With the summer now well and truly here, with what promises to be one of the longest and hottest summers in a long time -- if the weather forecast is anything to go by, it is incumbent on the government to have a plan in place that will help mitigate the situation.
India has seen the hottest February since at least 1901. In Goa, not only did the State witness the hottest day temperatures in February in at least three decades, the month of March was no better with the weather department even issuing a heatwave warning for the State, which prompted the government to briefly curtail school timings and ask students to take precautions. Every indicator suggests that with very little rain, and extremely dry air, weather that is unlike anything seen in at least a generation, the months of April and May will offer very little respite from the heat and dust.
The State needs to ensure that the concerned departments including the Public Works Department, which controls the water supply, the Water Resources Department, which maintains the water reservoirs and the electricity department, which needs to cater to the increasing demand for power that comes with the summer months are all geared up for what will be a very difficult summer. The mistakes that the State has repeatedly made specially, the kind we have seen, while planning and executing the smart city works should not be repeated when it comes to water and power works.
It is extremely important that the government does not decide to undertake crucial repair or upgradation works during the crucial months of April and May when water is likely to be extremely scarce. Water supply in the state is scarce for several coastal villages even during the non-summer months forcing them to depend on water tankers for supply. Similar is the situation in villages along the State’s mining belt where the wells run dry during the summer and the villagers are forced to depend on tankers supplied by the Public Works Department. The PWD should avoid water sharing under pressure from certain ministers in the government and should supply without any biases and influences.
While water remains patchy, a similar effect will be felt on the electricity department front. According to the department’s own admission, power demand goes up to 750 MW during the summer which is nearly double what is consumed during the cooler months largely on account of increasing AC use, fans, refrigeration, etc. The forest department too needs to step up and ensure that the animal watering holes are regularly maintained so that animals do not venture into human habitation.
The least the government needs to be able to do is be conscious of the scale of the problem that we are going to be faced with and have a plan in place to mitigate it -- rather than waiting for the situation to get out of hand before scrambling to try and solve a problem after it has become too big to handle.
