MARGAO
As blackish water surfaced at Colva creek again, the creek came under the scanner of officials of the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) on Wednesday.
GSPCB officials descended at Colva on Wednesday noon for an inspection of the creek water after the Colva Civic and Consumer Forum Secretary & Petitioner in the Public Interest Litigation Judith Almeida complained to the pollution control board that all’s not well with the creek waters.
After inspecting the creek along with Judith Almeida, Shakuntala Mesquita and others, the GSPCB officials collected samples of the water for testing at the Board's laboratory.
“I have invited the GSPCB officials for the inspection since I strongly suspect that raw sewage has been released into the creek, resulting in the contamination of the water,” Judith told the media.
She pointed out that hundreds of inspections of the creek must have been held since the time the Colva Civic and Consumer Forum had filed the writ petition in 2011.
“Shockingly, there was a joint inspection of the creek by the GSPCB and the Water Resources Department officials. That time, the WRD had informed that an STP will be set up and we had objected to the project,” Judith said.
She added: “We had raised objections to the STP since a general STP to cater to the whole of Colva village was awaiting commissioning and another STP would amount to a drain of taxpayer’s money.”
Calling for holistic development of the world-famous Colva beach and the surroundings, the social activist said development should focus on improvement in the amenities for the visiting tourists so that they carry with them sweet memories of Colva.
She also expressed her reservations over the trench being dug on the beach, connecting Colva creek to the Arabian Sea, saying this only goes to show that something has gone wrong in the planning.
“Cutting the beach open to release the stagnant creek waters does not augur well since there have been instances of the water changing course during the monsoons,” she added.
