the goan I network
MAPUSA
After several complaints and protests, the PWD finally corrected the hitch with the pipeline that supplied water to the overhead water tank bringing much relief to the parched village of Ramnagar in Colvale.
The villagers were a happy lot as water began to flow through their pipelines after a decade of struggle.
“Now, the residents are getting supply for almost six hours a day. The villagers are very happy. This came after a long struggle put up by the locals,” said Nityanand Kandolkar, Sarpanch of the village.
Surprisingly, the overhead tank was constructed in 2007 but the villagers had to wait for almost 10 years to get regular water supply.
After PWD carried out the necessary correction, the overhead water tank of 300 cubic metres capacity was recently inaugurated by Tivim MLA, Nilkant Halarnkar with much fanfare in the village.
Halarnkar admitted that the water tank was built during his term as the MLA in 2007 but blamed his predecessor who was subsequently elected in 2012 for doing nothing to restore supply into the tank.
“Considering the problem faced by the locals I had taken the initiative to construct an overhead tank in the area in 2007. But sadly the MLA who followed me in 2012 ignored the issue for five years putting the villagers in great difficulty,” Halarnkar said.
He said this time he followed up the matter with the PWD and ensured that the necessary corrections were done and the overhead tank was supplied with water.
“With this work the residents of Ramnagar and surrounding villages will not face any water problem again,” he added.
But for the Ramnagar village the achievement of finally getting regular water supply did not come easy. The villagers wrote official complaints to the PWD and led protests to the department offices several times in the past although with limited success.
The last protest was led by local panch Sheetal Chodankar who threatened to march to the AE’s office in October last year.
The Tivm MLA assured the locals that another overhead tank in Mushir-vaddo, Colvale will also be connected to the PWD pipeline soon.
While expressing their gratitude to the local MLA, the sarpanch urged him to take up work of building another overhead water tank in ward 1 of the village to resolve water problem of those locals.
