MARGAO
There’s good news in store for households who have stayed away from taking sewerage connections because of the high cost of connecting the households to the sewerage line.
PWD Minister Nilesh Cabral on Thursday unveiled a scheme under which households need not pay the line connection charges at the time of seeking connection and can avail of the facility to pay the charges in instalments over a span of 7-10 years.
The bad news, however, is that the PWD Minister has warned that the PWD is bracing up to disconnect water and power connections to households and commercial establishments for not taking the connections where the underground line is commissioned.
“I want to send out a clear message that the government means business now. The High Court is monitoring the sewage issue in Margao and Navelim. The Goa State Pollution Control Board and the South Goa district Collector have held inspections of the contaminated river Sal and the nullahs carrying the sewage from the commercial capital to the river. Hence, the government will make all-out efforts to get the households and commercial establishments connected to the sewage line or face disconnection of power and water supply,” Cabral warned.
On the sewage house connections, Cabral said households need not pay the cost of connecting their premises to the underground sewerage line at the time of seeking connections. “It has been decided by the government to give an instalment facility for the households to clear the amount over a span of 7-10 years. The payment would be reflected in the water bills,” he added.
The PWD Minister further said that sewerage house connections will be made online for the benefit of the households and the connections will be on a first come first serve basis. “The households should only put up the file to the PWD. We have decided to hand over the job of handling house connections to the Sewerage Infrastructure Development Corporation of Goa Ltd (SIDCGL). This decision will come into effect immediately,” he said.
He added: “The online submission of forms for sewerage connections will not only benefit the people since they need not come to the PWD or SIDCGL offices, but the system will also help me to monitor the number of connections applied for and issued.”
