The problem with our politicians

There appears to be no solutions for any of the problems in Goa. This is especially true where politicians of Goa have been trying to control and work out for a solution.

So the medium of instruction issue has been on hold with final decision still pending. So is the city garbage issue where garbage is disposed off temporarily after it raises a stink literally with no permanent solution in sight.

The way our politicians handle these problems, they give a feeling that these are unique problems of Goa for which there are no solutions. They behave as if no other place in the world has similar problems and it is up to the politicians themselves to work out a solution.

A case to point is the stranding of the ship “River Princess” off Candolim. The way our politicians reacted and handled this issue was as if this were a unique problem for the state of Goa.

And the people had never witnessed similar problems in their living memory believed the politicians. So eleven years later and after much drama, part of the ship still remains grounded.

And the people would have believed the politicians had it not been for a similar ship “M V Wisdom” which drifted into Juhu beach in Mumbai a few days ago.

Within days, and without much fanfare, the Mumbai authorities manage to tow away the ship into the sea. This is a lesson for us Goans to follow.

We Goans need to use this as a lesson and think whether we need politicians at the helm of our affairs or do we need professionals to do the job. Cities like Mumbai on the same coast of the Arabian Sea as Goa, with much larger population and industries generating more garbage is able to take care of the garbage disposal.

But smaller cities like Panaji has not been able to do it for years. Larger states like Maharashtra and Karnataka with diverse language dialects have resolved their medium of instructions issue, but not Goa.

We still have the ruling and opposition parties squabbling and quarrelling, with toothless morchas and meaningless dharnas creating noiseon the issue and nothing else.

We still are waiting for the day when decisions will be taken.