MAPUSA
Taps went dry for the last 10 days in Vagator mostly inconveniencing the residents in the area.
Unavailability of water supply for the last 10 days has upset residents of Vagator, who censured the PWD and the power departments for acting in high-handed manner, ignoring the demands of locals while catering to only the powerful and the influential.
Blatant digging of roads to lay the 33KV power cable line has led to breaking of water pipeline, thereby denying water to the residents at Deulwadda, Vagator.
“There has been no water supply in our PWD pipeline for the last 10 days. We have complained to various authorities, yet no one seems to care to our appeals,” complained Suhasini Govekar, a local panch while addressing the media at the site in Vagator, on Thursday.
She said one of the primary reasons for lack of water supply was the ongoing digging work being carried out by a private contractor to lay the 33KV power cable to a starred hotel in the area.
“Recently, the contractor disrupted a PWD water pipeline and took two days to repair it. For almost 48 hours precious water went into the drain while the residents had to go without water,” Govekar said.
The locals from the area along with the panch complained to the Anjuna Police to take action against the contractor for carrying out the digging work without proper plans and approval.
The coastal belt in North Goa has seen unprecedented rise in construction activity and illegal extensions. One of the primary reasons of rise in construction activity is the boom in tourism industry in the coastal belt.
Social activist and a local from the area, Michael D’Souza alleged that the 33KV power cable has been laid ostensibly to supply power to an illegal hotel project near the Vagator beach.
“The PWD has collected a meager amount of just Rs 10 lakh for restoration of road cut to lay the cable for a distance of almost 10 kms from Assagao to the hotel project on the Vagator beach,” D’Souza disclosed.
He said for a domestic connection, the PWD charges almost Rs 1000 for cutting even a metre of the road.
“If we want a domestic connection, we have to carry out so many formalities and at times have to pay through our nose. But for an illegal hotel, the government goes out of its way to lay a special 33KV line,” he alleged.
Tourism boom has led to rise in number of tourist footfalls, but the infrastructure has not been able to keep pace with the boom in the coastal areas.
“We are not against development. But development should be systematic, eco-friendly and more importantly transparent,” D’Souza argued.
“The 33KV power line is laid in a very hush-hush manner in order to help a hotel project which is totally illegal,” he alleged.
What has upset the locals more was the timing of digging and cutting of roads undertaken by the agency concerned.
“The tourism season has just started. The digging of roads and disruption in water and power supply will only add to the misery of the tourists and the locals in the area,” said Balbhim Malvankar, a vocal local from Vagator.
Malvankar further said the 33KV power line is being laid above the water pipeline.
“When we questioned the AE in the PWD department, he said he wasn’t aware of the same,” he said.
Anjuna PI Paresh Naik informed The Goan that the contractor had permission to lay the 33KV power line.
