The Goa Government had the rank audacity to so deceitfully declare Goa as Open Defecation Free (ODF) from August 31, 2019.
It will soon be two years down the road and the very sordid ground reality is there for all to see with people urinating and even defecating out in the open everywhere. On the hills, the fields and along the riverside across Goa we see it all. Along Goa’s riverside it all gets released in the waters where we catch fish from. With no sewage line in place, many are releasing their raw sewage through pipes into the public drains. It is an unacceptable situation. The onus is on the government to ensure that it is mandatory for every house to have a septic tank. This is required to ensure that a health menace is avoided.
Goa may be officially ODF on paper, but even not spared is the Porvorim slope just below the Government Secretariat which is used by hordes of labourers to publicly ease themselves. Across the road we have been seeing the labourers working at the construction site of our new High Court building which is scheduled for inauguration on March 27 merrily answering nature’s call all over the place. All this when the law requires that the labour contractors provide proper toilet amenities for their workers.
It is also not uncommon seeing tourists on arrival urinating around the bus terminals due to lack of proper toilets. Same is the sorry state of affairs at many government offices. In rank violation of law, many housing complexes are brazenly releasing sewage into the fields. Proper toilet facilities for the convenience of the commuters needs to be set up along the State Highways which has not been done.
We are far from truly becoming ODF and the government needs to get its act together to achieve this goal in the best interest of the State and the health of its people. For Goa to be Open Defecation Free we would have to first free ourselves from the stench of rampant corruption and lack of proper governance that our State is besieged with.
The astute people of Goa are no fools to be hoodwinked and brainwashed by false facts and figures deviously released by the Government. In governing a State there can never ever be any room whatsoever for lies and deceit. Transparency and good governance at all levels have to be the order of the day at all times.
