PANAJI
The Water Resources Department (WRD) is again under fire for failing to install safety barricades along the canals, despite having issued urgent internal directives a month ago seeking immediate remedial action to prevent further fatalities.
A confidential WRD letter, issued mid-April and accessed by The Goan, had labelled the absence of barricades “gross negligence”, directing Superintending and Executive Engineers to identify high-risk canal junctions, initiate temporary safety measures, and submit a detailed action plan by April 18. However, nothing moved on the ground.
Chief Engineer Pramod Badami had himself flagged the issue as “very serious”, admitting that even earlier war-footing instructions were ignored. “No progress is seen on the ground,” he said then.
It took another drowning incident for the department to swing into action with makeshift crash barriers now allegedly being hurriedly placed at select canal points. On May 5, a 10-year-old girl drowned in an irrigation canal in Quepem, incident which added to a spate of canal drowning cases in the recent past.
Official sources conceded that the department has bypassed normal tendering procedures due to urgency and floated a short-term work order. The job is expected to be completed in two weeks. “This won’t serve the long-term purpose but at least it may prevent further casualties in the immediate future,” the source added.
The Goa, Daman and Diu Irrigation Act, 1973 mandates canal officers to physically inspect canal paths and ensure public safety. Sections 84(vii) and Rule 4(1)(2)(i) & (3) of the Act provide for penal action against officials who fail to enforce safety.
Yet, sources alleged another problem – pressure from local political interests to avoid permanent barricading of canal paths, which are often encroached upon or used as shortcut roads. “There are casualties now, so if not permanent, at least temporary measures must be taken,” another government source revealed to The Goan.
Even now, officials are allegedly resisting the idea of full-scale safety coverage. “At Rs 6,500 per metre, the cost to barricade the entire length of the Selaulim, Anjunem and Tillari canals would run into crores. Why waste public money when the department should instead invoke provisions of the Irrigation Act to restrict public access to canal paths and erect gates at road entries?”
Amid these cost concerns, the department on May 9 issued a public advisory warning people not to bathe in or walk near canals due to the rising summer heat. The advisory came after the most recent drowning.
