A Goa State Pollution Control Board official collects water sample from the site of the leaking sewage behind the KTC bus stand. Captured by : Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Fatordekars beware! Don’t expect any miracle from the PWD or the Sewage & Infrastructural Development Corporation of Goa Ltd this monsoon to plug the sewage chambers or broken underground lines spewing out sewage in the fields and low-lying areas of Fatorda, especially around the Old Market area.
Reason: The PWD or for that matter, the Sewage Corporation will have no option other than to do with the dilapidated underground line with the new North main line expected to be commissioned only before the next rainy season.
Even as a Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) team visited Fatorda to collect water samples from sewage flowing from a chamber at Fatorda, behind the KTC bus stand on Wednesday, a senior official was categorical in stating that people will get relief from the overflowing sewage chambers only when the new line is commissioned next year. “What we are doing for the moment is akin to a mechanic repairing an old vehicle to get it on the road. And the user takes it back to the garage after the vehicle stops running. We have very few options at our disposal for the moment. Like the mechanic, we are only carrying out the maintenance to ensure the old line somehow carry the sewage from the North main area to the Sirvodem STP. One day, the line is repaired at one point and it breaks at another point. And, we plug the leakage, before it opens at another place”, remarked the official.
With work on the North main line still incomplete at many stretches, the official did not rule out the possibility of sewage chambers overflowing in the Old market area of the city “ an annual phenomenon during the monsoons. “The new North main line was proposed for replacement since the old line was giving problems, but the new line is not yet ready. It will be commissioned early next year or before the next monsoons”, the engineer said.
Dr Ashish Kamat, who is the complainant in respect of the sewage discharge into the fields from a sewage chamber behind the KTC bus stand, said the officials need to be punished for the state of affairs. “After our complaint, the engineers had plugged the seepage, but now sewage is gushing out of the chamber in full flow. This has to stop. The authorities should pull up the officials”, he demanded.
Executive engineer Pai, however, said the sewage chamber gave way due to pressure build-up in the line after the PWD cleared the blockage at another stretch. “We are on the job to clear the silt and blockage from the old line to ensure that sewage water passes through the line without any seepage. The job is presently underway and we are doing our best to prevent seepage of the sewage through the chambers”, he added.
