It is almost surreal that in 2025, despite all our technological advances, digitisation, and round-the-clock governance claims, something as basic as the opening of public infrastructure is still beholden to the availability of political dignitaries. This practice is neither new nor unique to Goa, but that does not make it any less unacceptable.
Recall the incident from 1983, right here in Goa, when a young IPS officer, Kiran Bedi, serving as Superintendent of Police (Traffic), threw open the Zuari bridge for public use.
The bridge was fully complete and awaiting formal inauguration by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Meanwhile, commuters suffered endless delays and inconvenience because the authorities were determined to wait for the Prime Minister’s schedule. Kiran Bedi decided enough was enough and unlocked the bridge, prioritising people over protocol.
Over forty years later, little has changed. The mindset that infrastructure belongs to the political class for ceremonial unveiling rather than to the public who paid for it continues to persist.
Consider the irony: in 2022, the RHS of the parallel Zuari bridge was completed but held up for weeks because the administration waited to coordinate an inauguration with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. While the dignitaries’ calendars were consulted, thousands of commuters continued to endure the notorious Cortalim traffic chaos every day. Ambulances got stuck. School buses crawled. Working people lost hours of their lives.
And now, the same theatre is repeating in Margao. The South Goa Planning and Development Authority (SGPDA) has completed the redevelopment of the wholesale fish market.
This project, built with public money and meant to improve hygiene, safety, and convenience for fish vendors and consumers alike, is ready to be used. But it remains closed, locked up behind gates, because SGPDA Chairman Daji Salkar insists on waiting for Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant to find time to inaugurate it.
How bizarre and how unnecessary is this delay?
Let’s be clear: No one denies that the BJP government under Dr Sawant has overseen significant infrastructure development across Goa. Roads, bridges, and new public facilities—these are tangible improvements. But they do not belong to any party or leader.
They belong to the taxpayers whose hard-earned money built them. Holding up their use for ceremonial optics betrays the very idea of public service.
Infrastructure is not a private trophy to be unveiled at a leader’s convenience. It is a collective asset. Fish traders and retailers who have operated in temporary, inadequate conditions for months deserve immediate relief. They have families to feed and businesses to run. Every additional day of delay is a hardship imposed by choice, not necessity.
The solution is simple and practical: Unlock the market and let vendors move in. Hold the formal ceremony later if needed. No one is stopping the Chief Minister from organising a function to mark the occasion when his schedule allows. But why must citizens wait for their livelihoods to resume while political calendars are managed?
This is not just a question of common sense. It is a test of whether governance is truly citizen-centric or still hostage to the performative rituals of the past. In many developed countries, infrastructure opens as soon as it passes safety and readiness checks. Ceremonies are held later or sometimes not at all. The emphasis is on utility, not symbolism.
In India and in Goa is no exception, the obsession with grand inaugurations has turned into performance art, complete with banners, giant cut-outs, social media hashtags, and press releases. Meanwhile, real people fisherwomen, small vendors, and customers wait outside locked gates, wondering when they will be allowed to use what they have already paid for.
The Margao fish market is a textbook case of misplaced priorities.
The SGPDA should act in the public interest and open the facility without further delay. Let traders set up shop. Let consumers benefit. Let everyday life resume.
Infrastructure is meant to serve citizens first, not the vanity of the political class. Unless this mindset changes, we will keep repeating the same mistakes, stuck in the same outdated practices that Kiran Bedi so memorably challenged back in 1983.
It is time to evolve. Open the gates.
