Another nail in state capital’s coffin

Some black humour derives from Panaji’s ranking of 90 of 111 cities across the country in the ease of living index released last week by the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA). The leading public policy expert and director of the Takshashila Institution, Nitin Pai, ruefully joked on Twitter, “This is great news. Now let’s hope that people migrate to these cities instead of moving in large numbers to difficult to live cities./sarcasm.” In other words, if the shameful ranking has a positive side effect, it might be less demand from migrants and tourists, thus alleviating the numbers exacerbating the problems confronting the once-lovely capital city of India’s smallest state.
But why Panaji ranked so poorly is no laughing matter. This new index well-conceived by minister Hardeep Singh Puri reveals comprehensive mismanagement. Across 55 ‘core indicators’ and 22 ‘supporting Indicators’, we see the state capital in catastrophic decline. When it comes to housing inclusiveness, it is the worst in India, scoring zero (Ghaziabad scored the highest). In the vital category of mixed land use, it earned the lowest possible number, 0.01 (Greater Mumbai scored 4.75 out of 5).
Water supply, transportation, unemployment. In each of these, there is evidence of an overwhelming crisis. Not only is Goa’s flagship way behind other cities in India, it is still falling fast to even worse.
That nosedive is also reflected in the Swachh Sarvekhshan 2018 report. Here, the MoHUA assesses India’s cities on cleanliness based on 19 indicators. In 2016, Panaji earned an already worrisome but still respectable 16th place ranking (out of 500 cities). But in 2017, for the multitude of reasons any city resident could list from experience, it plummeted to 90th place. Now really rapid deterioration. No one can be surprised that the latest report released last month finds Panaji ranked 155th in terms of cleanliness. We are experiencing an historic tragedy, for which future generations will know precisely where to lay the blame.
Successful administration, wherever it has occurred in the world, is all about accountability. The flaw in Goa’s polity is its absence. In some fundamental ways, democracy has been rigged. Much of the system of state is subverted to serve the flourishing of criminal enterprise. Crucially, there is no oversight. At this very moment, even as Panaji slumps straight into the gutter, the allegedly responsible authorities kite-fly an array of nonsense: Multi-million dollar ropeway to nowhere, RFID-tagged garbage bins, expensive digital video cameras on every lamp post. Such a range of wasteful, stupid ideas are being sold most cynically under the label of smartness.
Will this heist take place unchecked? The record indicates it probably will. Here it is useful to review the long string of lies, reversals and u-turns that have taken place since casinos were first allowed an extension of their supposedly temporary moorings in the Mandovi. That initial act of leeway has given way to an unmitigated farce, from broken election promises to a string of broken deadlines. The casinos stayed, they multiplied, and have now become much bigger than they were before. They are a law unto themselves, without any kind of regulatory mechanism in place. Now, the city administration seems to have abdicated the entire waterfront to them, only reluctantly taking back some encroachments after public protests.
This Independence Day was a perfect snapshot of what has happened to Panaji. The main flag ceremony was opposite the old secretariat, where the tiranga was first raised in 1961. But now the backdrop signage is all winking foreign women, and a neon-lit welcome that everything is for sale.
The writer is a photographer and widely-published columnist. Views expressed are personal.