The ‘internal note’ issued by the nodal officer of the Super Speciality Block (SSB) of the Goa Medical College and Hospital advising staff and others not to eat food procured from the gaddas and food stalls located outside the premises of the hospital allegedly because they use water sourced from the hospital’s garden faucets that use treated wastewater leaves a lot of unanswered questions.
The doctor in question -- Dr Uday Kakodkar -- in his note suggested that the water is not very safe to drink and to cook food as it can have certain bacteria or a mixture of different chemicals is unhygienic to some extent and it is not meant to be used for cooking and drinking purposes.
A suggestion such as this is very damaging and threatens to undo years of hard-fought progress the government is making to convince people -- especially those living in the vicinity of sewage treatment plants -- that treated water is safe and that they should not rise in opposition to a plant fearing the release of contaminated water or stench.
Former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had gone as far as to say that he was so confident of the water-treating technology that he would be willing to drink the treated water in the presence of everybody on the floor of the assembly. Parrikar went ahead and said that the only thing that stopped him from reusing the treated wastewater for domestic supply was people’s sentiments and the awkward feeling one would have if one knew that they were being supplied treated wastewater.
Is the nodal officer of the SSB suggesting that the wastewater treatment plant that his institution operates is not working as desired and that the plant is releasing water that hasn’t been completely treated back into the gardens? Is the nodal officer of the hospital running down his own institution’s efficacy in treating wastewater? If that is the case then the wastewater treatment plant at the SSB needs an immediate inspection by the Goa State Pollution Control Board, and repairs if necessary.
The doctor’s ‘note’ is now likely to be summarily quoted by villagers and city dwellers across Goa to justify their opposition to the setting up of sewage treatment plants leaving the state government with a task on its hand to overcome the NIMBY (not in my backyard) syndrome.
The other question that the note raises is that of the intention behind it. The Goa Medical College has a history of pushing out local players who were operating its canteens, its pharmacies and its meal suppliers in favour of bigger corporate players thus ensuring the corporate players secure a monopoly over the supply. The sinister nature of this note throws up the question of whether a similar effort is underway to shift the business from the locals who are operating the stalls and shift the business towards a bigger player with deeper pockets.
The Government needs to explain why the note was withdrawn. Is it that the wastewater has now turned safe? If the food served at the gaddas is unsafe why are the gaddas being allowed to operate without any action from the authorities? Also, how were gadda operators allowed to use water from GMC premises?
There is a whole lot of clarity needed on the issue from the Health Department because this episode has left "a bitter taste in the mouth" of people across the State.
