little attention paid to the process. The Congress has passed the buck to households by promising to supply each one with wet waste composting units. How could political parties, who wish to rule the State, trivialise such a serious problem? It’s because none, barring the BJP seem to have an idea as to how to tackle garbage. It appears that the BJP is the only political party which seems to have a plan which was revealed while it was in power and the first plant was constructed and commissioned in the existing term. The rest are clueless and even if they want to construct more plants they chose not to mention it for fear of getting it wrong, or invoking the dreaded NIMBY factor. While building the right plant in the right place calls for some serious thinking, garbage management follows a time-tested sequence “ segregation, collection, treatment and landfills. But this is easier said than done.
On the issue of infrastructure, the BJP obviously has an advantage. In the last five years it has initiated several infrastructure projects with the construction of the Mopa airport and bridges across the Mandovi, Zuari, Talpona and Galgibaga river being the most important. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his election speech promised to build a signature bridge which will attract tourists across the Zuari and Union Minister for Road Transport has already initiated road works worth over Rs 10,000 crore in the State. So when the BJP states that it requires another five years to complete the projects it does have a point, except for the South Goa district hospital which could have been completed in the present term, but was not.
Transport and traffic management, which is certainly a major issue since the State is host to over 10 lakh vehicles has been brushed off with vague promises. Here, even the BJP appears to be clueless. It was clueless in 2012 and this state of ignorance continues. Goa’s cities are crying for attention. Urban areas are running out of parking space and flow of traffic is hampered by double and triple parking. What we have on paper are grandiose plans with high-sounding solutions like “ intelligent transport or comprehensive mobility plan, but nothing really happens on the ground. The only change that Goa has seen in the last six months or so is the erection of traffic lights at a few places, which is a start.
This election the Mopa airport is completely off the radar with only AAP daring to say the Dabolim would be upgraded and a probe would be launched into land deals around Mopa. The MGP-GSM wants to build auditoriums with 200-seats in every municipal and panchayat area with 11 wards. What happened to all the ravindra bhavans? The Congress promises to have round-the-clock Kadamba bus services and the question is, for whom? All in all, there appears to be no focused approach to infrastructure development, just a slew of promises with no common thread to link them.
