Susegad With The CM

Susegad, easily the ‘Goan’ word most searched and written by those from outside yearning to board on to the Goa way of life, is known more for what it connotes than what it literally means. It’s a sense of time standing still, a ­languid pace of life, ­devoid of worry. Now, the idyll has been shattered. When Covid cases dropped in December and CM Pramod Sawant had his ‘I have a dream’ moment, he ­uttered three words that are now like an albatross around his neck: “Bhivpachi garaz na” (There’s no need to worry). Claiming that treatment ­facilities for Covid in Goa are the best in the country, he repeated the words in the ­assembly: “I say again bhivpachi garaz na, but we need to also do testing on time and take proper treatment.”

It is this that has led to Goa throwing up stunning Covid figures—its policy of come-one-come-all, in a flagrant ­atte­mpt to keep business and tourism lobbies invested in the government. No one was prepared for this. On April 29, when Mumbai had 4,174 cases, Goa had 3,019. By May 3, Mumbai was down to 2,604, while Goa had 2,703. Then, from May 4 and May 13, Goa recorded more cases than Mumbai every day. On most days, Goa saw only 10-15 deaths less than the maximum city, whose population is 10.7 million more. And on May 11 and 12, more people died of Covid in Goa (75 and 70) than in Mumbai (51 and 66).

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With people dying every day in Goa’s largest hospital, Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), local media ran daily lead reports on corruption in the health department—from the way it sourced oxygen cylinders to the ­purchase of overpriced ventilators—­adding to the indictment of a government that not just failed to plan, but whose decisions were based on underhand deals leading to crises like short supply of oxygen. The dam had burst and the sea of callousness was in spate. The policy paralysis was highlighted by the atrocious decision to allow tourists to enter without RT-PCR tests and move around with no restrictions.

The government’s almost criminal nonchalance is borne out in its affidavits to the high court in response to a clutch of PILs on Covid deaths in GMCH in the first week of May. As bodies piled up, many on the floor as there were not enough beds, the government claimed in the affidavits that has been taking ­“various measures to deal with this ­pandemic on all fronts”, and that “right from the time when the first wave hit the country, the infrastructure has been put in place to deal with the situation”. In fact, the GMCH’s super-­specialty block seemed functional only until Cyclone Tauktae exposed shoddy work as ­rainwater flooded the wards in which Covid patients were literally ­marooned. Even the installation of a 20,000-litre tank for liquid oxygen was completed after the government told the court that it was already done.

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According to an affidavit filed on May 12, “there is a storage tank…with ­capacity of 20,000 litres”. Four days later, health minister Vishwajit Rane tweeted: “Inspected the installation of liquid ­oxygen tank…along with chief minister and health secretary.” Was the CM aware that he was inspecting the ­facility whose existence was falsely ­confirmed to the high court four days ago? The death toll during that period: 75 on May 11, ­including 48 in GMCH; 70 on May 12 and 63 on May 13, the bulk of them in GMCH; 61 on May 14, over 60 per cent of them in GMCH; 58 on May 15, including 33 in GMCH. Despite the loss of lives, however, the government is doing all it can to get restrictions on ­interstate travel lifted and is reluctant to make RT-PCR tests compulsory for ­visitors. The loved ones of the dead in Goa will, perhaps, for the first time equate susegad with incompetence.