The Changing Face of Goa

“Ugly con-crete structures, huge crowds and barren mountains have destroyed quaint hill towns like Shimla, Mussoorie and Lonavala, favourite places to have holiday homes. Goa, on the other hand, has lush green paddy fields and blazing yellow crotons”

That seems to be the reason many Indian businessmen from other cities and foreigners are finding Goa attractive. Doesn’t that mean that a few years down the line Goa also will meet the same fate that Shimla, Mussoorie and Lonavala met with? For, all these places were attractive a few years back.

A place attracts people for a variety of reasons. If the those reasons do not remain with the same sanctity, the place is bound to loose its charm sooner or later. Who would want traffic jams and garbage piles to destroy quaint little towns and villages?

“Goa’s civic infrastructure isn’t keeping pace with its changing needs. In December, the busiest month, there are four-hour long traffic jams everywhere”

But then, once the ‘civic infrastructure’ is in place, will the Goan streets be the same? Perhaps it will reflect the streets of Bandra and Pali in Mumbai. Cities in Goa should look for an approach that integrates its cultural heritage to its tourism development plans, rather than constructing some flyovers, widening the roads and building vertical structures to add more room-nights. For instance why not ban cars to the city centres, like in Amsterdam?

Story of Goa’s changes in Indian Express.