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GOA NOT RAIN PROOF AFTER 65 YEARS OF LIBERATION! By Rajan Narayan
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GOA NOT RAIN PROOF AFTER 65 YEARS OF LIBERATION! By Rajan Narayan

June 27- July 03, 2026, Stray Thoughts June 26, 2026 , by

AND a few stray thoughts for yet another Saturday. For a Saturday following the week when the rains finally arrived on the eve of Sao Joao but not because of the prayers offered to St Anthony. For a Saturday following the week when the continued lack of accountability whenever fire safety is ignored. For a Saturday following the week when news came of the BJP karyakarta looting the maryada Ram temple at Ayodhya. For a Saturday following the week when we learned that the dropout rate at the secondary level in Goa is the highest in the country at over 10%.

SAO JOAO IS HERE
AND a few stray thoughts on the rains finally arriving on the eve of Sao Joao but not because of the prayers offered to St Anthony. The first heavy spell of rain dramatized how miserable the infrastructure in Goa continues to be. Varuna, the rain god decided to give Chief Minister Pramod Sawant a wake-up call. A giant tree crashed in front of his residence, smashing the fancy car of the former deputy chief minister Manohar Ajgaonkar.
 The chief minister was lucky that the tree did not fall on his car. As the Green Man Miguel Braganza of the Botanical Society of Goa pointed out, the tree fell not because of weak roots but because of poor maintenance. Obviously, the chief minister who wants everyone to plant a tree doesn’t look after the trees around his own house.
There have been repeated warnings that the Mapusa market would choke up and flood up with the first rainfall. All the drains are choked with plastic trash and no outlet for water to drain away. In Panjim, the experience of repeated monsoons has not brought any relief for 18 June Road or the Don Bosco School or the Kadamba Bus Terminal. There is evidence of flooding even in the upmarket commercial district of Patto.
The bitter ground reality is that all the natural drainage systems of urban Goa have been obstructed courtesy concretization of paddy fields, fruit orchards, water bodies like lakes and wells and creeks and salt pans and khazan lands. Rain can no longer percolate or rush down the hills because hills and plateaus have been deforested and cut down to size for construction of high rise buildings and fancy villas.
The long suffering St Inez creek in Panjim is a perennially stinking and polluted nallah running through the town now. Since it is linked to the Panjim water bodies like the Mala and Campal lakes we have huge mortality of fish because of garbage and sewage dumped into them. Repeated reports from the National Institute of Oceanography tell us of fecal contamination. Clearly, the roads, bridges and culverts built do take care of drainage for rainwater.
The worst sufferers are the primary school children as schools open just when the monsoon gets intense. But kids being kids they will see joy in puddles where they enjoy splashing, except that these are dirty puddles which will lead to infection and sickness. No wonder kids in kindergarten and primary school are still taught the English nursery rhyme “Rain, rain go away, come again another day…little Jonny wants to play!” The Marathi version is more interesting: “Are, are pausa, tula deta paisa, paisa zala khota, paus ala mota!” There’s a moral in this. All the infra works are khota because of the corruption all around. Which is why the smart city’s roads, streets and lanes flood over grimly every monsoon.

FIRE SAFETY IGNORED
AND a few stray thoughts on the continued lack of accountability whenever fire safety is ignored. There have been action replays of the Birch by Romeo nightclub fire episode in Goa, in New Delhi and Lucknow. It may be recalled that the inferno at Birch by Romeo nightclub caused the loss of 16 lives, mostly of migrant labor working at the club. The owners of the club, primarily the Luthra brothers (Gaurav and Saurabh Luthra), are out on bail. Except for a few petty officials, nobody has been held accountable. The wife of the sarpanch of Arpora, who was arrested, has got elected as sarpanch.
In New Delhi, a bed and breakfast facility intended for eight people had been accommodating 25 to 30 people. The facility was primarily used by the relatives of patients admitted to the ICU in the neighboring MAX Hospital. Indeed, there were several relatives of patients from Afghanistan and Bangladesh at the hospital when an electrical short circuit sent the building on fire. There was only one entry and exit point in the four-storied structure. Several people jumped out from the terrace to try to save themselves. Over 20 people are reported to have died in the inferno. Again, no accountability was fixed. The Delhi administration admitted that it was an illegal structure and that the greedy owner had not installed any fire safety equipment.
The most recent incident is the one in Lucknow. Over 15 young people between the age of 20 years and 25 years lost their lives. The building had a gaming studio. Most of the victims were employed or were interning in the gaming studio. The three-story building also had a pet clinic. Along with the humans half-a-dozen pets also burnt to death. Interestingly, the ugliest part was that the entrance and exit points to the building were controlled by biometrics. Which means unless you place your thumb on an entry device the door would not open. This high-tech entry device got jammed because of the fire outbreak. The consequence was that all the people in the building were trapped.
There have been loud noises from Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath since Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is from Lucknow. Rajnath Singh is also agitated. This is no consolation for the kith and kin of the dead. How much is a life worth in India? Yogi Adityanath has announced a compensation of Rs2 lakh. Narendra Modi has announced a dole of Rs5lakh. Compare this with what a cricket player gets for winning the World Cup. Each of the players gets Rs15 crore. Surely, the lives of ordinary Indians is worth as much.
The issue is not compensation. The issue is accountability. The issue is to enforce the fire safety rules strictly. There are scores of government offices, including the electricity department and the Goa Medical College and Hospital in Goa which are full of death traps.

RAM TEMPLE LOOTED!
AND a few stray thoughts on BJP karyakarta looting the Maryada Ram temple at Ayodhya. It has now been revealed not by Rahul Gandhi or Akilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi party, but by a special investigative team appointed by Yogi Adityanath, that there has been large scale misappropriation of the funds of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The horror story is unraveling very slowly.
 Apparently, the largest public sector bank in the country, the State Bank of India, was involved in the handling of the finances, including donations at the Ram Temple. The SBI under pressure, outsourced the management of the donations boxes, including the counting of cash to a local BJP leader. The BJP leader employed RSS and BJP karyakarta to manage the donation boxes and count the money. The allegation is that the karyakarta took most of the money home and hid it under their beds, instead of depositing with the SBI.
The police have admitted that the currency counters were appointed on the recommendation of the local politicians. That the usual security checks were not put into place. Ironically, candidates appearing for the NEET medical entrance exams are brutally frisked in a body search; the karyakarta of the Ram temple, who were interested in the counting of the donations and presumably the gold and silver, were not checked either on entry or exit points of the temple with the loot on them. There are also allegations of large-scale scams in land acquisitions and the awarding of contracts for building the temple. The members of the temple committee appointed by Narendra Modi are all under the scrutiny of the police following the huge misappropriation and looting of funds. Presumably, Vishwaguru is not concerned, as the temple has served its purpose.
There is a outrage among the Shankaracharyas about the stealing of donations meant for Lord Rama. It may be recalled that the Shankaracharyas had boycotted the inauguration of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.

10% DROPOUT AT SECONDARY SCHOOL
AND a few stray thoughts on the revelation that the dropout rate at the secondary level in Goa is the highest in the country at over 10%. This is been revealed by a central study which points out that while there are high rates of enrolment at the primary level, many students drop out between the 8th and 9th standard. We see this as a positive development as the students who drop out take up various types of skilling jobs. Not necessarily at the industrial training institute.
Shockingly, 50% of the seats at the IITs are apparently vacant every year. This is because the IITs have not modified their courses to meet market conditions. Young people in Goa particularly migrants cannot afford the luxury of paying coaching classes. They cannot dream of appearing for the medical entrance or the IIT entrance exam. The beauty of Goa is that there are enough and more jobs for those who are willing and able.
You don’t need a degree to be a delivery boy for Blinkit or Insta Mart. You don’t have to be even a 10th standard pass to become a shop assistant or a waiter in a shack. The demand for semi-literate labor is so strong that the turnover is very high. I realized this when I placed a repeat order for home delivery of medicines. The manager told me that the boy who used to deliver the medicine has found another job. So much so I had to send my location all over again for a new delivery boy.
Most everyone wants to employ migrant youth because they are willing to work for long hours at very low wages. This is because even migrants to Goa want white collar jobs. Never mind that pure labor jobs, whether in the construction or in areas like plumbing, electrical work and AC repairs, fetch much more income than at jobs working at shops or hotels. The major problem for migrant workers is accommodation. All the slum colonies even in Panaji have come up for the benefit of migrants. It is not widely known the second and third generations of Nepali watchmen and cooks have created a large slum colony virtually next to the Raj Bhavan or now Lok Bhavan at the La Marvel Colony in Dona Paula.
While Goans may wait for a government job indefinitely, migrants can’t afford the luxury of paying for government jobs. All the service providers, including the women who come door-to-door to sell fish are now migrants. Even the poieman is a migrant.

OLD IS GOLD
 AND a last stray thoughts on when the ongoing world cup has dramatized that old is gold. The two biggest scorers in the ongoing world cup of Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) who are in their late 30s. The hero of the World Cup is the goalkeeper of Iran Alireza Beiranvand, who apparently made 15 saves playing in Los Angeles in the United States. The goal keeper is called the state of Homruz, which was blocked by Iran during the war.

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