PANAJI
Worried over a recent and seemingly government-backed push to appropriate Panaji's picturesque riverfront stretching up to the Gaspar Dias (Miramar) beach, a set of prominent and long-term residents of the capital are raising awareness against the proposed 'Ropeway' and other such projects.
On Monday, the group styling itself as 'Save Panjim Group' organised their third such awareness meeting at Miramar's Stella Maris hall over the last week or so. Dozens of Panaji residents gathered to listen to the power-point presentations made on the 'ropeway project' connecting the Panaji waterfront in the area around the SAG swimming pool to Reis Magos.
The group is mentored by former Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) councillor Patricia Pinto and prominent city-based architects Ritu Sharma and Armino Ribeiro among others.
The ropeway project which had a few years ago failed to get the nod from the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) finally made the cut earlier in September this year.
The Save Panjim Group, already seemingly resigned to the intrusion of public spaces along the Mandovi river-front by the off-shore casinos and their front-office setups, is upset that public spaces in the city are being appropriated by the government allegedly on behalf of private players in the tourism and other commercial sectors.
Pinto, known to organise citizens' initiatives against imposition of projects without consultation with the local community, claims citizens are losing their space in decision making as the political executive sees them as mere voters.
“We are treated as voters, not citizens," Pinto says, lamenting that the decision-making process in the current dispensation is getting lopsided.
"Panaji is being waylaid by real estate lobbies," she said, adding that concerns and suggestions of citizens need to be heard.
Architect Armenio Ribeiro outlined the government plans to build a ropeway from Campal to Reis Magos and how it will destabilise the citizens of Panaji.
Ribeiro, who is a trustee of the Charles Correa Foundation, lamented that a number of projects, including the ropeway which are on the verge of implementation were delinking the city and its community from the Mandovi riverfront.
According to architect Ritu, it is paradoxical how the 'Ropeway Project' got statutory clearances now when these were rejected by the GCZMA some years ago.
According to her, one of the reasons for GCZMA to reject the permission for the project in the past were the "dangerous wind speeds".
To this day, two-wheelers and three-wheelers are not being permitted on 'Atal Setu' for the same technical reason -- dangerours wind speeds. So how does the GCZMA ignore the same for the ropeway now, she wondered.
The congestion in the city which many believe is fuelled by the continuous over-commercialisation of Panaji over the last couple of decades was another issue of concern highlighted at these awareness meets.
