In the name of “development for the people” the Government’s grandiose plan of setting up the Verna Industrial Estate has turned into a nightmare for neighbouring villages. The once pristine, close knit and cohesive community in Verna, Nagoa and Cortalim, today bear the brunt of this "planned" industrial growth, writes DIANA PINTO.

THERE’S NOTHING like a bit of salacious gossip to bring together residents of our quiet little street. And so it was that Monday morning, when a jeepload of agitated people gathered round the door of the little thatched hut causing curious neighbours to hot foot it to the scene of action. They were the relatives from the neighbouring village of Cortalim – indeed, messengers bringing bad tidings. It was one of the many casualties of the new “balcony economics” that our prevailing industrial policy has given birth to in our three villages of Verna, Nagoa and Cortalim. Apparently the daughter in law of the house had thrown off the constricting bonds of matrimony, and given in to the seductive lure of unfettered romance by decamping the previous night with the migrant labourer they had hired out their balcony to. And with admirable forethought, the couple had scooted off with all the jewellery and the money that they could lay their hands on.

But of course, of late, the neighbourhood has been no stranger to sensational incidents like this. Some months ago, a young woman sitting outside her home at around 9.30 p.m., was mortified to find a migrant worker exposing himself in front of her. While both these incidents provided grist for the gossip mills, the villagers now understand that they are symptoms of a more serious and deeper malaise, emanating from the larger picture of Goa’s bankrupt and mindless development policy. And social upheavals are not the only problems that this myopic policy has brought upon us.

FUTILE DEVELOPMENT: The setting up of the Verna Industrial Estate has not solved the unemployment problem.

Around twenty years ago, this was a beautiful stretch of rolling hills and open fields inhabited by a mainly agrarian society. It is true that there was not much money to go around, and at least one person from every family had ventured out of Goa to supplement the family income. But it was a largely peaceful, close knit and cohesive community. Then came grandiose government plans in the name of “development for the people”. And presto, millions of square metres of land belonging to the comunidades and individuals from the villages of Verna, Nagoa, Cortalim and Loutolim were acquired for the now famous Verna Industrial Estate. To lure industries, the Government offered subsidies and a tax holiday. There were even cases where a new manufacturing arm of an existing factory in another state was set up merely to avail of the tax holiday. For the local politicians of course, who slipped smoothly into the roles of wheeler dealers, this proved to be a bonanza par excellence.

And although it was originally conceived solely for electronic industries, the Government finally opened the flood gates indiscriminately to all who knocked instead of being selective and taking into account the needs of the local populace, whose land had been acquired, at a miserable pittance, and who comprised mostly of first generation learners and school dropouts, for whom the development was ostensibly intended.

Swept away by the hype generated by the local politicians, credulous inhabitants now looked forward to an all round betterment of their situation. Little did they know that it was in fact, the beginning of the unfolding of a nightmare and that they had been in reality, sold out to the highest bidder. The subsistence wages offered by the industries made it difficult to accept for people rooted in the place, needing to maintain their homes and their dignity. And so there were droves of migrants who came in from the states of Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and even as far as Bihar to become the main beneficiaries of the industrial policy of the Government of Goa and the industries in the Verna Industrial Estate. And why not? For they were the only ones who had the capacity to live on those salaries by bathing at public taps, living 8 to 10 to a room or even in the balconies of people’s homes and defecating uninhibitedly in open lands. For of course, they had no stake in the place. And so started the new “balcony culture” with villagers finding it more viable to rent out their balconies and even keep groups of migrants in their little homes, giving birth to the rise of a faceless society. Illegal structures mushroomed overnight, with Panchayat administrations, Government authorities and even local MLAs studiously turning a blind eye. In fact, the Government and its police force seem to be heading the band of law breakers as can be seen from the manner in which the police have audaciously carved out a hill in the village of Nagoa in order to build quarters for the personnel. So who then will be responsible for enforcing the law against the law enforcing authorities?

And no less a personage than Mr. Nitin Kuncolienkar, Chairman of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry has pointed out in a recent press interview that a massive excavation on a hillslope of the Verna Industrial Estate “threatens the ecology of the industrial estate. “The structures” he says, “are also under a threat, may be not immediately.”

The villages around the industrial estate for the first time show alarming signs of the evolution of a lucrative sleaze industry, seeking to cater to the needs of single migrants away from their families. There is no doubt that the Baina displaced will probably soon carve for themselves a niche in the villages around the Verna Industrial Estate. Indeed, the social ramifications have now acquired such high visibility in the surrounding villages that religious bodies are gearing up to deal with the fallout. For the influx has completely changed the demographic profile of these villages. And now, there is no doubt that, the Goans will soon be following in the footsteps of Mumbai’s luckless East Indian community – marginalized in their own homeland Today, even after the advent of the much touted industrial estate, Goans are still where they were twenty years ago – compelled to look out of their beloved Goa for their daily bread. But, to their detriment, they have lost their pristine environment, their ethos and are now in the process of losing their identity.

In the meantime, many of the industries in the industrial estate have brazenly sunk illegal bore wells, even using the water for construction purposes. A number of the village wells are now being used illegally for commercial purposes. It does not require a fortune teller to predict a serious depletion of ground water resources in the not so distant future. The migrant workers brought to construct the factories have made the entire area a public toilet. And since the Industrial Estate is located on a high plateau, the monsoons along with their “showers of blessings” also bring a tidal wave of filth descending upon the unfortunate villages in the valley below. It is almost certain that a laboratory analysis of water samples collected from wells in the villages, will show a high contamination with e coli bacteria resulting from the prevalent unhygienic conditions. The public health authorities, and water resources officials do not seem to be serious about implementing the rules and booking offenders.

EXCAVATING LOCALS?: The hill in Nagoa being carged out to build quarters for migrants.

In fact, a couple of years ago, the South Goa Collector’s attention had been drawn to the malpractices prevailing in the 20 point program, which was ostensibly intended for the benefit of Below Poverty Line families, and for which valuable land was acquired from the village of Nagoa. Today the area abounds in commercial establishments like bars, shops and and even centers for anti social activities. Many of the constructions have violated the rules under which the land was granted to allotees. Yet, the Collector does not seem to have thought it fit to move in the matter. If private persons and institutions are obliged to contribute their valuable land for the public good, it follows that the authorities also have an obligation to ensure that the land is utilized in a proper manner for the intended purpose as stipulated in the requisitioning process.

Among the various kinds of land acquired for the Verna Industrial Estate, was the land traditionally reserved by the comunidade for grazing of cattle. Yet, in a recent notification, the Government has directed the Nagoa Panchayat to identify and acquire grazing land from the comunidade in order to build cattle pounds to house cattle caught straying onto the National Highway. Needless to say, the Panchayat is going to have a long and unending search. This in a nutshell, is how the Goa Government works. Now that it has expressed its intention of sinking public funds into the desiltation of lakes, it may be prudent to point out, that this may be yet another exercise in futility, unless the canals which carry water from the source to the lake are also desilted. The canal located where the new bypass crosses the old NH17 at Nagoa-Verna, is badly clogged with filth and garbage.

The story of the villages around the Verna Industrial belt could well be the story of any other village in Goa. In recent times, there have been newspaper reports of Pernem villagers suffering from the unhygienic slums of migrant labourers engaged in the sand extraction industry along the bank of the River Tirakhol. Their living conditions apparently, have been responsible for the tragic deterioration of the natural beauty of the area. Yet another newspaper report links the growing migrant population to the rising crime rate in Davorlim. The beautiful beach of Agonda too, has started down the pathway of illegal constructions violating the CRZ zone.

Goa’s other money spinner of tourism too, has hit the headlines lately for all the wrong reasons. Here again, Goa and Goans have been used as hapless tools to earn valuable foreign exchange for the country at a painfully high social and environmental cost indeed. Today, Goa’s famous “sunset strip” of Baga, Calangute and Candolim has turned into a monstrous concrete jungle abounding in illegal constructions, sewage and drainage problems. The Tourism Department and the Goa police’s deliberate effort to ignore the rave parties, drug peddling, paedophilia and sex tourism has led to a sharp deterioration not only in the image of Goa as a tourist destination, but also in the social fabric of the community, ensnaring susceptible youth of the area into anti social activities.

All developmental plans must necessarily be centred around the needs and aspirations of the people. In the case of the Verna Industrial Estate however, not only has the Government failed to conduct a social audit to assess the needs of the people of the area and the implications of the then proposed Industrial Estate on their lives but in fact, has made them pawns in the process, compelling them to carry the heavy and cumbersome social, environmental, health and security burdens of supporting this development, which like most other development projects in Goa, seem to be not only irrelevant but positively deleterious to the needs and requirements of its denizens. Shouldn’t development be planned and fine tuned to promote the well being and quality of life of the general populace, or is it merely an exercise to suit the interests of the industry –planner nexus at the cost of the ordinary people who have surrendered their ancestral lands supposedly for the public good? In fact, the Verna Industrial Estate, has conclusively proved that people seem to be the last priority in the configurations of development.

Unlike large states of India like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra, with vast tracts of land to spare, Goa is a tiny state with extremely limited land holdings. Therefore, the only justification for doling out scarce resources like land, water and power would be employment for the people of the area, who have had to sacrifice not only their lands, but even their traditional ethos and lifestyles. If this purpose has not been fulfilled, then needless to say, the developmental process has been a futile endeavour. That is, unless it is actually the systematic implementation of a well conceived plan, that bodes ill for Goa and Goans.

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