Traffic Jam on the Mandovi

A ‘Touch and Go’ problem

I love this turn of phrase coined by the Captain of Ports Department because it describes exactly how this government lives – precariously. Everything it does is usually ‘up in the air.’ A case in point is the eight pleasure boats that were not permitted to dock at the jetty alongside DB Bandodkar Marg. It was revealed during the recent Assembly session that the eight boats were issued ‘touch and go’ permission which means they can only embark and disembark passengers. It’s a different matter these vessels are nearly always, except when cruising down the congested Mandovi, permanently in a ‘touch’ position. Either that or, I need a cataract operation done. There you are, didn’t I tell you this government is as vague as vague can be? The other turn of phrase that will always stay with me is ‘adaptive reuse’. The Entertainment Society of Goa coined that when it tried to lease the Maquinez Palace to a mall owner from Dilli some time back. Mercifully, that one could never reinvent itself and went into adaptive disuse but this one (touch and go) however could regrettably go to the wire.

Floating sumos -2

Last week, I pointed to the floating elephants in the River Mandovi and their lengths – Santa Monica (33.5 x 10 x 3.35m) owned by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) and Swastik (43.5 x 12 x 3m) owned by Swastik Cruises. This is the full list of the herd: Emerald Prince (21.75 x 8.2 x 1.5m), Kapil (22.5 x 9 x 2.85m), Paradise (30 x 10 x 3m) Blessing – owned by Swastik Cruises (24 x 7.5 2.3m), Shantadurga – owned by GTDC (24.9 x 8.36 x 2.61m), Malvika (25.5 x 6 x 2.32m), Swastik Vijaye –Swastik Cruises (16 x 5 x 1.5m), Alexander (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68m), Columbus (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68m), Napoleon (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68m), Vasco da Gama (11.75 x 3.7 x 1.68) – all owned by Sea Scan Pleasure Cruises, Barcolento (29 x 6.1 x 1.83m), Princess de Goa (37 x 12 x 3.2m), Noah’s Ark –owned by Mundas Hospitality (33.53 x 6.7 x 1.51m), Carnival (24 x 6.27 x 2.54m), Paradise-11 (36 x 14 x 3m), and Coral Queen (30 x 11.5 x 3m).

It all adds up to DISASTER

There must be big money to be made on the much abused Mandovi because Kapil, Malvika and Princess de Goa are owned by Priyadarshani River Cruises, while Paradise and Paradise-11 are owned by Paradise Ventures. Add these to the dimensions I gave you last week of the casinos and it all amounts to frankly too much floating bulbous bow (the bulging forward part of a ship) in only a short length of the Mandovi. Add these all to 219 of the 641 barges registered in Goa (wonder where the others are?) and you have an Expressway of danger. Add that to the water carrying or bunkering vessels that ply up and down the river supplying barges with either water or fuel. Add that to the 20 under-50 passenger capacity vessels. And, you have a sum total of 258, all moving up or downstream. Now, imagine what happens when a Panjim-Betim ferry with its single engine fails one day to zebra cross past a barge or vessel bearing down on it. One word –DISASTER.

And more

It isn’t only the Panjim waterfront that is congested. There are 218 passenger and parasailing boats with official permission to operate on various beaches. Add that to god-knows-how many boats operating without NOCs and there is danger lurking everywhere because to this figure, you need to add 71 mostly FRP passenger boats, water scooters, etc.

Tailpiece: The names of people and so-called writers arm-twisted into defending the mother-of-all ordinances has added up to quite a neat figure. Some were more audacious than others, like the one who called the rest of us ‘empty vessels.’ Other vassals using what I can only describe as language carpentry begged, borrowed and stole meanings to define ‘public interest.’ One language carpenter even brought out his gardening tools. Reading the Herald, I understood for the first time that ‘public’ means ‘one person’ only, okay two, if you must insist. And that ‘interest’ means pursuit of an individual’s happiness. Now Digambar Kamat and his 38 men and one woman will have to pass an Ordinance that will facilitate changing the meaning of ‘public’ and ‘interest’ in all school textbooks. I guess, so they can put the final nail into our collective coffin, they could call it the ‘Public Interest Ordinance’ and pre-date it to come into effect before the mother-of-all ordinances. Now, that’s what you could call transparency in government.

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