Goans Forget, Disasters Repeat : Prabhav Naik
Margao : On 9th November 2025, highlighting the disturbing and recurring pattern of fires and other tragedies in Goa, I wrote to the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, urging the constitution of a committee under a sitting or retired Supreme Court Judge to comprehensively audit Safety and Disaster Management systems in the state. Shockingly, within just three days of this letter, a scrapyard at Verna erupted in flames, once again exposing the fragile, poorly monitored and casually enforced safety framework in Goa, stated Madganvcho Awaaz and Youth Leader Prabhav Naik.
“My appeal was not political rhetoric, but a serious warning rooted in the repeated and painful experiences that Goa has suffered over the years. Instead of prompt corrective action and accountability based on past lessons, what we witnessed yet again was the now-familiar spectacle of confusion and chaos , a tragedy that authorities appear conditioned to normalise,” Prabhav Naik said.
In the aftermath of the incident, the local Cortalim MLA blamed the PWD and the Electricity Department, while police officials pointed fingers at other agencies. This blame-passing ritual has become a predictable post-disaster response, as if shifting responsibility is more important than accepting it and fixing the system, Naik stated.
“This recurring cycle reinforces the harsh truth, Goans forget, and disasters repeat. Each incident is briefly mourned, public outrage fades, files are quietly pushed aside, and systemic failures remain untouched until the next calamity strikes, often with even greater consequences,” he said.
Goa does not suffer from a lack of warnings or expert advice; it suffers from institutional amnesia and a chronic absence of accountability. Fires, building collapses, road and industrial accidents, drownings, and loss of lives are repeatedly treated as isolated incidents rather than clear symptoms of a deeply flawed safety, inspection and disaster-management ecosystem, Prabhav Naik pointed out.
“The question that must now be asked is simple and unavoidable: How many more fires, how many more tragedies, and how many more lives will it take before accountability replaces excuses? Until a credible and independent audit is conducted and responsibility is clearly fixed, Goa will continue to relive the same disasters only the locations will change, and so will the excuses,” Prabhav Naik categorically stated.
