TCP minister Vijay Sardessai's ceremonial visit to Sonsoddo garbage dump - By Nisser Dias

Newly anointed Town and Country Planning (TCP) minister Vijay Sardessai visits Sonsoddo garbage dump, Water Resources Department (WRD) minister Vinod Palyekar makes a surprise visit to his department offices are some of the headlines in the news dailies either immediately or a week later after being allotted portfolio to ministers.

It is mostly that section of ministers who have managed to walk away with plum and lucrative ministries that carry out such ceremonial raids or surprise checks initially in the tenure then everything is forgotten.

Ever growing Sonsoddo garbage mountain

The staff goes back to their old ways, things don’t move, delivery to the masses becomes slack and then the minister too moves from his home to the minister’s chamber for the rest of his term happy with red beacon flashing giving him the tag of VIP.

We have seen ministers doing it earlier and this time round it is no different. All politicians are the same and the ways are the same. These visits are nothing like raids, surprise checks but just rituals just to show their faces to the staff or personnel in their departments.

Or maybe also to introduce their henchmen, collection agents to the employees of the department so that the rest follows.

We can remember Health ministers Vishwajit Rane during the Congress regime and Francis D’souza during BJP rule visiting Hospicio and promising the skies. Sadly nothing has changed at premiere hospital of South Goa. I do not whether it can be termed as a hospital itself. One can see bandicoots criss-crossing the wards, patients sharing beds with their relatives, stained bed-sheets, abusive nurses and arrogant doctors is the order of the day.

Parrikar inspecting River Sal

In 2012, Manohar Parrikar had undertaken a tour of Margao and surrounding areas as chief minister. He had visited river Sal and after seeing its state he had questioned whether it can be called a river, he ordered the officials of sewerage treatment plant not to release raw sewage into the river. They stopped for a couple of days and then it was back to normal. Parrikar did not come back to inspect it again. End of the matter. Parrikar goes on to become defence minister than demotes himself back as chief minister and all this while the river Sal is deteriorating.

Then he promised a solution to the stalled bridge from Benaulim to Navelim. Nothing has happened there either.

Almost seven years have passed and the new district hospital at Fatorda diagonally opposite TCP minister’s residence is still under construction. Several promises and deadlines but there is neither a sign of its completion nor even a whisper from the new dispensation.



Fomento treatment plant in the background

So these visits are just an eyewash by ministers to pull wool over the eyes of the public hoping that the electorate will forgive them for their sins of betrayal. If Vijay is really interested in putting an end to the ever increasing garbage mountain he should set-up an official office there and oversee its scientific disposal which I’m sure he will not do.

Another official seen Vijay Sardessai at the Sonsoddo dump is Sanjit Rodrigues. So many projects are lying with Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) which are not completed because of his inefficiency. The road from old market circle to Colva is creating a dust-storm and people are suffering, the district hospital is another grim reminded of Sanjit’s incompetence but he manages to hold on to the post of managing director of GSIDC because he is a ‘Yes’ man of the Manohar Parrikar. Sanjit ineptitude, arrogance, dereliction of duty is written in the annals of Corporation of Panjim.

Visiting the garbage dump, getting the chief minister there is nothing, but creating a hype which we have all seen before. If Parrikar was called there to build a bridge, he would have immediately brought his blacklisted contractors from outside and got it done because building bridges is the only development that he can carry. 

'Montri' Vijay Sardessai in his official chamber

In 2002 he sanctioned some bridges, then in 2004 he built some fancy ones which are today crying for attention and 2012 he sanctioned a third bridge over Mandovi which was not required.

So if Parrikar has not paid any attention to Sonsoddo garbage dump since 2002 people of south Goa cannot expect much.

In the case of Fatorda MLA he knows very well that he has lost all credibility in the eyes of the people by betraying their trust and joining hands with BJP to grab power as with power lot other things follow. So now to pacify them he has taken up the issue. I hope him all the best in his endeavour, but it is not so easy as there are lots of issues involved in it and just as Vijay himself had said that it is a land grab, I hope unwittingly he does not get embroiled in it since it is very close to Curtorim.

Vinod Palyekar on the other hand is a new hand on the block and one can understand his enthusiasm to bring about a change, how far will he successful or at what speed he will be allowed to function by his boss is to be seen because Vijay Sardessai policy is stretch work over the five years – at least that was his advice to his Margao Municipal Councilors