It’s the economy, stupid, Goans tell candidates

And with several destinations in South East Asia getting cheaper, a large number of foreign tourists are flying away from Goa. Demand is simply not keeping up with hotel rooms which increase by some 20 per cent annually. Forced to peg tariffs low, the glamourous tourism industry is tightening its belt. “People are asking us `what is in it for me?’ ” says the Bharatiya Janata Party’s treasurer and campaign strategist in Margao DeshPrabhudesai. A query which is forcing the candidates to stick to local issues. “Local issues are in the forefront in this election,” admits former Union law minister Ramakant Khalap.

Even national leaders hitting the campaign trail in Goa are now forced to spend considerable time explaining where the tiny State figures in the national scheme of things. On the advice of local leaders, Home Minister L K Advani and Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, who began campaigning early here, promised special packages to improve Goa’s infrastructure if elected to power.

But voters are not convinced. Says Gurudas Tari, leader of the truck owners’ association in Sanguem where mining is the sole industry: “We are still waiting to be paid higher tariffs for transporting ore.” Ever since the crisis hit the mining industry early this year, rentals were reduced from Rs 10 to Rs 8 per km. A cut-back in the operation of less profitable mines has only reduced the income of some 10,000 truck owners who dependon the mining industry.

What is worse, Joaquim Alemao and Ramakant Angle, Congress and BJP candidates for the Murmagao seat with interests in mining, are keen on keeping rentals low. Nearly two lakh persons are employed directly and indirectly in the mining industry, the biggest employer in Goa. Apart from the labour engaged in extracting ore, barge operators, truckers, repair workshops are all indirectly supported by the mining industry. The State’s Murmagao Port Trust receives some 70 per cent of its revenues from this sector. Consequently, the slowdown in the mining industry has badly affected the economy.

The elections have also seen environmental issues come to the fore. According to an `Areawide Environment Quality Management’ study done by the Tata Environment Research Institute last year, the suspended particulate matter (SPM) is much higher than permissible levels in mining areas.

Moreover, ground water here has been rendered unpotable due to metal content leaching into the ground. With theclean-up pegged at around Rs 5,000 crore spread over a decade, politicians have turned the issue into a vote-catching mantra. The Congress, the BJP and the NCP have promised to clean up the industry in their election manifestoes.

Even the much-hyped tourism boom in the State is hitting a dead end. Foreign charter tourist arrivals into Goa have remained static even as a hotels mushroom in the beach belt of the State. “The political will to improve the quality of infrastructure for high-spending international tourists is simply absent,” says a hotelier on condition of anonymity. Consequently, the industry is banking on casinos and gambling parlours to woo the penny-pinching Indian tourist.

However, politicians are solely concentrating on the short-term even here. Taxi-owners on the Colva beach have been promised more tourists by a politician who is known for terrorising charter operators. His solution: use physical force against charter operators who deploy buses to ferry their customers from place toplace! “Our leaders are too busy playing politics over Kargil to even think of providing adequate job-oriented training facilities for the youth,” says Christopher Fonseca, general secretary, All India Trade Union Congress.