Unprecedented heavy downpour in July in Goa have clogged the overflowing drains. Inundated housing colonies have thrown public life out of gear. Rotting garbage, electrocutions and roads caving in at many places, poor entry to the recent Mopa airport and railways are proof and consequences of poor planning, unpreparedness and violating the norms with impunity ever since Pramod Sawant party has been in power. The real estate lobby “ big names from outside Goa, the TCP officers are responsible for giving them permission to construct skycrapers in our beautiful villlages especially in Bardez are the major contributors to our present tragedy. Shoddy drainage system to get rid of the Portuguese influence, deforestation and unauthorized construction encroaching upon the water bodies converting them into hotels, residential and commercial township are largely responsible for the mess. The political leaders, the municipal corporation, the panchayats, and the Government agencies should have given serious attention and regards to the hydrological data and draw up plans accordingly very well knowing Goa’s environment. The entire drainage system in the smart city should have been constructed with a proper network. The drains should have been cleaned time to time instead of waiting for the rain to begin. Drainages are filled with garbage and polythene bags, drains not even connected to the main sewage line. Chandigarh is the only city which has a well planned drainage system network. Mumbai is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Mumbai has 12 million people “ How are you going to evacuate them. Instead of taking some short term measures after every such disaster and again falling into long slumber till the next catastrophe occurs. Some scientific, practical and long standing solution based on experience like Chandigarh should be thought about. The master plan of every village / town should be looked into while granting permission for any construction rather than filling empty pockets.
Utter indiscipline and lack of traffic sense
It is reported that in Margao alone, in a period of 3 months from January 2023, 5,200 driving licenses face suspension. There are 808 violations of jumping traffic signals, 337 for using mobile phone whilst driving, 2,460 for driving without helmet after all the propaganda and accidents widely publicized due its non-use. This shows utter indiscipline and lack of traffic sense in our drivers. It is a wonder that there are not more accidents and precious lives lost due to this…
