MARGAO
The village panchayat of Chinchinim finds itself in a tight spot vis-Ã -vis the contamination of the Digaband rivulet of River Sal with meat and other types of waste.
While the panchayat body had knocked the doors of the South Goa District Collector with a plea to declare the situation at Digaband as a natural disaster, Deputy Collector Roshell Fernandes has in turn asked the Deputy Director of Panchayats to take necessary action in the matter under the Goa Panchayati Raj Act and Swachh Bharat mission.
The Deputy Collector’s action implies that the matter has again come back to the Chinchinim panchayat with the Deputy Director having no wherewithal at its disposal to tackle such cases.
Chinchinim Deputy Sarpanch Valentino Barretto told The Goan that the panchayat indeed finds itself in a tight spot, with the office of the District Collector deciding not to intervene in the matter. “We had expected the District Collector to intervene and work out a solution to the issue, including the de-contamination of the Digaband water body,” Valentino told The Goan.
Left with no option, the panchayat is now planning to approach the local Velim MLA Filipe Neri Rodrigues to pursue the issue with the authorities concerned.
Locals wondered why the office of the District Collector failed to step in the matter when in the past the office of the Deputy Collector had roped in BITS Pilani officials to decontaminate the water wells in Comba area of Margao.
Digaband is facing two main issues, one the decontamination of the water body and measures to stop waste from finding its way into the water body located on the NH-17, meters away from the St Sebastian Chapel.
The Chinchinim village panchayat has installed warning boards with a plea not to dispose waste in the water body, but the bigger question over the decontamination remains unanswered.
