MARGAO: Benaulim MLA Churchill Alemao has claimed that PWD Minister Sudin Dhavalikar has assured him that the government will build huge water tanks if the villagers of Colva are opposed to the discharge of the treated sewage water in the Arabian Sea.
Churchill told the media that he took up with the PWD Minister the apprehensions raised by the Colva villagers to the PWD plan to discharge the treated sewage in the Arabian Sea after its commissioning.
“The PWD Minister has categorically told me that the government will go in for water tanks at the treatment plant site if the people have apprehensions on the contamination of the sea by the sewage water,” Churchill said.
He said the PWD Minister has further assured me that no pipeline linking the sewerage treatment plant under construction at Colva will be laid to the Arabian Sea. “The people of Colva are justified in their opposition to the discharge of sewage water in the sea. Such a move will spell doom for a tourist place such as Colva,” Churchill said.
While taking a dig at his predecessor for not taking into account the aspect of discharge of treated sewage water in the sea, the Benaulim MLA cited the example of River Sal, where the river has been devastated by rampant discharge of sewage water.
