PERNEM
Pernem has been facing a shortage in the supply of water, with the supply being restricted to 12 MLD water to the taluka as opposed to 22 MLD water it needs on a daily basis.
The taluka is home to 20 gram panchayats and one municipality, with 18,500 water tap connections to the consumers. Under the Union government’s Har Ghar Jal scheme, more than 1,000 water connections have been allotted.
The taluka has a population of around one lakh people but due to tourism activities and relatives of residents visiting, the population increases substantially. The water being provided through the 15 MLD project is not enough to meet the growing need for water.
According to sources, a person needs at least 125 litres of water per day and that the authorities, including the local MLAs, must make sure that the available water is not misused to avoid a serious water scarcity in the future.
The work on the extended 15 MLD water project at Chandel was santioned in 2019, but the progress has been slow. This is mainly attributed to a delay in getting permission from the Forest Department to cut about 150 trees to facilitate the expansion.
Earlier, there were four engineers in the water supply department in Pernem taluka, but currently there are only two and the government has not appointed anybody for the vacant posts. Some of the employees have retired and no new appointments have been made to replace them. This has led to a shortage of employees for maintenance work, causing suffering to the public in the area, locals claimed.
The workload of the two engineers has increased substantially, leaving them unable to resolve the complaints of the locals. There is an urgent need to appoint people to the vacant posts so that the grievances can be addressed, locals demanded.
To resolve the water scarcity issue in Pernem sanctions have been made to construct new water tanks in each village.
And work on 24 water tanks is on going at Nanachi Pani, Bhoot Wadi, Warkhand, Torse, Ozari, Harmal, Patradevi, Dhargal, Nagzhar, Tuem Hospital, Murmuse, Parashte, Tuem industrial estate, Kasarvarne, Hankhande, Ugave, Hankhane, Ibrampur, Harijan wada, Agarwada, Malpe, Dadachi wadi.
Out of these, 14 water tanks have been completed.
