the goan I network
MAPUSA
While the State government has decided to set up a sewage pumping station at Gaura-vaddo East in Calangute, opposition is brewing against the project in the area.
The recent activity and excavation work in the predominantly residential area has alerted residents of the area, who have geared up to resist the pumping station.
Small groups of people comprising locals have come together and protested against the project and are using social media to spread the word around.
Calangute will have two sewage pumping stations “ one in Gaura-vaddo East and another at Gaura-vaddo West.
Residents fear that the project will pollute the environment and cause problems in future.
Fearing that a leakage could pollute ground water and thereby contaminate well water in the area, locals also say the sound of the generators used to pump the sewage will create a lot of noise pollution in the area, which is thickly populated.
“It’s not only we who are going to suffer from this unplanned activity but our future generation will have to bear the consequences of our silence. We have opposed the pumping station in the past and will continue to do
so even now,” said Augustine D’Costa, a resident of
Calangute.
Another local Sanjay Karpe informed that part of the area belonged to a devasthan and the government was determined to go ahead with the project, despite opposition from the devasthan
committee.
“The plan is to erect the pumping station in front of the devasthan property. But besides that, we are concerned about the efficacy of the project. What guarantee is there that there will be no leakage and consequent pollution of ground water? Then, there is the question of stink and noise pollution,” Karpe said.
Incidentally, Calangute panchayat had first issued permission to install the pumping station in the area in 2013 and government had also acquired around 500 sq mt of land for the project.
But later due to stiff opposition of the locals and the devasthan committee, the panchayat decided to shift the pumping station to a nearby area in Naika-vaddo.
The shifting plan hit a road block after the panchayat faced a bigger public backlash at Naika-vaddo with locals even threatening to approach the courts to stall the pumping station.
Finally, the government decided to set up the pumping station at the earlier site planned at Gaura-vaddo East and accordingly, JICA began the excavation work recently.
“The project has been delayed unnecessarily. The work of entire sewerage line is complete and the project cannot start only because of pumping stations. Since the government had acquired the land at Gaura-vaddo East, we have decided to build it there. People should understand that sewerage system is the need of the hour,” said Calangute Sarpanch Shawn
Martins.
However, locals are not convinced and instead want the government to build the pumping station in the fields, away from the residential houses.
