The lifeline of Salcette, the Sal is full to the brim with waste and debris
The historical and beautiful river Sal originates from Vernaand meanders through Margao and other quaint little villages in South Goa,finally draining itself into the Arabian sea at Betul.
The river has been a lifeline to people from different walksof life from farmers to fishermen and trawler owners, not forgetting thethriving tourism industry in the State.
For decades, the ecologically fragile river Sal has beenignored and misused both by the people and the authorities in the State.
The river has been completely contaminated with sewagedischarge and choked with plastic reducing it to one big nullah. ChiefMinister, Manohar Parrikar’s observation when he went to get first handinformation of Sal sums up the condition of the river: “The river stinks andits colour is something you can’t even imagine. The river has been reduced to anullah.”
Starred hotels and hospitals release sewage water into theriver. Contractors of housing projects dump debris into it, while workers onthe trawlers bathe, cook and release the sewage into it.
Even the ordinary citizens are the culprits, who dumpgarbage with impunity into the river.
“The Sal was abeautiful river when we were kids. We used to swim and fish in the river thewhole day. The river was so clean that we could see the river bed clearly” saidJoseph Vaz, an activist who has been fighting to restore the river to its pastglory.
In 2009, Vaz had filed a PIL in the High Court urging thecourt to disallow any more housing projects taking into cognisance thepollution of river Sal.
Today the Sal is one huge public toilet with discharge pipesfrom across Margao flowing into the river via Maddel and Mungul. Margao andNavelim’s unplanned development has led to further deterioration of the riverand it’s getting worse every day, a concerned Vaz told The Goan.
In ’40s river Sal was used as a flourishing trade route.Salt and roof tiles were traded between Goa and Mangalore and river Sal was theprime route for the trade.
“When we were kids,large steam engine ships known as ‘Patmaris’ would sail along the coast fromMangalore to Goa and enter the mouth of river Sal. These ships would then enterKhareband with Managalore tiles and take back salt from Benaulim’s salt pans,”said 82-year old Tony Correia Afonso recalling the 1940s.
“If you notice, till date Khareband is a hub for Mangaloreroof tiles,” Afonso recalls.
Afonso finished his studies in Oxford and is now happilyretired in Goa. He has seen river Sal in all its glory in his early days andcan’t fathom the present state of the river.
Sal originates from a tiny spring in Verna and is a saltwater river from Khareband onwards all the way to Mobor and Cavelossim. That iswhy it’s called Sal (Portuguese for salt) and Khareband (Khare, in Konkani for salty),Afonso told The Goan.
Afonso along with a Swedish NGO had carried out a survey andstudy of the entire river Sal stretch under his organistion, BenaulimEnvironment Trust.
“We had undertaken a physical sampling and survey of thewater along with National Institute of Oceanography and a study of the birdlife along the hinterlands of the Sal. We also published a book on the riverbut the government took no action against our report. We even studied theimpact of tourism and fish on the river,” Afonso said.
But today the river is choking to death and concernedauthorities have taken hardly any steps to control and eliminate the pollutionlevel of the river.
