Rains continued to pound Goa with a vengeance uprooting trees, inundating roads, fields, and low-lying areas and hitting normal life across the State. The only positive here is the rainfall deficiency in the wake of delayed monsoons being wiped off and Goa entering into a phase of surplus rain.
While much has been spoken about smart city works and how Panaji is struggling, Margao’s scenario, which went largely unnoticed all this while, began to show its ugly side after sewage started spilling on the roads with the gush of rainwater. If Panaji is the sinking city, Margao has been the city sitting on a sewage bomb.
The rains have again exposed the fragile underground sewerage system that continues to be in a state of repair. Water has been gushing out through manholes creating a fountain effect along the sewerage line route, raising questions on the seriousness behind the project or the lack of it.
Let’s not forget water infiltrating the line is not new; it’s been happening year after year during monsoons. The question is, who takes responsibility for these water seepages into the line? What happens if the reverse water flow gushes through the line connected to residences and affects everyday citizens?
Thankfully, the sewerage line is not fully connected, and probably, authorities have not comprehended a situation with full connectivity. At total capacity, the spillage of raw sewage could trigger an epidemic and threaten lives. Despite being mindful of the threat, authorities have taken it lightly, and nothing has changed. Moreover, its become worse.
Now consider this. Sewage chambers have been overflowing and spilling raw sewage onto the corridors of the Margao Municipal Council building for the past week. But nobody cares. Citizens continue to be inconvenienced, and city fathers remain helpless to the unhygienic conditions prevailing in their vicinity. It is disgusting that the city’s control centre is a witness to such filth.
PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral, who was on an inspection in Margao, has admitted that rainwater has infiltrated the sewerage line leading to a backflow of water causing chambers to overflow. He instructed to increase the sewage treatment cycles at the treatment plant, which could ease the situation. It’s not a bad move, but these are temporary solutions. Cabral will still have to go to the bottom of the issue and address the sewerage line leakages.
The Sewerage Infrastructure Development Corporation of Goa Ltd must take responsibility too. Otherwise, the sewage flowing out through manholes will be a nuisance that Goans and, more significantly, Madgavkars will have to deal with every monsoon. Authorities cannot ignore the problem with some quick fixes.The government, which rides on its slogan of Swachtta must initiate a thorough probe into the works because, under the current scenario, the city that is sitting on a sewage bomb may explode throwing an unprecedented scare to lives. When such glaring failures stare at us, those behind the works cannot have a free run.
