Barely 24 hours after Chief Minister Pramod Sawant reassured tightening of protocols along the border and expressed uncertainty over opening up tourism-related activities given the emerging Delta Plus variant, a reported pre-wedding party at a resort in Anjuna has once again thrown serious questions over sincerity in approach to the looming situation.
A live video of what was billed as a ‘welcome dinner party’ from the hotel was uploaded on YouTube but was deleted minutes after it went viral on social media drawing furious reactions from concerned citizens. Although unconfirmed reports have put the crowd count at 300, the very fact that there was a dinner party hosted on June 24 evening without the mandatory permissions from the sub-divisional magistrate is in clear violation of the protocol.
Without getting into the numbers that attended the party, the question that needs to be raised is whether the protocol laid down by the State government is foolproof. If so, how can permissions be misused throwing a larger risk at Goans. Deputy Collector (North Goa) Kapil Phadte has disclosed that a detailed report has been sought and assured that law will take its course. But per se, authorities haven't been able to address the inherent issues that are emerging from the laid down protocols. If there was permission granted for a June 26 wedding, how were visitors allowed a party two days prior? How did this pass hotel muster? It appears that there is a collective failure here with resorts that have been battered during the pandemic colluding with guests to keep up with the economics.
Secondly, the State’s monitoring mechanisms keep failing. Lest we forget, parties, including rave sessions, continued in full steam during the first and second waves mindful of the mayhem caused by Covid. There are systemic flaws, and a viral video was needed to alert the police force and authorities of a major breach in the protocol. The incident has exposed our hollow systems because a wedding group consisting of people from different States have managed to coolly host a party much before the designated wedding party date. So, are we paying lip service to all the talk of stringent measures? Or is there a VIP category with deep-rooted ministerial connect that is exempt from all checks?
India has so far reported 50 cases of Delta Plus variant and on Friday, Maharashtra which had its first such death has swiftly moved to tighten restrictions. Goa thankfully hasn't detected any Delta Plus cases so far, but there are increasing fears of the mutant making an entry via the hordes of outstation visitors.
Goans paid a heavy price for the callousness of the administration during the second wave by ignoring all Covid threats that were emerging across the borders. We cannot repeat past mistakes and go through another such tragedy all over again. The loopholes in the protocol must be fixed and there has to be complete sync between authorities. Allowing parties and weddings during this critical phase can have deadly consequences.
