By Tara Narayan

IF you’re living in Taleigao and are in a quandary about whom to vote for in the forthcoming assembly elections in Goa – you might want to read up first time candidate Advocate Pundalik, who has broken away from the Revolutionary Goans (of POGO Bill or Person of Goa Origin Bill fame) and is now campaigning as an Independent candidate. He is a true blue niz Goenkar and cares about the fate of Taleigao which has been at the mercy of the Atanasio Babush Monsserate family for so many years now. Perhaps it is time for a change for the better if we have any idea of how better defines itself!

What better does not define itself is monster development of the concrete kind endlessly, says Raikar. Why should development be at the expense of agriculture and the breathing lungs of the Taleigao constituency, a long time fiefdom of the Monsserate family?  The lovely village of Taleigao was once the  granary of Goa and it is right next door to capital city Panaji…in dire straits now. Depending of course on whose eyes you see it through. Through the eyes of most Taliegao residents their one-time peaceful, agricultural village has overdeveloped along high rise concrete lines — just so that the same political gang of politicians may keep raking in moolah big time from the builders lobby. 

Babush Monserrate may have mastered the fine art of godfathering migrant Muslim and Nepali communities as vote banks, but surely it is time to look beyond him to give newer faces a chance to improve the quality of Goa’s politics for the larger good of Taleigao and Goa? Goa’s political scenario is so steeped in corruption and scams that you may wonder how it is possible now to bring in any real sustainable development for the long-term good of Taleigao in a Goa currently reeling with development of mega high rises, mega bridges, mega airports, mega highways, mega roadways bifurcating and destroying traditional agriculture fields and their natural drainage systems – it’s a kind of obsolete development and progress which many Goans have now woken up to and do not need or want! It’s a kind of development which has been growing without rhyme or reason and most native Goans detest and abhor it…rue the fact that governments only dream in terms of mega contracts to make personal killings. It is no longer secret news, Goa is currently drowning in a plethora of scams being washed out like dirty linen pre-elections, hopefully to make an impact on the electorate.

WITH the assembly elections closing in quickly come February Goans need to look at new candidates and their briefs. Meet the “Let’s make it possible man” Advocate Pundalik N Raikar, formerly of Revolutionary Goans but he was forced to break away thanks to the arrogance of RG’s controversial chief  Tukaram Manoj Parab. He is now campaigning as an Independent candidate to win the Taleigao seat in the forthcoming elections.

 Pundalik bab is a familiar face as a low-key good Samaritan and he loves his Taleigaon which he rues is turning into a concrete jungle more and more courtesy use and abuse of the local Panchayat, Town & Country Planning Department and Corporation of the City of Panaji over many years now. Pundalik Raikar is currently being maligned left and right by his former friends of the POGO or Person of Goan Origins Revolutionary Goans, which seeks to legally oust all bhaile or outsiders settled in Goa post-Liberation — because the story is unchecked migration is now robbing Goa of its very identity of being Goan. Goans are being marginalized by people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and West Bengal and of course many Maharashtrians and Kannadiggas have already become integral to Goa. With non-stop migration from states with failing governments…many Goans do think they are being marginalized in Goa, although this has to be further studied.    

All this is quite true, Adv Pundalik says,  but in a larger India no bill asking for the RG manifesto of ousting non-Goan settlers from Goa will pass scrutiny in any court of law. The Constitution of India is on the side of migrants!  Being an advocate he should know and in any case Indians have a right to settle in whichever state in which they feel they enjoy a level playing field to prosper, live and let live.

All that’s fine on paper. At ground level there’s considerable ire brewing with the growing sentiment that big-time developers from outside Goa are coming into Goa just to destroy the green, verdant, and bountiful face of Goa — in favour of mega airports, bridges, highways, railway tracks, mobile towers, all to wilfully and mindlessly facilitate a partisan government’s aspirations of needless big time development for political vested interests. Rather than any real improvement of a failing primary infrastructure in Goa!

Speaking at a press conference recently Advocate Pundalik Raikar declared his independence of the Revolutionary Goans and placed his credentials on the table as a bona fide candidate – he is Taleigaon born and bred and knows his home village like the palm of his hand, which he has seen being destroyed by one powerful family – it’s a familiar story of huge roads cutting across living fields, to ruin the fields and drainage systems and discourage the farming community from working their fields.

Taleigao has become a builder’s paradise hand in glove with the sitting MLA and Company who continues to call the shots. But says Pundalik bab, it is still not too late to save the breathing lungs of Taleigao, if someone up there passes a land ceiling act to limit the kind of land grabbing and development going on: “Taleigao is a nice cosy place but it has been leaning more towards metropolitan development and I have seen how this is detrimental to the quality of life of the local people in the last 20 years…” There has been land development but no “lok development” he says. There has been only development of the Monseratte family!

It is time for a change and offers himself disarmingly as someone who has a clean slate, “My hands are clean, I don’t get influenced by inducements like other candidates, I was with Revolutionary Goans but began to see through the damage this party is doing fooling people and if it is the only party which can do good for Goa!” He respects his former friends in the RG but has a falling out with the aspirations of its leader Tukaram Manoj Parab (whose own origins are not as Goan as he would like to think)…the Election Commission may have registered his party but few know about the POGO bill which seeks to oust non-Goans in Goa. Nowhere in India one may dream of Goa for Goans only as in born in Goan families pre-Liberation.

Pundalik says he goes by what people want only, “I was never influenced by Tukaram Manoj Parab, Tukaram is his real name, Manoj came later…I was never influenced by him because I go by my own reading of ground realities and see how the people suffer, I go by what I want for the welfare of the people of Taleigao only.” He enjoys a squeaky clean image and to a query admitted, “Some new parties seeking a presence in Goa have been urging me to join them. But I think I am better off as an Independent…” Independents can later play the game properly for the betterment of society.     

With the falling out with RG, he says, he has got more people of Taleigao on his side, they have goodwill for him, “I have a core group of 20 to 25 people on my side now and we need about 8,000 to 10,000 votes to win in Taleigao, that’s what I am aiming at…” If he succeeds he will work towards making a lot of things possible for the people of Taleigao, including passing a land ceiling bill to stop the kind of breakneck construction going on to ruin life in the constituency forever.

For years, Adv Pundalik muses, the Congress and BJP have been hopping and skipping over all decent moral values to form the government…this must stop. Self-seeking politicians and their governments do little for the people –they bluff their voters again and again in the name of God alone knows what development, whose development? All of us know by now in Goa! So this vicious cycle must end and then Goa will prosper into a happy state!

Yes, I would vote for Advocate Pundalik Raikar for a change for the better in Taleigao constituency. He deserves a chance. Why give the same people a chance over and over again? What do they do but promote dynastic control and looting of the public treasury so while they continue to wallow in extravagant and oftentimes criminal lifestyles…the people continue to suffer higher taxes and a deteriorating quality of life?

Raikar is right, this vicious cycle must end and it is in the hands of the people to end it – vote wisely for the long term good of Goa and not temporary gifts for personal gratification!

(Box)

“I assure, I will give sustainable and people-friendly  development….”

— Adv Pundalik N Raikar for Taleigao Constituency

“I am a lawyer by profession, been a teacher & principal and have administrative experience. I have been selflessly fighting for the preservation of the village culture and environment especially its fields for more than a decade. I have been actively raising people’s issues at every Gram Sabha of the Taleigao Village Panchayat. I have successfully, with my team stopped the merger of Taleigao Panchayat n the Municipality. I am fighting for the Vainguinim beach, also against the major ports bill and CZMP as both are taking away the rights of the local people, etc.

“Taleigao has a rich cultural history. Taleigao is known as the granary of Tiswadi. Also known for vegetables, some of which are unique to this land like Sweet Potato and Taleigao Brinjal. Taleigao Brinjal has been granted GI (Geographical Indicator). Low-lying paddy fields are an integral part of the village socio-economic life. This unique socio-cultural-economic mix needs to be taken forward in a sustainable manner through a sustainable forward looking development plan.

“My Belief:

• I believe in sustainable development approach in Taleigao, which caters to all the sections of society as also the environment, the low-lying paddy fields and all the natural and manmade assets in the constituency.
• Taleigao people living in very poor economic conditions needs a better lifestyle and better living conditions.
• Land being a very scarce resource in Taleigao needs to be utilized to its optimum utilization with  focus on the residents who have stayed in Taleigao for generations.
• Taleigao should be developed from the people- centric approach rather than economic centric approach.
• I have tailored my career and life goals and become a lawyer to fight for the people of Taleigao.”