The British statesman and political thinker Edmund Burke had said “The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse”
It is absolutely despicable that a very cash strapped and heavy debt-ridden Goa Government has had the cheek to make a budget provision of a whopping ten crores to build a Manohar Parrikar memorial on the Miramar beach, the foundation of which is proposed to be laid on this 13th December. Such rank abuse of Power needs to be strongly opposed tooth and nail.
Miramar Beach is a public recreational area for the people to enjoy freely and without hindrance. It should not be transformed into a Memorial Beach of concrete structures. It is fair enough that there is one Samadhi of the charismatic Dayanand Bandodkar, our first Chief Minister who with a vision laid the strong foundations of Goa. Let us keep what now remains of Miramar Beach to be freely used by not pouring more concrete on it.
The Miramar beach comes under the purview of the Tourism Department and any use of the beach must be properly and legally authorized. Environmentally, as it is classified as a no development zone, one must therefore question whether any construction and development is legal. The Government must also refrain from creating a wrong precedent by creating a memorial for Manohar Parrikar having ignored Goa’s other departed Chief Ministers. More importantly there is another serious question to consider as to what would happen if in future a CM has to be buried rather than cremated? It is inconceivable that a burial on the public beach would be allowed and yet another concrete memorial constructed.
As the Government has not erected any memorials for other Chief Ministers, it should not do so now for Manohar Parrikar who departed leaving the State exchequer burdened with a multi crore bill over his medicals. Needless to say, he left the State in an utter mess with every possible public issue lying unresolved. From Mining to Madhei and from Casinos to Corruption Manohar Parrikar procrastinated on it all for the fear of losing his Chair. Let us firmly resolve not to squander the very scarce public funds on Memorials and Statues. God Save Our Goa.
