That, what the stage artistes and musicians have been saying about the renovation work on Kala Academy, has been proved. The work is substandard.
The Task Force Committee appointed by the government has noted deficiencies in the work, and its chairman admitted he is dissatisfied with whatever renovation has been undertaken and that it cannot be given even passing marks.
Now, the artistes knew this and had repeatedly said so, the audiences were aware of it through experience, but the government had been in denial mode. Will the government, at least now that the task force has made public its findings, act against whoever is responsible for the shoddy work?
Substandard works in the State of Goa are not restricted to Kala Academy. Such examples can be found across government departments and all sectors.
The artistes knew this and had repeatedly said so, the audiences were aware of it through experience, but the government had been in denial mode.
Take the roads, for instance. Last week was Road Safety Week and the authorities – traffic police and transport – were out on the streets all over the State penalising drivers and riders for violating traffic rules.
A good job, one has to admit as the violators are many, but did the authorities consider, even for a moment, the conditions of the roads during this week? Is road safety only the duty of the motorists and not of the authorities to provide a safe road to the citizens who pay road tax to use the road?
Many of Panjim’s roads are in dire need of being asphalted. Go beyond Panjim and it is the same situation. Driving on the road from Panjim to Old Goa, via Ribandar and alongside the River Mandovi is a nightmarish experience and it has been that way for months.
Rua de Ourem is another example of a road that is punctured by potholes.
Take also, for instance, the works of the Panjim Smart City. For now, leave aside the roads and consider only the pavements that have been given a new look. The existing cement, concrete and tiles have been removed and replaced with pavers.
Substandard works in the State of Goa are not restricted to Kala Academy. Such examples can be found across government departments and all sectors.
It looked aesthetic in the beginning, as it offered a uniform look to the entire city. But soon, the pavers lost their shine, and worse still, the work is so shoddy that there is no levelling which makes walking, especially for senior citizens, risky.
Walk on these sidewalks to experience it yourselves. There will come numerous instances when the underside of the shoe scrapes the pavement as the pavers are not all at the same level.
Also, some pavers have been shaken loose and risen, leading to stubbing the front of the shoe on them. It can lead to a mishap, luckily it hasn’t happened this far, or at least we aren’t aware of such a fall.
And, there’s more on the Smart City. On Wednesday, October 23, the smart city workers turned up in my neighbourhood again. I stopped to ask them what it was that they were doing, and was told that they were building the drain along the pavement.
This stunned me completely. Shouldn’t the drain have been completed before the monsoon?
That portion of the pavement, and part of the drain, was completed in May. Logic tells me that the drain, too, should have been competed at that time. It wasn’t, and the work is being undertaken now, after the monsoons have ended.
It definitely makes one wonder how smart was the planning that went into the Smart City works.
All the examples here are of Panjim and the surrounding areas. If the State capital can be wallowing in such a mess, imagine the state of the rest of Goa. Can it be any better? If this is infrastructure, it is no better when one approaches a government office for some work and has to deal with surly officials.
The primary reason for this is that there is little accountability in government circles. Government employees are not held responsible for the works nor are their promotional avenues linked to their abilities and performance.
Instead seniority decides their climb up the ladder. As a result, few bother to work to their full capabilities or take interest in their work, other than the very least that they have to do.
Unless a change in effected in the service rules, where government employees are made accountable for the works undertaken by them or under their supervision, the scourge of substandard works will continue to plague Goa.