There is nothing wrong in the government making U-turns. Dictatorship is a straight road. If the government had wished it could have gone straight forward with various projects such as marinas. Yet it first published an Expression of Interest in various newspapers with regards to the same, inviting public suggestions. In some cases, even public presentations were held. Did such a thing happen during earlier regimes?
Foreign countries have become developed through such marinas, bustling ports, use of coal and so forth. If such projects are suitable to our need they can be replicated here. Goans run away to other countries and make use of such facilities there while leaving their own state pristine but impoverished.
In the past there was no social media or mobile phones. People were simple minded, ill-informed and gullible. Hence protests or even knowledge of various misdeeds went unnoticed. Many of the decisions taken by the government whether at state level or at the Centre are beneficial to the public. These are decisions that would be taken even by private companies. Some decisions have not found favour with people simply because they are defaulters or due to misinformation.
Goa has had generations of citizens working on ships or abroad. Have they used their visits to developed countries to benefit Goa in any way? If that was so we wouldn't be facing a massive garbage problem here today. It seems all they thought of was self-aggrandizement.
VINAY RODRIGUES, Marrgao
