The tourism season has just kicked off with the recent arrival of charter tourists from Russia. While the foreigners descended, the first sight they glanced upon was a traffic jam with a sea of vehicles gridlocked right at the airport. And even as a brass band played out and the tourists were given a flowery welcome, a little further lay hordes of stray dogs staring suspiciously as the chaos unfolded. Nothing much has changed between last season and this one.
In faraway Calangute, a place considered to be the hub of the State’s tourism, people continue to thirst for water. And while Calangute MLA Michael Lobo is shuttling between Goa and Delhi in settling issues of an elusive ministerial berth, his people are running from pillar to post fighting for their daily water requirement. There is a sense of helplessness that has crept in. Issues red-flagged by Lobo such as bleak job scenario and collapse of general administration are certainly welcome, irrespective of the timing which he chose, but it would have been only sagacious if the ‘chabuk’ which the Calangute minister is talking about was on water too.
It’s a sad irony that several coastal areas in the region receive only around 1 to 2 hours water on alternate days. Goa is known for its age-old wells and Calangute has several public wells which however continue to remain contaminated. The ‘Nital Goem Nital Baim’ scheme launched by the government last year briefly nursed hopes of reviving wells but ended up a damp squib. While Goa is talking big on development and major infrastructure projects, it is a shame that its people are grappling for basic requirements of water and power. If 50,000 litres of water is being wasted due to pipeline leakage in one area and this has gone unnoticed, God save the people of Calangute.
A major issue with the water distribution to Calangute has been pump failures at the Assonora Water Treatment Plant. This is precisely the reason why last month there was a major water cut and government had to press in tankers to supply water. But there have been no lessons learnt. While one pump has been repaired and re-installed, there is no word on the second standby pump which is still under repairs. People need quick action since the issue has been holding fire for long. Curtailing water to certain villages and diverting it to places like Porvorim which is also facing acute water shortage is only a make-shift arrangement.
Tourism seasons have come and gone and every season ushers in a new hope with a new set of promises. The 24x7 water supply promise which is made every year since 2016, continues to remain porous like the pipeline, and at this rate, there is no good reason to believe that Goa could get its fill of water even by 2020. PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar has blamed it on a porous and weak pipeline, but the recent Goa-Portugal agreement on technical cooperation for improvement of State’s existing water supply system brings in yet another ray of hope.
