As the polling date approaches, various political parties are going all out to woo the voters. The outstation parties, which are making a debut in the state, have been showering numerous freebies on the electorate in a last ditch effort to gain electoral victory. A court intervention has reportedly been sought in order to stop the practice of political parties distributing or promising freebies to the electorate in the run-up to any elections. Such freebies destroy the level playing field between parties as they act as inducements to vote and place additional pressure on the budget of the cash-strapped state governments if the political party is voted to power. Goa has a plethora of issues that need to be addressed. However these political parties are laying more stress on freebies. In all this, the real issues facing the state appear to have been kept on the back-burner. There is the issue of offshore casinos which were to be shifted to another site. During the last elections a legislator had even promised to shift the casinos within a period of a hundred days. This issue seems all but forgotten. Then there is the issue of proper garbage treatment especially with respect to the Sonsoddo dump. Other matters include parking woes in the cities, hill-cutting, illegal constructions, getting back the money lost in the mining scam, restarting mining in the state, safety of women, price-rise of essential commodities, etc. Political parties need to make their stand clear on the various issues plaguing the state instead of just promising freebies.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
