MARGAO
With overflowing sewage chambers a common sight in the commercial capital, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral and the Sewerage & Infrastructure Development Corporation of Goa may have to explain a simple question “ are the sewage chambers choked with waste, causing overflowing or is infiltration of rainwater into the underground sewerage line the main cause behind the overflowing chambers due to substandard quality of work.
These and other questions have come to the fore as water mixed with sewage is overflowing not just from one or two sewage chambers, but a host of chambers, spread across the city, right from Aquem to Colmorod, the heart of the town to Comba, besides other areas.
When The Goan called up Sewerage Corporation officials to shed light on the episode, a senior official pointed out that the PWD is on the job to rectify the situation and remove the debris from the choked chambers.
PWD officials, in private, however, strongly contested the stand adopted by the Sewerage Corporation officials, pointing out that the overflowing chambers is not on account of upkeep and maintenance, but over the work carried out by the agencies and the contractors.
In fact, PWD officials raised a host of questions over the episodes, demanding to know how come the sewage chambers of the underground line resemble water-like fountains only during the rains?
He added: “No doubt, it’s not uncommon to find sewage chambers choked with waste, but the problem plaguing the Margao sewerage project is totally different. What we have noticed in the city is not the sewage chambers overflowing because they are choked with sewage, but are hit by rampant rainwater infiltration during the monsoons.”
Water infiltration into the underground line, the official pointed out, may throw up questions over the quality of the work executed by the agencies and the contractors. “Is the rainwater infiltrating into the underground line via the chambers or through the joints? Since the Colmorod-Sirvodem, Comba and Old Market areas of the commercial capital are low-lying areas, did the agencies responsible for laying the underground line had adopted precautions in respect of the low water table in these areas while executing the work,” the official wondered.
The official further pointed out that before the PWD goes about checking the affected sewage manholes, the Corporation should check whether the contractors are liable to execute the work as per the Defect Liability period. “There’s no dispute of the fact that maintenance of the line falls in the domain of the PWD, but what is being experienced in Margao and Fatorda is not just about maintenance, but something different. There’s a dire need to check each and every sewage chamber of the underground line to find out how many chambers are in a damaged state and whether they are the cause behind the rainwater infiltration,” the official added.
What’s interesting to note is that the sewage chambers, which were overflowing last monsoons, overflowed this year too, only suggesting that the chamber may not be choked, but is overflowing due water infiltration. “Let there be an audit of the sewage chambers of the Margao underground sewerage line to shed light whether the water infiltration is on account of any damage to the chambers or problem lies somewhere else. This audit and subsequent repairs need to be carried out before the full commissioning of the project,” the official added.
