MARGAO
Hapless residents of Demani-Cuncolim knocked the doors of the Cuncolim Municipal Council as some of the drinking water wells in the locality almost dried up due to the failure of the authorities to build the bhandaras this year.
Following this development, Cuncolim Municipal Council Vice Chairperson Mario Moraes along with ward councillor Angela Luis and councillors Shashank Desai and Udesh Gaonkar, carried out an inspection of the area and found the wells indeed dried up.
Locals attributed the situation to the failure by the government authorities to build the bhandaras on the rivulet “ right from Nayea bandh and Pairiya bandh, affecting the ground water situation in the locality.
Apprehensions are raised in many quarters in Cuncolim that the underground water situation in the jurisdiction of Cuncolim Municipal Council and neighbouring areas of Banda-Assolna will be severely affected unless the Water Resources Department and other government authorities step in to stem the tide.
CMC Vice Chairperson Mario Moraes said that the civic body has contacted the WRD officials to find out why the bandharas have been left unattended till date. “I have received a reply from the WRD that they will soon carry out work on the bhandaras," Moraes said, while saying that the CMC is also planning to put in place an action plan to construct the two bhandaras at Pairiya bandh and Dandora if all other authorities fail to act.
Besides drinking water wells, it is feared that the rich flora along the banks of the rivulet which empties at Canknamoddi, will be hit in the event the underground water is not recharged with the construction of the traditional bandharas.
Local residents pointed out that hundreds of coconut and other trees along the banks of the rivulet were affected around two years ago, when the authorities were caught napping in constructing the bhandaras.
Incidentally, when the team inspected the Nayea bandh later in the evening, they found to their shock and surprise that water at the bandh was not flowing down stream and the whole area resembled like a lake. Moraes suspected that the construction of the Nayea bandh might have affected down stream areas at Demani and Pairiya bandh, even as the CMC has now decided to call the WRD officials to the Municipality on Friday to work out a solution to the water crisis.
