MARGAO
As sewage chambers in the commercial capital resembled water fountains at some places on Sunday, PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral and the Sewerage Infrastructure Development Corporation of Goa Ltd (SIDCGL) may have to answer a simple question “ how come rainwater enters the underground sewage chambers?
Well, overflowing sewage chambers in the commercial capital have come back to haunt the PWD and the SIDCGL on Sunday with a host of chambers along the Aquem ring road and at Colmorod resembling water fountains, throwing up a host of questions for these authorities to answer.
One, did the PWD or SIDCGL check and conduct a test all along the underground line, more so when these very same chambers were all overflowing during the last monsoon?
That’s not all. Questions are being raised about whether the rainwater seepage into the underground line is taking place via the chambers or whether there is a bigger problem.
Given that the underground line is made operational in the city, questions are being raised about whether the rainwater mixed with sewage that is gushing out from the chambers posed a health hazard for the citizens.
These very same questions had come to haunt the PWD and SIDCGL officials in the last monsoon, leaving the citizens to hope that these authorities will initiate remedial steps to stop the chambers from overflowing. Sadly, the ground reality remains unchanged, with the very same sewage chambers at the Aquem ring road and at Colmorod found overflowing once again this monsoon.
A senior PWD officer remarked a year ago that the SIDCGL ought to check the underground line before taking possession of the sewerage works from the contractors. The PWD official had even pointed out that the PWD is supposed to only take up the repair work of clogged chambers, adding that “What we have come across in Margao is not just clogged sewage chambers, but the very line which has developed some problems, which needs to be rectified by the concerned department.”
