Mansi Parab showed courage and inner strength when she stood in front of a hall full of people at Institute De Nossa Senhora De Piedade, Panaji and told them something that they were, perhaps, not ready to hear. Mansi is a resident of Vanxim island, where a hotel resort is expected to be constructed. She had a very simple message - ‘We want development on the island’. This simple message stunned the gathering which, by and large, was against construction of the resort. She was questioned and badgered, but thanks to the presence of fellow villagers she stood her ground and when someone in the crowd asked how many were in favour of the project, they all stood up and in one voice expressed their support
for the project.
For activists, who sometimes assume they have all the answers,
this was a truly humbling experience. Vanxim is a
beautiful island, but for those who reside there life could be
hell. They have no school, no doctor and their only connection
to the village of San Matias is via a
ferry. And when the ferry breaks
down they have to use canoes. It is
impossible for city dwellers to imagine
the hardship involved in travelling
to Panaji for work. Ignored
for decades they have now placed
their hope in the hotel resort, which
will spur economic activity on the
island. The irony though, is that
while the regional plan took their aspirations on board, activists
believe this is a sinister back-door plan to push through a
project, which they oppose. But in the face of the simple argument
put forth by Mansi at the meeting, even activists had to
back down.
While saving Goa is an ideal worth pursuing, the real challenge
is how to balance it with demands for economic development.
If the activists gathered at Institute Piedade represented
the ‘preservation’ side of the coin, then the residents
of Vanxim represent the other side, which is development.
And there is a way for both to coexist. Regional Plan 2021 for
Vanxim strikes a balance because it allows development on
only 45,000 sq mts of the island which has an area of over
five lakh sq mts. This is a realistic plan, because it takes both
concerns on board, but the question is, will activists accept
it and move forward, or try to browbeat the Vanxim villagers
into submission? This demand for economic development has
put activists in conflict with people who, like everyone else,
have a right to demand a better lifestyle for themselves. That
they have put their faith in the private sector is not unusual
because the whole country seems to have turned to the private
sector to bail it out. Activists, on the other hand are vary of the
private sector, which they view as a scourge.
One does not have to be a social scientist to know that alleviating
the hardships faced by the people of Vanxim must take
precedence over suspicions of the private sector harboured by
activists. Development, in this case, must be allowed even if
it means construction of a resort on the island, because living
on a beautiful island makes no sense if one cannot monetise
its beauty for the good of the people living there and the larger
benefit of the State by expanding the tax base.
