MARGAO
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's visit to the Khareband bridge to have a glimpse at the river Sal may raise hopes in some quarters towards the rejuvenation of the river, considered Salcete’s lifeline.
Take note, however, Sawant is not the first Chief Minister to descend on the Sal banks to inspect the river. Successive Chief Ministers, right from late Manohar Parrikar to Laxmikant Parsekar to Pramod Sawant have conducted inspections of the river for a decade now.
Late Parrikar did an inspection of the river after returning back to power in 2012. His successor former Chief Minister Laxmimkant Parsekar took a speed boat to inspect the river along with Saxtti MLAs supporting the BJP-led government six years ago in 2016.
Sadly, while the visits by the Chief Ministers have paved the way for the desilting of the river Sal and clearing the thick green carpet of water hyacinth weed from the river, there’s been no solution in sight to plug the discharge of raw sewage flowing in the river from the commercial capital.
During the last one decade, two state-of-the-art Sewage Treatment Plants have come up at the Sirvodem site costing over Rs 50 crore. The river Sal has been desilted thrice over the last two decades at the cost of exchequer, but a solution to the discharge of raw sewage into the river has eluded successive governments till date.
If thick black colour sewage water had welcomed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant as he descended on the banks of river Sal near the Khareband bridge earlier this week, his predecessors Laxmikant Parsekar and late Manohar Parrikar had experienced stink, with the duo even raising questions whether Sal is a river or a storm water nullah.
