The Covid situation in the State is spiralling out of control with a record 17 people succumbing to the virus, and 940 fresh cases of infections. Sadly, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant continues to remain adamant on tourism and refuses to seal borders or impose any restrictions on visitors. The restrictions imposed by district magistrates are too mild to contain infections of this scale.
Ironically, Maharashtra which is battered and is under severe lockdown-type restrictions have declared Goa and five other states as places of "sensitive origin", and has issued an order making Covid negative test certificate for inbound passengers from these States. It comes as a surprise that Sawant has urged the Maharashtra CM to refrain from putting Goa on the list, and requested him to withdraw the order. Yes, this is a combined fight and States have to fight it together, but States cannot have agendas of business over the lives of people. Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray must be commended for standing in the forefront and steering the State through this tough phase even ignoring the colossal loss of financial revenue he'll have to bear.
The argument of sustaining an economy with tourism in these testing circumstances is insane because one cannot imagine tourism thriving in such heavily infected environments. The drastic drop in tourist arrivals and hotel bookings are testimony to the fact that nobody wants to take chances with Covid, no matter how enticing the sales pitch is. Now, we have lost tourism and we are losing lives too.
By allowing unrestrained tourism, it is amply clear that once again there was a grave "error of judgement". Tourism Minister Manohar Babu Ajgaonkar’s pitch of "the show must go on" reflects the depths of stupidity he has stooped to. Can we have a tourism minister who has no consideration for the safety of its citizens? The actions of the government only showed that tourism was a priority over human life.
Now that there is Covid mayhem, the least we can expect from the government is to put stringent protocols in place and go back in time to execute a tried and tested formula of containment. Leave aside lockdown, restrictions of movement must be in place keeping open essential services. Goa has lost a golden opportunity to isolate itself during this critical phase and restrictions and caution are the need of the hour.
The chief minister has shelved all defence mechanisms and is solely banking on the vaccination drive despite being fully aware that inoculation is not an immediate solution. Taking pride in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's endorsement of the State going freewheeling only shows how hollow the fight against Covid is.
Governments across States -- from Maharashtra to Delhi -- have put lives on priority over everything else. There have been strategies to ramp up infrastructure, and there are SOS messages sent out to the Centre in this hour of crisis.
The Goa government has done nothing to pre-empt a second Covid wave, it has only allowed the party to go on, and Goans are paying a heavy price now.
