PORVORIM
Residents in the constituencies of Porvorim and Saligao have continued to suffer from water shortage and people are forced to hire private water tankers, as the PWD is unable to deploy its water tanker to all affected areas.
Locals have complained that there is no fixed timing for the release of water received from the Assonora water treatment plant and that, the PWD staff have stopped attending to calls from people as they are unable to provide replies to the aggrieved consumers.
When contacted, Saligao MLA Kedar Naik said he has been receiving calls from residents of his constituency, especially in Reis Magos and Nerul as they are at the tail-end and do not receive proper water supply.
“There is no water available with the PWD to arrange supply of water through tankers. Residents are literally buying packaged water bottles from the market to meet their urgent requirements,” said Naik.
“I have fixed a meeting with the PWD chief engineer in Panaji at 11 am on Wednesday to discuss the water scarcity problem being faced by the residents of the Saligao constituency.”
“I have also spoken to PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral and apprised him of the situation. He had visited Guirim along with Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte and engineers of PWD and WRD departments to ascertain the real problem,” said Naik.
Water pipeline broken at Cunchelim: Minister
PORVORIM:
Admitting that he is fully aware of the water scarcity problem being faced by residents of the Porvorim constituency, Tourism Minister & Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte said there is a breakdown of a pipeline at Cunchelim which connects raw water supply from the Tillari Project to Guirim and Porvorim.
“It will take 10-15 days for the repair of the pipeline to be completed. Meanwhile, I have spoken to WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar to increase raw water supply at Assnora and I have also spoken to PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral to review the distribution plan of treated water to Porvorim and Saligao constituencies,” said Khaunte.
“In order to curb such failures in the future, the WRD has tendered work for a separate pipeline from Amthane to Guirim, which will be an alternate source of raw water, in case there is a breakdown from the Tillari Project. Till then, the solution would be to depend on the Tillari Project for raw water for Guirim and Porvorim and increased water supply from Assnora.”
Khaunte said he as well as the PWD are monitoring the water supply situation on an hourly basis to ensure smooth water supply to the Porvorim constituency.
“I have requested the WRD Minister to personally visit and review the repair of the pipeline and expedite the work. He has requested PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral to press water tankers in the Porvorim constituency to meet the urgent water requirements. My office staff is coordinating with residents and the PWD to ensure a smooth water supply,” said Khaunte.
