the goan I network
MAPUSA
The Calangute Shantadurga Devasthan committee members on Tuesday once again came together to oppose the setting up of the sewage pumping station at Gaura-vaddo East in the village.
Expressing displeasure against the move to clandestinely set up the pumping station at the site, the president of the devasthan, Digambar Sawant, said the committee members will not remain silent spectators to the government’s decision to run roughshod against public demand.
The devasthan members had earlier disapproved the project and even wrote to the local panchayat against any move to relocate the pumping station within the temple property.
The devasthan president recalled that the Calangute MLA Michael Lobo had earlier accepted the demand of the devasthan committee members and promised not to set up the station at the site.
He said the local MLA and the panchayat had then agreed to shift the project to another nearby site but for reasons best known to the authorities concerned, they have decided to return to the devasthan site.
“Some individuals are harassing us. The Shantadurga devi will take care of those who are trying to bring the project in the devasthan property. Whoever it may be, the government or individuals, they will face the wrath of the deity if they go ahead with the project at the site,” Sawant said adding that they will not allow the project at any cost.
Some residents from the area had opposed the pumping station fearing that the project will pollute the environment and cause problems to the people living around in future.
According to the locals, a leakage could pollute ground water and thereby contaminate well water.
Besides, they said the sound of the generators used to pump the sewage will create a lot of noise pollution in the area which it thickly populated. “This land belongs to the Shantadurga devasthan and the area is basically a residential stretch. The authorities have started to clandestinely construct the pumping station without informing the residents of the area,” said Augustine D’Costa, a resident of Calangute.
He said the clandestine operation of authorities concerned angered the residents and wondered how government can go ahead with a project when people have objected to it.
Incidentally, Calangute panchayat has first issued permission to install the pumping station in the area in 2013 and government had also acquired around 500 sq mt of land for the project.
But later due to stiff opposition of the locals and the devasthan committee, the panchayat had then decided to shift the pumping station to a nearby area at Naika-vaddo.
However, the shifting plan hit a road block after the panchayat faced a bigger public backlash at Naika-vaddo with locals even threatening to approach the courts against the pumping station.
Finally, the government decided to set up the station at the earlier site planned at Gaura-vaddo East and accordingly JICA began the excavation work at the site recently.
