Desperate times call for desperate measures. While the second Covid wave comes knocking, states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Tripura and Delhi have swung into action tightening the entry of visitors at border checkpoints. A Covid-negative certificate is now made mandatory for travellers seeking entry into these States and there is a tight vigil on incoming traffic. The question is why the Goa government is not showing any concern about the looming threat?
India is feeling the jitters of a fresh Covid wave which is feared to be devastating given the mutant form of the virus making entry. The Centre has warned States over lowering guard and has deputed high-level teams across States to take stock. Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir have shown a considerable rise in daily cases. Maharashtra along with Kerala is accounting for 75 per cent of the country's active cases and that is worrisome for Goa because a bulk of the State's tourists flow in from the neighbouring State.
It is surprising that the Goa government, which is engrossed with elections to the 11 municipalities and the CPP, continues to show a careless approach towards the new Covid threat. Throwing open the State for tourists to recover from loses suffered earlier in the pandemic could have disastrous consequences on the local populace. If our immediate neighbours Karnataka and Maharashtra have stepped up checks, what stops Goa from following a similar protocol? Are we waiting for yet another Covid bombshell to drop and play havoc with lives? Or is the State government banking on the vaccine, which till now the health sector is hesitant to take even after being offered free of cost.
Goa has just finished with Carnival celebrations which were more of a jamboree of chaos and frenzied merry-making. Tourists were allowed to run riot flouting Covid protocols. Shigmotsav is coming soon, and let’s not forget the chock-o-block rave parties that continue to be organized in the coastal north. The tourism that the government is selling doesn’t have any concerns for the people of the State and while there is restlessness visible across the nation, Goa continues to dance to the beats of tourism.
With municipal elections announced, the shift in focus is visible. The Covid fear, lock-unlock, masks and social distancing appear to have been pushed to the backburner. Elections have taken centre-stage and the talk is about BJP moving to seize control of urban Goa, as much as other parties jostling for their space. The Health Ministry which went into overdrive during a major part of the pandemic with press conferences addressed daily has now gone silent, and there is no word on how Goa is going to brace up for another Covid wave. Moreover, there is very little that is being done to upscale the vaccine drive.
Call it divine intervention or sheer luck, Goa, for all the rush of tourists has by far remained insulated from another virus attack till now. The question is how far are we going to push our luck.
