Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has been announcing the extension of the ‘curfew’ every week. As curfew is an order specifying a time during which people must stay indoors, will the Chief Minister please tell us what curfew he has been extending? Far from being an order it seems to be more a PR exercise to show the world that he has not forgotten the worsening situation in the State.
Except for the conveniently curtailed session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, everything seems to have returned to normal with all the required precautions in this current pandemic thrown to the wind. Doctors and experts have rightly expressed concern about the droves of tourists that are flooding Goa and a predicted catastrophe with the inevitable third wave expected.
The economy must move on but the health and well-being of Goans is more important. So, the government needs to get its priorities right. There is currently a symbolic curfew in place which the authorities have not cared to enforce from day one. Clearly a sign of a government in power but not in control, failing to carry out it’s number one duty which is to defend, protect and provide for its citizens.
We need to open businesses up, but it has to be all done while observing the prescribed precautionary norms. But for sure the government must ensure that the Casinos which have been a super spreader of the virus must remain closed until the last COVID cloud clears. Infact, getting rid of the Casinos altogether would be the best thing that could happen for our State. Goa has been corroded being a gambling hub with the sex and drug trade all connected to Casinos. Some sanity would return if this evil is driven out from our once beautiful Goa.
Gambling in casinos maybe an acceptable evil for the Government but gambling with peoples’ lives is an unacceptable tragedy! Peoples’ lives must always come before Profit and the Government’s bid for popularity.
