PANAJI
In yet another effort to revitalise the St Inez creek, which is lying in a state of neglect for decades, the State government through the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) has set up an inter-departmental task force under the smart city’s Project Urban Living Lab (PULL).
The Urban Development Secretary will head the 11-member task force and is packed with bureaucrats drawn from relevant government departments. Architect Bryan Soares, former head of the Goa chapter of the Architects Association of India, is its sole non-official member.
Chief engineers of the Public Works Department and Water Resources Department, the Captain of Ports, Commissioner of The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) managing director and CEO of IPSCDL as ‘convenor’, Chief Town Planner, Member Secretary of the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), Director of Urban Development, Member Secretary of Goa State Bio-diversity Board (GSBD) and Member Secretary, Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) are its other members.
The task force is entrusted with the responsibility of devising strategies and coming up with projects broadly in the areas of urban flood management, waterbody management and urban mobility.
Once a vital water body running through the heart of Panaji, the St Inez creek has fallen victim to decades of neglect and disturbance in its natural tidal effects owing to blockages in its connectivity to river Mandovi.
A citizen’s initiative buoyed by residents alongside the creek in Campal showed some promise a few years ago but lost steam along the way.
The new initiative with central funds available through the Smart City project, however, kindles new hope for the dying creek to spring back to life.
