Residents demand urgent repairs, accountability
The water pipeline damaged at Navelim during ongoing work of underground cabling.
MARGAO
Thousands of litres of drinking water went waste at Navelim on Saturday after the main water pipeline behind the Navelim Church ruptured after being damaged by ongoing work of laying underground electric cables.
What has left the people agitated was the delay by the PWD to plug the water flow and undertake repairs, fearing that any delay in repairing the line could disrupt water supply on Easter Sunday.
Convenor of Navelim Civic and Consumer Forum Joseph Vaz informed that the main water pipeline passing behind the Navelim Church was damaged during the cable laying work, resulting waste of water.
Savio Coutinho told the media that workers engaged in the underground cabling work did not take proper precautions while executing the work. “We saw a worker using a breaker for digging, which must have damaged the underground water line,” he said. Coutinho demanded to know why the cable laying contractor did not use the latest devises, which help in spotting underground lines to prevent damage.
Saying that thousands of litres of water has gone waste following the rupture in the main line, Coutinho demanded immediate repair of the line before Easter Sunday.
Meanwhile, GOACAN Coordinator Roland Martins has said the NGO is of the firm opinion that the Department of Drinking Water (DDW) must register an FIR against the contractor for negligence and waste of precious water in these difficult times of water shortages.
