Goa and Goans expect our new Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai to act as a saviour saving and serving the people. Will he have the courage and determination to step into the shoes of our former formidable Governor Satya Pal Malik?
Our State having been without a full-fledged constitutional head for so long, Governor Pillai has a gruelling task at hand with so many issues to grapple with. He will have to work relentlessly to lift Goa from the current awful morass on all fronts.
We are facing so many crucial issues, besides the enormous Mhadei and Mining muddle. The deteriorating law and order is worrisome, along with the wobbly economic condition that the Government has driven the State into. People across the State and the youth in particular have rightly been agitating against projects which are not in the interest of the State and our already brittle environment.
We expect that Governor Pillai will be very proactive and examine every issue placed before him in detail and holistically. He needs to be extremely people friendly and though very knowledgeable always ready to learn while being a good listener with possibly less of talking. People expect a very patient and caring hearing from our Governor who should be always open minded. A Governor who would bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India in discharging his duties, while being non-partisan and maintaining highest levels of probity in public life.
Goa being an extremely small State, Governor Pillai should endeavour to travel across and connect with the people to see the factual reality. It would give him an opportunity to see the plight of the people, more particularly in the rural areas in a State that is perceived to be a very progressive one. He needs to impress on the government to focus on enhanced Healthcare facilities, schools with improved infrastructure and reasonably priced housing while ensuring the much needed good internet connectivity across the State for the benefit of all.
Strangely with the exception of Goa, all other Raj Bhavans across the country are complying with the RTI Act. While the issue has been lingering in the Supreme Court, it would be befitting of his legal background if Governor Pillai finds a way out to end this inconsistency and to lift the veil of confidentiality, by opening the affairs and working of our Raj Bhavan for public gaze.
As the Chancellor of Goa University, the Governor must ensure that our Apex Temple of learning gets all his needed intervention and guidance to ensure its proper working. The Governor should also direct that the Government at all levels invoke cost cutting steps more particularly because the State is struggling with empty coffers. Ways should be found to curtail wasteful spending at the Raj Bhavan too.
Goa looks forward that Governor Pillai would govern with utmost integrity and with clarity in the best interests of the State and its people, so that our State sees some light at the end of this long dark tunnel.
He has all the academic and administrative knowledge to guide the Goa Government in steering the State from its current woods. For him, to succeed Governor Pillai will have to free himself from the political shackles to be able to be a free, fair and successful Governor of Goa.
(The writer is a lawyer and social activist)
