VASCO
There was pandemonium and chaos at Desterro in Vasco on Thursday night after heavy incessant rains led to landslide and flooding in the area with water gushing at full
speed into houses located below the hilly terrain of Bogda and Sada.
The force of water was so severe that mud and heavy boulders from the hill gave anxious moments to
residents.
After water started gushed inside houses in the dark amidst power cuts, residents, along with their children, started moving to safer places after abandoning their
dwellings.
The force of the water mixed with the mud was so much that the entire seven-foot deep nullah at Desterro was totally choked resulting in three feet high water inside the houses in the area. According to residents, some years back in a similar incident vehicles were swept into the sea.
They said the flooding of the houses was mainly due to choking of nullahs and drains with mud and heavy boulders, which were left carelessly behind by a contractor who was awarded the work for rock bolting the retaining wall on the hill at Tariwada.
Residents now fear that their houses could flow into the sea if something is not done soon before the monsoon picks up momentum. They have appealed to the authorities to act fast before a tragedy occurs. They also claimed that no pre-monsoon works were taken up in the ward and the nullah and the drains haven’t been cleaned for years.
However, the local councillor Shradda Amonkar blamed the MMC and local MLA for the incident and demanded that preventive measures be taken up immediately by the authorities concerned.
The MMC Chief Officer mantained that pre-monsoon works were taken up and the cleaning of the nullah was the work of WRD and not MMC.
Meanwhile, NGO Goa First convenor Parshuram Sonurlekar said that he had given a letter to MMC warning them of floods in the area a few days back, but MMC had ignored it.
A resident Sameer Khan said that he had never seen so much water flow with such speed all his life.
“There has been so much mud and debris left behind on top at Bogda by a contractor who undertook the job of the retaining wall. At around 3 am, water as high as five to six feet and capable of drowning human beings was flowing in some areas causing panic. We sleep in fright as rains have begun and we hope this is not a daily affair. We request the authorities to immediately clear the drains and nullahs,” said Khan.
A local Rashid Shaikh said residents would go on a hunger strike if MMC does not show any urgency.
